At its peak, Carnal also had a color section in each issue of Oui on newsstands, and its stars were doing regular TV and radio promotions on shows with Howard Stern, Jenny Jones, and others.
Around the same time, an illustrator named SS Crompton submitted some sketches in hope of landing assignments with Revolutionary Comics, including a drawing of a sexy character dubbed Demi the Demoness.
The first three Carnal Comics were to be printed and released all at once, but Revolutionary’s printer objected to what it perceived as “demonic” content in Demi The Demoness and refused to work on it.
That job was moved to a Canadian printer (who later earned all of Revolutionary’s substantial business) and the three inaugural Carnal Comics were finally released in 1992.
Sanford soon announced that Revolutionary had signed porn star Sarah Jane Hamilton to co-script a three-issue series, telling her life story.
Each issue would also have a second fictional story scripted by Sarah-Jane herself, taking place in different time periods and featuring the popular British redhead meeting up (and getting intimate) with various historical figures.
Managing Editor Jay Allen Sanford made a deal to acquire rights to the Carnal title and formed a company called Re-Visionary Press to publish the series.
The Million issue, and many early Carnal Comics, were drawn by a female artist calling herself Fauve (she was later known by her real name, Holly Golightly).
In the late nineties, Carnal expanded and began launching additional titles, sometimes several per month, such as Porn Star Fantasies, Superstars Of Erotica, The Golden Age Of Triple-X (adaptation of vintage adult films), the psychosexual horror series Nightingale: Mistress Of Dreams and many others.
Scripted by Jay Allen Sanford, participating in its creation were dozens of the major figures of the erotic film industry including Marilyn Chambers, Bill Margold, Hyapatia Lee, Porsche Lynn, Nina Hartley, Seka, Kay Parker and dozens more producers and performers, including the elusive Gerard Damiano, who directed the original Deep Throat film.
A big boost came from joining forces with Adam & Eve, at that time the largest mail order catalog of adult merchandise in the world.
The women who starred in Carnal Comics were promoting the line on Spice (the channel owned by Adam and Eve), the Playboy Channel, and TV shows like The Jerry Springer Show and Geraldo, and the comics generated positive press in Hustler, Chic, High Society, Screw, Adult Video News, and dozens of other major magazines.
[5]In 2001, Re-Visionary Press handed over the Carnal Comics imprint to Opus Graphics, the firm set up by Crompton to publish its titles.
Creator-owned Carnal editions have been launched by one-time Howard the Duck and Doctor Strange artist Frank Brunner and Stickboy creator Dennis Worden.
Popular pinup painter Todd Borenstein also contributed several Carnal cover portraits (Letha Weapons, Christi Lake, Roxy Rider, etc.).
The very first Carnal comic to feature a porn star – Sarah-Jane Hamilton #1 – sported a cover by Ken Meyer, Jr. (Ghost Rider, Magic: The Gathering, etc).
For its next comic/films Carnal teamed up with former porn legend Veronica Hart, who was directing two movies featuring comeback appearances by women who'd long been out of the adult film business but whose names were still legendary - Ginger Lynn and Marilyn Chambers.
The adults-only film, directed by Steve Steele and co-written by current Carnal publisher and Demi-creator SS Crompton, featured Demi and co-star Vampirooni fighting an evil but beautiful witch.