Mitchell's on holiday

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Mike Radon looking fabulous in cocksox underwear

 and wondering where his clothes got to.

I'll be back posting in mid-October

A-Z of Fetish Artists - Zelolee

Zelolee - Shoot at this Guy

   

Zelolee's style is at the opposite end of the spectrum to Zaria, his captives are muscular, masculine and mature. As you can see from this image, his stories are concerned with fantasy worlds where men are men, but as captives, naturally, they are shown no more mercy than Zaria's erotically tormented younger men (who seem to have turned here out to witness this ancient hero's self-abasing humiliation in what looks like a very modern jail cell). There's a certain 'plasticity' about his rendering of the muscle detail here which is distinctive if not entirely convincing.

Rokudenashi - Crisis page 9

In this example from Rokudenashi's comic book 'Crisis', however, the same rendering technique works very well on the hero's skin-tight suit, suggesting a clingy suppleness that must be a treat to wear!

Zelolee - Brothers

Zelolee draws upon pseudo-medical imagery for this scene with a needle poised threateningly above the captive's vital organs. His technique here is very basic with minimal body detailing but the same sense of style and design is very apparent.

The Perverted Sage - page 14

This versatile artist shows another side in 'The Perverted Sage'. It's another tentacle saga but one is struck by the extreme stylisation which depicts these entities as arching, pointed, almost one-dimensional shapes, rather like blades of grass. That association imparts to them a quality of flexibility and delicacy which makes the possibility of arousing their victim a credible one. Their capability to grip and penetrate is also portrayed but the artist's technique suggests it's through an almost magical gentleness, leaving the viewer to imagine the what follows.

Zelolee matches this lightness of touch with a restrained palette of pastel colours which suggests normality rather than drama. It seems to drain the energy from the captive warrior. Notice too that the Sage and the Warrior are almost indistinguishable with similar angular, masculine features and stylised hair. It suggests an equivalence in their heroic status which is illusory, the Sage is an alien with self-transforming capability, but their similarity lends an erotic twist to their struggle.

The Perverted Sage - page 19

In the final frames the captive is imprisoned by the tentacle entity which is seen to have a simplicity of structure that does allow us to draw on our normal constructs for beastly beings. It focuses us on what it is doing, holding the captive and milking him of his semen which has acquired the status of a gastronomic delicacy for the alien being.

Zelolee - The Battlefield Urinal page 5

'The Battlefield Urinal' is set in a more real world with no magic or fantastical beings and Zelolee accordingly adopts more earthy tones. I suspect 'Urinal' is a mistranslation as this story does not concern golden showers. It recounts the tale of a captured soldier who develops (or reveals) under torture an erotic response to pain. It leads to much abuse until a sympathetic officer intervenes and sends him back to his own side. Unfortunately his secret is soon discovered there by his commanding officer who cannot resist adopting him as a sexual slave. 

 

Zelolee - The Battlefield Urinal page 15

Zelolee characterises the hapless soldier visually as something of a muscular brute in comparison with his normal looking colleagues. In fact he shows heroic qualities under torture by his enemies before his weakness is revealed. His misleading appearance adds pathos to his serial subjugation in which even his own side abuse him. It's the sort of tale that Tagame specialises in, but Zelolee's simpler approach to illustration allows the psychological sub-text to show alongside the more visual mechanics of his tortures.>

Zelolee - When The Ice Meets The Fire

I've left this picture to last because I simply like the depiction of the muscular captive. His face is less forbidding than some of Zelolee's heroes seen above and the gleaming bruised body with a tantalising smattering of body hair is terrific. I confess that for me the monster between his legs is more arresting than the one looming over him.
~

I haven't found a site yet for Zelolee* but search engines will bring up examples for you.
(*Thanks to reader lamlamblam for supplying Zelolee's pixiv page
and correcting my attribution of 'Crisis' - see comments below)

 For more articles in this series click on the A-Z label below or search for specific artists using the index page or search boxes (in the navigation banner and top right)

Zaria Update

Zaria - Mob 1 page 15

I have updated my A-Z article on Zaria with some additional material from the story 'Mob', which I mistakenly omitted on the first draft. The next A-Z article featuring Zelolee will follow shortly.

A-Z of Fetish Artists - Zaria

Zaria's comic art features fetish themes but like other Japanese artists he flirts with cross-generational, coming of age themes that are highly sensitive these days, making my task of representing his work here a tricky one.

Zaria - Kinbaku, cover

This coloured image comes from 'Kinbaku' (tight binding), a fantasy about the punishment of a run-away slave. The decorative use of white lily flowers seems an oddly romantic embellishment to Westerners in a bondage context, but in Japan they symbolise chastity and purity, thereby loading this image with overtones which I will refrain from commenting on.

Zaria - Kinbaku, page 13

 I'm not totally enamoured of the spiky manga style of drawing, but Zaria's approach is mellower than some and the precision of his rope detail here is admirable. I don't have an uncensored version but that's rather less important in this classic, rear-view, erotic pose which is the stuff to spark the imaginations of voyeurs and artists alike – oh, to recast this with a more adult captive! The preoccupation of Japanese artists with anal egg vibrators is something of a puzzle to me although I can see the appeal of total insertion of the device with remote, external control symbolised by a slender, electric cable. I suppose the prolonged exposure to the egg's vibration suffered by Takaya, the captive in the story, would become extremely trying - eventually.

 

Zaria - Kinbaku, page 14

This frame documenting the humiliating, grudging submission of Takaya, after a lengthy, petulant exchange with his urbane captor is a beauty too. You can almost feel the pressure of those chunky ropes, en-wrapping the young man's flesh Comic images rarely work well when separated from their context but apart from the disjointed dialogue, this one does. Even though these pictures are in English, remember to read them from right to left to get the gist of the scene. The same applies to the next frame.

Zaria - Mob 1 p10 (det)

This picture is taken from Zaria's story 'Mob' and it's a fantasy of exploration and self-discovery that speaks for itself. This image which is just a single frame plucked out of over 100 pages is amazingly detailed and quite different to to the ones I show above and below. It's a miniature masterpiece of story-telling (but you'll have to read the book if you want to know exactly what is going on with these two. Clue: - it's not a burglar). The combination of the crudely functional, leather restraining harness and the elaborate, luxurious, gothic-looking bedroom creates a sense of secret depravity and a surrender to gentle coaxings in a comfortable, safe haven. A surrender which we are able to furtively observe through the sheer draperies. The power play is subtle and insidious, almost feminine and quite different to the in-your-face domination and raw sex of the traditional, dungeon, training technique, but it's arguably more powerful. That contrast is drawn out as the story proceeds.

Zaria - Mob 2 p20 (det)

'Mob' is mainly concerned with the induction of a young man into military service  and as you can see, the gentle attentions of his former life are soon replaced with cruder, brutal encounters as his fellow soldiers discover his leanings. This frame sits between two others that overlap and encroach on it. That creates a great sense of confusion and excitement but I've isolated it here to draw out the simple, erotic beauty Zaria has found in what is otherwise, a commonplace, copulation scene. The gentle detailing of the recruit's exposed torso is marvellously effective. 

Zaria - Mob 2 p25

 The aerial viewpoint in this scene shows the influence of film techniques on Zaria, the fan lazily revolving above the urgent activity below. Don't worry it's all consensual! Once again there's some superb detailing here, notably the spectator in the dark tee shirt whose face is enviably captured.

Zaria - The Pet, page 1

No fetish content here but I like the sinister atmosphere created by this opening page of 'The Pet' and the characterisation of a ordinary-looking young man. It illustrates Zaria's cinematic approach to story-telling which greatly enhances the drama. In this story, the young man (Yuki) wanders 'off-piste' and seeking a way of getting drugs for his sick brother is persuaded by a gang to submit himself to auction as a 'pet'. 

 

Zaria - The Pet, page 14

In this frame the clink of his chain signals the moment where the gang reveal their true intentions of enforced subjugation. I've always liked the collar as a symbol of domination and in this simply-conceived but striking image, Zaria emphasises it by setting it in stark contrast to the captive's total nudity, which is rendered with simple clean lines and tones to create a sense of smooth flesh.

Zaria - The Pet, page 24

In my article on Zane I commented on the difficulty of making cages look erotic visually. I think Zaria passes that test here by having his prisoner, Yuki, pressed up against the cage wall, whose curving, square mesh pattern assumes some of the characteristics of a net, not just imprisoning it's victim but enveloping him. Zaria's precise detailing allows us to see Yuki's succulent body clearly, unhampered by the mesh. I should perhaps explain that the constricting effects of the cock cage, preventing it's wearer from ejaculating, are a major element of the storyline.

Zaria - The Pet, page38

This final picture is another masterpiece of seeming simplicity but anyone who has attempted to depict a complex threesome will understand the artistic challenges involved. There are some miscalculations in the shading here and there, but the visual integrity of the 3 separate participants is superbly realised. I actually chose this picture because at first sight it seemed like an image by Stephen/Etienne had been transplanted into this manga world. The poses and the styling are just like those in his famous comic stories. I don't know if Zaria is a fan of Etienne, it isn't obvious elsewhere in his work, perhaps it's a case of 'great minds think alike'.

I'm not aware that Zaria has a site but his work seems to circulate freely and if you search on his name you will track down further examples.

 For more articles in this series click on the A-Z label below or search for specific artists using the index page or search boxes (in the navigation banner and top right)