Kalabro is an artist I keep coming back to at this blog but the original mitchmen blog A-Z appreciation of this artist is over 10 years old now and didn't contain many examples of his work. Although I've added several more references since then (see foot of this post), I thought it a good time to do another, more comprehensive retrospective of his terrific work
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Kalabro - Anak Slammed
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This image from 'Anak and the Giant' reflects the essence of much of Kalabro's art, a muscular man captured and subject to extreme violence by a more powerful creature. The drama here is not dissimilar to what happens in professional wrestling rings, but in this less artificial setting it's clearly not just rough sport. Kalabro adds an erotic dimension which is not apparent at first sight, not just by making Anak totally naked, but by showing the Giant grasping his cock to execute the throw. You might say Anak's response is not entirely negative. Some boys really enjoy rough games.
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Kalabro - Anak and the Statues of Doom (detail)
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Kalabro also draws on wrestling imagery for this picture showing Anak again being tormented by statue that has come to life. You may have watched real life wrestlers being subjected to back-breakers over the knee like this and enjoyed the tempting eroticism of their upward arching, unprotected groins. The top man usually has both hands occupied with holding his man down, but an iron-grip (literally) on Anak's throat and a steadying hand on his cock suffices for the statue to keep him under control and deliver another sexual humiliation. This is a detail of a larger image which shows the statue has two more upper limbs wrought into serious weaponry, which Anak also tastes in due course.
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Kalabro - Adrift
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The lengths to which some villains are prepared to go to, in order to rid themselves of nuisances never cease to amaze me! I don't know the identity of this victim, it might be Anak again or Conan or Tarzan, take your pick. The raging lightning storm seems to suggest that higher forces have an interest in his fate. Unfortunately it looks like he might be on the brink of going over a waterfall.
Kalabro's adaptations of wrestling combat in the preceding pictures owe a lot to superhero comic imagery but this dramatic scene draws more obviously on the fantasy worlds of the excessively heterosexual
Frank Frazetta and
Boris Vallejo, a genre where near-naked heroes rescue and protect voluptuous, scantily clad maidens amongst the weird scenery of alien lands. This fully drawn, imaginative predicament isn't like the normal run of Kalabro's art, it is very much in the idiom of modern graphic comics, but his trademark, hourglass-shaped legs leave no doubt about it's authenticity*.
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Kalabro - Jake in Trouble (Strange)
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Although Kalabro's heroes often meet up with fantastic creatures, he rarely shows much of the landscape of those worlds. This tree-like growth may well be a swamp creature in it's own right, it's clearly sentient enough to have entrapped poor Jake (round the neck again) and is now threatening to drag him down into the bubbling quagmire below.
Jake is an attractive hero, with a smattering of chest hair proclaiming his virility but I haven't spotted him in any other images by Kalabro. He's been caught wearing swimming trunks but is spared from intimate interference at this point. He's not alone in Kalabro's genre in ending up suspended by his neck.
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Kalabro - Apeman In The Well
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Apeman is, I suppose, a relative of Tarzan (literature-wise). Although he has a rope around his neck, it's obviously been rigged so as not to strangle him and instead is being used to dip him in 'The Well', whose unpleasant waters are populated by leech-like, invasive eels with a very discerning taste for a particular type of man-flesh. Kalabro makes good use of scanty loin cloths to add erotic interest. The thick rope used to bind Apeman's hands acknowledges his strength.
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Kalabro - Korak In The Lava Pit
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Apeman is probably better off than Korak here who is suspended by his nether regions. This is another of Kalabro's signature torments and he adapts it freely for use on other captured heroes. Korak's attachment is probably more painful than Apeman's frightening noose and he is threatened with real mortal danger rather than nuisance parasites, since he's dangling above a bubbling lava pit, near enough to feel the intense heat of molten rock, as if he hadn't got enough to worry about! We don't know if this punishment has a purpose or is simply for the amusement of a sadistic captor but however extreme the threat, Kalabro's men seem to always survive to suffer again another day.
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Kalabro - Milking A Bodybuilder
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One of the most popular posts at mitchmen blog is based on a group of Kalabro's memorable Milking Factory drawings. The picture above seems to stem from the same inspiration with a similarly engineered, produce collection system in evidence. Although the bodybuilder is milking himself, he's chained to the bench, suggesting he's doing it under coercion. Thus the stress shown in the big man's face may not simply reflect the joyful agony of ejaculation, but the frustration and pain of being forced to do it over and over again.
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Kalabro - Kraig Helpless
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Pictures showing modern, technical torments form a distinct thread in Kalabro's work rather like
Franco's famous machines - for example, see the Kalabro electro torment in the
post-script of the mitchmen A-Z letter K. However in the image above the restraint of the 'patient' is decidedly non-technological, the technician has simply tied him to a chair. Tying his ankles to the back legs, so his feet are lifted off the ground and of no use to aid escape is a detail which makes this a great bondage image for me on it's own.
It looks as if the medical technician has already been thoroughly coating the outside of Kraig's dick with a creamy lubricant, which he was probably enjoying until he discovered that he was merely being prepared for a sounding using 'Icy Hot' (which UK readers will know as 'Deep Heat' or 'Fiery Jack'). Kraig understandably breaks out in a cold sweat at the threat of mere thought of it. His 'regular guy' square-jawed look and panic-stricken pleas makes the improbability of this scenario all the more delicious. There's a probing sequel at
Kalabro's blog.
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Kalabro - Karson prepped for surgery
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Karson is a welcome black participant in these celebrations and here is seen strapped down on a narrow bench at his neck and feet, while his arms are tied together underneath. His balls have been captured in a fiendish, pneumatic stretching device which alone is worth the admission fee. As the surgeon gloves up in the background (unprofessionally flaunting his muscular torso), multiple robotic arms converge on Karson equipped with gripping claws, needles, probes and cutters - mainly targeting the nether regions. Karson's response is already apparent but it's only just begun!
Kalabro's coloured pictures are probably more popular than his sketches, but for me sketches like this often have an attractive softness and subtlety that is lost in the hard-edged final versions. The picture just below is a case in point, although it's one I like a lot.
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Kalabro - Breaking Nick's Jaw
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To round off this post I'm returning to the biff-bash imagery that is most associated with Kalabro. Nick here is surely his most handsome subject, an element that makes gives his rough treatment extra pathos. This 'just been slugged' image appears more than once in Kalabro's output, there's another example in the original
mitchmen A-Z article. I can't say I blame him for reworking it! The subtle colour scheme he uses for this picture is particularly effective. I also like the glimpse of white underwear we are given, there's more in the sequel below. Can't say I like the blood though, spittle is enough emphasis for me.
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Kalabro - Nick Gut-Punched
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Not only is Nick being punched in the gut by a bigger 'man' here, his arms are being held back behind him by a confederate, so that he's unable to even defend himself. Kalabro is skilled in capturing the crumpling of the body which registers a major hit. Nick's skimpy white underwear barely covers his modesty from this direction but serves to point out his nudity and vulnerability to faceless beings who apparently don't need clothes but seem to have something of a protective shell or shield of invincibility.
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| Kalabro - Leyva and The Engineer 2 |
Finally, Leyva and the Engineer (In the Hands of Aliens) concerns a gymnast abducted by aliens who just beat him up for some reason. He's been given a more youthful persona by the artist which makes him seem more vulnerable than craggy Nick above. The gymnast's lean muscularity looks authentic but inadequate against the Behemoth who confronts him. He is lifted by just one hand grasping his neck, a humiliation for him and stunning illustration of their mismatch. In my head the jockstrap primarily belongs on big men who can stretch it and this picture seems to justify that thought. But it enables Leyva to draw on additional sympathy.
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Kalabro - Leyva and The Engineer 5
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This image more than does justice to a gymnast's body and this picture is my current favourite by Kalabro. Nick above is more handsome but the shading of Leyva's slender torso here is so sensuous, creating an attractive sheen, that I can't resist it. Notice that it uses the same colour template. The jockstrap comes good here, a great feature enhancing his nudity while the diving line of the narrow waistband helps to accentuate the backwards arch of his body as he recoils from the alien's strike. Great art!
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Kalabro hasn't updated his blog for two years now.
His Twitter and Patreon accounts show activity but do not feature any drawings.
The picture in my previous post is dated 2020 but I've no idea where it was posted.
Other articles featuring Kalabro at mitchmen:
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