GENE BILBREW REVEALED: The Unsung Legacy of a Fetish Art Pioneer: 1 (African American Artists)

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They pulled off our wigs. The girls shrieked with delight, while the fellows flushed crimson realizing that all the pretty things they had said to the three ‘cousins' were actually said to boys. THE SAME YEAR that he and Grace separated, Stanton joined Ditko in a studio at 276 W. 43rd Street and revived the camaraderie of their C&IS days. He explained that since Spider-Man was so famous, it might draw attention to him as an artist if people knew he contributed to the creation of the character,” Amber wrote. “My brother and I were children and in school, and he feared that it could negatively effect our lives if people knew he was an erotic fetish artist.”

Note that Bilbrew still is true to his fetish roots. The boys wear exotic clothing including corsets, high heels, garter belts and tight panty girdles under their panties to ‘keep them modest'. The sorority girls in contrast look rather normal, almost plain compared to the cross-dressed boys. Island of Captive Girls, Prison for Women, [1] :205 The Whip Artist, [1] :88 High Heels in the Heavens, Madam Adista, Dangerous Years [1] :90 Satin Satellite, [1] :103 Exotique magazine [1] :120–122 Spider-Man’s face mask is unusual among superheroes. The mask covers the entire face. “Prior to Spider-Man,” Seves writes, “heroes had open faces (like Superman) or half-faces (like Batman).” We earnestly ask you to take each issue of EXOTIQUE home with you, read it carefully and let us know what you think of it. […]Almost at once Stanton recognized that art provided a unique satisfaction he did not experience in real life: not only access to a special fantasy world, but a sense of personal power: ‘I had control ... I could have the people I drew do anything I wanted’ he reflected in later years. ‘I was king of my world.’ Control and powerlessness—as mirrored in the secret subculture of the sexual fantasist–would become a major theme in his art. [...] Linderman, Jim. "A Long-Lost Artist of the 1950s Sexual Underground," Hyperallergic (January 5, 2015).

Something in Stanton’s psychological makeup dictated channeling and creating art as a means of attaining a proper balance and some measure of control in his life. The actual art he made—the artifact itself—was always less important than the process. [...] It was the process of making art that Stanton lived for; it was that process of exploration and discovery.Stanton seldom saw his erstwhile studio-mate in the years after they broke up the studio. He continued doing work until his death March 17, 1999, as “the most famous fetish artist in the world,” as Seves puts it. GENE BILBREW REVEALED: The Unsung Legacy of a Fetish Art Pioneer by Richard Pérez Seves. New York, Fethistory, 2019. ISBN 978-1072487548 EXOTIQUE is thoughtfully prepared and edited for those whose outlook on life is sound and hopeful: for those who find enjoyment in the bizarre and the unusual both in action and in attire. Why must we all be conformists… follow the crowd? Are we not able to think for ourselves, act as we feel and dress as we desire? This is an unbeatable combination and it IS within our reach.

Ditko, asked years later how he and Stanton met, said, “I liked the way he drew women.” More about their relationship anon. After her father’s death, she found Ditko’s phone number and called him. She wanted to know if he had any memories he could share. He couldn’t remember anything, she reported, and he denied that her father had anything to do with creating Spider-Man. I heard the sibilant rustle of silk behind me, and glanced over my shoulder to glimpse Pete and Jim mincing into the room on the arms of their Mistresses. We three did look like French Maids except perhaps for bulges missing in the proper places.This can be read in a single afternoon. Most of it is taken up by pictures, which is no complaint at all, given the fantastic quality of the art (this would be five stars if this book were bigger and in color), and the fact that almost nothing is known about Gene. We had a great working relationship,” Stanton recalled in a 1988 interview. “We were the only guys who could have gotten along with each other.” Seves quotes Ditko about the full-face mask: “I did it because it hid [Peter Parker’s] obviously boyish face. It would also add mystery to the character and allow the reader/viewer the opportunity to visualize, to ‘draw,’ his own preferred expression Peter Parker’s face and, perhaps, become the personality behind the mask.”