Tales of the Unrefined
Tales of the Unrefined was a Horror Anthology Comic created by Isaac M. Baranoff, and published by Mystic Studios Productions. It's not the comic he's most proud of, due to the fact that it's essentially, well, porn. Maybe. Your Mileage May Vary in regards to this categorization, considering that the stories are very well realized and not always driven by sexual content, so it could be considered a mix of horror and Plot With Porn, depending on how far you're willing to stretch your definition of "porn".
According to Word of God, the comic was intended purely for shock value in its high levels of not only sexual content, but graphic horror violence and gore; the sexuality was intended to be "entirely unerotic". Baranoff's other comics, Horndog and Soft Desire, are relatively mild in their portrayal of sexuality, and Tales of the Unrefined initially began this way as well (but with more graphic violence), in its initial form as a webcomic. However, once it became a printed comic, Baranoff started adding explicit sexual sequences into his storylines. It was later revealed to be a Stealth Parody of Satanism intended to promote belief in God, but after Baranoff became an atheist, it is now an Orphaned Series.
The series began as a webcomic, and five printed issues were produced.
- An Axe to Grind
- And I Must Scream
- Author Appeal: All female characters have large asses and breasts, which are predominately shown.
- Black Comedy
- Bleached Underpants: No longer published and not well acknowledged by the creator or publisher.
- Bloodier and Gorier: Tales of the Unrefined tends to be significantly gorier and sexually explicit than mainstream horror comics.
- Brother-Sister Incest: Combined with necrophilia in the story "Trapped Inside".
- Can't Get Away with Nuthin'
- Darker and Edgier: Compared to Horndog at least. Then again, that was a comedy comic, and this is a horror comic.
- Death by Sex: Occurs in "Night Out" and "Evil is Nuts".
- Fan Disservice: According to Word of God, this is the point of the comic's sexual content.
- Fate Worse Than Death
- Gorn
- Haunted House
- Horny Devils: In "Evil is Nuts", a pick-up artist's penis urges him to have sex with and kill various women. He is punished by being sent to hell, where he is raped by a female demon for all eternity.
- Horror Hunger: In "No Rest", the main character eats one of his victims to dispose of the body.
- I Love the Dead: Necrophilia occurs in "No Rest" and "Trapped Inside", the latter with Brother-Sister Incest.
- It's Not Porn, It's Art: Subverted. According to Word of God, it's neither porn nor art.
- Mandatory Twist Ending
- Old Shame
- Plot With Porn: The series sometimes includes explicit sex scenes, although these do not drive all storylines.
- Refuge in Vulgarity: According to Word of God, this was the sole intention of the comic's graphic violence and sexual content.
- Rise from Your Grave
- Shangri La: Referred to Heaven.
- Seven Deadly Sins: All storylines derive from these in one form or another.
- Underground Comics
- Updated Rerelease: The first two issues were updated with new material and redrawn art.
- Urban Legends