In Bed with David & Jonathan

Tom Bouden's latest book in English is rather different from his other two, The Importance of Being Earnest and Max & Sven. Don't buy this book for the character development: although me meet again Max and his lover Karl, we don't get much of Bouden's brand of gentle humor. What we get with In Bed with David & Jonathan is sex. A lot of sex.
That being said, the book is a fun read, and Bouden's characters, drawn in a less round style and in a more realistic way, are still very hot and cute.

The structure of this graphic novel is also interesting: Bouden had fun with a book-within-a-book narrative. Max and Karl decide to find another guy for a three-way, and they end up meeting Bouden himself (who playfully draws himself in a hunky way), who, after sex, show them his all-new porn comic showcasing David and Jonathan (yes, the men from the title), a wordless tale which fills the second part of the book.
So, you know, it's like reading The Manuscript Found in Saragossa, only with more gay sex.

Tales from the House of Morecock Vol. 1

The artist of Adventures of a Joe Boy is back at the German gay publisher Bruno Gmünder for the adaptation of his House of Morecock DVD, a collection of short animated stories blending fantasy and gay porn.
This first volume adapts five of the DVD stories, plus one all-new story. Jonas Morecock is a worldwide traveller who always manages to meet interesting men... or more exactly, men interested in him. Men, and various fantasy characters like werewolves, ghosts and mermen (merboys?). It's all in good fun, with none of the violence and angst present in a lot of other gay porn comics.
Joe Phillips's art is not always as detailed here as in his other strips, since it's an adaptation of an animated series, and the line art is also often simpler, but it's still full of life and energy, as well as gorgeous men of varied ethnicity, which is really nice.
There's a lot of humor in between the explicit romp of each episode, and that light, happy and completely unrealistic atmosphere is what sets Jonas Morecock's stories apart from most other porn comics.

Tom of Finland: The Comic Collection

Sticky

Eros Comix, famed purveyor of (mostly) straight smut, has begun publishing a new gay series by Dale Lazarov and artist Steve MacIsaac.
Far from the more kinky stuff of the publisher, the first issue of this series is simply the tale of an encounter between two guys and the sex that ensues.
What sets it aparts from a lot of porn comics is the level of art. Steve MacIsaac's storytelling and line art are solid and realistic, and the men, although quite buff, look human, if you see what I mean.
I also liked very much the shades of blue used throughout the comic. It doesn't look cheap at all, but rather sober. It suits the rythm of the comic, and all the nice little gestures shown. Those guys enjoy what they're doing, they don't need violence to get a hard-on.
And you definitely understand the title of the series by the end of the comic...

True Adult Fantasy

Brad Rader, a mainstream comics artist (Batman Adventures, the excellent Ed Brubaker run on Catwoman) has decided to self-publish gay erotic comics, and the results are quite unusual.
Filled to the brim with sensual sketches and drawings from a 20-year period (some of which can be seen on the artist's site), Rader's art focuses on mature men and the men who love them. The styles are varied, as are the situations depicted. But what really makes a difference with other (good) erotic artists is a continuing strip, "Harry and Dickless Tom", where a straight trucker suddenly and mysteriously finds himself with a vagina instead of a penis. His adventures into gender-fucking will involve the friend with whom he runs his truck, who hesitates between lust and, well, neither of them knows what.
This (very hairy) hermaphrodite's story shows that Brad Rader has a strong and decidedly queer imagination, well served by his dense and horny art.

Dangerous

After Genus Male and Sexual Espionage (already reviewed on this page), here is a new gay erotic comic from Radio Comix. Dangerous is supposed to be the American version of a Japanese Yaoi and contains three stories.

In the first, writer Taffi Holiday and someone of indistinct gender whose pen name is "Pluto" show us the night two young men tricking spend together. With poetic captions and sparse storytelling, it ends on a cute note which adds to the playful atmosphere.
The second story, by someone named "Himesama" ("Princess", if I'm not mistaken),  is set in a fantasy world where a sex slave learns he's to be sold when his master gets wed. A cruel tale, rather moving, drawn in a style closer to Japanese art than the other two.
Daria McGrain draws the third story, also written by Taffi Holiday. When a straight guy goes kinky because he misses the girl he's broken up with, a gay friend of his takes advantage of him in rather arousing ways. As usual, McGrain's art conveys lust beautifully, and her men are among the sexiest ever drawn, in my opinion.

With a good showing for the first issue, Dangerous definitely deserves to come back with more stories of what happens when women imagine men having fun together.

Wanky Comics

A man made of wood lusts after lumberjacks, a rude unicorn gets his comeuppance, a group of men explore a strange world filled with big-dicked monsters... welcome to the weird and queer world of BiL Sherman.
This new anthology of short and continuing stories is a a kind of journey diary to a fully-formed erotic and imaginary landscape, to worlds filled with hairy guys and creatures almost archetypal in their cravings for male bodies.
The art is equally engrossing. Clear layouts, background-packed panels and well-defined faces give the reader the opportunity to believe in those disturbing happenings.
This magazine-sized comic is a good example of the best of what the self-published world has to offer: an unfettered, unique vision which doesn't replicate the latest fad, doesn't follow the highroads of entertainment, but rather takes a long, leisurely walk on the wild side.

Sexual Espionage

In only one issue, Sexual Espionage has already become a favorite of mine.
Showcasing the adventures of codename Storm, a young, seemingly inexperienced, spy who always gets into the hands of various enemies like Cobra, an handsome secret agent more interested in having sex with the blond twink than making him reveal whom he works for, this first issue also introduces a young woman whose job is to watch over Storm's ass... in the figurative and literal sense of the words. Which makes me think that Daria McGrain has obviously found a way to channel her (straight woman) gay sex fantasies into this very funny and very sexy story.
Daria McGrain's art is also a big part of my enjoyment of this comic. With a solid pacing coupled with a bold, strong line, she's equally capable of drawing cute male bodies as expressive faces of both sexes.
This comic is definitely a farce, but it's a welcome change of ambiance from all the other erotic comics which take themselves too seriously.

Gordon Spurlock's comics

Gordon Spurlock's comics are more than just gay erotic comics featuring anthropomorphised animals. There's a convincing sci-fi background in one of the storylines (Spike, a uchrony where humanoid animals were born in the 50's) and a sense of regained innocence in the other (Afterearth, a far-flung human-less future). Although Spurlock hasn't published much, his characters have quickly acquired a reality which made the numerous sex scenes all the more engaging.
Point of Impact #1, his latest work which he co-published and co-drew with C.K. Penchant, contains stories even more S/M scenes than usual. So, it might not be for everyone. But the high level of art was enough to make it worth it for me.
I only wish Spurlock will publish more of his very personal stories. He is another proof that pornography and characterization aren't incompatible, and his proud gay characters show a love of sexual intimacy that is both attractive and inspiring.

Patrick Fillion's comics

Patrick Fillion's main character, the highly sexed Camili-Cat, is a humanoid character starring in sci-fi stories filled with various monsters more interested in having sex with him in every possible position than anything else.
Fillion's art is highly detailed and all characters have good body language. This is definitely not an amateur's work.

Genus Male

Animals. They're all (male) animals. And they're fucking. And, hrm, they're well-drawn.
Daria McGrain, creator of Sexual Espionage (see somewhere else on this page), has put together an entertaining collection of short porn tales also featuring in the first issue works by Miu (in a very manga-esque style) and Richard Moore, the more realistic artist of the three. The funny thing is a lot of stories in both issues show seemingly straight male characters having sex with gay ones (or even with other but-I'm-straight male ones). Maybe there's something special with straight (or so I gather) women artists writing and drawing gay porn. But as long as it's entertaining, who's to complain?

Meatmen

The Meatmen anthology is a cornucopia of gay comics, ranging from funny one-pagers to long porn stories, with a few "serious" works thrown in between.

Dozens of artists have contributed to this anthology, including Sean, Donelan, The Hun, Zack, John Blackburn... Styles range from very realistic to very cartoony, and amateurish to wow-this-guy-is-great. But one thing must be said, there is such a variety of themes and art styles that anybody with an interest in the racier aspects of gay-themed comics should find something appealing.