Exclusive Excerpt: Steven T. Seagle & 19 International Pals Bare it All in Get Naked

Steven T. Seagle is best known today as a co-founder of Man of Action Studios, the creative think tank behind Cartoon Network’s massively successful Ben 10 franchise. Alongside fellow comic creators Joe Casey, Joe Kelly and Duncan Rouleau, Seagle parlayed his success on books like Uncanny X-Men into prime-time kids programming, breaking several Cartoon Network records in the process. His bibliography has always leaned more adult, though, with long stints on Vertigo’s House of Secrets and American Virgin, the former with frequent collaborator Teddy Kristiansen, who nabbed an Eisner for his work on Seagle’s deeply personal It’s a Bird… graphic novel. Seagle’s latest project is unlikely to make the jump to Cartoon Network (or any American cable network): Get Naked pays truth to its title as a collection of 19 graphic essays about the awkwardness and enlightenment of getting naked around other people in non-sexual contexts.

Get Naked specifically focuses on Seagle’s experiences while nude and out his element, and the artistic roster is fittingly international: Emei Olivia Burell, Tina Burholt, Patricia Amalie Eckerle, Christoffer Hammer, Andrada-Aurora Hansen, Rebekka Davidsen Hestbæk, Hope Hjort, Angelica Inigo Jørgensen, Bob Lundgreen Kristiansen, Silja Lin, Sim Mau, Ingvild Marie Methi, Thorbjørn Petersen, Aske Schmidt Rose, Erlend Hjortland Sandøy, Mads Ellegård Skovbakke, Cecilie “Q” Maintz Thorsen, Fred Tornager and Thomas Vium all illustrate tales of Seagle dropping trousers from Hollywood to Tokyo.

“For most of my life I had massive reservations about getting naked,” Seagle said in the initial press release. “But the more I traveled the world, and found myself in uncomfortable situations, the more it became obvious that the American anxiety of ‘I’m not taking my clothes off in front of anyone else unless it’s to have sex with them’ is unique—and not in a good way—to the U.S.” Get Naked is Seagle’s way of addressing that taboo in comedic, “graphic” fashion. Paste has an exclusive first look at a full essay from the book below, illustrated by Portuguese-born cartoonist Sim Mau.

Get Naked hits comic stores on February 7th and bookstores on February 13th courtesy Man of Action and Image Comics.