I don't read gay comics. Mainly because the majority of them are romance comics and I don't like those. Some romantic elements are okay but make it the main focus of a story and you've lost me.

Faliat
I don't read gay comics. Mainly because the majority of them are romance comics and I don't like those. Some romantic elements are okay but make it the main focus of a story and you've lost me.

I feel mostly the same way (though there are some straight-up romance comics like Simply Sarah that I like). If it's a sci-fi story that just happens to have gay characters, I like that a lot more than boy-meets-boy-cue-drama stories.

My comic YU+ME was like that for a long time, and I felt weird writing something that I wouldn't read myself. I was very glad when it got to the twist in the story and could turn into a surreal/adventure/mindfuck/metaphysical story instead.

Of course, now the protagonist's girlfriend hasn't been in the comic for years, which makes it a lot less gay. There seems to be a challenge balancing romance with other things in a gay story. If the gay character doesn't get any gay action for so long, people start complaining that it has stopped being a gay comic, but if they're together, it becomes too gay.

megan_rose
There seems to be a challenge balancing romance with other things in a gay story. If the gay character doesn't get any gay action for so long, people start complaining that it has stopped being a gay comic, but if they're together, it becomes too gay.

This why I stopped following girly, the author seemed to echo these sentiments and dissolved winter and otra's awesome relationship into an ambiguous 'because you're my sidekick~' thing, to then focus on hetero hijinks. And when he actually included a lesbian scene after so many chapters of ambiguity, (i.e. the 'lets make a baby' storyline) it just came across like he was mocking the fans that wanted otra/winter blatantly loving eachother like in the beginning.
(though i thought the storyline was hilarious besides that, BABIES- BABIES- BABBBBIIIIIESS!! !)

In mainstream anime this is prevalent too, canaan and saki being great examples as the characters are obviously gay for one another but it's never explicitly stated so the fans who don't usually like yuri can enjoy the show regardless(though you'd have to be a dense idiot not to see whats going on).

I kinda feel the same. I don't set out to read "gay comics." I like some really good comics that have gay characters or gay themes. At present, my faves are Simply Sarah and Blue0, and I need to catch up on Plastic (I admit it, I haven't read it in a while. My bad! ).

I will also admit I have a more difficult time reading comics featuring gay males. Perhaps that's because some of the ones I attempted to read either became too shallow or got mired in boy-love. Neither aspect appeals to me. But if it there were a comic with a good story, great characters and the male leads happened to be gay, I'd give it a read.

I once saw a story where this guy was captured by bandits and they decided to (quite graphically) rape him. After the bandits are done humping this guy constantly, for a better part of a day, while discussing which slave market they should sell him too, this knight in shining armor comes along and saves the day. Of course the rape victim decided to fall in love with the knight almost instantly. I would have figured that he'd be way to traumatized to be even thinking of things like that.

I kinda lost all interest in the story after that.

If rape stories count, then it's the only gay comic I've ever read.

Skullbie
girly

*Slaps forehead*

Oh right. I once read that story too but I also gave up on it.

Guess I'm not that much into these types of stories.

lol here's some yaoi joke comics, (nsfw)

Yaoi logic:
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b331/Catalyst666/rapeislove.jpg
'Real homos'
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b331/Catalyst666/1252330881081.jpg
Batman and joker
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b331/Catalyst666/1252298733143.jpg
'wait, what the fuck?'(explicit)
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b331/Catalyst666/1252298257310.jpg

Those Antidotes to Yaoi Logic comics are funny because of how accurate they are but I find the last two creepy and the one before them just doesn't seem funny for some reason.

I'm not exactly sure if yaoi counts as a gay comic though since it's usually written by women for women and it's usually done in ways that don't consider male biology.

Skullbie
lol here's some yaoi joke comics, (nsfw)

Yaoi logic:
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b331/Catalyst666/rapeislove.jpg
'Real homos'
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b331/Catalyst666/1252330881081.jpg
Batman and joker
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b331/Catalyst666/1252298733143.jpg
'wait, what the fuck?'(explicit)
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b331/Catalyst666/1252298257310.jpg

haha! 2nd ones hilarious.

is this webcomics only? if so, i havent really checked out much gay webcomics, but a good print one is dykes to watch out for. very realistic dialogue.

Skullbie
Batman and joker
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b331/Catalyst666/1252298733143.jpg

?

Well, I’m a fan of yaoi comics although they are idealized romance and don’t really deal with prejudice.

However, I prefer them hands-down to the treatment of openly gay characters in some of the main–stream comics. Either they’re marginalized or raped in what’s meant to be a humorous manner. I really can’t bear that – sexual assault and humor mixed.

In terms of a lot of the Japanese yuri, I’ve found it’s often drowning under fan-service. I’ll definitely check out Plastic – it sounds like a welcome change to this :)

My comic Ministry has an openly gay couple but although they’re fairly central characters, their sexuality isn’t the main focus of the storyline.

One of the guys, Pix is quite femme but this wasn’t because I was trying to adhere to the whole femme/butch stereotype. Rather, having being part of the gay community for years (I’m a bi-girl and I’ve dated both men and women), I have friends who range from completely straight acting to very butch or femme. I’ve hardly ever seen the more feminine guys represented well in mainstream American comics. Either they’re shown as helpless queens who are unable to defend themselves (think of the poor portrayal of Apollo in later Authority storylines) or not included at all.

I wanted to portray a femme guy who was also a powerful focused character, not a “maiden-in distress” or a stereotype.

Anyone who wants to check out Pix’s character design (he’s a tribute to the manga Neko-boys), can take a look at my Deviant Art gallery

http://punisherfemme.deviantart.com/art/Ministry-Poster-116505797
http://punisherfemme.deviantart.com/art/Love-Is-Blind-132460091


I’d love some feedback :)

Why do you guys think we so seldom see feminine gay guys or more butch women portrayed well in American mainstream comics? Personally speaking, I’ve yet to see the American (and I’m talking main-stream stuff here) equivalent of the bishi martial artist so common in anime/manga.

Akbar and Jeff from Life is Hell.

...wait.

First off I never go "Gay comic hunting" and it's not really my genre but I really like Rainbow Connection. I wouldn't really consider it a "gay" comic, the characters just happen to be gay. It's really good everyone should read it.

ministrybase
Why do you guys think we so seldom see feminine gay guys or more butch women portrayed well in American mainstream comics?

Well, IMHO, there are all sorts of butch women in comics. Every super heroine is one. The only caveat is the straight boys drawing them, give them huge breasts and spandex. Power girl comes to mind.
As far as femme guys,IMHO, any guy, who is at all unsure of his sexuality, is probably freaked out by femme guys. Before I was out, and while I was still figuring out my sexuality, femme guys bothered me terribly. So there was NO WAY I was going to draw one, some one might think I was like that!
Now that I'm older and am comfortable in my skin, femme guys don't bother me.
Besides, remember "Priscilla, Queen of the desert?" Those guys were tough! And Chris Tucker in "Fifth Element"? Screamed like a little girl throughout the entire dramatic fight scene, but he never ran away and he never stopped broadcasting.

That raises the question. What is meant by femme? How does a femme guy act?
Does femme mean helpless?
If they cast a good looking guy in the Reese Witherspoon role in Legally Blonde, and had him act every scene, just like she did, would that make him femme?

freefall_drift
Well, IMHO, there are all sorts of butch women in comics. Every super heroine is one.

Femme/butch puts a lot more into physical appearance then personality, so the average supermodel look-a-like heroine in tight fitting clothes/high heels doesn't really count. Rene montoya is a good example of butch:


And for femme guys just think a typical bishounen:


They don't have to fit the stereotypes personality, just looks.

Interesting. I interpreted Butch and Femme as how they acted, But for comics, at least visually, you have defined Butch and Femme in, just? how they appear.

freefall_drift

ministrybase
Why do you guys think we so seldom see feminine gay guys or more butch women portrayed well in American mainstream comics?

Well, IMHO, there are all sorts of butch women in comics. Every super heroine is one. The only caveat is the straight boys drawing them, give them huge breasts and spandex. Power girl comes to mind.
As far as femme guys,IMHO, any guy, who is at all unsure of his sexuality, is probably freaked out by femme guys. Before I was out, and while I was still figuring out my sexuality, femme guys bothered me terribly. So there was NO WAY I was going to draw one, some one might think I was like that!
Now that I'm older and am comfortable in my skin, femme guys don't bother me.
Besides, remember "Priscilla, Queen of the desert?" Those guys were tough!

That's a good point. For me, femme has never meant helpless just as butch has never meant made of stone. Also, the dynamics of a butch/femme relationship doesn't mean it merely mirrors a clinched straight relationship, which you find sometimes in comics (normally and I'm generalizing here, when written by straight guys.)What I hated in Authority was the way that Apollo (my fav character) became more and more helpless and abused as he was established as the more femme one in the relationship. While this happened, Midnighter was being portrayed as harder, colder, more emotionless. Didn't work for me.

I loved Priscilla!!! Never under-estimate the balls of a queen to quote one of my best friends. With Pix, I wanted to make someone who was a more feminine counterpart to the super-masculinity of the Ministry. I'd say under fire, he's about the coolest of the lot. He can fight (and well)but his primary skill is as an exorcist and he is one of the few character's who can face the full fury (I'm dipping in purple prose here - forgive me) of the Lost. I'd definitely say that he's got the biggest balls of the lot despite being prettier than most girls.

I like the point you made about guys unsure about their sexuality being freaked out by femme guys. Maybe I'll show a younger Ren (in flashbacks)as being quite uncomfortable around some of the openly gay soldiers until he comes to terms with his sexuality.

Actually, I'm going to have to say that WIRES 2 is perhaps my favorite comic on the entire site. The story caught me by the collar and pulled me with it. Get Up And Go is really great too, along with Friction(:

All time favourite would be: paradox on smackjeeves
amazing art, amazing storyline, the right amount of humor and drama check it out!

Power Up comics 4 ever.

a_r_va
All time favourite would be: paradox on smackjeeves
amazing art, amazing storyline, the right amount of humor and drama check it out!

Which one? There's two comics on SJ with the name Paradox and including homosexuality. Lol.

Also, how the hell did this get brought back from the dead?