History ComicBook / AssociatedStudentBodies

%%* CampGay: Ricky. [[spoiler:Possibly [[BiTheWay Camp Bi]] going by the 7th issue and a folio picture.]]

%%* ComingOutStory

%%* APartyAlsoKnownAsAnOrgy: The New Year's party.

* BrickJoke: In Issue 5, when Daniel goes home for the holidays and his father starts getting a little too judgmental of [[EducationMama 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, [[CrowningMomentOfFunny she quips back]] [[BecauseISaidSo "When have you]] ''[[ToughLove not]]'' [[ParentalNeglect been anal]]?" This has an...interesting re-interpretation in one of the portfolios where it is learned that [[spoiler:apparently Alan doesn't have a problem with ''how'' his son has sex, just with whom. Unless he's a StrawHypocrite.]]

* ManlyGay / GymBunny / {{Leatherman}}: David and his friends at the leather bar. As Daniel puts it when he's forced into the same type of outfit, "[[BuffySpeak I look like a]] VillagePeople." Also, [[MeaningfulName Roy]] (and his pride) from the Pride Parade.

* TestosteronePoisoning: David again; the first time Daniel sees him, he's showing off by carrying Vince over his shoulder (and later has him draped across his lap at the dorm meeting). He also a) enjoys Daniel sneaking a look at him at the urinal (and being awed by his size), while implying Daniel's size is less impressive by telling him to "keep it tucked in so it won't get cold" b) is perpetually shirtless c) is the first to suggest violence in dealing with the gay-bashers and d) is extremely hurt Daniel chooses to have fun with the equally burly, masculine Roy instead of himself (and complains to Vince that he's "losing his touch." Tina even calls him "testosterone poisoned" in one story.

%%* IHaveNoSon: Alan, once the truth about Daniel comes out. [[TheFundamentalist Sad, really]].

%%* PapaWolf: Marcus, to Daniel. And how. [[AnimalMotifs Literally]].

%%* SpaghettiKiss: Parodied in the bonus art on Issue 3's fan mail page.
* STDImmunity: The comic ignores STD's completely, and condoms are never used by any of the characters, even tough [[ReallyGetsAround they live]] [[AllGaysArePromiscuous 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".

%%* TestosteronePoisoning: David again. Tina even calls him "testosterone poisoned" in one story.

%%* TimmyInAWell: Parodied with ... [[JustForPun guess who]].
%%** [[RunningGag I thought I said not to call him that!]]
%%** [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Wait, I thought Timmy was in a tree?]]

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 ''[[http://www.spooo.com/ Spooo Presents]]''. He's also recently opened up an [[http://www.furaffinity.net/user/chrismckinley/ account]] at Website/FurAffinity, to the delight of many ASB fans. (Warning: The page is 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=].

* TheCastShowoff: Meta example of a sort--while obviously being the writer of the comic showed he had writing credentials already, the side story with Gerald at the poetry reading club allowed Lance Rund to show off his poetry skills--and apparently he received a great deal of praise for it, to judge by the reader response page for the next issue. In-story, Tiny's medical journal paper and Ricky's Valedictorian speech allowed them to show off their lesser seen skills and talents.

* GoodAngelBadAngel: The cover of issue 4, in which Daniel is tempted by Allison, features her and Marcus as these on Daniel's shoulders. [[UnfortunateImplications She is depicted as the Good Angel, while gay, er, bi Marcus is the Bad Angel]]. However this could be a cross between FemaleAngelMaleDemon and some DeliberateValuesDissonance, since his father raised him to initially see straight as "good" and "right" and gay as "perverted" and "evil".

* BarefootCartoonAnimals: All the male characters; averted with the females. Unusual in that early on, the characters had very human-like feet.

* GeniusBruiser: Tiny's a giant football player with a reputation for unintelligence, but his thesis was good enough to be published in a medical journal.

%%* {{Goth}}: Gerald.

%%* IfItsYouItsOkay: [[spoiler:Ricky and Tina]], and later, [[spoiler:Ricky and Steven.]]

''Associated Student Bodies'' is an erotic FurryComic book written by Lance Rund and drawn by Chris [=McKinley=] along with a number of guest artists, published in eight issues from 1998 to 2000, followed up by a number of pornographic portfolios between 1998 and 2005. It centered on [[MeaningfulName Daniel King]], a young lion who arrives at Leland College but discovers 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 [[PornWithPlot porn]], of course. Compare ''{{Circles}}'', which is often cited as a SpiritualSuccessor but has none of the porn.

* ManlyGay / GymBunny / {{Leatherman}}: David and his friends at the leather bar. As Daniel puts it when he's forced into the same type of outfit, "[[BuffySpeak I look like a]] VillagePeople." Also, [[MeaningfulName Roy]] (and his pride) from the [[IncrediblyLamePun Pride Parade]].

* TheFundamentalist: 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 [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming making him happy]]. Being lectured by a priest on his beliefs also helps.

* [[NWordPrivileges 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 CampGay. Subverted as he's immediately called on it by Marcus who tells him he never wants to hear him talk like that again.

* AllGaysArePromiscuous: Played painfully [[IncrediblyLamePun 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 exaggerated sexual characteristics and abilities.
** A case could be made that showing such promiscuity is [[AllMenArePerverts actually being]] [[RealityIsUnrealistic true-to-life]], and that getting up in arms about it (but not about the portrayal of straight promiscuity--it's a college setting, look at ''AnimalHouse'' or ''{{Porkys}}''!) is a case of a DoubleStandard...except that showing gay promiscuity, however common or realistic it may be, is not exactly conducive to encouraging acceptance of gays by the mainstream. Yes, ''everyone'' has sex, it is part of life, especially college life, but showing it isn't likely to earn much support for the cause. [[note]](Note that both of the above films did in fact receive a great deal of flak and criticism in the press when they came out. Nowadays such things are generally allowed in movies without anyone batting an eye because they set the benchmark for what came later. Due to the prejudice against gays it would probably be best not to include it, or else [[AudienceAlienatingPremise the audience will be driven away]] and it'll never get to be a benchmark.)[[/note]]
* AllThereInTheManual: 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. [[spoiler: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, [[http://www.furaffinity.net/full/2372682/ Marcus and Daniel are still together]] and are possibly HappilyMarried.]]
** Considering that the material listed under the spoiler is commissioned art and not written by Lance Rund, it's most likely not canon at all.

** AmbiguouslyBi: 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 ManlyGay 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.

* BerserkButton: 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.

* CampGay: Ricky. [[spoiler:Possibly [[BiTheWay Camp Bi]] going by the 7th issue and a folio picture.]]
* CastFullOfGay

* ComingOutStory

* EverybodyHasLotsOfSex
* EverythingsBetterWithPlushies: Issue 5's cover features most of the main cast as stuffed animals.

* {{Fanservice}}: 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.

** And you forgot about 90% of the {{Fanservice}} stories.
* FreudianExcuse: 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.

* [[NWordPrivileges 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 CampGay.
** Actually subverted as he's immediately called on it by Marcus who tells him he never wants to hear him talk like that again.

* {{Goth}}: Gerald.

* IfItsYouItsOkay: [[spoiler:Ricky and Tina]], and later, [[spoiler:Ricky and Steven.]]
* IHaveNoSon: Alan, once the truth about Daniel comes out. [[TheFundamentalist Sad, really]].

* PapaWolf: Marcus, to Daniel. And how. [[AnimalMotifs Literally]].
* APartyAlsoKnownAsAnOrgy: The New Year's party.
* {{Polyamory}}: Probably a lot of characters, but Ricky in particular.
* PornWithPlot

* [[ScaryBlackMan Scary Hyena]]: Tiny. Do not mess with his friends.

* SpaghettiKiss: Parodied in the bonus art on Issue 3's fan mail page.

** 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? (Barring a realistic bit of sexual confusion when he meets and is attracted to Allison...after which he's exclusively with males again.) A case could be made that Daniel had feelings for other males all along which were simply suppressed due to his [[TheFundamentalist Fundamentalist]] father, and Marcus simply allowed these feelings free rein until he became comfortable with himself...but this still could have been made more clear in the writing.
* TestosteronePoisoning: David again. Tina even calls him "testosterone poisoned" in one story.

* TimmyInAWell: Parodied with ... [[JustForPun guess who]].
** [[RunningGag I thought I said not to call him that!]]
** [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Wait, I thought Timmy was in a tree?]]

* IHaveNoSon: Alan, once the truth about Daniel comes out. [[TheFundamentalist Sigh]].

** A case could be made that showing such promiscuity is [[AllMenArePerverts actually being]] RealityIsUnrealistic true-to-life]], and that getting up in arms about it (but not about the portrayal of straight promiscuity--it's a college setting, look at ''AnimalHouse'' or ''{{Porkys}}''!) is a case of a DoubleStandard...except that showing gay promiscuity, however common or realistic it may be, is not exactly conducive to encouraging acceptance of gays by the mainstream. Yes, ''everyone'' has sex, it is part of life, especially college life, but showing it isn't likely to earn much support for the cause. [[note]](Note that both of the above films did in fact receive a great deal of flak and criticism in the press when they came out. Nowadays such things are generally allowed in movies without anyone batting an eye because they set the benchmark for what came later. Due to the prejudice against gays it would probably be best not to include it, or else [[AudienceAlienatingPremise the audience will be driven away]] and it'll never get to be a benchmark.)[[/note]]

** A case could be made that showing such promiscuity is [[RealityIsUnrealistic actually being true-to-life]], and that getting up in arms about it (but not about the portrayal of straight promiscuity--it's a college setting, look at ''AnimalHouse'' or ''{{Porkys}}''!) is a case of a DoubleStandard...except that showing gay promiscuity, however common or realistic it may be, is not exactly conducive to encouraging acceptance of gays by the mainstream. Yes, ''everyone'' has sex, it is part of life, especially college life, but showing it isn't likely to earn much support for the cause. [[note]](Note that both of the above films did in fact receive a great deal of flak and criticism in the press when they came out. Nowadays such things are generally allowed in movies without anyone batting an eye because they set the benchmark for what came later. Due to the prejudice against gays it would probably be best not to include it, or else [[AudienceAlienatingPremise the audience will be driven away]] and it'll never get to be a benchmark.)[[/note]]

''(Next panel. Caption: "Saturday morning...")''\

** 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? (Barring a realistic bit of sexual confusion when he meets and is attracted Allison...after which he's exclusively with males again.) A case could be made that Daniel had feelings for other males all along which were simply suppressed due to his The|Fundamentalist father, and Marcus simply allowed these feelings free rein until he became comfortable with himself...but this still could have been made more clear in the writing.

** 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? (Barring a realistic bit of sexual confusion when he meets and is attracted Allison...after which he's exclusively with males again.)

** A case could be made that showing such promiscuity is [[RealityIsUnrealistic actually being true-to-life]], and that getting up in arms about it (but not about the portrayal of straight promiscuity--it's a college setting, look at ''AnimalHouse'' or ''{{Porkys}}''!) is a case of a DoubleStandard...except that showing gay promiscuity, however common or realistic it may be, is not exactly conducive to encouraging acceptance of gays by the mainstream. Yes, ''everyone'' has sex, it is part of life, especially college life, but showing it isn't likely to earn much support for the cause. [[note]](Note that both of the above films did in fact receive a great deal of flak and criticism in the press when they came out. Nowadays such things are generally allowed in movies without anyone batting an eye because they set the benchmark for what came later. Due to the prejudice against gays it would probably be best not to include it, or else the audience will be driven away and it'll never get to be a benchmark.)[[/note]]

* AllGaysArePromiscuous: Played painfully [[IncrediblyLamePun 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.

* PapaWolf: Marcus, to Daniel. And how.

** 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?

** Wait, I thought Timmy was in a tree?

!!This work provides examples of:

''Associated Student Bodies'' is an erotic FurryComic 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 [[MeaningfulName 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 [[PornWithPlot porn]], of course. Compare ''{{Circles}}'', which is often cited as a SpiritualSuccessor 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... [[{{Fanservice}} other qualities]]. There are quite a few furries who strongly dislike it however. Its up for sale at the [[http://www.rabbitvalley.com/department_1290_0_0.html 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 ''[[http://www.spooo.com/ Spooo Presents]]''. He's also recently opened up an [[http://www.furaffinity.net/user/chrismckinley/ account]] at Website/FurAffinity, 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=].

** Considering the material listed under the spoiler is commissioned art and not written by Lance Rund, it's most likely not canon at all.

* ArtEvolution: 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.

* CoitusUninterruptus: 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. [[AllMenArePerverts And because he's naughty]]. Daniel's response? [[TheIngenue "You're weird."]]

** Wait I though Timmy was in a tree?