Title: Carnal (One, Two, and Three)
Author/Artist: Dale Lazarov and The Amir
Publisher: Sticky Graphic Novels/Class Comics
Length: 72 Pages in Total
Category: Graphic Novel
At a Glance: This is a great book in keeping with the high quality of the work Sticky puts out. If you have the time, pick up a copy for yourself. You may just be surprised how hot and engaging a wordless novel can be.
Reviewed By: Mike
Blurb: CARNAL features three stories of carnality and sweetness between manly men! In “Hunk Tank,” two hot cops meet while working the public intoxication beat at a Pride march. What follows their meeting would give anyone reason to celebrate. “Your Turn” is a story of two telenovela-hot papis who make a winning team for domino games…and for everything else! Finally, in “Connecting,” a beardo IT cub cannot resist temptation and snoops around the folders of the crashed laptop of a professor daddy bear. So he sets to restore the professor, too…
Review: Carnal is another erotic comic in the continuing line of Dale Lazarov’s Sticky Graphic Novels imprint. The book is in three sections: Hunk Tank, Your Turn, and Connecting. In his traditional style, Lazarov writes scripts that are wordless on the page, but the art direction is so tight you don’t need words to understand the action or the outcome of the stories presented. Each one is a joyous expression of male/male sexuality that, while erotic, is neither grubby nor tasteless. The stable of artists employed by Sticky guarantees the reader a range of art styles that are lush in color and detail, and that present the story in such a way that no one is left behind. Being able to add your own words to the story gives this book a unique ability to make it completely your own, while still sharing it with the legion of Lazarov fans who have made a number of his books Number One Bestsellers in the gay erotic comics market.
Hunk Tank’s main characters meet as police officers, working a gay Mardi Gras. The much put-upon officers have to arrest and keep control of those who have over celebrated. In the course of their duties, they find themselves attracted to one another. The attraction grows and the two end their shift by getting together. The coupling is told in rich detail that leaves nothing to the imagination. That is the point of erotica, after all. From the energetic coupling on the page, the reader is left with the knowledge that this relationship will continue beyond the end of the story. Because of the talent of the artist, the shared looks and sheer enjoyment of making love is evident in each frame of the story once the clothes come off.
Your Turn is a familiar trope to romance readers. Eyes meet in the course of doing a mundane job, a connection feels like it’s being made, and then, the object of affection appears to have a wife and child. So much for that potential. Until they meet again in some weirdly coincidental way.
Set in the smallish town of some South of the Border country, these Latino hunks find themselves playing dominoes in a public part. Looks are exchanged, eyes smolder, and they leave the park to get to one of their homes. Again, the love making here does not feel like cheap, one-time sex. The passion is expressed with abandon. The two men have been waiting and wanting a willing partner to enjoy and share with, and they get it here in double sixes. We are even given a little after sex detail when we see the men sharing their “meet cute” story with mutual friends.
The final section of the book, Connecting, is another of those stories that you know has happened before, and will happen again, but this time we get to see it visually presented. A computer begins to behave badly, so its owner takes it to a local shop for repair. While trying to repair the computer virus, our hunky, bearish repair geek stumbles across a file of saved cam-to-cam videos, and finds the computer’s owner engaging in some (very) minimal cosplay with a mutual cammer. The repairman is interested, but repairs are done and the computer must be returned to its owner. When the owner arrives, the repairman explains his work and how to avoid the problem in the future. The secret folder is revealed and sparks fly. What could be a one-time meeting turns into a real relationship for the pair. The reader leaves this story, and the book, knowing that even the most erotic of adventures can lead to something lasting and positive in the world of gay men.
If you have never tried a gay graphic novel, this may be a great way to enter into the market, available in digital format and easily downloadable. And select Sticky titles are also available in print. This is a great book in keeping with the high quality of the work Sticky puts out. If you have the time, pick up a copy for yourself. You may just be surprised how hot and engaging a wordless novel can be.
You can buy Carnal here:
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