Franze & Andarle ~ Black Wade
From: Bruno Gmunder Verlag
So because of Katiebabs & Emmyjag I went and ordered Black Wade and I am honestly looking forward to checking it out. It looks good. Now despite this being westernized obviously this may surprise some people because I do not mention Yaoi on this blog at all.
For good reasons. The stuff I like from Japan tends to be hard core and not for the faint of heart and it’s not Yaoi thank fucking god. I have several of Tagame’s books by the way, it is exceedingly violent like looking at a Quentin Tarantino movie and also because you need to read it back to front. It’s not a sexual turn-on but one of fascination at the BDSM fantasy inspired art and the cultural differences about masculinity. I also must admit I have limited edition DVDs of Akira and Ghost In The Shell and complete remastered sets of Cowboy Bebop and Bubble Gum Crisis but do not even get me started about how great Yaoi is.
NO IT IS NOT!
Twinks in dresses and the whole “way too young boy sex” thing does nothing for me. Give me hyper-masculine, give me the dudes who have some hair on their chest, give me the Navy Seal, the Marine, or the construction worker, or the cop. Hell, if they run out of those I’ll take the garbage collector or the auto mechanic. Yes, my sexual turn-ons may be but a mere reflection of a childhood love for the Village People but it is still mine and one I seem to share with a lot of guys I know and love. Now if someone would get up the nerve to tell the porno guys to lay off the shaving.
So call me a dinosaur. Call me names. But… Over the top effeminacy and adolescent boys does absolutely nothing for my libido sorry and even though I respect Drag Queens and their in your face politics. I do, they have done huge work for the Gay Community. Many of them I would not even call effeminate. Even though I was also young myself once and underage and had sex. I just frankly do not want to know if the guy in my bed or whipping my ass in a dungeon scene is underage or even worse, ever wore a dress because he wanted to experience his feminine side or to try walking in high heels, at least not “while” he is whipping my ass or in my bed. If you do not understand what is appropriate behavior in my sex scene then you need to be someplace else because I run a private club. Got it?
Politics is fine outside the bedroom and I am all about acceptance and inclusion but in MY sexual fantasies and in MY turn-ons around all those hairy nasty sweaty masculine MEN doing those horrible socially unacceptable things to me are well… ALL MINE, not yours, get your own!
No Yaoi for me thank you! In this case I will stick with plain old vanilla Tom Of Finland and like it.
Tags: Wank
katiebabs wrote,
Black Wade was so good! My very first MM Graphic novel and I loved it. Can’t wait to see what you think. The art work is exquisite as well as the story.
The Japanese Yaoi I read is a bit strange and cutesy Ha-Ha. I found it strange that the one character looks more female then anything, but I heard this is the norm.
Link | December 27th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
TeddyPig wrote,
Yeah, it is the norm. Which is why I went in search of different stuffs which took a while but San Francisco has some wild places you can buy the hard core stuff at.
Link | December 27th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
erastes wrote,
i got BW for christmas and enjoyed it–yeah everones ripped but there’s hairy legs and bums and scars which pull it away from the girlie yaoi. i’m never mad on rape turns to love–so tired–but i’ll cheer for a gay historical graphic novel! Alex is going to review it as she’s the ships expert. very nice art–must get ANGEL fACE next.
Link | December 28th, 2009 at 1:09 am
katiebabs wrote,
All the 8 pack abs and dicks hanging out made me chuckle. Wasn’t Wade and Jack’s relationship delicious? Yeah even with the rape and everything, but later on there was cuddling. :)
Link | December 28th, 2009 at 6:25 am
TeddyPig wrote,
So this is like a 70s early 80s Codpiece Ripper?
Link | December 28th, 2009 at 6:31 am
katiebabs wrote,
You could say that. Wade is very forceful in using his codpiece with Jack.
Link | December 28th, 2009 at 6:32 am
TeddyPig wrote,
Oh for 2010 I have decided to not use the term “M/M Romance” anymore so I have decided as a form of solidarity with Straight Romance to now use the term “Codpiece Ripper”.
Link | December 28th, 2009 at 6:33 am
Tina wrote,
There is a genre of gay romance comics in Japan that aren’t heavy like Tagame. They’re mostly ‘yaoi’ stories for men, featuring more body diversity and gender-pegged presentations. You are right though, there is a difference between the genres and the readers seem to prefer it that way.
My only Only Words GN was written and drawn to appeal to western readers, whereas my Games with Me manga was drawn and written to appeal to fans of the yaoi-aesthetic. Big difference. 0_0
I completely dug Angelface – you should pick that one up. Another good author is Dale Lazarov – yet his books are without words – just romantic hook ups in short stories, but the art is well done and the reader knows what’s going on.
Another series that Class Comics puts out is called Rainbow Country. It’s like a soap opera, but set in an all Gay city. Seriously. ^_^ It has it’s moments.
Link | December 28th, 2009 at 7:42 am
TeddyPig wrote,
There is a genre of gay romance comics in Japan that aren’t heavy like Tagame. They’re mostly ‘yaoi’ stories for men, featuring more body diversity and gender-pegged presentations.
That stuff never seems to make it over here to the US. Even Tagame who is amazing artistically despite the extreme violence with adult characters is incredibly hard to find. It seems that if it is not cartoony or creepy in an “underage sorta way” people do not buy it here.
Link | December 28th, 2009 at 7:51 am
Mandi wrote,
LMAO – Codpiece Ripper
I’m very intrigued by Black Wade after talking to KB about it.
Hairy, sweaty men are my favorite kind ;)
Link | December 28th, 2009 at 8:49 am
katiebabs wrote,
I was also very surprised by how detailed things were in Black Wade. Oh yes, strong, muscular hair sweaty strapping pirate men who ravish British Gents. Yo ho ho…
Codpiece Ripper is a nice description.
Link | December 28th, 2009 at 8:53 am
Sarah wrote,
Black Wade is a gem and I have to second Tina’s suggestion of Dale Lazarov’s work. Manly and Nightlife are very cool. There are a few yaoi titles that I’ve enjoyed, but I prefer more bara, masculine work where the men look like men. Angelface is stunning, his artwork is incredibly gorgeous and well worth a look. I think I’d like the French version too!!
Link | December 28th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
Maili wrote,
Just want to say that ‘yaoi’ doesn’t exist in Japan. (Or rather, didn’t as it’s now a loanword in Japan.)
Anyroad, you know there are many different types of erotic manga – two of five* most popular ones: gay manga for gay men) and BL manga (by women for women). Under each group, there are sub-genres. (Five: ML manga, BL manga, ero guro and of course, hentai.)
Gay manga is gei komi or Men’s Love and better known as Bara in the U.S. Popular types of ML manga are Esu to Emu (S&M), gay romances (which is significantly different from BL manga — gay rom is basically ML with HEA or romantic comedy) and Bear Love (hairy men). Classic traits: bulky bodies, fetishes, body hair, and hyper-machoism.
BL manga is Boys’ Love and a group of three types. One type – which American manga readers recognise as ‘yaoi’ – is extremely popular in the U.S., which is probably what you’re familiar with. It’s this type that tends to feminise the “bottom”, which is the reason why it’s set apart from the other two types. So it’s only fair to point this out instead of believing that all “yaoi” are like this type.
Also, BL stems from girls’ comics and ML stems from dirty comics (non-artsy erotica / hentai manga), which is a spin-off of erotic (seijin). There’s no relationship between BL and ML whatsoever, in spite of a couple of artists and writers writing for both.
Quite a few gay comic artists insist on recognising that difference between those two areas. Some of them deeply loathe BL manga and have frequently bitched about BL manga in various publications.
I don’t blame them, to be honest, as some BL comics are downright terrible. Especially some that are extremely popular in the U.S. On the other hand, some gei komi are quite bad as well. :D
Anyway, all this is just to say you’re not a dinosaur. You’ve been looking at the stuff that’s best suited for schoolgirls and OLs. :D
Link | January 4th, 2010 at 2:15 pm
TeddyPig wrote,
So it’s only fair to point this out instead of believing that all “yaoi” are like this type.
Maili,
As I said I did not like what is mainly promoted as Yaoi “in this country” not what I know very well is going on in the Japanese market. The variety and selection of different types of Manga available in Japan is just for some strange reason not seen here. What does get promoted here is either extremely low grade work or just creeps me the hell out because it seems very focused on underage sex stuff.
That’s why I said that yes I do buy Japanese Manga and I have some mainstream stuff so I am aware of options but most of what I really like is not the stuff that you ever see being even talked about here in the US as Yaoi. So it’s not that I don’t know what is available but I also have to be honest most people would not like the prices because the cost of getting the good stuff from Japan with the exchange rates and how shipping is just out to lunch well it is damn expensive any way you look at it.
Like one of these days I want that Oshii Mamoru Avalon movie in BluRay but at over $100 total for a movie!!! It’s gonna be a while.
Link | January 4th, 2010 at 2:34 pm