Muscles of steel, hairy bodies and a lot of sex: MANLY - three stories observing men in the best years doing what they love to do best! Author Dale Lazarov and illustrator Amy Colburn show a FBI agent making an unexpected catch, two boxers facing off in the ring and a lot more, all without the use of words! Read on for an interview in which Amy is talking about manly super heroes and her own affection to gay erotica.

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MANLY was made by three persons. How was the working process like?

The process itself was pretty simple. Dale would write the scripts, which included descriptions of the characters and the locations. Then I'd draw up character designs and e-mail them to Dale. Once he approved those, the next step was sketching page thumbnails so we could check panel flow and composition. Finally, I pencilled and inked the full-size images and sent them off to Dominic Cordoba so he could color them.

One thing I liked about all the character designs is that each one is very masculine, but they all have elements that make them a little softer, more accessible to the audience. Buster from "Clinch" (one of the stories in MANLY) is a big, imposing-looking man, and he could be really intimidating. But he has a sweet face with a soft, open expression, so you know he's a good guy.

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Amy Colburn's pencil on the left side and the finished version right

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What do you have to focus on if a character should look very manly?

It depends on the character. There are certain things that always "read" as manly, like angular features or defined muscles. I tend to give them all heavy eyebrows-the bigger the guy, the bigger the eyebrows! You can also convey a lot of masculinity through a character's posture, the way he stands and moves. In "Busted" (one of the stories in MANLY) you know the slouching druggie stands no chance against the tall, straight-backed cop.

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Why are male comic heroes always that masculine?

Well, male comic heroes have always been square-jawed, macho, handsome types, because those are characteristics we associate with being strong and heroic. They've definitely gotten more muscular over the years as our aesthetic has changed. Now big muscles are almost a requirement for the heroic look. If you compare the original Superman comics with the modern ones, you can see that Supes has been pumping some serious iron.

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The cigarette after. Scene from MANLY (left) and Amy Colburn's pencil (right)

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How did it come that you draw gay erotic comics and how do you make the pictures look like a gay men's dream?

I've always been drawn to gay erotica - the sex aspect of it, sure, but for some reason I seem to express love and emotion better through drawing male characters as opposed to female. The sexiest thing to me is when you can see two characters who are not just connecting on a physical level, but on an emotional one as well. That's what drew me to Dale's writing. The physical action was hot, but it was hotter because I was interested in the people involved.

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posted in Releases, Interviews, Comic & Art on 16.09.2008