Barxotka

A Velvet Rasputin Production

A collection of tragic graphic novellas for adults about a dead Soviet-era smuggler and his lovers. Featuring content from the now retired Rasputin Barxotka webcomics and new never before seen material.

Written by: Vas Littlecrow Wojtanowicz and Loki Kaspari

Illustrated by:Vas Littlecrow Wojtanowicz and Amanda House (neé Wearstler)

Crossover: Created in conjunction Full-Force Studios

Genres: Crime, Military, Psychological Thriller, Metaphysical, Horror, Erotica, LGBT, Gay, BL

The Barxotka Stories

An experiment inspired by the Gutterotica Manifesto

I Turned Into A Cherub Because Of Alien Sex: A Barxotka Story

This book starts out like a B-movie about space aliens - quite literally. A small contingent of the Red Army wages a half-assed battle with intergallactic weirdoes riding mechanical tentacle monsters and komodo dragons on a blue screen. As the story moves along, it turns into a very gay pseudo-gnostic morality play with a weird Jack T. Chick on acid sensibility. (Please note that when we say, "very gay," we are talking about the, "two dudes in love," sense of the word, so stop getting your underpants in a bunch, Tumblr denizen.) I Turned Into A Cherub Because Of Alien Sex: A Barxotka Story is probably exactly as deliciously messed up as you assume it to be. It features an beautiful hand-painted cover by the artist formerly known as Amanda "Mandarr" Wearstler, Rev. Vas Littlecrow Wojtanowicz's schizophrenia-fuled creativity, and Loki Kaspari's attempts at trying to make it semi-comprehensible. MORE...

The Wanted: A Barxotka Story

The Barxotka team is back, and we have another story for you. The literary genre that The Wanted: A Barxotka Story falls under happens to be erotica. Alas, that's not correct, and we only made that selection because our distribution outlet made us. "Erotica" would mean that this story should be a beautiful and idealized frolic into arousal for the reader, which it is not. Uncomfortable themes abound and the adult action is only there as a necessary part of the relationship navigation and emotional drama, which are probably more interesting than the sex itself. We could call it "cartoon porn", but that's not quite right either. There's definitely too much plot for that. Perhaps "yaoi" is a better label? Oh goodness no, THIS IS RUSSIA! Although some observable manga influence exists, there's too much belly fat, body hair, boobs and chunky Mikhail Larianov-inspired art to fuss with bishie boys. So let's be honest, this is a tragic Latin American-style telenovela set in the Soviet Union about a pair of former kissing cousins in love with a man who deserves neither of of them, and the mysterious secret society he wants to join. If that turns you on, then get the book and turn those pages. MORE...

The Accused: The Trial Of Camello Basma, An Accursed And Unrepentant Homosexual Bandit

Vas and Amanda are back in the latest Barxotka story. Camello the smuggler goes on trial as he faces expulsion from his extremely conservative village for adultery. Two of his other lovers get caught in the crossfire. MORE...

I Have Problems....

(A.K.A. Dissident Priest, and also Tsarkias.) This is a spin-off series based on the controversial webcomic about a male victim of sexual exploitation that nearly resulted in Velvet Rasputin going bankrupt and out business. Our primary patron didn't like the way the art production was going. He pulled all his funding from our organization, which screwed things over pretty royally. As devastating as that situation was for everyone involved, Mr. Money Bags wasn't wrong. So, we fired the fancy Big 2-style comic artist, cajoled Vas into redrawing the entire comic book in a less mainstream style (which Vas agreed to very grudgingly,) re-lettered entire sections, rewrote some others, and uncensored a few little details that may affect Tsar's status as one of Velvet Rasputin's fan favorite characters.

Check out this spin-off's website.

Testimonials

"(Rasputin Barxotka) It is something so unique, hard-edged, and affecting that it defies even the multiple genres in which it might fall. It is not for the squeamish, but it is something that deftly shows a part of the world and the human spectrum of emotions and sexuality that most might not (but should) consider." ― N.K.

"(Velvet Rasputin’s work is) like C. S. Lewis, if C. S. Lewis wrote about Russians, Rroma, and ritualistic petit et grand mort" ― K.M.C.

"There is an boundary-pushing, experimental quality to (these) comics that I like…" - E.R.

History (Contains Spoilers)

by Vas Littlecrow Wojtanowicz

To say that Rasputin Barxotka’s history has been bumpy, dirty and rewarding is nothing short of an understatement. Honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way. If you know your Velvet Rasputin history, you probably know that the original Rasputin Catamite was supposed to be a seven-day online project that ended up sprawling into something closer to a decade. Rasputin Barxotka had a similar snowball effect. Here’s what happened:

On May 8, 2006, the online version of the Velvet Rasputin ‘zine, Rasputin Catamite, was split in two. Laws concerning “adult” Internet content became pretty hostile to outsider art in general. To err on the side of legality and caution, I felt that divergence would be the best way to stay true to my vision online. The more extreme spin-off of Rasputin Catamite, Slave-Butt for Satan, was hosted by a now defunct British online art collective site. Unfortunately, the United Kingdom also acquired a broomstick to shove up its national ass, and threats of legislation against “extreme pornography” caused credit card processing options to vanish. Even the hosting situation was ridiculously unstable. The whole experience was quite aggravating. I ended up building a new site for my birthday, on November 8, 2010.

Slave-Butt for Satan was re-branded using the name of the Spanish and Russian version of the same webcomic, Before earning the domain name and its status as a stand alone webcomic, the "Bahktale Vasquez Hates Camello" side story was only supposed to be thirty-two pages long (or thirty-two weeks, in weekly webcomic metrics.) Before going online, Lucky was supposed to be a closeted gay alcoholic. His friend, Camello was an eccentric, perpetually pissed-off, but ultimately supportive straight ally.

In the middle of me writing that script and making thumbnails, I noticed that something felt off. I asked a little voice in my head, “(Camello,) honey, are you always angry because you’re gay?” The answer was too loud to ignore. I screamed to my assistant, slaveboy thom, “Oh my God, Camello just told me that he’s gay!” The two characters became a lot more interesting and I couldn’t stop writing about them.

Eventually, I switched hair colors between the two characters. Camello got the youth and drinking problem instead. The whole thing snowballed from there with the help of my collaborators, Loki, Gnomie and Mandarr.

This webcomic was a lot more experimental than the post-reboot incarnation Rasputin Catamite by design. The story structure was not linear and was created as pure stream of consciouness. Before the divergence, Rasputin Catamite mostly functioned as an idea generation laboratory for my burlesque act. After the split, Slave-Butt for Satan (and by default, Rasputin Barxotka,) took over that function. Meanwhile RaspCat, became more conventional in its narrative and visual style. True to its original function, Rasputin Barxotka, remained a non-linear collection of style-shifting short stories designed to flesh out the Velvet Rasputin Universe, explore characters motivations, and where I ultimately wanted to go creatively. The webcomic ended on May 15, 2014 because of a car accident that left me unable to draw for six months.

When the print version of the first Barxotka story came out, it did not translate well to the new format. Although the story mostly remained the same, the structure of the narrative was changed and a new version of the book was published on February 6, 2019. Non-linear stream of consciouness storytelling just did not translate well to the new format.

The follow-up book, The Wanted, which came out on April 24, 2013 is in its second edition and remains Velvet Rasputin's best selling title. Other Barxotka stories include The Accused and the spin-off series, I Have Problems... (a.k.a. Dissident Priest)