Jon Macy

Sometimes, you back a project on Kickstarter, because it's pointed out to you by someone you respect, and you support that kind of thing overall. I like gay-centered comics, I heard about this from Alex Woolfson, it looked interesting, and so I went for it. And... well, it's not like it's bad exactly, but... yeah.

So this is a contemporary story, set near a small town, where our first main character, Oisin, is apprenticed to a local druid, and nearing the completion of his training. That'll involve binding himself to a god of nature, and yet he finds his attention drawn at a party to a werewolf, Byron. And that's dangerous, because werewolves, once they bond, mate for life.

So the story proceeds as you might expect - Oisin is encouraged to complete his training and fulfill the goals of the druids, but Byron seems like a good partner for him. There are some twists in the story, but the overall strokes of it aren't surprising. You know what you're going to get.

The art is often really good, but variable - the more complex, druidic vision stuff is often really interesting, and creepy, and the nature scenes are also well executed. But the character work is spottier, and it wasn't always easy to tell what character it was I was looking at.

The bigger thing is all the sexual content. There's a lot of sex in this - between men, and between men and gods, which can get very overwrought. But the scenes are for the most part not relevant to the plot or to the furthering of the characters, and that doesn't really make me that happy. There's also a decent amount of half-naked guys and such in unrealistic ways, which adds to this air. Nothing wrong with drawing guys in different states of undress, but if it's as part of a story, I want it to connect up better.

So... there are some things to commend the book - the art really can be beautiful and imaginative. But the story is average, and there are enough issues that I'd more recommend this just if you really want a new gay comic to read, and you ran across this one. No need to hunt this down too hard.… (meer)

Excellent adaptation of a book to a graphic novel. I appreciated that Jon Macy retained the language of the Victorian era. Coupled with his drawings, the story takes on a modern feel while retaining the historical setting. The reader remains aware of the times in which this daring story of homosexual love was written. I can only imagine the illicit thrill of penning Teleny in the 1890s; the tale edges beyond the erotic to pornographic even by today's standards.

I was amused to find that two books I recently read unexpectedly added context to the story line. The circle of writers was, I am sure, aware of the Victorian practice of using flowers to convey a sentiment (lavender for mistrust and heliotrope for devoted affection, sunflowers for false riches). I only became aware of this from reading The Language of Flowers. There were references throughout of Hadrian's relationship with Antinous and I read Memoirs of Hadrian just this summer.

Not recommended for any members of my family, who would probably prefer to think I have never besmirched my eyes with something so lascivious, but anyone looking for a finely drawn, modern interpretation of a tragic love story will enjoy Teleny and Camille.
… (meer)