'A Very Special Prison'.
Erich Von Götha is the mostly used pseudonym of the British artist Robin Ray, one of the masters of erotic comics. He gained a reputation through his lavishly painted stories, often featuring bondage and S&M in a historical past. His best-known works are the comics 'The Troubles of Janice' (1987-1996) and 'Twenty' (1995-2024), as well as his illustrations for John Cleland's classic erotic novel 'Fanny Hill'. Other pen names by Robin Ray are Erich von Götha de la Rosière, Erich von Götha Janssens, Baldur Grimm and Robbins.
Cover illustrations for Torrid.
Early life and career
Robin Ray was born in Wimbledon, London, certain sources say in 1930, but most mention 1924, and some of them even specify his birthdate to 8 November.After his National Service in the Royal Air Force, he spent four years studying art at St Martins (1951-1955). The young man developed himself into an erudite person with an interest in esoterics, philoshopy and surrealist art. Beginning his career working for London advertising agencies as a designer, illustrator and copywriter, he was, from 1963 to 1966, a teacher at the Ealing School of Art. One of his students was the future guitarist of The Who, Pete Townshend. After his teaching days, Robin Ray ran his own advertising agency, while eventually exploring the field of erotic art.
Erotic comics
In the late 1960s and 1970s, many European countries legalized pornography, with the United Kingdom being one of the few to still have very strict regulations. However, this didn't withhold Ray from becoming an illustrator of erotic stories: he simply used a variety of pseudonyms. One of his earliest works in this field was the 'Sex Maniac's Diary' series (1975-1984), written by the English sex therapist Tuppy Owens. Since this series was educational in nature, it didn't fall under the "pornography" category, but was nevertheless read by many only for Ray's titillating imagery.
Between 1979 and 1986, Ray launched his own pornographic comic magazine, Torrid. It was almost literally a one-artist publication, explaining why it ran on an irregular basis. Apart from Ray, the early issues only featured contributions by the British fetish artist and adult actress Paula Meadows (Lynn Paula Russell). Ray designed the mascot: a German baron in leather boots, who welcomes his "genital readers" in every issue. Recurring characters in each issue are the Sylvia Kristel look-alike Roz and swingers couple Jo and David Tracy, who endulge in orgy stories collected under the title 'Come Together'. Of a more historical but not less explicit nature was the feature 'The Roman Life of Laura'. Robin Ray's early works were later reprinted and translated into French, appearing in pornographic magazines like YES and BD Adult, although initially all without his knowledge or approval.
'Come Together' (Torrid #12).
Due to the strict British laws against "obscenity", most of the later comics by Robin Ray, who now operated as Erich Von Götha, saw print in France and Germany first, before - after a long delay - eventually receiving an English edition through The Erotic Print Society. In France, his comics were regularly serialized in Bédé Adult and Bédé X, and published in book format by the imprints International Presse Magazine (IPM) and Dynamite. His first books were the sci-fi story 'Conte à Rebours' (1987) and the album 'Crimes et Délits' (1988), both published by YES Company in France. The latter features a perverted man who tells his lover about the lives of Charles Manson and Rasputin. Erich Von Götha drew the Rasputin section after the original artist Georges Lévis died.
'The Troubles of Janice', volume 1. French-language version.
The Troubles of Janice
Erich Von Götha gained most notoriety with 'The Troubles of Janice' (1987-1996), a sado-masochistic comic set in the late 18th century, during the heyday of the notorious Marquis de Sade. Loosely based on De Sade's 'La Philosophie dans le Boudoir' ('Philosophy in the Bedroom', 1795), the tale follows duke viscount Vauxhall of Nether Wallop and his female sex slave Janice. Apart from extensive sex scenes, the artist went through the effort of making the backgrounds and costumes as historically accurate as possible, working in close collaboration with the French writer, historian and collector Bernard Joubert.
'The Troubles of Janice' was a pleasing mix between eroticism and horror. Von Götha was aware of his predecessors and gave characters from other famous sex comics cameos, for instance John Willie's' 'Sweet Gwendoline', Frank Springer's 'Phoebe Zeit-Geist', Georges Pichard's 'Marie Gabrielle de Saint-Eutrope' and Guido Crepax' version of 'Justine'.
'The Troubles of Janice', volume 3.
'The Troubles of Janice' was serialized in Bédé Adult and first published in book format in 1987 by International Presse Magazine as 'Les Malheurs de Janice'. The series was also translated into German as 'Die Leiden der jungen Janice' ("The Suffering of Young Janice"), a humorous nod to Goethe's famous literary novel 'Die Leiden des jungen Werthers' (1774). An English-language version was published by Last Gasp in 1998. In France, a luxury edition of all four volumes was published in 2008 by Dynamite.
'The Dream of Cécilia'.
One-shot erotic comic books
Throughout the 1990s, several one-shot books by Robin Ray were published in France by the Centre Audiovisuel de Production (CAP) and Magic Strip. 'Prison Très Spéciale' ('A Very Special Prison', 1991) introduces a young woman to sadomasochistic prison life. The adventures of the red-haired and curious student Sophie take place in London at St. Hilary's College in 1958, and appeared under the title 'Curiosités Perverses de Sophie' ('The Education of Sophie', 1995). 'Le Rêve de Cécile' ('The Dream of Cécilia', 1995), revolves around the young and pretty Cécile, who is caught in a boring marriage and tries to find sexual fulfillment in her erotic dreams.
Twenty
Still in 1995, Erich Von Götha also released the first volume of his 'Twenty' series. Published by International Presse Magazine and later Dynamite/Canicule, 'Twenty' was a futuristic version of 'Janice', set in the (then) faraway year of 2018. The series follows the sexual adventures of Twenty, a 18-year old girl, who attends a special college for young girls. Twenty enjoys her libertarian education in sexual freedom and proves to be a "gifted" student. Twenty ends her education in 2020, which Ray predicted would be a "new era of sex". Interestingly enough, Ray lived long enough to actually experience the year 2020 in real life, which, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and all its lockdown measures, was indeed a "new era" in the field of sex, though not in the way the author might have foreseen.
With long intervals, new installments of 'Twenty' were published in 2005, 2008 and 2011. In 2024, the fifth and final volume was released by Dynamite, which was remarkable, considering the artist Robin Ray turned 100 that year.
'Twenty'.
Book illustrations
Under various pseudonyms, Robin Ray has also worked as a book illustrator. He provided artwork for a previously unpublished manuscript called 'Le Sentiment de la Famille' (1996) by Pierre Louÿs (1870-1925), a Belgian-French writer known for his lesbian-themed work. His art also graced a 2003 re-edition of the 18th century British erotic novel 'Fanny Hill or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure' by John Cleland for The Scarlet Library. In 2007, he illustrated 'Journal of Sartine' (Éditions Astarté), set during the reign of French king Louis XIV and based on the life of Antoine de Sartine, who was lieutenant-general of the Parisian police and Minister of War.
Later years
Since the 1980s, Erich Von Götha has additionally produced many erotic paintings for friends and fans and published several art books with Larmes d'Eros in Paris. Many of his prints and commissions combine eroticism with mythological themes.
Books about Erich Von Götha
The artist's old friend Bernard Joubert wrote a biography about the man, which was published under the title 'Les Carnets Secrets d'Erich von Götha' (Dynamite, 2016). This highly recommended book provides many new facts and insights about the life and work of this, until then, mysterious artist.
'The Education of Sophie'.