Molly Kiely

Molly Maud Kiely (born October 10, 1969)[1][2] is a Canadian-American alternative cartoonist best known for erotica.[3] Her work is published by Fantagraphics/Eros Comix and has influenced other artists such as Jess Fink.[4]

Kiely was born in Bracebridge, Ontario, raised in Kitchener, and attended the University of Waterloo.[5] She has liked drawing her whole life,[5] and discovered comics through Krazy Kat and Li'l Abner.[6] She created her first minicomic in 1991 at the San Diego Comic-Con.[7] She left Canada for San Francisco in 1992.[1]

Her first comic, Communion, was a collaboration with J. Hagey based on a stream-of-consciousness poem about a one-night stand.[7] It was published by the Eros Comix imprint of Fantagraphics in 1992.[8] In 1993, Wooley Comics commissioned her to do a comic adaptation of Marquis de Sade's novel Philosophy in the Bedroom.[8]

She describes her work as "clean line style" that has been compared to Aubrey Beardsley and Jaime Hernandez.[5]

The pornographic nature of her work sometimes draws judgement from feminists who see her as helping men exploit women.[9] Under Subsection 163 of the Canadian Criminal Code, the Canadian Customs and Post Office occasionally confiscated Kiely's work when it was being mailed between her and Eros in 1995.[8]

She had a daughter with her husband in 2007[7] before being widowed in 2015.[2] As of 2017, Kiely resides in Tucson, Arizona with her daughter.[1][2]