I spend most of my time ogling the hyper-masculine men of Japanese gei komi. Between Gay Manga!, The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame, and Massive, I’m practically buried under an avalanche of beefy, gachi-muchi cartoon bodies. It’s magnificent! But sometimes I need a breather from all that testosterone. There’s a whole spectrum of queerness out there to explore!

Hungry Bottom Comics feels like a gust of fresh air whooshing in from the friendly frozen north. Canadian cartoonist Eric Kostiuk Williams’ dazzling autobiographical comics offer an unabashedly frank, uproariously funny glimpse into the author’s own journey as a young and fabulous gay man finding his way in the world. From the joy of escaping to the big, gay city and dancing at the club to the alienation of anonymous hookups in a digital age, Williams captures it all in sumptuous Sharpie lines and elegant cross-hatching.

Through joyous flights of fancy, Williams mixes high and low cultural references: Jean Genet sings Rihanna; Beyonce and Yoko Ono swap lives, Freaky Friday style; and personal saints like Mykki Blanco and Claude Cahun offer wisdom, insight and encouragement. These stars make up a constellation of queer icons that shines down on Williams as he catwalks through the uncertainty of early adulthood. Art becomes an escape from the shame and contempt directed at his femininity, seeping in from the outside world.

The titular label “hungry bottom,” for instance, was originally bestowed upon Williams with “snotty disdain by an uppity ex-lover,” as he explains in 2 Fags 2 Furious. “I found it kind of funny and figured I’d reclaim it as my own.” It’s a prime example of Williams’ strength through flippancy, his ability to turn the haters’ words on their heads. In unsettling personal testimonies, he shines a light on the type of everyday hate speech and public shaming that occur with frightening frequency even in supposedly tolerant, diverse places like Toronto and New York. Places where gay marriage may be legal, but the simple act of “undermining one’s own masculinity,” Williams notes, is still seen by many as “the worst sin imaginable.”

Williams, who “spent years building up the confidence to dress as I please,” has his life threatened just for walking down the street. Even in the mainstream gay community, anti-queer violence is quickly forgotten and systemic oppression is often overlooked in a haze of easy hookups and toxic “masc” myopism. It’s easy to forget how far queers still have to go within the insular bubble of hetero-imitative “normalcy.” As Williams succinctly puts it: “Some of us seem under the impression that it’s over, but it is not over.”

At the end of Hungry Bottom Comics #1 we’re introduced to Williams’ Diva Totem, a “primordial (and sassy-as-fuck) entity summoned from the subconscious,” which takes the form of a braided pile of hair resting atop of a stately pair of gams in leopard print tights. Perfection! The Diva Totem advises Williams to “transcend clubbing culture and cruising sites to seek out a community that intersects politics, sexuality and the arts,” presenting a lovely still life tableau of Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble alongside a butt plug and a platform boot. The Totem reminds us that self-love and acceptance doesn’t sink in overnight: “Work on it a little bit every day, babe.” In Williams’ comics, we get to see that process spring to life in the most fun, creative, inspiring ways.

Dear Future Shipwreck readers,

I’m thrilled to announce a project very close to my heart: The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame.

Gengoroh Tagame is an extraordinary, prolific artist widely recognized as the master of bara manga. Tagame comes from a long line of sexual provocateurs like Jean Genet, Yukio Mishimia, and Tom of Finland. His comics and paintings are scintillating, drenched in masculinity, and rife with sadomasochistic fantasy.

Tagame’s comics are nearly impossible to find in English. I felt like that was a criminal oversight, and it turned out I wasn’t alone! After I made a video for Future Shipwreck about gay manga last year, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that my friend Anne Ishii had privately translated some of Tagame’s comics for the collection of Chip Kidd. Chip is not only of the world’s greatest graphic designers, but also a connoisseur of obscure Japanese comics (see also: his awesome collection Bat-Manga: The Secret History of Batman in Japan) and a huge fan of Tagame’s work.

So the three of us got together, and now we’re working with Tagame and the fantastic art book publisher Picturebox to put out the first offical English-language collection of Tagame’s work! The volume will include 10 stories from Tagame’s prolific catalog as well as a brand new story commisioned by Chip, exclusive sketches, and an introduction by gay literary icon Edmund White.

Read the full scoop on The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame over at The Comics Reporter. I’m visiting Tagame in Japan this fall, so expect plenty of fun surprises! Stay tuned as we get closer to the book’s Spring 2013 release. I hope you’re as excited as I am! It’s time Tagame got his dues.

Wuvable Oaf: a big, burly, beefy, bodacious, bad-ass bloke who loves Morrissey, kittens and men. Oaf originated four years ago as a single drawing for a paper doll– but Oaf was destined for bigger things. Artist Ed Luce’s drawing evoked such visceral responses from his friends, he decided to expand Oaf’s presence into a comic book series. From there, an entire universe was born.

Ed could have easily allowed Oaf’s legacy to end after that first illustration, but the character was imbued with a very rare graphical immediacy. Like Hello Kitty or Emily the Strange, Wuvable Oaf is an icon whose mere image evokes instant responses from strangers. Through comics, t-shirts, scratch n’ sniff cards, international art shows and 7″ singles, Ed and Wuvable Oaf are step by step taking over the world. Read below to find out what life will be like after the Oaf regime takes power, and don’t miss Ed Luce at San Diego Comic Con July 12-15!

What are you working on these days? Is there a new issue of Wuvable Oaf in the works?

Since the release of the latest Oaf mini-comic, Kisses Kerry King/Rawk Gawdz, I’ve been working mostly on anthology stuff for other people. Family Style, a Portland-based publisher, puts out a very fun sword and sorcery comic called Elf World, with a revolving group of creators; the first “Wuvable Ogre” tale is in issue #3.

I just finished a story for Henry & Glenn Forever & Ever #1, a new series based on the original comic about punk legends Rollins and Danzig in a domestic partnership. Oaf’s wrestling alter ego Goteblud will make an appearance in Mark Rudolph’s upcoming Satan Is Alive Mercyful Fate tribute comic, celebrating the early 80′s metal band. I did the cover and a color Oaf story for Robert Kirby’s THREE #3, also featuring work by Carrie McNinch, Howard Cruse and several other prominent queer creators. And by the time people read this, we’ll have released the first DIY Oaf Doll Kit, which I had a lot of fun designing and sewing.

We’re also honored to be included in Justin Hall’s upcoming No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics anthology, published by Fantagraphics; it reprints some early Oaf stories. Oaf will be making an appearance in Bruno Gmunder’s FUR The Love of Hair, which is a color coffee table photo book celebrating all things manly and hirsute, coming out in May.

Later in the summer, I’m looking to debut two new shirt designs (I can tell you one– OAF HULK!) at San Diego Comic-Con.

It may seem like I take these long breaks between proper Oaf issues but in reality I’m working non-fucking-stop!

Oh yeah…Wuvable Oaf #4 is set to release in time for the Alternative Press Expo this fall! I hope.

What can we anticipate from Wuvable Oaf in the future? Do you already know the direction the story and characters will take, or does it evolve with each issue?

I’d like to finally get a collected trade edition of Oafs #0-4 and all the minis out in 2013. Expect more minis, including a cats only issue featuring the Oaf Hybrid Cat (from the shirt design).

I have plotted future story arcs for all the Oaf characters, as hinted at in issue #0. Once Oaf’s date saga with Eiffel wraps, we’ll be following Smusherrrr in #5, with back-up stories about Oaf stalking Eiffel on tour. My collaborator Matt is writing the Smusherrrr arc, which will have a somewhat different tone than my stuff. Darker, stranger…and quite possibly funnier. I’m really looking forward to it!

How did you learn to draw comics, and what were your earliest comic inspirations?

I dabbled with comic strips in college but once I left for grad school, I was all about painting, performance and installation. When I returned to comics with the Oaf project, there was something of a learning curve, in regard to putting together an actual sustained narrative. So I feel like my first attempts at sequential storytelling bear the marks of those growing pains. But really, I’ve bought and read comics my whole life, so working with that visual language felt fairly natural. I just applied my technical skills to a different medium and method.

Gosh…earliest inspirations?! I’ve collected Marvel and DC comics my whole life, but I wouldn’t say they particularly inspired what I do now. I have to admit, when I first discovered indie comics, I was reading a lot of Dan Clowes and Chris Ware. But honestly, I feel like the Oaf is a reaction against that stuff more than anything; the sort of sardonic, depressive vibe that’s permeated a lot of indie comics since the late 90′s. I guess you can be inspired by something in such a way that you want to make sure you’re rebelling against it…?

To more directly answer your question, early on I really admired the drawing styles and large casts of characters in the Love & Rockets books. The Hernandez brothers put a lot of love and time into creating those worlds. Gilberto has always been my favorite; I love his kooky character designs and textures.

Who are some of your favorite up and coming artists? Who’s making work that inspires you?

I had a great experience chatting with Chris Houghton at WonderCon this year. He and his brother Shane put out Reed Gunther via Image Comics… it’s just a joy to read. Playful, sweet, unpretentious. One of the few books I could recommend for all ages that doesn’t feel pinched or cloying.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I’m not sure if people are sick of me talking about Johnny Ryan yet (maybe he is) but I’m definitely inspired by his Prison Pit series. It’s as nasty, sexy and violent as any hardcore porn. I know some of my gay friends really don’t like the imagery or language but honestly, the first book reads like some radical, extreme erotica, if can make the mental shift. It’s all about penetration and regeneration, with literal and metaphorical erections throughout. And no, I don’t care if homoeroticism was never Johnny’s intention. Seriously, I could go on and on about its conceptual merits…awesome stuff.

What makes you laugh?

My partner Mark and my cat, mostly. As any cat owner knows, felines spend a lot of time trying really hard to look cool and act sophisticated. It’s this general aloofness that makes them all the more hilarious when you catch them doing something silly. After I sewed the first Oaf doll together, I had a solid hour of mirth photographing my cat Luna’s reactions to it. Ultimately, she let it ride her…and I don’t think I have to tell you how amusing that was.

I vividly remember the first time I saw one of Jiraiya’s breathtaking artworks emblazoned on the cover of Japanese gay magazine G-men. At first I was convinced it was a photograph– but there was something about it that seemed too good to be true. No, an image this deeply impactful could only arise from an artist’s figurative fantasies, facilitated by the hyperreal precision of the computer as an artmaking tool.

Following the footsteps of Bara master Gengoroh Tagame, Jiraiya served as G-men‘s resident cover artist from 2001-2006. His cover illustrations are devoid of the frills of a background, devoted fully to depicting the bulging muscles and friendly facial expressions of his fantasy men. Their eye-popping bodies are rendered in a level of detail that can only emerge from a deep affection for the physiology of men’s bodies. Style of dress and the occasional prop hint at a larger narrative, but for the most part these artworks are fully focused on the majesty of the body.

The recently released volume Jiraiya 1998 – 2012 presents an extensive overview of Jiraiya’s illustrative and painting work in the context of a beautifully printed fine art coffee table book. It’s entirely rewarding to look at these images free of magazine cover headlines and blown up to a size where the physical wonderment of Jiraiya’s men can be observed in crisp detail. Additionally, Jiraiya has included brief notes in both Japanese and English on each image, explaining the origins and inspiration behind each of the images. While it costs a pretty penny to ship the book from Japan, it’s definitely worth checking out for anyone transfixed by these incredible images!

Gay manga–or “bara” as it’s referred to online–is awesome. Unlike the much more well-known “BL” genre (yaoi), no one has published gay manga in English. Die hard fans of “bara” in North America must order the untranslated books overseas or hunt down bootleg scans on the Internet.

When my friend Blake Besharian invited me to make a series of prints on his letterpress, I decided to pay one of my favorite gay manga artists homage. I collaged disparate panels from Seizoh Ebisubashi‘s manga My Hometown Hospitality into disjointed visual narratives, emphasizing the transitions, exteriors, and moments of stillness that establish the subtle mood and tone in Ebusibashi’s artwork.

“Bara by Letterpress” is a limited edition series of six prints. If you’d like a set, here’s your chance! Post this video on your blog/Tumblr/Twitter and then leave a comment below with a link to your site. Next week, I’ll randomly select one commenter to receive a set of all six prints! (Note: The whole series have been given away to FS readers. Thanks everyone!)

Here are some links to help you investigate gay manga on your own:

“Bara” Resources:
Bara – Wikipedia article.
G-Men – G-Men is the foremost magazine that publishes gay manga. Site mostly in Japanese.
Japanese Gay Art – Australian fine art blog that features gay manga artists including Gengoroh Tagame and Jiraiya.
G-Project – Japanese store that allows international orders of gay manga.
Seizoh Ebisubashi – Tubmlr for the artist, including sketches of works in progress.
Gengoroh Tagame – Mixed Japanese and English site for the legendary Tagame.

Mike Mills is one of my favorite multi-hyphenate creative people, and has been for a long time. Back in the era of my tidal obsession with Air’s Moon Safari, I read up everything I could on the band, and Mills– the designer who’d crafted their rad cover art. I watched as many of his music videos as I could track down with the middling assistance of dial-up internet and my primary pre-YouTube rad video source, the late great RES Magazine. Ever since then, Mike Mills’ creations– in print, feature filmmaking, documentary, graphic design and music video have only grown successively more and more awesome.

His latest endeavor is his most intimate and most emotionally evocative work yet, the film Beginners. It tells the story of a sad graphic designer (Ewan McGreggor) learning to love (Melanie Laurent) late in life, and his elderly father (Christopher Plumer) who comes out of the closet in the twilight of his life. It’s a simple story but its scope is epic: it’s about mortality, growing up, the unchangeable nature of historical circumstance and seeking connection in a disconnected family. As heavy Beginners‘ themes are, Mills juggles story and concepts with significant grace, blending melancholy and humor in a way that somehow manages to reveal the intimate inner lives of his characters.

Beginners is in theaters now, and I strongly urge you to check it out on the big screen. And luckily, since Mike Mills can’t be confined to one medium, he’s released a companion book to the film called Drawings From the Film Beginners. It’s full of funny and charming sketches that relate to the Ewan McGregor’s character in the film, who also designs album covers for a living.

Thanks to Focus Features, I’m stoked to announce that we’re giving away a copy of the book, as well as a dropcard that will let you to download the Beginners soundtrack for free. Comment with your favorite work by Mike Mills and we’ll choose a winner at random this Friday!

Naked Kids, aside from being a phrase you probably shouldn’t Google, ever, is the garage rock sensation of the summer. It’s official, I’m calling it now. In your face, other garage bands! Their electrifying debut record Fresh Meat is the scintillating soundtrack to a hazy day at the beach, cruising on your beach cruiser– or a humid night at The Smell stumbling florid-faced around a mosh pit with the raddest 15 year olds punks ever.

My friend (and occasional leather bar wingman) Nik Johnson is the creative force behind Naked Kids. He sings and scribes the band’s immediate, agile tunes and executes them with effortless grace alongside Siobhan Kelly and Jason Hanakeawe. In honor of Future Shipwreck premiering Naked Kids’ first official music video, “Thugz,” I asked Nik some questions about music, boys and odors, and then took some photos of him with his head in the sand. Watch “Thugz” below and read on to get the skinny on Naked Kids’ upcoming weed BBQ!

What are your songs about? What inspires you to write music?
I dunno, they seem to have a social and political edge to them. I write lyrics in layers. So like take “Thugz”: face value, you can say its about wanting to be a better person. Like, everyone can vibe on that, but when you get into the layers of it, it’s about a number of things. One layer is talking about how we are all going to die, potentially at the same time. Another layer’s about why people are who they are today and what the fuck happened to end up like this. I get inspired by lots of things. Everything from the behavior of people, paranoia, how rad my dog is, getting dusted, cute guys, friends, even cool music, but that’s rarely the case.

What’s the first album or cassingle you ever owned?
I can remember getting KISS’ Destroyer when i was a toddler. I used to love KISS. I remember when I stole my older brother’s Suicidal Tendencies and Metallica tapes, too. I grew up in the south Chicago suburbs in the 80s and Metallica was so huge. All the heshers wore jean jackets and Metallica shirts. Pretty tight. I got really into Nirvana and Green Day later. I didn’t really buy singles until I was older. I think the first single i got was a maxi-single. That song by Paperboy, “Ditty“. I bought that and my little brother got Da Brat’s “Funkdafied“. I eventually stole that shit from him.

What qualities do you admire most in a man?
Dark eyes, dark hair, smells like Alec Baldwin.

Is there an odor that brings your happiness?
Whiskey breath and weed. Sometimes I smell like Fatburger too… that usually makes me smile.

What would happen at the ultimate Naked Kids show? Where would it take place?
Prolly the L.A. Forum with Nirvana and The Shaggs. Or maybe at our practice space. All my friends would be there with a pound of weed on a BBQ. Clam-bake that shit out, even the peeps who don’t smoke would be DUSTED. You should go, I’ll make it one of our “secret shows”!

Watching L’amour fou, the documentary about the art auction conducted by Pierre Bergé after the death of his partner of 50 years, Yves Saint Laurent, is a little less inspiring than watching Herb & Dorothy, the 2009 documentary that’s also about art collecting (and then unloading late in life). But I’ll get to the reasons why in a minute, because first I want to praise this movie for what it gets excellently right:

1. You get to see a tiny amount of very intimate, loving footage related to the relationship between YSL and Bergé. Bergé’s eulogy for his deceased husband is as moving a moment as you’ll see in theaters this year. And, earlier, some vintage one-on-one conversation footage where YSL playfully tells his man that he enjoys male “body hair” and that he wants to live in “a large bed, a full one,” should clear up any clueless viewer’s ideas about them being strictly business associates. Bergé was YSL’s daddy bear.

Left: Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé. Right: one of YSL’s Mondrian-inspired dresses.

2. Bergé is not the kind of guy to waste time mourning the past. His clear-eyed approach to the dismantling of the couple’s astonishingly large art, furniture and rare object collection is a study in not being attached to things when it’s time for them to exit your life. Besides, he had plenty of time to mourn while YSL was alive and trying to simultaneously drown himself in booze and snort up all the cocaine on the planet. During that time Bergé stood by and took care of his clinically depressed, sickened, addict partner and kept all the paperwork in order so that YSL could design clothes and then hermit himself in a private room, put on a caftan and inhale a small pyramid of blow.

3. You get to see a healthy amount of Loulou de La Falaise and Betty Catroux, YSL’s muses. One light and warm (de la Falaise), one dark and swaddled in black leather (Catroux), they are cool injections of French womanhood into YSL’s insular gayness. Catroux, especially, is like something a writer would invent, never without her sunglasses, even at night.

Loulou de La Falaise and Betty Catroux

4. Their lives were an orgy of luxury and shopping. They bought houses, art and more houses and more art. “One fine day a Mondrian came into our lives,” says Bergé, like it flew into their window and decided it was happiest living next to that Picasso over the fireplace. And then, when it was done, Bergé sent it to the auction house, a place he describes as “the undertakers of art.”

5. Thrill to the head-scratching vagaries of the art auction secondary market where an Ensor fetches more than a Degas.

6. This sort of thing:

And if, in the end, it’s all a little less inspiring than Herb & Dorothy, it’s because of that wealth. Extreme capitalism, even when it’s predicated on the work of a design visionary like Yves Saint Laurent and subsequently used in the service of building an awesome art collection, is sort of automatically less interesting than going on a journey with two extremely ordinary, working class collectors like Herb and Dorothy Vogel, whose lives revolved around living on her librarian’s salary and amassing crazy amounts of conceptual and minimalist pieces (when no one else wanted them) on his postal worker’s income. It’s easy to see a Brâncusi and say, “I’ll take it,” when you’re swimming in cash, or getting a Warhol piece for free because you hang out with him and he decides to photograph you. It’s way more dangerous to risk your retirement savings on work you love just because you love it, become Christo’s cat-sitter and then later donate all of it to various museums without asking for anything in return.

But again, this isn’t meant to harsh on these guys. YSL backed up his decadence with a legacy of his own amazing art worn by fancy ladies the world over. The planet needs people like him, people who live their lives exactly as they please. And if that life involves getting high with Mick Jagger and flying around France in your own private helicopter and asking Betty Catroux what she wants for dinner and she says, “Cigarettes,” then that’s cool, too.

Dave White is the author of Exile in Guyville, film critic for Movies.com, a contributor to L.A.’s “Slake” and KCRW’s “UnFictional.” Find him on Facebook.

Leilah Weinraub has spent eight years working on Shakedown, “the story of a black lesbian strip club in Los Angeles.” What started as documentation of the club’s by-women for-women performances (which Weinraub used for video installations) soon grew into something much more personal and meditative, as she began to focus on the lives of the performers outside the club. The deeper she became invested in the project, the clearer it became that a wider narrative of labor, community and symbiosis was being woven through the individual tales of the women who make up Shakedown’s extended family:

The film is anchored in the stories of three women: Ronnie Ron, the creator and emcee of Shakedown, a large butch/stud lesbian and former Jehovah’s Witness; Egypt, a single mother, beauty pageant fanatic, and dedicated self – (re)inventor; and Jazmyne, the complicated and sometimes conflicted “Queen” of Shakedown.

Go check out the video on Leilah’s Kickstarter page, and consider making a contribution towards the completion of this epic untold tale!