Paula Meadows and friends: rare spanking art from Fessee and Februs

Though the introductory artworks I have come across during my travels through the classic spanking magazines available at the Spanking Art Wiki are a delight in themselves, there are few things more glorious than a Paula Meadows spanking drawing I have never seen before...

This depiction of two unfortunate maids being birched in public must surely go straight into the list of her greatest works.

In the letters page of the following issue a reader attempted to tell the story behind the picture, accompanied by a helpfully annotated version. Though in truth I found their interpretation rather uninspiring (the maids are being birched for forgetting Mr Carruthers favourite game pie, with him being unsatisfied with his wife's plan to give them each Six of the Best with the cane when they get home).

I had always pictured the birch-wielder as the butler, with the watching man being the master. As in  Paula's other works such as 'Sophisticated Ladies' and 'Summer Vacation', the butler and footmen will be visiting even greater humiliations on the maids when they return below stairs (particularly impudent Polly!)

Though if the spectating man is indeed Veronica's fiance, then that smirk will soon be wiped off her face, with her soon-to-be husband being inspired to introduce her to the birch (and more) on their wedding night.

As you can probably tell from the presentation of these pictures, the centre pages of Fessee contained a full double-page spread of a single drawing by Paula. Though most them are available online, this outstanding depiction of a whipping in the Sultan's harem is another I never seem to have come across before...

In the final issue of Fessee, 'The Fox Hunt' provides the perfect reasoning for the attraction of female riding gear, for which I have quite the fetish despite having absolutely no horsey disposition whatsoever:

I have always found the sight of a mature woman in tightly fitting jodhpurs incredibly erotic. No other clothing shapes and exemplifies a woman's buttocks like a pair of jodhpurs... I find the vast majority of women riders in jodhpurs possess a pair of buttocks which can be justifiably proud of displaying.

And this spoiled squire's daughter displays rather more than she intends where her fiance pulls down her jodhpurs to give her the sound spanking she so sorely needs!

Fessee magazine only lasted 11 issues, but Janus was later joined by the similar magazine Februs – perhaps the market wasn't ready for Fessee in the 1980s, but the naughty 1990s were ready for Februs? And apart from Paula Meadows' extra involvement, I'm still not entirely sure what differentiates Februs from Janus, though a lot of the stories in Paula's mag are definitely steamier and this adds another element to the artwork.

When her friend reveals that her ex was into spanking in 'A Shoulder to Cry On' (Februs 40), the secretly kinky Charlotte decides to pay him a visit...

'The Ritual' in Februs 11 seems to me more like a 'Janus' sort of story... but I can't really work out why! To secure her inheritance, each year on her birthday a wealthy heiress must return to her homeland and endure a public whipping in front of the servants, with the number of strokes equalling the number of her age in years...

Fessee seemed to have a lot of office-based/secretarial stories, some of which are very much a product of their time.

In 'Not in the Contract' (Fessee 2) an unworldly solicitor gets a swift introduction to spanking when he takes over from his deceased partner and discovers he is required to punish a female client whenever she overspends her allowance, according to her guardian's will. The female client is very similar to Paula Meadows – and she always overspends!

'Skirting the Issue' in Fessee 4 is a story about a business owner who uses his female employees to satisfy his fetish for women in uniform. It makes for rather uncomfortable reading these days... I was surprised when I looked back to see the author was a woman!

'Learning the Ropes' in Fessee 5 is by the same author, though it is illustrated by 'Robert' rather than Paula. A young wife is expected to give up her career on marriage, but she finds housework a bore, is a poor hostess and spends too much time shopping to fill her time. Her husband declares he could employ a housekeeper and a mistress to fulfil her duties, but instead they both visit a professional dominatrix so he can learn to discipline her properly... 

Those were the days!

In 'The Landlady Cometh' (Fessee 6) a husband and wife learn that the young woman they've rented a flat to hasn't been paying her rates, and take the opportunity to cane her... 

Needless to say, they're all naked by the end of it!

Clearly many of these stories have dated considerably, but one that still resonates is 'Saddle Sore' (Fessee 5), where a middle-aged motorist has an altercation with an arrogant cyclist...

And then (with the help of his secretary) takes the opportunity to spank her later when she comes for a job at his firm!

Eager to please her new boss, she lets him take her home after work, and he takes the opportunity to introduce her to the cane before fucking her!

'The Musical Whip' in Fessee 7 is almost the reverse... a young woman does not fare well with her new employer, and is required to take a whipping before she leaves in return for a good reference.

And the female employees in 'Paper Chase' (Fessee 8) have quite the dilemma. If they want to stay in their job with its 'high salary...free coffee service...subsidised lunches, clothing allowance, bonus scheme and various other perks' they must submit to prolonged, humiliating punishment when they mess up...

Though in truth the punishment is more like foreplay, and by the end the naked young woman is begging for stronger treatment...

In 'The Junior' (Fessee 3) an office cleaner enjoys spying on a manager spanking his hapless secretaries. He is very strict with them, scolding and humiliating them and telling them they'll need to agree to be spanked if they want to keep their job (after they offer him sex for the same deal). So it's quite satisfying when the cleaner decides she wants the same and blackmails him into spanking her... if he wants to keep his job that is!

While Paula illustrated most of Fessee, she was occasionally joined by other artists. Kevin Walsh illustrated the 'Vanda Gunter' comic in the first three issues (with the promised fourth part never appearing). The style is similar to seminal comics by Coq/Bruno such as Flora's Life and The Secretary, which makes me wonder if he is the same artist (or perhaps COQ is an umbrella brand like Lustomic or Devin Dickie's QOS comics?)

Paula was even more dominant in Februs, with few guest artists appearing.

In 'The Investigation' (Februs 26) a journalist is caught sneaking into an exclusive club and punished by the resident dominatrix, with plenty of pictures being taken with her own spy camera to ensure she won't be able to print a thing!

While 'Caning Rooms' (Februs 46) is an entertaining (albeit extremely dated) send-up of Noughties reality TV shows, with some quite exceptional artwork by Paula that I don't think I've ever seen before.