A Review
By
David Rondinelli
Massive is an appropriate title for this anthology collection that feature’s several of Japan’s most talented artists on the subject. I managed to find Massive on display smiling up at me in the confines of the Gay and Lesbian interest table. Like stumbling upon buried treasure, it was fun to find the book in a mainstream store like Barnes and Noble.
With a cover featuring artwork by many of the book’s contributors, Massive is not only big on style, but massive in content. The artwork is eye catching, but the book also boasts a series of essays by the creative director, Graham Kolbeins who photographed many of the artists, Anne Ishii the translator and co-editor, and out cover designer Chip Kidd who has played a prolific role in bringing book design and manga to prominence in modern publishing.
There are 9 stories featured, each beginning with photographs of the artist, an introduction and accompanying interview. This is really the best part of the book. The interviews pull back the curtain on this tightly veiled community of men who are still marginalized within their society. This is a land that offers everything under the rising sun in terms of creative content, but still lacks in areas such as gay marriage, non-discrimination at work and open acceptance amongst family. The interviews offer a well-rounded look at what it is like to be gay and a comic creator in Japan.
The artists themselves are diverse in theme, but the style remains the same. Massive’s main approach is to sexualize a certain body type that is of hairy, burly, and hyper masculine men. Here we are treated to everything from competitive jump ropers, mischievous monks and leaders of warring Yakuza clans all getting it on in a string of uncensored shenanigans.
The same creative team that brought Massive to the forefront was also responsible for The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame. Tagame is not only one of the contributors to Massive, but also the gate keeper to many of the other artists and a forefather of gay manga.
This book is much lighter in tone than Passion, which might help ease new readers into a genre that has been known to have brutal imagery. The diversity in subject matter is colorful and shows the diversity of gay comics from Japan.
The stand out artists in this volume are cover man Jiraiya, Gai Mizuki, Seizoh Ebisubashi and Takeshi Matsu. It would be amazing to see more of their work translated. Some of the best stories offer the erotic mixed with a healthy dose of cleverness. In Takeshi Matsu’s Kannai’s Dilemma we see a young man who draws sketches and then holds his sketch book up near the men around him making them look as if they are posing in various erotic stances. There is a hint of a possible romance between the protagonist and one of the guys that poses for him, which is sweet. Gai Mizuki’s Fantasy and Jump Rope is about two athletes training with jump ropes that lead to a sexual encounter reveals them to actually be the play things of a mad scientist who has them locked on lab tables a la Matrix style. Caveman Guu by Jiraiya proves to add a mix of humor to the sexual onslaughts of a pre-historic man who rides on a pet bear.
The pros and cons of the book vary. The sex portrayed in the book is standard and tame considering how extreme this genre can get. Most of the scenario’s are porn standards: jocks, athletes, muscle daddies, blue collar workers, mafia bosses, muscle men and men in uniform show the porn universals amongst people no matter what country they are from.
I’m not sure if the stories chosen were done so with the specific intention of appealing to American audiences, which might account for the above themes, but the major con is the use of heterosexual men being put in situations where they must engage in gay sex. It isn’t a theme all that offensive, but it does seem to shed a light on a collective mind frame of gay men from well…anywhere. True the book is presenting a fantasy, but the objects of desire in the book, the hyper masculine, the burley, what is shown to “beautiful” can’t actually be gay. What is discouraging is to read that the men in several of the stories deny having a gay orientation and even go so far as to say things like, “But… I’m not into that kind of thing,” or “You some kind of faggot,” and perhaps the most blatant “I’m in hell.” Let’s hope that the future of this genre will see a celebration of men who actually love other men instead of being forced into it. However, this is the same country that brought us lolicon and tentacle porn, so it isn’t too surprising, especially since American porn is guilty of the similiar themes concerning sexual orientation.
Still, Massive is a great exploration into the adult side of comics that offers more than just the titillating. The stylish cover design is a good move on the book’s producers, as it doesn’t isolate the audience and one doesn’t feel embarrassed bringing it to the check-out counter. The artist interviews make the book fascinating, multi-dimensional and even educational. It sheds light on the history of the industry, which makes it great for comic historians and people interested in the evolution of the gay community in Japan and well, sex too. Chip Kidd, Anne Ishii, and Graham Kolbeins have hit an untapped market that could make for wonderful branding opportunities, which is already well on its way with Massive-Goods.com.
Be sure to check back for part 2 and 3 of this 3 part series on gay manga. There will be accompanying interviews with translator Anne Ishii and Creative Director Graham Kolbeins who will go into more detail about Massive and gay comics in Japan.
Be sure to also check out the book and all of Massive-Goods products at Massive-Goods.com.
