Sweet Gwendoline is the main female character in the works of bondage artist

John Willie John Alexander Scott Coutts (9 December 1902 – 5 August 1962), better known by the pseudonym John Willie, was an artist, fetish photographer, cartoonist, specialty shoe designer, and the publisher and editor of the first 20 issues of the feti ...

, first published as a serial, usually two pages at a time, in Robert Harrison's mainstream girlie magazine ''Wink'' from June 1947 to February 1950 and later in several other magazines over the years. In Willie's drawings and

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

s, Gwendoline appears as a rather naïve blonde

damsel in distress The damsel in distress is a narrative device in which one or more men must rescue a woman who has been kidnapped or placed in other peril. The "damsel" is often portrayed as beautiful, popular, and of high social status; she is usually depicted ...

with ample curves, who is unfortunate enough to find herself tied up in scene after scene. She is rescued and also repeatedly tied up (though for benevolent reasons) by Secret Agent U-89. The moustachioed villain "Sir Dystic D'Arcy" was based on Willie himself.Glenn Daniel Wilson, ''Variant sexuality: research and theory'', Taylor & Francis, 1987, , p.15 Though it has been compared to '' The Perils of Pauline'', Willie stated that he had not seen the film or even heard of it until much later in his career. In

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, the

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

band

Die Ärzte (; ) is a German rock band from Berlin. It consists of guitarist Farin Urlaub, drummer Bela B and bass player Rodrigo González (musician), Rodrigo González. All three write and perform their songs. The band has released 14 studio albums. ...

recorded the song "Sweet, Sweet Gwendoline" that introduced her to a large part of the population that otherwise had no contact to the

BDSM BDSM is a variety of often Eroticism, erotic practices or Sexual roleplay, roleplaying involving Bondage (BDSM), bondage, Discipline (BDSM), discipline, dominance and submission, sadomasochism, and other related interpersonal dynamics. Given ...

subculture. German

gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie an ...

band Umbra et Imago, famous amongst the fetish goth scene, also recorded a song entitled "Sweet Gwendoline". In 1984, the stories were loosely adapted in ''

The Perils of Gwendoline in the Land of the Yik-Yak ''The Perils of Gwendoline in the Land of the Yik-Yak'' (original title ''Gwendoline'') is a 1984 Cinema of France, French Softcore pornography, softcore action comedy film directed by Just Jaeckin, written by Jaeckin and John Willie and starring ...

'', a film by

Just Jaeckin Just Jaeckin (8 August 1940 – 6 September 2022) was a French film director, photographer and sculptor. He was known for directing several erotic films, starting with ''Emmanuelle'' in 1974 and continued making movies until he retired from fi ...

starring

Tawny Kitaen Julie Ellen "Tawny" Kitaen ( ; August 5, 1961 – May 7, 2021) was an American actress. She began her career as a television actress, appearing in the television films '' Malibu'' (1983) and '' California Girls'' (1985). She also starred in the ...

in the role of Gwendoline.

References

British comics 1947 comics debuts Comics characters introduced in 1947 Fictional American people BDSM literature British comics characters Erotic comics Works published under a pseudonym British comics adapted into films Comics about women Female characters in comics Damsels in distress {{comics-char-stub