This Comic Book Is Not For Kids
By David Ethridge
Steve MacIsaac describes his work as “comics of a contemporary queer life.” The Long Beach-based cartoonist has just published the third installment of his gay graphic novel called Shirtlifter. Inside you’ll find comics that are not exactly like the ones you grew up on as a kid.
“Comics can be a lot more complex than people think,” MacIsaac said. “Gay life is very visual. There’s a lot of focus on the visual in the gay culture in terms of appearance and video, dance and other sorts of media that really focus on appearance. You can subvert that a little bit and use that as a tool to get at some of the complexities of modern life. I do comics that attempt to represent modern gay life and do so in non-simplistic and non-reductive ways, to get at issues that are complex without being judgmental.”
Shirtlifter 3 certainly doesn’t read like most comic books. The 88-page graphic novel is divided into five chapters. Three of these are the first three chapters of Unpacking, MacIsaac’s new graphic novel, originally serialized at www.adultwebcomics.com. Interspersed with these chapters are short stories from from artists Justin Hall and Fuzzbelly. Hall’s section, titled The Liar, illustrates the story of a man who finds a deeper connection with a hitchhiker. In FBuds, artist Fuzzbelly puts an ironic twist on a story about what it’s like to be a gay erotic cartoonist.
However, it’s MacIssac’s chapters of Unpacking that really give structure and voice to Shirtlifter 3. The panels weave a tale of a newly single man as he “unpacks” into a new life of sexual self-discovery.
MacIssac got his start as a cartoonist at a very young age. “I’ve always been one,” he said, “but I gave it up. When I was a kid I drew incessantly. But you convince yourself that you suck, so I gave it up. I didn’t take up art again until I was around 30. When I went back to school, I got seduced by the fine art program and discovered comics again. I started messing around and experimenting. Suddenly it clicked in a way it never had before.”
After growing up in Nova Scotia, Canada, MacIsaac found himself living and working in Japan for a few years. You can find several semi-autobiographical stories about MacIsaac and his time in Japan in the first two installments of Shirtlifter. He was in the process of leaving Japan when he met his current boyfriend and partner in Thailand. “He suggested I come check out California and see if I like it,” MacIsaac said. “I’ve been here [in Long Beach] ever since – three-and-a-half years.”
During that time, MacIsaac began submitting stories to gay anthologies and had a couple of items published. Shortly thereafter he began work on Sticky, a collaboration with author and editor Dale Lazarov. “It was basically a porno work,” MacIsaac said. “But I wanted to do it to learn how to draw men.”
More than two years have passed since the first installment of Shirtlifter was printed back in 2006. “The first issue was traditional comic book size,” MacIsaac said. “It was 32 pages of black and white, like you would see on the newsstand. The cover was a little better. The second issue of Shirtlifter was printed in full color and expanded towards more of a book format,” MacIsaac said, “which I’ve continued into the third issue.”
You don’t have to a comic book fan to enjoy MacIsaac’s work, either. “Certainly there are lots of people who like my stuff who aren’t necessarily comic book fans,” he said.
In fact, comic book stores have often been unfriendly to queer content, MacIsaac said. “It’s hard to find stuff that’s particularly gay. And the sexual content of some issues makes it even harder. There are maybe 15 [comic book] stores in the whole country who will carry my work, so I’m more focused on the gay and lesbian and indy bookstores.”
You can meet Steve MacIsaac at A Different Light Bookstore when he signs copies of Shirtlifter 3 there on Jan. 23. and offers a reading of his work. “Comic reading is a different beast,” he said. “Because our work is visual and the storytelling is visual, so what we’ve done in the past is set up a projector and project the panels on the screen as we read from them.”
Shirtlifter 3 book signing and author reading will be held Fri., Jan. 23 at A Different Light Bookstore, 8853 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood. You can also purchase Steve MacIsaac’s comics, prints, cards and other work on his website at www.stevemacisaac.com.
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