Sticky Graphic Novels 2015
Written & Art Direction by Dale Lazarov
Illustrated by Bo Revel
Well here we are again with another of Dale’s no words visually told tale of gay love and lust. I think one of the things that Dale does better than a lot of other so called “smut”, Dale’s word not mine, is that there’s a romantic story behind it and it isn’t all wham bam thank you sam. Sure there’s plenty of sex happening here but unlike most adult material there’s plenty of stuff happening here that isn’t geared towards just that.
Originally I had thought this would be the type of cowboy story with a ranch, ranch hands and possibly an owner but I was surprised by the story itself. Three friends head to the Guitar Pick music store and i’m venturing that at least two were musicians and one their roadie type. That there are such diverse people in this group was nice but it’s the main guy, complete in his hat and fur coat and ginger hair, facial as well, that takes center stage.
Things start off innocently enough as they all jam and Marty, the store owner brings out this guitar that has him all kinds awed. Things are very normal for lack of a better word and when the three leave the store well the guitar guy leaves his friends, who know exactly what’s going to happen, and heads back to the store. There is an obvious attraction between the men and instead of just heading into the store and going at it we see something just a tad different.
Sure a lot of kissing and eagerness is on display here but they don’t go at it until after halfway through the story. There’s a romanticism here to the story that goes beyond what you normally expect to see in adult oriented material. Heck leaving the store and heading back to Marty’s place they start to kiss again, dance, drink and get to know one another proving there’s more to life than meeting a pretty face and sitting down on it.
Bo’s interiors here are very much in vein of your average comic book style work. There’s plenty of attention to detail in the clothing, faces, hair (all over), backgrounds and of course it wouldn’t work as well without the facial expressions he brings to the table. I mean you have to know how this feels personally to get that right. While they are muscled it’s nice that they aren’t twinks or hairless as that represents more men with that hair in places we don’t normally talk about.
Well for what it is Dale and Bo deliver a higher class of adult material for gay men, and the curious, that breaks the mold of what you expect. It’s at times sweet, tender then full of lust and desire. There’s a magic with these two that can’t be denied they work well together. So if this the kind of material that you like to have added to your collection it’s a worthy addition.
This and more can be found at www.stickygraphicnovels.com