Tarot both represents and epitomises a certain sector of the comic book industry, one that's slightly apart from the superhero genre but has many of the same foibles when it comes to the shameless objectification of women. Tarot takes the biscuit from countless terrible Avatar comics, however, by also being flat-out bonkers in a sort of soft-porn Plan 9 From Outer Space kinda way. Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose is a supernatural comic that's been written and drawn by Jim Balent since 1999. For the most part it's a pretty standard magical fantasy series, what really puts Tarot into the upper echelons of the totally shameful is its sexual content. Not only the cheesecake covers, or the frequent (and unrealistic) nudity within its pages, but also the times sexuality turns up within the story itself, most infamously in a storyline that involved a woman whose genitals were haunted. Yes, haunted. A ghost lived in there. Just put the comic down and step away. Leave the shop. Scrub off your Spidey tattoos. Hand in your honorary JLA membership. Stop proselytizing about Art Spiegelman and Daniel Clowes. We're done here.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
