Recently I got to participate in an all-female anthology, known as Womanthology. I had heard about it through Twitter, and the first 100 people who signed up were allowed a chance to contribute. Luckily, I had become one of the 100 and crafted my very own story, alongside an artist and a well-known editor in the industry!
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Even though I had grown up with comics in the house, and been exposed to them through TV adaptations, I had never paid much attention to them. In fact, I didn’t buy and collect my first comic series until I was eighteen, known as Y: The Last Man published by Vertigo. It became the foundation for which I based all of my comic aspirations on – and when I finally got around to building my collection, I instantly asked “Which stories are the most like Y: The Last Man?” The helpful clerks pointed me to Chew, The Walking Dead and The Boys.
Chew is an excellent story with its lead character as an Asian American who can see the history of something by eating it. But few stories seem to have non-white (and even rarer, LGBT) main leads. So I went out on a mission to see if I could find anything worth while… and I did!
Prism Comics is a great place to find LGBT comics and their creators, which is where I discovered Victor E. Hodge! He’s a gay African-American comic artist whose stories center around gay and lesbian life in DC. His comic: Black Gay Boy Fantasy (BGBF) is written, drawn and inked by himself, which has twenty-five issues so far.
While checking out his comics, I loved how he doesn’t shy around from showing characters kissing or generally being explicit. In fact, one volume opens up with two male characters who have just finished having sex! The art style takes a little getting used to, as it differs from more manga-influenced art, but eventually it’s still nicely done.
Mr. Hodge also maintains a blog that he updates with some regularity and his contact information is readily available.
So don’t be afraid to check him and his comic out!