Associated Student Bodies

Associated Student Bodies is an erotic Furry Comic book written by Lance Rund and and drawn by Chris McKinley along with a number of guest artists, published in 8 issues between 1998 to 2000, followed up by a number of pornographic portfolios between 1998 and 2005. It centered on Daniel King, a young lion who arrives at Leland College only to discover he's been placed in a nearly-all-gay dorm. There, he is introduced to a colorful cast of characters and discovers his own same-sex feelings for a wolf by the name of Marcus Paxten (and, as it turns out, most other males in the dorm). The rest of the comic follows his journey through his first year in college, dealing with prejudices, stormy relationships with his friends, getting his conservative father to accept his sexuality and reconciling it with his religious faith... all while mixing in a healthy dose of porn, of course. Compare Circles, which is often cited as a Spiritual Successor but has none of the porn.

Since its publication, ASB has become one of the iconic comics of the Furry Fandom, and has received a lot of praise for its themes, writing, artwork and... other qualities. There are quite a few furries who strongly dislike it however. Its up for sale at the Rabbit Valley website, though many people have read it through the use of file-sharing sites and image boards.

Chris McKinley has since become one of the most famous furry artists in the fandom, having drawn the follow-up erotic folios for the comic and written the humorous spin-off Queerman and unrelated but still gay-themed Coyote River for the anthology series Spooo Presents. He's also recently opened up an account at Fur Affinity, to the delight of many ASB fans (Warning: page NSFW if you have mature artwork allowed). Lance Rund, by contrast, seems to have disappeared off the furry radar completely, even requesting that his page be taken down at Wikifur.

Note: Throughout the eight issues, the main storyline is clearly separated from the stories that focus on Fan Service and (often) porn. So it is possible to read an intelligent coming-of-age story with very little gratuitous porn if you read only the first story within each issue and ignore the other two to four stories within the issue.

Tropes used in Associated Student Bodies include:
  • All Gays Are Promiscuous: Played painfully straight. One of the main criticisms of the comic is that while it attempts to portray a more or less true-to-life story about gay issues, the need to shove in porn into the comic means that the gay characters are almost uniformly presented as having feverishly overactive libidos, constantly talking about sex and having polyamorous relationships with each other, complete with exagerrated sexual characteristics and abilities.
  • All There in the Manual: It remains to be seen which parts can be considered canon if at all (it probably isn't), but McKinley has since drawn the characters in situations happening after the end of the comic. Roughly a year after Marcus's graduation, Daniel has a short sexual relationship with one of his teachers. Apparently feeling guilty about that, he ends the relationship after setting up the teacher with Roy. About ten years after the main story, Marcus and Daniel are still together and are possibly Happily Married.
    • Considering the material listed under the spoiler is commissioned art and not written by Lance Rund, it's most likely not canon at all.
  • Ambiguously Gay: Steven, a Collie and the only straight male in the dorm is often hinted at being a closeted homosexual by other characters in the comic (and Ricky desperately wishes that he was). It turns out that he isn't, but he's still willing to sleep with Ricky for one night.
    • Some of the gay characters also seem to be Ambiguously Bisexual. Marcus has an old girlfriend, a lion called Allison, and is shown having sex with her in some of folios. In the "Secret Fantasies" folio, he fantasizes about a three-way with her and Daniel. Ricky has a wild sexual encounter with Tina in the seventh issue, which he is presented as enjoying and being more than willing to do again, and in a folio picture he has a foursome with her and two other girls. Vince, the deer who's the sub to Manly Gay David, is ok with Tina undressing, stroking and caressing him and is apparently shown preparing for a sexual encounter with her in the "Things You Never Thought You'd See" folio.
  • Art Evolution: In the first 2 issues, the artwork is rather simple and contorted, with the characters often barely looking like their respective species. In the third issues it has gotten notably better, and toward the end of the series it looks really good.
  • Barefoot Cartoon Animals: All the male characters; averted with the females. Unusual in that early on, the characters had very human-like feet.
  • Berserk Button: Do not call Timothy "Timmy." OK, you probably won't do anything other than piss him off, but still.
    • Also, don't get between Marcus and Daniel. Or attack any of Tiny's friends.
  • Brick Joke: In issue 5, when Daniel goes home for the holidays and his father starts getting a little too judgmental of how well he is or isn't doing in his classes, Mrs. King chides him saying "Don't be anal, Alan." When he mildly protests, she quips back "When have you not been anal?" This has an...interesting re-interpretation in one of the portfolios where it is learned that apparently Alan doesn't have a problem with how his son has sex, just with whom. Unless he's a Straw Hypocrite.
  • Calling the Old Man Out: Daniel gets an awesome one on his father, even if it does lead to a declaration of I Have No Son.
  • Camp Gay: Ricky. Possibly Camp Bi going by the 7th issue and a folio picture.
  • Cast Full of Gay
  • Coitus Uninterruptus: Outside of the New Year's Orgy, this occurs when Daniel's mother calls him right in the middle of an intimate moment with Marcus. The latter even lampshades this by thinking "He answered?!" yet he is the one to keep things going--in this case, not to drive the interrupter away, but to make Daniel hang up on her. And because he's naughty. Daniel's response? "You're weird."
  • Coming Out Story
  • Double Entendre: As might be imagined, happens repeatedly, though notable moments would be two in issue 8, the scene with Allison and the hamburger and the scene with Marcus and Daniel in the gym (the latter being a Bait and Switch as well thanks to Shadow Discretion Shot).
  • Everybody Has Lots of Sex
  • Everything's Better with Plushies: Issue 5's cover features most of the main cast as stuffed animals.
    • Thomas, the chubby fox, is shown to have a love of plushies in several of the pornfolios.
  • F Word Privileges: Nigel calls Ricky "you little faggot" at one point without a hint of irony. And it has nothing to do with the fact that he's the designated Camp Gay.
  • Fag Hag: Tina, the skunk who's the Resident Dormitory Den-Mother. Taken to levels where she's apparently completely okay with males walking around naked or even having sex right in front of her. She even manages to seduce Ricky in issue 7 (and apparently Vince as well, if a folio picture is anything to go by).
  • Fan Service: About half of the comic is devoted to porn. Mostly of the gay variety, but some male-female encounters are also featured as a bonus for straight and bisexual readers. And then there's the pornographic folios that are sold along with the comic.
  • Filler: There are several bonus one-off stories unrelated to the main storyline.
    • And you forgot about 90% of the Fan Service stories.
  • Freudian Excuse: Sort of. A priest speculates that Daniel's father's homophobia is related to the fact that he works in an industry where one is expected to be a control freak.
  • The Fundamentalist: Alan King is one, though he ends up being able to ignore his son's sexuality, if not accept it, once he realizes how he has neglected him and focuses only on making him happy. Being lectured by a priest on his beliefs also helps.
  • Fun T-Shirt: The slogan on Timmy's shirt changes every time, and every time it's a gay-related joke. For example, "Parking in rear", "Yes I suck" or "I'm not gay but my boyfriend is"
  • Gilligan Cut:

Marcus: Anything besides bills?
Daniel: Letter from home... they're going to be in the area this weekend.
Marcus: You don't look all that thrilled.
Daniel: I just hope they don't come here. I don't think they'd get along with the guys.
(Next panel. Caption: "Saturday morning...")
Steven: Hey, what's the hurry?
Daniel: I'm late! I'm supposed to meet Mom and Dad out front!

  • Goth: Gerald.
  • Hide Your Lesbians: Although a story about homosexuality, lesbianism isn't featured at all.
  • If It's You It's Okay: Ricky and Tina, and later, Ricky and Steven.
  • I Have No Son: Alan, once the truth about Daniel comes out. Sigh.
  • Incompatible Orientation: Ricky's crush on Steven, the only straight guy in the whole series.
  • Manly Gay / Gym Bunny / Leather Man: David and his friends at the leather bar. As Daniel puts it when he's forced into the same type of outfit, "I look like a Village People." Also, Roy (and his pride) from the Pride Parade.
  • Meaningful Name: Daniel King is two obvious lion puns in one.
  • Papa Wolf: Marcus, to Daniel. And how.
  • A Party - Also Known as an Orgy: The New Year's party.
  • Porn with Plot
  • Polyamory: Probably a lot of characters, but Ricky in particular.
  • Really Gets Around: As mentioned above, monogamous relationships are very rare in ASB, but special mention has to be given to Ricky, the Camp Gay racoon, who manages to sleep with most of the main cast, including Tina and Steven, during the course of the comic.
  • Scary Hyena: Tiny. Do not mess with his friends.
  • The Smurfette Principle: Tina is the only major recurring female character (unless you count Allison, who appears briefly in two issues).
  • Spaghetti Kiss: Parodied in the bonus art on issue 3's fan mail page.
  • STD Immunity: The comic ignores STD's completely, and condoms are never used by any of the characters, even tough they live a lifestyle that would make it insane not to do so in real life. The usage of this trope is actually admitted in the foreword of the first issue, by stating that since ASB is a work of fantasy the spectre of AIDS and hepatitis can be "wished away". Unfortunately, it kinda goes against the comic's stated intention of being an "only-somewhat-distorted mirror of the kinds of issues that gay people in the real world contend with".
  • Suddenly Sexuality: Ricky is presented as the wild, flaming Camp Gay in the story. Then, in issue 7, he takes Tina up on her suggestion to sleep with her in order to experience what girls feel like. After some panels where he's shown as timid and scared, he quickly turns into a powerful sex machine with her, and while he claims that he's only interested in Tina, a subsequent folio picture shows him together with her and two other women.
    • Some readers have claimed that Daniel's coming out scene in the first issue feels like this. At first he seems simply like a confused straight guy who's unsure what it feels like to live with gay people, and we're told that he's had at least one relationship with a girl before. Then, after some talking with Marcus about what it feels like to be gay, he decides to try out some intimacy with him in order to find out. After which he's apparently exclusively attracted to males?
  • Testosterone Poisoning: David again. Tina even calls him "testosterone poisoned" in one story.
  • They Call Me Mister Tibbs: Again, do not call Timothy "Timmy."
  • Timmy in a Well: Parodied with ... guess who.
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