CJ Evans

Some of these stories are solid 4-star stories. Most are fine. A couple are 2-stars.

My two favorites:
A Counterfeit Life by Chen Si'an: about a man who accidentally discovers he can make a good living by pretending to be the person others are waiting for it. It starts when he is mistaken for a late wedding MC. By loitering around different places and dressing in certain ways, he discovers people will often assume he is the person they are waiting for. He gets more daring and braver, and can pull of just about everything. And then he begins recruiting others that are down on their luck--just as he was--to do the same sort of thing.

Flourishing Beasts by Yan Ge: About a species of woman/tree, who live and are raised at The Temple of the Antiquities. They have human women there to help tend them, as the main character's mother did when she was a young woman.

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Lip Service by Zhu Hui: there are quite a few sentences here that would fit right in on r/menwritingwomen

The Mushroom Houses Proliferated in District M by Enoch Tam: Interesting, but mushrooms are NOT plants (translation issue or from the original?). Mushrooms are fungi, and are actuaklly more closely related to humans than to plants. So, yeah.… (més)

Written by C.J. Evans and illustrated by Silvano, Sworn kicks off in the middle of a battle between the Saviors and Ultimen. When the conflict begins to turn in the Saviors favor, new recruit Calais is sent to capture one of the youngest members of the Ultimen, Slammer. After an intense struggle Calais brings Slammer back to his base and these two young men, thrown together in close quarters, begin to see there is more to each other than first meets the eye.

The world building was crisp, but almost muted as the comic was definitely character driven and focused mainly on the tentative relationship between Calais and Slammer. Calais is wary of Slammer, but common sense seems to take a hike and his lust for Slammer is overwhelming. Slammer does nothing to help this of course, and as he’s more experienced he initially takes the lead in seducing the beautiful and wide eyed Calais. MUCH seriously grubby goodness ensues.

The art has almost a sketch like feel in parts and I liked the way the characters felt. They were muscular, but lithe and Calais is simply beautiful with his dark, moody eyes. nom! The coloring starts off quite dark and grim during the fight segments and as the story moves, the depiction of the more intensely erotic scenes between Calais and Slammer become much lighter in tone as the readers is drawn in closer. The panels seem tighter and more dense, giving a kind of fast paced eroticism that is incredibly engaging and lush.

Sworn is a totally sexy, superhero romp that had me glued from cover to cover. Hot, sweet and incredibly enjoyable this was a wicked read and I cannot wait till the next episode!
http://sharrow.wordpress.com/2009/07/29/sworn/… (més)