Hi all - I hope people are enjoying the first five issues of American Goddess: Ring of Domination!

In the comics I'm writing and intend to write, one of the main types of perils that the heroines will face is seduction. A common example of this would be a suave vampire seducing a maiden. The seduction will generally be so powerful that it acts like mind control, although maybe it would be better described as emotion control.

With seduction, I think the slower it happens the better. So in Ring of Domination, American Goddess has to struggle against the spell for some time before it she falls to it, and even then she has some resistance against being controlled.

I brought this up because I was thinking about Doc Robo’s stories, which have a very different kind of mind control scenario. In Doc Robo’s stories, the mind control itself is not really intrisically sexual, but once the heroine is controlled, she is used for sex. In my scenarios, the cause and effect is reversed in that the sex is actually what brings about the mind control. I’m not saying one is better, just that they are different. In the past I did play around a little with mind control scenarios kind of like the ones Doc Robo uses, but I think he’s already done that so well that I’d probably prefer to explore other scenarios. Maybe once my characters get established he’ll want to write a mind control story for them .

One other difference is that in most cases, Doc Robo’s mind control takes hold quickly. The subject goes from freedom to slavery in about a second or two. I think that makes sense, since his mind control is usually technologically oriented, and good machines are supposed to be efficient. If they slapped a mind control helmet on Omega Woman, and it took five hours for it to take control, or if she sometimes resisted the control, it would be kind of like a sleek sports car that doesn’t start or that breaks down a lot. It wouldn’t be very sexy, and besides she could just pull the helmet off.

Just some thoughts to see if I can get a discussion going. See you around.

Mr. Cryptic

I think that if the main character of the story is the one superheroine and the writer shows her trials and tribulations as the big highlights of the stroy, then definitely showing the struggle of mind control is a big turn on. It would be different wth mulitply targets.

I love seeing the drawn out struggle between free will and suppressed will when it comes to taking over the mind of a strong willed superheroine. That's why I wrote the Digitalus vs. Freedom Broad encounter the way it is. I don't think you could do it like that everytime you "captured" a superheroine though.

In Doc's work, it would disturb the flow of the story if you had to go through the draw out procedure of capturing and supressing a strong will. And, it does progress the story if the understanding gained from suppressing the previous superheroine helps speed up the process for the next and so on. He did show resistance twice that I'm aware of in both encounters with Aplha Woman with the "Twisted" helmet and the nanobites and mind probes of Sentius.

That's a really good point I hadn't thought of. The whole seduction angle kind of requires you to really focus on one heroine. And now that I think of it, the story ideas I've had that involve quicker, "zombie" mind control all involve multiple heroines. I never noticed the necessity of the difference until you mentioned it, Dumbtime (you're not so dumb I guess ).

Mr. Cryptic,

The American Goddess/Ring of Domination comic is terrific. I am also a fan of BC’s tales at Superstories. For me the sexiest peril should be about seduction, which means the slow and skillful undermining (through drugs, hypnosis, pheromones, nerve control) of the heroine’s strength and will to resist. American Goddess has extraordinary powers; she shouldn’t be enslaved by a foe in a second or two – it should take time. Her continued resistance should challenge the villain; he should not take her obedience for granted and anticipate her attempts to escape. There should be unexpected twists and turns.

Emotion is important as well – sexuality works against the heroine because it makes her vulnerable to pleasure, endangers her self-control. She has to fight against her secret yearning to be dominated. I really like the confused, fearful looks on AG’s face as she drugged into a hypnotic slumber. I can see a storyline that uses American Goddess’s emotions for a man against her – it would make the mind control all the more potent.

I would add that the villain in Ring of Domination fits with your ideas. Foes should manipulate language as a tool to weaken (and seduce) the heroine, using a combination of suggestion and command, sexual flattery and erotic manhandling to induce a dreamy defeat. And possession takes many forms; besides wanting the heroine's body villains should plot to absorb her powers, control her actions, make her give away her secrets, such as her secret identity, or force her to endanger her cause. They should put their traps together with care, or at least take the best advantage of a lucky break – I like them smart rather than dumb.

You can never have too many panels of a heroine slowly succumbing to a hypnotic drug for me. (More of AG sinking into a submissive dreamland would have been great, the guy telling her that, in her weakened condition, the drug will be twice as strong.) And that I would love to see a scenario in which a heroine goes undercover and the villain, discovering who she is unbeknown to her, slowly enslaves her by making her forget who she is, charming her into believing she is a normal woman, too weak to break out of his spell.

Anyway, really like what you have done and your approach.

Thank you, Shylock! I think you'll like the way Ring of Domination continues .

One other thing about Ring of Domination is that I really wanted to push the idea that American Goddess is so much more powerful than her captor. He's just a henchman (he doesn't even get named in the story), but he still manages to enslave her.

I'm not sure why I like it that way, but I think maybe it makes the point that the sexual desire is so strong, it humbles American Goddess before a foe that otherwise she would completely outmatch.

[quote="Mr. Cryptic"]
I'm not sure why I like it that way, but I think maybe it makes the point that the sexual desire is so strong, it humbles American Goddess before a foe that otherwise she would completely outmatch.[/quote]


That mindset is why I like the series.

I would agree with dumbtime up to a point. The idea of someone so ordinary enslaving the mighty American Goddess adds something, but if it turns out that the guy is actually the kingpin of Crime Central the story line would still be good. Frankly, it would be interesting to have American Goddess escape, but run into an even more diabolical trap by Crime Central honchos who use the knowledge of their underling to control her powers as well as her body.

For me, it is the seduction, mind control, and resistance elements, handled slowly and sensuously, that makes the comic so good. For example, Mr X's WW Sleepy Adventures uses some of the same elements present in the American Goddess story, though they are not as well handled. The capture and mind control is over (too) quickly, though the panel where the villain presses the pad into WW's face while she murmurs "sleep" is great. WW struggles against the magically induced chloroform fetish much like American Goddess, though in the latter story Sleep Master imprisons WW, which makes the heroine's struggle less drawn out. Still, the villain has the power of invisibility and I find the story compelling. Though Mr. X did it early on in his career it remains one of my favorites -- though the American Goddess series is superior.

Thanks Shylock! Of course, I've seen the Sleepy Adventure story too, and had forgotten about the influence it had. Both of our comics are originally influenced by the Fausta WW episode of course. When I did my comic, I was building on what others had done.

Drugging her and seeing her fight till the very end against the chloroform is always hot because you have strong heroine.

WHat about female henchwomen getting their way?

I'm definitely a big fan of the "struggling against chloroform" thing, so you'll see more of that type of thing in the future.

As far as female henchmen go, Agent Beauty (who appeared in my Panthera Khan comic on my old website), will be appearing at Mr. Cryptic Comix in the future, so keep watching!