Over the weekend, I got my very first review copy of a comic. It also happened to be my first porn / erotica comic: Dale Lazarov and Steve MacIsaac's Sticky (possibly not safe for work link here), "a new series of erotic tales of man-on-man carnality and sweetness," published under Fantagraphics' Eros imprint.

So, yes, the guy who's been writing so much about those wholesome Power kids is about to talk about gay sex and a comic that depicts same. A cut tag and a warning, then. Don't click below or read further in this entry if my discussing male endowments is going to offend you:

Sticky

Eros seems to be a little undecided about whether this is erotica or just porn (and, yes, I think there's a difference). The cover of the book calls it the former, but the solicitation email I got asking if I'd review the book has "porn" right in the subject line. So, I'm going to take a look at this as both.

First, the porn review:

This issue's story, "Hold On," provides a youthful, low body fat, low body hair younger man for lovers of emo/twink and an older, hairier, more filled out partner for the bear lovers in the audience. While the sex is pretty vanilla, it's also noticeably varied within that range. Lots of exploring of bodies and positions to be had.

Plus, they both have big, hard c***ks, and you'll get several panels of money shot for all of your (and their) waiting to get to it. Which, in porn, is really what you're looking for, yes?

Now, as erotica:

Given that this is the story of a hook up, the choice of a silent book works. After all, if all you're after is sex, you don't necessarily need a lot of chatter. That this winds up being more involved than your standard hook up doesn't change that; I can buy that this little "contest" the boys are having (to see how long they can hold off orgasm) is a language of its own. I could perhaps do without the constant (and a bit too cute for its own good) kitty-cat clock to tell me "look how long it's been!" but the final--ahem--shot tends to redeem that set piece.

The only point at which the conceit becomes painfully obvious is when one character has to put a hand up to whisper silently to the other while they're alone in a hotel room; the only reason for it is to keep the folks behind the fourth wall from "hearing," and I don't know that anything's served by that level of self-awareness.

The art is easily readable, and as I said above, the body types are varied and generally realistic. Since this is erotic, everyone has a Really Long Penis, but even those are varied to match their owner's body types. And if the proportions don't seem constantly maintained, hooray at least that MacIsaac knows length and girth aren't the same thing.

While the body types and general storytelling are good, MacIsaac seems to have noticeable trouble with perspective. The title page's forced perspective panels wind up looking rather squished, and the final page sports a bottle of lube and some condoms which are supposed to be on the floor, but look more like they're floating in space. Still, the bulk of the story uses more traditional angles, and MacIsaac handles the body language there skillfully (which, in a story which is pretty much about body language, is rather top of the list importance-wise).

As gay porn, this works just fine. As erotica, it's far more uneven, but not without its merits.*

As an aside, is it just me, or is Eros trying to play on the manga yoai market with their ad copy: "Suitable for gay men and the women who love them."

*You know, I've rewritten that sentence a half dozen times, and I just can't find a turn of phrase that isn't going to read as innuendo. Such is the risk of reviewing sex comics, I suppose.

Tags: comics, reviews