Dirty Words: Tom of Finland—The Complete Kake Comics (Taschen)

Tom of Finland was the Superman of Homosexuality. Actually, he was the Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the writer and artist, respectively, of the Man of Steel, just as Tom, whose real name was Touko Lasksonen, was the creator of a different man of steel. The Finnish artist's stylized homoerotic art is just as influential as that alien from Krypton, only his characters were hotter than a speeding bullet, more potent than a locomotive and bigger than a tall building.

Though he had been drawing since a young age and by his mid-30s, in 1956, was publishing his works as Tom in the American magazine Physique Pictorial, it wasn't until 1965 that he began to develop the idea for an ongoing character for his panel stories. This would be the greatest expression of his fantasy men, but it took time for that Ubermensch to flow from his fountain pen. By 1968, after false starts with a blond named Vicky (a common name in Finland) to a Tarzan-like Jack, he created Kake, a dark-haired, mustached leatherman, a gay culture would never be the same.

Tom of Finland—The Complete Kake Comics (Taschen) collects the 26 episodes of Kake's adventures that Tom published between 1968 and 1986. That's over 700 pages of kinky stories that usual clock in about 20 pages of man-loving joy. Even if you're not into comics, you're likely familiar with this iconic figure of male lust and power. You're certainly aware of the uniform, which has become cliche today, the tight white T-shirt, often bearing the motto "Fucker," he was, as described in the press materials for the new release, "a sort of post-Stonewall, hyper-masculine Johnny Appleseed traveling the world on his motorcycle to spread the seeds of liberated, mutually satisfying, ecstatically explicit gay sex."

At the helm of this beautifully designed edition is editor Dian Hanson, who is no stranger to the world of arousal, having edited such classic men's magazines as Puritan, Juggs and Leg Show, and, since 2001, working for Taschen, produced books such as The New Erotic Photography Vol. 2 and Robert Crumb: Sketchbooks 1982-2011.

These stories set the template for a beefcake objectification of lumberjacks motorcycle policemen, sailors, bikers and, of course, leathermen, all of whom Kake encounters on his adventures. They wore no capes, but the costume of choice, being denim and leather, set them clearly apart from the mere mortals of the mainstream and presented them as untamed, physical and self-empowered during a time when homosexuality was closeted if not illegal. In that sense Tom of Finland was a superhero.

Tom was born to a middle-class family and by 19 has moved to Helsinki to study advertising, but was already drawing erotic images for his own pleasure during down time. During World War II he was conscripted into the Finnish Army in 1940 and served as an anti-aircraft officer, raising to the rank of second lieutenant. He couldn't help but fetishize Nazism. And is quoted in a biography as saying, "In my drawings I have no political statements to make, no ideology. I am thinking only about the picture itself. The whole Nazi philosophy, the racism and all that, is hateful to me, but of course I drew them anyway—they had the sexiest uniforms!"

Where mainstream culture neutered gay men and portrayed them almost exclusively as effeminate sissies, Tom loved the burgeoning biker culture that began to rise in the post-war era. It was in direct contrast to the sanitized, conformist lifestyle that followed the brutal chaos of war. Working underground and often for private commission, by 1973 he was able to leave his full-time job at the Helsinki office of the international advertising firm McCann-Erickson and live off his artwork, riding the success of the growing gay mainstream culture.

Though Tom died in 1991, at the age of 71, his reputation continues to thrive. His work has been acquired by New York's Museum of Modern Art. The trustee of The Judith Rothschild Foundation, Harvey S. Shipley Miller, said, "Tom of Finland is one of the five most influential artists of the twentieth century. As an artist he was superb, as an influence he was transcendent."

Taste that influence in the muscular epic that is Kake's comics. While still relatively obscure outside of the gay community, thanks to the tireless work people such Dian Hanson and publishers such as Taschen, the artist known as Tom of Finland will sit on the seat of mainstream influence and continue to receive the exposure that he deserves.

And Tom's ascension to the highest echelon of the culture rages on with the news that Finland is about to issue stamps with his homoerotic manly men drawings. Lick that.

Buy Tom of Finland—The Complete Kake Comics (Taschen)