Hardcastle, Anton and Paula Meadows: rare art from classic spanking magazines

I have recently discovered a treasure trove of classic spanking art that I have never seen before, by  legends of the genre such as Hardcastle, Paula Meadows and Anton. 

This is thanks to the Spanking Art Wiki, which provides links to an archive of classic spanking magazines such as Janus, Februs and Fessee. Having looked through them all, there are clearly many artworks by these artists and others that have never before been posted online (at least, I haven't seen them in my 20+ years of jerking off to spanking toons on the internet!)

So in the run up to Christmas and into the New Year, I will be posting all this artwork that I consider 'rare', i.e. I have never seen it online before and it wasn't previously part of my collection.

I remember seeing adverts for these magazines in 'traditional' porn mags in my youth, and then saw the artwork illustrating spanking adverts in the same magazines and of course online. But it took me a long time to realise that most of these classic drawings originated as illustrations for stories in spanking magazines (no doubt the older generation will punish me soundly for the naivety of my internet-addled mind).

The opening image of this post illustrates 'Yes Minister' in Janus 135, where a haughty British member of Parliament is tricked into taking a paddling from two of her old school chums as retribution for her youthful misdemeanours, while her young bodyguard looks on... 

...And is relied upon to provide her with some comfort in her hotel room after!

The prevalence of this amazing art is due to the fact that Janus had three of the finest spanking artists on its books throughout the majority of its run. My love of Paula Meadows' work is well documented, and Anton and Hardcastle really should also have had their own entries in my 'Artists I Love' series (in fact, Anton did in my original version of this blog).

Paula Meadows was the first 'resident' artist of Janus before she moved on to edit and illustrate her own magazines in the Janus stable: Fessee and Februs. Though you will have seen much of her work for Janus elsewhere, there are a few new ones I haven't seen before. Here she illustrates 'Red Hot Cinders' (Janus 21), the story of a goody-two-shoes who's never had the cane and is given an almighty thrashing just before she goes to university...

Hardcastle then took over from Paula and was the primary illustrator of Janus for 100+ issues. Having looked through every one of them, I can safely say that many of his best works have never been seen online before...

One wonders just who's fantasy this is? Given the content of the Janus stories, it could easily be the imagination of the customer, the salesgirl or her boss... or a combination of all of them!

Hardcastle's art faded away towards the end of Janus's run in the late nineties/early noughties, with no apparent reason and no acknowledgement given in the magazine as far as I can tell.

He was replaced as resident artist by Anton, whom I think we can all agree is an outstanding alternative. 'Suzy' in Janus 147 visits a disciplinarian to satisfy her craving for punishment, allowing him to fuck her when she discovers that it's his birthday...

And that was one of the less racy stories which Anton illustrated!

In 'Sophie Goes Heels Over Head' (Janus 145) Sophie is caned for flirting with (in fact, merely pouting at) the gardener. 

After fantasising about wanking off a handsome air steward on the way to stay with relatives in America, she is then caught sucking off a cowboy and punished in a rather exhilarating position that gives the story its name. This of course means poor Sophie doesn't get any 'pleasant' stimulation herself, though it's made clear that the rancher's wife will be reaping the benefits that evening!

Janus was a 'proper' magazine, with a Letters page and Editorials, and these often chronicled the difficulties of running an erotic spanking magazine. Clearly there was an attempt to crack down on such things in Britain in the 1980s, and Janus 79 even contained a summary of guidelines the magazine had received listing things that were 'no longer deemed permissible in modern Britain', including no marks (including blushing) on models, no physical contact depicted and only consenting punishment allowed in text and photos. In hindsight these guidelines seem ridiculous given what would be available on the internet barely ten years later, although other apparent restrictions such as an embargo on certain uniforms or scenarios were perhaps just a flavour of things to come...

While browsing through Janus I couldn't actually detect any change in tone or quality due to the guidelines, but later issues (perhaps due to the aforementioned internet) certainly seemed to get rather filthier in the content of their stories... and Anton's art was a perfect match!

In 'Fuel Crisis' (Janus 147) a strict husband spanks his wife for putting the wrong fuel in the car, even though it's later revealed that she didn't... Her only comfort is that he forgoes the last few strokes of the cane in order to fuck her (plus the expensive holiday she secures as recompense of course).

A landlord catches his lodger smoking weed and gives her a sound leathering in 'Grass Fire' (Janus 147).

 And then afterwards...

Zoe had more than the allotted five minutes to recover, but the whipping had set my mind in a certain direction and Zoe would not be allowed to leave my bed until matters had been attended to. She wouldn't be able to lie on her back or sit on her haunches, but on her knees and using her mouth, Zoe could, and would, bring the morning's exercise to a satisfactory conclusion.

...

When I walked back into the bedroom I was naked and Sir John was perking up his bulbous head. He'd taken a greater interest than usual in the proceedings...

In 'Heavenly Body' (Janus 152) very kinky vicar arranges to take thrashings from benefactors in exchange for donations to the church fund, while her husband looks on.

And though she is extremely taken with the second hunk who thrashes her, she doesn't break the Seventh Commandment... at least not in this story!

Some of the 'rare' pieces I will post are introductory pictures for stories, which presumably haven't been posted online because the artworks don't obviously contain spanking... even if the stories themselves very much did!

In 'The Sect' (Janus 66) a man visits his sister, who has married into a Sect where women must be submissive to men and receive punishment that goes rather beyond the traditional Christian domestic discipline...

However, many of these rare artworks are truly unique. These striking drawings illustrate 'The Four Pillars of Government' (Janus 138), featuring the flogging of a young Western woman who falls afoul of the authorities in a Middle Eastern country, with her punishment being broadcast around the world for all to see!

The newly oil-rich Middle East was still rather exotic during the time of Janus, and the magazine features plenty of stories of Western maidens falling afoul of strict Arabian laws and customs.

'A Painful Choice for Miss Peters' (Janus 47) is a traditional Arabian tale in which a proud English teacher is framed for drinking alcohol and stripped and whipped in front of a leering Arab colonel and a corrupt diplomat...

I'm sure it happens all the time in Dubai!

Clearly the Janus editors were extremely interested in the practices of other cultures and female perspectives, even after Paula Meadows left to work on Fessee. In 'A Reader's Fantasy' (Janus 42) a young Private is publicly thrashed after being caught in the men's barracks during her military training.

In 'Eastern Promise' (Janus 134) the strict headmistress of an exclusive finishing school thrashes a spoilt young woman across her riding breeches and then on the bare...

In front of a male member of staff to further increase the humiliation!

The historical stories are always enjoyable, partly because it is a bit easier to suspend disbelief and pretend they actually happened. In the second part of 'The Letters of Jane Fifield' (Janus 76) the young wife of a Colonel in the English Raj goes out riding against his orders and is hunted down and brought back in a most humiliating fashion, her husband horse-whipping her all the way!

Before he gives her a sound strapping (and more) back at the stables, while the servants listen with glee!

In 'Tutoring Miss Lillian' (Janus 127) a gentleman is employed as tutor to a wilful young woman, who he soon tames by putting across his knee and spanking her spoilt bottom!

When she later rejects his offer of marriage, he convinces her through judicious application of her own riding crop...

In a postwar reformatory, young women are thrashed in front of an all-male audience in 'Dobson's Choice' (Janus 137):

Given the age of the magazine, some stories could be seen as historical, but also as a dystopian (or perhaps utopian?) twist on the modern world where corporal punishment has come back into favour, or never went away.

Times must really be hard in the world of 'Stagestruck' (Janus 141), where the usherettes and serving girls interviewing to work in a theatre are willing to be spanked in order to secure a job.

Janus had a real mix of styles, and though the naughty fantasy-type stories were more the realm of Februs there are still plenty of them in its sister (or father?) magazine. In 'Sins of the Convent' (Janus 143) a strict Mother Superior punishes two very naughty nuns with the assistance of the visiting priest...

'It is for God to forgive you... It is for me to punish you.'

In 'Party to a Secret' a catfight at suburban party leads to the hostess and another female guest being stripped and soundly slippered in front of everyone!

A new spa opens catering to women who feel a need for discipline but aren't getting it in their private lives... leading to one customer receiving the 'Wrong Treatment' (Janus 141).

One hopes the pretty young receptionist will soon be sampling her employer's services as punishment for her mistake!

And in 'The Conscience Book' (Janus 144), an actress returns to visit her strict old landlady and helps her spank her current lodgers after she checks their punishment books... 

Two minutes of spanking for each black mark, and two strokes of the tawse or cane for each red mark!

And then afterwards the actress receives her own reminder of the older woman's hand and strap!