Sunday, 11 December 2005. Before a packed house at ‘Wesley Anne – House of Assembly’ on High Street in Northcote in Melbourne in Australia, the proud proprietor of Cardigan Comics, Bernard Caleo, made the speech which launched the sixth issue of the giant romance comics anthology into its public life. 146 pages. 50 contributors. 41 stories. All of them wrapped around love and sex. Caleo explained to the querelous crowd that Tango6 was not a comic book, not a comic book at all, but a bed, and invited all of them to turn aside the covers and climb on in. “It is a bed,” he reiterated “and beds mean sex like rain means snails.”
As much bemused as amused, the assembled crowd applauded politely before leaving the launch, each with a mulberry-coloured covered book tucked under their arm, each with a fire lit in their eye. They had research to do, and it wasn’t going to take place in broad daylight. ‘Tango6: Love and Sex’ will cost you twenty Australian dollars, and a little extra for postage – contact Bernard Caleo via his site http://www.cardigancomics.com/ to find out how money and comics can change hands.