The Agency

By Katie Skelly. Published by Fantagraphics. 

Hardcover, 96 pages, Colour, 2023 (originally published 2014-2017)

Each of the sex-positive short stories in this comics collection stars an agent who will go far-out (real far-out, like outer space) to accomplish her mission.

Skelly’s psychedelic sex romp originally appeared on the web (2014–2107) and was collected in a limited paperback edition — this is a newly expanded hardcover version, featuring an all-new story! In The Agency, Skelly’s agents gather intelligence, meticulously documenting a universe of sass photography, fascist surgery, horny skeletons, yonic portals, thrill-seeking vegetation, and multitudinous wry glances and stammered phrases! Each story in The Agency is executed in a different style/color palette, which taken together create a visually stunning collection greater than the sum of its parts. A must-have for fans who have discovered Skelly’s work more recently, through the hits Maids (2020) and My Pretty Vampire (2018).

"Skelly's erotica, not unlike her long-form narrative work, privileges visualizing female pleasure, desire, and power in stories where narrative is not just a pretense for a good time. Rather, sex, suspense, and intrigue all mix and comingle." — Rachel Miller, feminist media scholar

"[Skelly] uses her paradoxical aesthetic—both heavily cartooned and broadly erotic—to affect her audience precisely how she wants to." — The A.V. Club

"Skelly's cartooning is fun, stylish, colorful, and lends itself well to erotic subject matter and situations. Playful at all times and inherently positive in its attitude about all things consensual, these strips are celebratory, and most show that stepping outside one's comfort zone can often lead to unexpected delights." — Daily Grindhouse

"I love Katie Skelly's linework, which flows across the page, making her the perfect artist to work on comics with a sexual feel to them." — Panel Patter