Massive: Gay Erotic Manga and the Men Who Make It (2014)

Synopsis

Big, burly, lascivious, and soft around the edges: welcome to the hyper-masculine world of Japanese gay manga. Massive: Gay Erotic Manga and the Men Who Make It is the first English-language anthology of its kind: an in-depth introduction to nine of the most exciting comic artists making work for a gay male audience in Japan. Jiraiya, Seizoh Ebisubashi and Kazuhide Ichikawa are three of the irresistibly seductive, internationally renowned artists featured in Massive, as well as Gengoroh Tagame, the subject of The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame: Master of Gay Erotic Manga. Get to know each of these artists intimately, through candid interviews, photography, context-providing essays, illustrations and manga. Massive also includes the groundbreaking, titillating work of gay manga luminaries Takeshi Matsu, Fumi Miyabi, Inu Yoshi, Gai Mizuki and comic essayist Kumada Poohsuke.

From: Fantagraphics Books

Notes on This Title

This work contains profiles of Japanese artists who create gay erotic manga, alternating with samples of their work. It depicts numerous instances of sexual coercion in a pornographic context.

Awards

2015 Eisner Nominee for Best Anthology

Reviews

“Replete with rippling muscles and hypermasculinity, this volume provides a fascinating overview of contemporary gay manga and its creators. In a medium dominated by visual exaggeration, the figures given vivid, lusty life by these artists express the apex of a powerful butch sensibility. While the work, by artists including Seizoh Ebisubashi and Kazuhide Ichikawa, is as explicit as it could possibly get, there is a clearly expressed joy to its aggressive sexuality, even in the segments that veer deep into domination and humiliation. The book showcases nine creators with interviews and profiles; cover artist Jiraiya could be most accessible to Western readers, his work bringing to mind a fusion of Arthur Adams and Frank Cho as filtered through the lens of Tom of Finland, with his Hulk-like beefcake bear-gods exuding an unexpected warmth and humor. U.S. collectors of this material will be thirsty for this first-ever English language anthology, and adventurous comics readers will encounter a realm they might have otherwise overlooked.” (Source: Publishers Weekly)

Interviews

The Hairpin: “Size Matters: An Interview With Anne Ishii

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