There are a handful of artists in the homoerotic genre that can truly be considered pioneers. One such trailblazer is Dom "Etienne" Orejudos, born on July 1st, 1933 in n Chicago IL. Many do not know that the internationally known erotic artist known as Etienne (A.K.A. "Stephen" his middle name and the English translation of his French pseudonym) danced with and was the Illinois Ballet Company’s resident choreographer for 13 years, choreographing over 26 ballets, including The Tin Soldier, The Firebird and Metamorphosis of the Owls. The recipient of three National Endowment for the Arts grands and three Emmy Awards, Dom Orejudos’ critically acclaimed choreography talents were sought for by ballet companies around the country.
A gymnast at McKinly High School, in his home town of Chicago, Etienne received a scholarship to the Ellis-DuBoulay School of Ballet and from there continued on to the Illinois Ballet Company. While still in High School, Dom was publishing his erotic works under the exotic sounding name of "Etienne" in pre-Stonewall gay “physique” magazines such as Tomorrow’s Man, Adonis, Physique Pictorial and The Young Physique.
He gradually refined a distinction in artistic names based on the medium he was working in. He kept Dom for his more ambitious oils, acrylics and pencil works (giving homage mythical men of might and brawn. Sometimes these large works show strong relationships to classical paintings of the past although he often interchanged the Greek and Roman gods with his leather-clad tough boys and waterfront thugs) and used Stephen for his cartoon-style pen & ink works.
While only 16 or 17, Dom met his future partner in 20 year old Chuck Renslow (Photographer and founder of physique pictorial publisher Kris Studios in the 50s). Chuck approached Dom and high school buddy Jim Klaja at the "Oak Street Beach" to ask him to pose for photographs. Chuck was immediately smitten with the young artist and helped and encouraged Dom to become a published artist. In 1963, when Renslow founded the physique magazine Mars, Etienne was a regular contributor. The two shared a relationship that lasted for over 40 years, partnering together for a number of ventures including International Mr. Leather, the Gold Coast Bar, Man’s Country, Zolar, Pyramid and Center Stage.
Etienne was a big fan of the work of Tom of Finland and vice versa. The two were introduced by mutual friend Durk Dehner (President of the Tom of Finland Foundation) who had this to say about the Etienne…
Etienne will go own in homoerotic history as being the quintessential humorist. His typical formats have one or more characters as the brunt of the joke, many times under severe physical torment, all for the sexual gratification of another of his ruffians. His relaxed mastery of figurative cartoon illustration, along with a superb ability for gutter dialogue, produced the kind of stories that we were always wishing for when reading Flash Gordon and Spider Man, but never got until Etienne/Stephen entered our lives.
Under the name of Stephen, Dom published story booklets filled with beautiful masculine studs (military men, ranch hands and other "tough guy bad boys from the wrong side of the tracks") in bizarre situations where the only release from the threat of death or severe sexual punishment was performing perverse, oftentimes humorous, sexual acts. "In fantasy anything is possible and nothing has consequences; for it’s just make believe." Like his friend and contemporary Tom of Finland, Dom worried that over time people might misinterpret his works. Etienne and ToF mutual friend Durk Dehner says that both artists believed "within the realm of fantasy and art there are no limits, and that is the fun of it, yet in the real world such unsafe "no-limits" scenarios are not acceptable.
Dom "Etienne" Orejudos died at the age of 58 of AIDS on Sept. 24 1991 in Boulder CO (where he had lived since 1981) and was posthumously inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in 1992.
Two perviously published volumes collecting his work may available thru the tertiary links found on the Etienne page of the QueerSUPE store. I haven’t found any more recent publications, Please let me know if you have knowledge of any others.
I’m torn. On the one hand, we have a gay cowboy in the Marvel Universe being drawn by one of my favorite old school veteran comic book illustrators. On the other hand although he can kick ass and sharpshoot with the best of the old west, the character is a stereotypical blousey queen in a cowboy hat… We have him fanning himself like a “prissy little southern belle,” doing Annie Oakley’s hair as they dish and sip Chardonnay. I know Ron Zimmerman was also the writer for the Rawhide Kid: Slap Leather mini that had much the same flavor. But to me it’s akin to the old hollywood fey gay played for laughs. I’d much rather see a grittier less tongue-in-cheek cowboy who happens to be gay than to take it over-the-top. That said, I DID enjoy the issue.
The best-dressed gunslinger the Wild West ever knew is back in the saddle again — and this time, he’s riding with a posse! That’s right, pardners, it’s a brand new rip-roaring adventure of the Rawhide Kid!
When Wyatt and Morgan Earp are taken hostage by Cristo Pike and his pack of pistoleros, Rawhide has no choice but to put together a posse of the greatest western heroes in the Marvel Universe – to rescue the Earp brothers and bring Pike to justice.
Howard Chaykin’s artwork has delighted me for decades. Noticeably less present is his usual cheesecake-centric approach. Fans of his work know what I mean. Chaykin is somewhat famous for his bodacious babes and slap and tickle titillating imagery. I’m hoping we’ll get to see his talents used to create some instantly classic beefcake instead, but that wish may go unfulfilled. We’ll see what time and the next 3 issues have to tell.
In his review, the proprietor of GayLeage specifically mentions 2 shots that follow some especially impressive shooting on the part of the Rawhide Kid. After he shoots he blows on both his guns, which is a move I remember mimicking as a kid when playing Western with cap guns.
What do you think? Gun blow job or homage to classic movie western moment?
A number of you sent me this recent article in the venerable New York Times about Skintight USA, a recurring gay spandex / superhero costume fetish party at the historic Stonewall Inn in NYC. It was a really interesting piece about the gay spandex subculture and got me back to thinking about something I had been considering when I started this blog. With all the annual gay events in San Francisco (PRIDE, Folsom, Dore Alley, Castro St Fair, Bear Weekend, Halloween etc) I’m surprised I haven’t seen more Superhero-Themed parties like these out here.
I did attend something called “Superhero Sunday” at Truck a few years back, and found they also held a Halloween party called Heroes & Villains in 2009 (not sure if it will be an annual event). I worked with the people behind a weekly Friday night party held at The Lookout called ACTIVATE on their concept and advertising. It was originally supposed to have a superhero flavor, but it never became what we discussed (we had plans for costumed gogo boys etc that never got past generic body paint) and devolved into a typical nightclub vibe before it was replaced by another weekly party.
I’ve heard of similar events in SoCal… During Comiccon, Rich’s Nightclub in San Diego hosts Young Heroes and MJ’s Bar in LA has been host to the Annual Hard Heroes party (Featuring Captain Lucky and his crew) for years, so there IS an audience. If I could figure out who to approach about finding/making quality sexy super costumes for gogo boys (hopefully pornstars), I might be able to interest some San Francisco nightlife connections I have in the idea of an HnH annual event that coincides with one of the major gay tourist weekends.
Thoughts? The way I picture it, people wouldn’t HAVE to dress up but would get discounted drinks and be eligible for prizes if they did. So I’m basically just sort of testing the waters. Seeing if people like the idea and if anyone out there has a skillset that might be useful or knows of anyone who would be interested. PLEASE comment no matter whether you love, hate or are completely indifferent to the idea. I realize it would be a lot of work and may be too late to get started for 2010, but maybe 2011?
Posted in Gay Comics, NSFW on 03/07/2010 03:47 pm by fanboi
Class Comics has released volume 2 of Tug Harder, chronicling the xxxploits of Doug Arder, an undercover photojournalist prepared to do whatever it takes to get the hottest unauthorized pictures he can. Of course he doesn’t realize how far his story will take him, this time or the next!
Tug Harder vol 1: Secretly photographing his exploits, he screws his way through a farmyard of hard working men; drunks, ex-cons and college dropouts alike. But Hell hath no fury like a redneck scorned!
Tug Harder vol 2: After being rescued by an alien force, Tug photograps his way through the mother ship and discovers a plot so big, that it will impact the entire human race! The farmhands from volume 1 have also been taken with him, and they are all "experimented" with in the most unthinkable of manners! There are unexpected, but not unplesant side effects to these experiments however!
INTERNATIONAL and HISTORIC HOMOEROTIC HALL of FAME NOMINEE:
Once called “the most influential creator of gay pornographic images,” Finnish Artist Touko Laaksonen (8 May 1920 – 7 November 1991), is better known by his pseudonym Tom of Finland. His extraordinary stylized homoerotic fetish art were a great influence on gay culture of the late twentieth century.
Tom of Finland was a prolific artist, producing over 3500 illustrations featuring heavily muscled gay archetypes such as lumberjacks, motorcycle policemen, sailors, soldiers, bikers, and leather-men engaged in the animalisticly fleeting intimate moments preceding or during sex. His hunky illustrations usually wear very little and what they DO wear is always nice and tight and generally partially removed.
At the age of 19, he moved to the country’s capital Helsinki to study advertising, where he also started secretly drawing homoerotic images for his own pleasure. Conscripted into the Finnish Army in February 1940, second lieutenant Touko Laaksonen served as an anti-aircraft officer during the Winter War. In 1945, he returned to studies at the art college, but later attributed much of his fetishistic interest in uniformed men to encounters he had with men in army uniform while serving.
His career as Tom of Finland began In 1956 when the conservative social climate prompted Laaksonen to use the anonymous name “Tom” when he submitted drawings to the influential American magazine Physique Pictorial. His image of two log drivers and a voyeuristic 3rd man was published on the cover and others appeared within the Spring 1957 issue, and the editor credited them to “Tom of Finland.”
From the late-1950s to the early 1960s, his style was definitely cramped by the U.S. censorship codes restricting depiction of “overt homosexual acts.” The outlawing of gay pornography by the conservative and homophobic social culture of the era forced homoerotic publications to disguise themselves as “fitness magazines” until the 1962 Supreme Court case of MANual Enterprises v. Day decreed nude male photographs were no longer obscene. The pretense of being about exercise and fitness was quickly dropped and the newfound freedom allowed Tom of Finland and his contemporaries to publish much more explicit drawings featuring characters with extremely exaggerated anatomical gifts.
Laaksonen’s vision was influenced by the stylized masculinity of the biker subculture that emerged after WWII. Prior to this era, society’s image of gay men was mostly limited to stereotypical effeminate sissies seen in Vaudville and early films. The art of Tom of Finland and his predecessors/influences (George Quaintance and Etienne) and followers both energized and commercialized an underground leather counter-culture which emerged after World War II and was most popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
The clothing, styling, and persona adopted by large numbers of gay men of the time illustrate the power of his work. Celebrities such as Glenn Hughes of The Village People and others who sported the Castro Clone look might well have just stepped out of a Tom of Finland drawing. Though the iconic leatherman style has evolved some since the height of its popularity in the mid 80s, Laaksonen’s images are still en vogue and appear regularly in today’s gay publications and on the walls of our bars, clubs and remaining bathhouses.
Not only has Tom of Finland’s work has been shown in a number of collections in museums internationally, inspired a documentary, and influenced leading artists of his time such as Andy Warhol, Robert Mapplethorpe, Pierre et Gilles and countless film makers, but it has also been appropriated by a number of other artists to inspire new works. Most notably in the late 1970s, Laaksonen’s art graced t-shirts featured at SEX, a popular store run by clothes designer Vivienne Westwood and partner Malcolm McLaren.
Durk Dehner and Touko Laaksonen founded the Tom of Finland Company in 1979 to help Tom control pirating of his work. When the AIDS epidemic hit the gay subculture hard in 1984, the Tom of Finland Foundation was formed as a non-profit educational archive to catalog, preserve, restore, and exhibit erotic art created by homoerotic artists many of whom were stricken and sought ways to preserve their works for posterity.
Tom of Finland’s artwork affected his contemporaries and every homoerotic artist who followed in his footsteps. Without his body of work where would the modern generation of homoerotic artists (Patrick Fillion, Ismael Avlarez, HvH, Carlos Garcia, Glenn Hanson, Michael Breyette, Ian Hanks and Josman to name a few) be? They all owe a debt of thanks to Tom of Finland.
I’ve been meaning to mention that in addition to their Digital Comics and recent first graphic novel length publication, Class Comics ALSO has a number of collection bundles, SO check em out! I’ve also included links to a number of individual titles as well…
The BIG LOADis an easy way you can get 39 current Class Comics titles ALL AT ONCE and SAVE a bundle! You get 39 of Class Comics erotic titles for $205 (a savings of $110 on a $315 value) The BIG LOAD Includes:
The perfect sampler of Class Comics titles – fifteen #1 issues of their hottest books for $99 (a savings of $33 on a #132 value) The Class Comics Greatest Hits Pack Includes:
CLASS COMICS:The European Editions — Previously only available overseas!!! $30 (a savings of $24 on a $54 value)
These Six LARGE FORMAT (11×7.75) Black & White comics are a great way to collect Class Comics core titles in a way that almost no one else does in NORTH AMERICA!
$20 (a savings of $20 on a $40 value) This pack contains five random comics with minor flaws (the cover might be scuffed, or have a corner bent, perhaps a bad trim job, or some other funky irregularity – nothing to ruin the comic, just enough that it is discounted.
Each pack will include at least four full color comics and a whackload of fun!
Except for his gender, age (37) and birthday (April 2 1972), little is actually known about the enigmatic homoerotic beefcake artist known only as HvH. His nom du illustration is not his initials but something he describes as a "game" on his name.
Email interviews with Nightcharm revealed HvH was a "well-known magazine illustrator and advertising exec before he remade himself as HvH, homoerotic Master of the Man-Bear."
Here are links to his published works – more on these below…
HvH’s men are often a bit meatier many of the subjects of other gay erotica, but his loving touch deftly captures the beauty of all sorts of body types – from twink to bear and everything inbetween.
In addition to fellow contemporary gay artists Glen Hanson and Patrick Fillion. HvH also cites a 1960’s Portuguese artist named João Abel Manta (”the thick outlines and the sense of design”) as a major artistic influence (which may be a clue to his country of origin). A traditional artist at heart, HvH sketches out all his images with pencil and paper before scanning and vectorizing them so he can refine them as line art and then convert back to bitmaps so he can add color, photographic textures and his distinctive shading with a digital pen.
HvH’s Blog is called HVHExpo, and while it hasn’t been updated in awhile, it is chock full of images such as the ones included in this gallery. HvH posts preview images of upcoming projects (such as 3 covers for Eric Arvin novels: “Subsurdity”, “Suburbilicious” (his Jasper Lane books), and “Slight Details and Random Events” as well as behind-the-scenes sketches along with the artists observations.
The past few years have been good for HvH. In 2007 Class Comics has published In the Blink of An Eye… a graphic novel containing three all new xxx vignettes featuring the manly men of HvH.
In 2008 was doubly blessed as he released two volumes. The first is a beautiful hardcover coffee table edition called Gone to the Movies – collecting HvH’s wilful new gay interpretations of famous movie posters. His second book of that year is the deluxe 24 page Class Comics Portfolios HvH. I’m not sure what if anything he’s been up to in 2009, the last entry at his blog is July 9 2008.
HvH’s art can be seen in “In the Blink of an Eye” published by Class Comics titles and in a gay superhero strip called “The Adventures of Link” at FRESHMEN (a preview page is included in the gallery above along with 2 earlier versions).
Canadian born Glen Hanson (a.k.a. G-MAN) is an openly gay cartoonist and illustrator of homoerotic images who has been on the payroll of Disney and Hanna-Barbara, as well as Torso, Inches and Honcho magazines! He’s best known for his beefcake-laden commercial art and as co-creator with Allan Neuwirth of the comic strip Chelsea Boys. In addition to his stylized advertising campaigns, Hanson has also worked on CD covers and the animated television series Babar, Beetlejuice, Daria and Spy Groove (for which he received an Annie Award).
Glen Hanson maintains an online portfolio at GlenHanson.com
He’s done a lot of great work and his style may look familiar as his illustrations have appeared in a multitude of publications around the world including BRITISH VOGUE and GQ, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, NEWSWEEK, THE WALL ST. JOURNAL, MAXIM, FHM and VARIETY. Not to mention his oh-so-gay looking (with that too perfectly chiseled physiqued pretty-boy – I loved it, but I didn’t see it appealing to the typical straight comic book fanboy at the time) Bod body spray illustrated campaign appearing over consecutive months in mainstream comic books awhile back.
He came up with the name G-Man to seperate the work he did to pay the rent (illustrating as Glen Hanson for magazine like Ladies Home Journal and Good Housekeeping) from the hunky fantasy studs he’s been drawing since his teen years. Unfortunately, his earliest beefcake works are long lost to some landfill somewhere becasue he threw them away in "misguided religious fervor."
It wasn’t until he moved away from his hometown of Toronto to the Big Apple that he learned how lucrative his hot toon studs could be. Inspired by the beautiful boys of NYC, he was soon illustrating a line of greeting cards and calendars. His images "proliferated throughout gay New York, where most American advertising and editorial art directors are" and soon work poured in (Spy Groove for MTV, a line of Sex and the City Paper Dolls, even more adwork and the video for the Shiny Toy Guns single Ghost Town.) to raise his profile considerably.
In 2004, Bruno Gmunder published the first hardbound collection book of his world famous sexy “G-MEN” images, the self-titled, G-Man. Glen Hanson’s “G-MEN” can also be found on the cover as well as inside Stripped: The Illustrated Male, Bruno Gmunder’s latest gay erotic illustration compilation book.In 2004, Bruno Gmunder published the first hardbound collection book of his world famous sexy “G-MEN” images, the self-titled, G-Man. Glen Hanson’s “G-MEN” can also be found on the cover as well as inside Stripped: The Illustrated Male, Bruno Gmunder’s latest gay erotic illustration compilation book.
You probably recognize GManLA’s style from Chelsea Boys, the syndicated comic strip following the carefree adventures of three kooky roomates he illustrates with Allan Neuwirth. There are two collections of the strip, and has even been talk of an animated version of LOGO, but the project is on hold. Together Glen and Allan also wrote Wonder Woman VS. The Red Menace for DC COMICS.
INTERNATIONAL and HISTORIC HOMOEROTIC HALL of FAME NOMINEE:
Pioneer homoerotic beefcake Illustrator Oliver Frey (a.k.a Oli Frey, a.k.a. Zack, a.k.a. Clint) was born in Zurich, on 30 June 1948. He grew up fluent in Italian ( his parents hailed from Ticino, the Italian-speaking canton of Switzerland) and German. His family moved to Britain in 1956 but subsequently returned to Switzerland where he followed an American correspondence course called The Famous Artists during his high school years.
As a child Frey loved The Eagle comic and taught himself to draw by copying the drawings of Eagle’s artists. As an adult was able to fulfil his childhood dream by working on the revived version, drawing the strip Dan Dare. Frey began his carreer as an illustrator of childrens books and comics to pay his way the London Film School, illustrating for IPC Media’s Look and Learn magazine, including the strip The Trigan Empire.
Oliver’s brother Franco and Roger Kean founded the computer magazine CRASH in 1983, and Oli became the illustrator for CRASH and its sister magazines Zzap! 64, Amtix and The Games Machine. Many of Frey’s earlier covers featured seemingly random homoerotic images of bare chested youths that had nothing to do with the issue’s content. You can check out much of his commercial work here.
Oliver Frey is sometimes better known as Zack or Clint, which are noms de plume he used for much of his explicit work published in the 70’s and 80’s in a few British gay magazines. Oli Frey may be the most widely-seen of all gay porn artists simply because he drew some Superman pages seen briefly at the beginning of the 1978 Superman.
After years of drawing innocents, Frey found a new genre when he met Alan Purnell and began creating the Hitchhiker drawings. Originally the images were intended for Playguy Magazine but they ended up in Him Magazine, where Frey created his popular gay bad-boy hero, Rogue who combines "the mystery of James Bond, the passion of Cassanova, the exploits of the Marquis de Sade and the imagination of Tom of Finland."
Oliver Frey’s Rogue embodies a whole mythology of gay sex. Some identifed with his predatory nature and others identified with or wanted to be counted among his victims who were generally Rogue’s equal in physical appeal if not in experience. Frey’s extremely homoerotic comics usually show the reader attractive young men in sexual peril, either forced into situations beyond their control or driven to dangerous situations by their own unrestrained libido.
Frey’s work was part of an underground era unfetterrered by things such as political correctness, and there are some failrly hot if COMPLETELY politically incorrect subjects of which he left us with graphic interpretations. More on that in the Poll after this gallery…
Since the late 90s, Oliver Frey has been working as publishing director for Thalamus Publishing in Shropshire, which specializes in illustrated historical reference titles.
Although I’ve featured a number of his hot homoerotic Class Comics beefcake illustrations, I’ve really been horribly remiss in putting together a gallery for the prolific Patrick Fillion, so here you go!
Homoerotic comics artist Patrick Fillion was born in the province of Quebec, Canada, in 1973 where he was raised Catholic, but when he was 6 his family moved to British Columbia. It was there that he discovered his first comics … the Uncanny X-Men. He fell in love with the characters, but his inability to read a word of English inspired him to learn the new language so he could find out what they were saying. It was the beginning of a fanboy geeklove that would stretch from the X-Men to other comics and then grow to include fantasy, science fiction and more.
Patrick grew up reading and comics that inspired him to write and draw his own creations. Encouraged by an unprejudiced high school art teacher, he’d been illustrating the male form from an early age but it wasn’t until he moved to Vancouver that he explored and embraced the more erotic overtones of his work, evolving what was merely slightly erotic to full blown XXX erotica.
A natural talent, Fillion originally wanted to go to the Emily Carr Art College but after showing his portfolio, they told him he could already TEACH how to draw comics and sent him on his way. When Patrick was 19, he moved from a conservative town to Vancouver. Finally able to accept that he was gay, he began to learn more about his new community and immersed himself in the genre of homoerotic comics.
Patrick Fillion’s lifelong fascination with superheros in spandex led he and his life and business partner Robert Fraser to form Class Comics, a publishing company specializing in gay-themed erotic comics with a very unique stable of heroic hunks.
From Camili-Cat, (a sexy Felinoid bottom who can’t seem to get enough hard-core sex), to Naked Justice (a daring superhero with a minimalist approach to fashion and a very large and UNIQUE weapon) to the callboys of Satisfaction Guaranteed, Patrick’s Boytoons are some of the hottest and most recognized of our day and age.
In addition to his Class Comics work, Patrick’s illustrations have graced the pages of gay adult publications such as Black Inches, Latin Inches and Torso magazines. Patrick Fillion’s art is not limited to his explicit homoerotic works. He has worked on several advertising campaigns for companies such as: RSVP Vacations, GayDemon, FleshJack by Fleshlight and Ajaxx63.
As an artist, Patrick takes a special interest in the Gay community, and believes in the importance of helping emerging artists to find their voice. Through his blogs, Boytoons Magazine and Artistic License, Patrick continues to encourage new artists as well as established ones, believing in a Gay artistic community that is proud of its oeuvre and supportive of the creators it is comprised of.
Patrick strongly believes in Class Comics‘ ability to contribute to Gay Pop Culture in a positive fashion, and to create memorable Icons which are embraced by a community who can be proud to call them our own.
In 2006 Class Comics began publishing other Gay creators such as Logan (Porky, Demios), Ismael Alvarez (the Art of Ismael Alvarez), Max’ (Rainbow Country), HvH (In the Blink of an Eye), Mike (The Art of Mike portfolio) and Zan Christensen (The Mark of Aeacus) to name just a few.
Prepare yourself for the Boytoons of Class Comics to be unleashed in a bold new illustration style that is all the rage! The New Boytoons Adventures Volume One trade paperback is a 90 page collection of the stylized work of Bryce Peters, (a.k.a. famed gay comic creator Patrick Fillion) serving up six hot new stories featuring our most popular heroes as they’ve never been seen before.
This high quality full color volume sells for $22.50 and has been designed to be a showpiece in your collection! Its vibrant images and rich colors have been laminated in a durable matt finish. They are also individually sealed for extra protection both before and after purchase.
Sex and the Superhero is a new CBG Comics release from writer Brian Andersen (SoSuperDuper, Reignbow and Dee-Va), artist Neftali Centeno and colors, letters and logo by Celina Hernandez. The first issue introduces the exploits of a close-knit group of 5 gay and lesbian superheroes living and loving in San Francisco. Among other things, the issue takes a humorous look at the age old question of "exactly what DOES the Invisible Woman see in Mr Fantastic?" I also especially enjoyed the scene with Cosmic Man and Lady Web – poking fun at the use of impossible cheesecake ass-first battle poses (HE’S TALKING TO YOU BENES). Other topics touched on include rabid-vaginophopia, sexual slumming, how to bed your nemesis, how to graciously accept thanks from a damsel in distress and of course… true love.
Sex and the Superhero is an entertaining read. much less "cute" than I expected. As someone who grew up having to defend reading comics to a very educated set of parents, I always steered clear of anything too cute or cartoony and thus missed out on a lot of really good indie comics. So I’m glad I took a step out of my box to give this a read.
Since this is a first issue and it’s not really a BANG POW ZAP kind of story, it focuses more on character relationships than battle action, but goes further (from what I understand) than previous Brian Andersen gay titles. Sex and the Superhero is FAR from pornographic but DOES have some sex scenes (naughty bits are tastefully blocked with capes – See Edna was right – those capes really DO get in the way!).
But don’t just take my opinion on it. Here are some thoughts from fellow gay geek blogger… The Gay Comic Geek!
My only negative thoughts are that I know vaginophobia is rampant among gay men, but I’d rather see it examined in a humorous way than just repeated for laughs. That and I’d like to see more variance in line weight on the inking. I also could have used one more panel with Cosmic Man’s sister for a punchline.
I happened upon this story from homoerotic illustrator Ian Hanks‘ erotic comic collection of vignettes set in ancient Greece – Aegean Tales. In some ways, his work is more in sync with classical European comics artists than American ones which makes sense as this mysterious beefcake artist says only that he “was born in 1974, grew up in a rural area and is living in the Netherlands.”
It’s so hot I had to buy one myself despite the lack of an affiliate program. Here is the teaser I found at a REALLY COOL blog (Warriors of Fantasy) Their source was GToons (ALSO EXTREMELY COOL!).
His work (like that of fellow Handjobs Magazine alum Josman) focuses on archetypal daddy/twink pairings, but even if that isn’t your thing, the lavish illustrations, classical settings and wanton scenarios found within Aegean Tales are worth the $20 cover price for 77 pages and six smoking hot stories available online as PDF from HJ Magazine.
Here are a few more images from stories in Aegean Tales… The Appetizer and Bacchanal Boys.
Hanks’ Aegean Tales characters have a variety of body types ranging from hairless twinks to meatier men. Plots of his stories are about as deep as the usual porn scenario but fleshed out with an ancient Greek twist, slave boys, scholars, mentors, and of course horny pillaging warriors. Ian Hanks’ realistic depiction of the male human body is somewhat unusual in gay erotic comics. His men, whether younger or older, don’t look like mainstream over-muscled porn models, but rather like real albeit VERY attractive guys with impressive, but not impossible endowments. As with many gay erotic comic artists, there isn’t much of his work in print. He has been published in Stripped: The Illustrated Male from Bruno Gmunder and his online collection Aegean Tales from Handjobs Magazine.
Having earned a bit of power and respect at Zeta Mega Phallus, Alex has come up with a challenge for the new froshes that will have them showing their junk all over town! Meanwhile Dylan has joined the swim team to keep an eye one of the more promising froshes.
It’s a great thing that shaving each other’s entire body is all part of team spirit! Bradley’s been dumped for Dylan, and attempts to get revenge in every way possible. His plans take an unexpected turn when a sexy stranger shows up in the middle of it all.
The Initiation #1 is available as a Digital Comic from the Class Comics website, featuring: Insightful Issue Introduction! Concept Sketches and Design Illustrations! In progress Rough Work! Candid Creator Comments! Pinnups!
I wish that college had been this much fun! It’s Alex’s first year away from home and it’s hard to focus on studies while your hot roommate is getting it on with the football team! Fortunately Alex finds a tutor who is willing to pull all-nighters… and discovers that the professor gives credit for “extracurricular activities”. Things really heat up however when the final pledge night begins for the fraternity Zeta Mega Phallus. Alex will do anything necessary to come out on top of the fraternity pledge initiation!
When I look at this first EXCLUSIVE image from Michael Kirwan of KirwanArts.com titled Too Late the Knight, I can’t help but wonder if this is what really happened to Jason Todd before Joker killed him? I have to say I prefer his Batman/Robin pairing – it’s much less disturbing… but what heroes and villains would YOU like to see him bring his special touch to? If this first image is actually about Jason Todd, it could be the first in a series of memorable comic book battles that ended in tragic deaths (that were later undone)…
Awhile back Michael Kirwan sent us exclusive scans of some recent commissions he completed commemorating the release of a number of DC heroes on United States stamps. The first two were Green Lantern and Plastic Man and now he has sent us Hawkman and Aquaman to fill out the set.
And that’s not all. He also sent these dirty shots of the Galactor Troops and the following explanatory text for those of us who aren’t as enlightened as the fella who commissioned these…
Recently an enlightened art collector commissioned a few scenes illustrating the Henchmen from Gatchaman (G-Force Guardians of Space). These Galactor Troops were always getting graphically punished and humiliated by the heroes of G-Force. From shots to the crotch, uniforms ripped from stem to privates, and all manner of abuses were heaped upon these loyal Henchmen as they foot-soldiered their way into battle and the eventual comic defeat of the villainous group Galactor.
- Michael Kirwan
Some great stuff! He does commissions, I don’t know what he charges, but I may have to find out…
GayComicGeek was so livid about Rob Liefeld’s recent comments, that he resurrected his belligerent alter ego the AngryComicBookNerd and really says it best with this posts title.
And thanks for another Shout-out! Love your reviews! In case you folks hadn’t heard, apparently Rob Liefeld has locked down the threads on this topic at his own forum. I guess he was not getting the usual verbal handjob he has come to expect from his adoring fans. Anyone who runs a forum that way is just interested in hearing his own opinion echoed back.
I’ll keep covering the developing relationship between Rictor and Shatterstar (#46 is out NEXT WEEK!!!), but I’ve given homophobic hack Rob Liefeld too much press already. So feel free to pester him if you like, but barring further developments, I’m going to move on. There is just no sense arguing with a waste of human flesh.
These digitally delivered editions of Class Comics titles have everything the paper versions do, are just as crisp and easy to read, and come with extras! Each digital issue contains new and different bonus material that could not fit in the paper comics! Bonus material could be anything from artist notes and script excerpts, to never before seen concept artwork etc (pinups & character bios, never released images or even additional story pages).
They can be kept anywhere on your computer and can be renamed for further privacy as well! They are easy on the wallet and take no room in your home!
After purchase a download link is provided for the comic file and secure reader. Once your account is activated you will be emailed an activation key that will unlock all your comics, as well as any future purchases.
I happened upon a thread on Newsarama’s forum dedicated to the 3D rendered artwork of Timberoo. He created these as a commentary on why you don’t see many male versions of established female heroes.
, Bruno Gmunder’s latest gay erotic illustration compilation book.In 2004, 
