Title: How to Make Money Like a Porn Star Author: Neil Strauss & Bernard Chang Publisher: Harper Collins Publish Date: 2006 Pages: 117 Genres:: Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Fiction, Pop culture Reviewer: Jerome D'Angelo

Rating:

Never judge a book by its cover, right? Heed that advice before you start reading How to Make Money Like a Porn Star. Former New York Times columnist Neil Strauss (How to Make Love Like a Porn Star, Don’t Try This at Home) and illustrator Bernard Chang (Marvel Comics, DC Comics) have expertly combined their unique styles to create one of the most unsettlingly heavy-handed parodies of the adult film industry that you will ever have the grotesque pleasure of reading. This graphic novel (emphasis on “graphic”) will test the limits of even the poorest of tastes, and do it so well that the reader is left as enlightened as they are revolted.

The story traces the life of porn superstar Claudia Corvette as she seeks revenge against an old boyfriend who introduced her to the industry. Without resorting to cheesiness, the story is told mostly in flashbacks, with Chang varying the illustration styles often to demonstrate Claudia’s descent from innocence. Supporting characters feature a rival “actress,” a balding cabbie porn addict, and a harem-keeping Sultan with a modified metal member. The plot twists are bad enough to find their way into most porn flicks, but that was obviously the point, as Strauss continually baits the reader with flash and then suckers them with cold reality.

The masking of the material therein is exceptional. “Featuring 72% fewer words than a book!” the front cover boasts. Judging from the cover art, which features our blonde bronze heroine buckin’ off shots from her 9 mm while wearing naught but a pink bikini and a diamond navel ring, you’d swear the celebration of unapologetic hedonism was something every reasonable porn-loving demographic would be pleased by.

Nope. Not unless you find assorted sexual violence funny. That much is made clear by the end of Strauss’ introduction. But, that Strauss can deconstruct, horrify, parody, and then make you laugh is exactly what makes How to Make Money Like a Porn Star such a fantastic, if sickening, read. Whether you find pornography offensive in general, or whether you could fortify the walls around Baghdad’s Green Zone with the collective mass of your old VHS hoard, How to Make Money Like a Porn Star is worth reading.

Be prepared to be rested from your emotional comfort zone, though. If you don’t find this book at least a bit difficult to read, seriously, you have no conscience. Halfway through, you’re already in need of a shower and a cigarette, and not in the good Las Vegas way. Think about the first time you saw 8mm.

This is not to take anything away from its effectiveness or quality; quite the contrary, this book brings to light the many unspoken horrors of the porn industry. Presenting them in the guise of SEX!, SEX! AND MORE SEX! serves as the perfect Trojan Horse for deliverance of the mind-numbing truths of the behind-the-scenes exploitation, image obsession and social stigma that make up the male-run world of adult film.

Strauss and Chang do an absolutely superb job in creating a brilliantly dark comedy. It just doesn’t read as very funny the first time through.