To my readers......

SITE UPDATE NOTICE

Thanks for visiting mitchmen, home of Mitchell's Gay Art

The Caps and Collars/ Flat Cap Gang story at Google Groups is on a summer break until July. (see Group News for link)

Message updated 25th June 2023

Sunday 26 February 2023

Art by VolfKing

naked man captive restrained tied and groped in jungle tentacle drama
VolfKing - 'Tentacle Foodchain' p2

This is the opening scene of VolfKing's 'Tentacle Foodchain' and it seems a perfect complement to my own recent post 'Army Buddies in Tentacle Trap'. The naked man struggling helplessly as tentacles immobilise and grope him is depicted with tantalising subtlety and I love the way the artist has created his jungle background from a simple palette of black, grey and white shapes.


Man tied to tree in jungle by tentacles as friend watches
VolfKing - 'Tentacle Foodchain' p5

VolfKing's story isn't about soldiers ambushed in the jungle at all but it's easy to imagine here that one of the army buddies has somehow been rejected the the tentacle creature, leaving him free to enjoy watching his buddy being groped while he considers whether and how to to free him.


Buddies tentacle threesome buddy in pain squeeze
VolfKing - 'Tentacle Foodchain' p10

Realising he seems to have immunity he's even emboldened to join in and create a strangely erotic threesome. Despite the fact that his buddy seems to be suffering badly from the squeezing of the giant feelers he's also excited by his predicament.


VolfKing - 'Tentacle Foodchain' p11

But it seems the kinky 3-way is less exciting to the capative than the attractions of his buddy's body which he cannot touch. He must also have a lurking anxiety that the tentacle creature's grip is a prelude to more demanding activity with perhaps a fatal outcome. He'd rather his buddy showed a bit more eagerness to free him and not just stand back and watch.


Man tied to tree being gagged tentacle deadly threat
VolfKing - 'Tentacle Foodchain' p12a

His friend's response is to gag him seemingly confirming his worst fears.
 


VolfKing - 'Tentacle Foodchain' p12c

If this poor man is doomed, at least he's getting a decent send-off.
Discovering a little late the thrill of living on the edge.

This is a lovely picture and a refreshing take on the tentacle scenario.
The elegant shaping of the captives leg and feet seems at one with the waving tentacles. 
It suggests an underlying symbiosis is developing.
Even the gently leaning tree seems to be involved, luring the man to his fate. 
The rest of the jungle seems to recede into an indistinct slightly murky web.


VolfKing - 'Tentacle Foodchain' p17

This is possibly not the sort of coming together our poor captive would have chosen if he had the choice but at the same time it's evident that his ardour isn't exactly flagging. That's apparent in not just his dripping signal post but also the passive toe-curling bracing of his legs when he might have equally dropped them and closed off the pass. 

It's amazing what a bit of danger does for the libido and there's obviously a bit an adventurer in this man which is probably what led him naked into the jungle in the first place. There's a slightly comic sense that the tentacle was originally intending to angle up between his open legs but has suddenly spotted something more interesting lower down and ducked in for a closer look. The captive's bulging eyes seem to reflect this worrying (for him) development.

I love the balletic shaping of the tentacle and legs here, very refined. 
Perhaps a suggestion that our man is revealing his feminine side.


VolfKing - 'Tentacle Foodchain' p18

It seems a shame to spoil the beautiful romance of tentacle seduction 
but nature must take it's course.

The long suffering captive seems disappointed too, but he'll learn.
He's suddenly acquired a splendid pectoral display 
as if confirming his ascent to a more developed manhood. 

 This isn't the best picture in the bunch but VolfKing does his best to infuse a sense of the artistic in the elegantly raised leg (again), but also the upward flow of the texturing of the bark of the tree emulating the thrust of the tentacle. The leafy background is pretty but doesn't quite match the drama of the despoilment.


VolfKing - 'Tentacle Foodchain' p21

As the scene concludes his buddy takes the place of the tentacles and frees him from their embrace.
It seems an idyllic scene if emotional scene with another splendid and sophisticated jungle rendering seeming an entirely appropriate .

~

VolfKing has a truly artistic talent that infuses the atmosphere of these images to great advantage. The sense of suspense is sustained and developed with great skill. I can't say I'm thrilled by the styling of his subject's faces and flirtation with age taboos but I guess he's just observing the traditions of his genre.


Read the original story of VolfKing's Tentacle Foodchain
which is utterly different and more complex than my interpretation!

Thursday 23 February 2023

Vintage Bondage - Hal Paul

This has to be one of the most famous bondage images of all time, from an era when bondage and nudity were both still not quite respectable. I imagine most of my older readers will have vivid memories of seeing it for the first time. Even today, it's stark simplicity remains a classic rendering of what bondage is all about. 

It inspired the lead picture in my recent Deon post


If you think the fluffed up hair and clone-y moustache mars the original, the naughty photo-shopper who transplanted a celebrity head onto it created a variant which seems virtually timeless*.

*Although I suppose the day will come when exuberant head hair is once again the must-have styling for a real man!


To give credit to the original shoot, it has other bondage shots of equally high quality. 
This image from the opening sequence is a masterpiece of understatement 
with the subject standing head bowed facing the wall like a naughty schoolboy.
 
His broad shoulders however tell us that he is an adult man of some substance. 
With wrists already tied, he seems totally resigned to his fate.
His half-lowered jeans signalling that it will be a humiliating one.



He turns at the approach of his captor, revealing a chunky physique
and a libido apparently already simmering with excitement.
I guess in anticipation of what might be in store for him.

This shot shows a face that's seen many experiences. These images, however, come from an era of true leather lovers who cared not a jot about the superficialities of appearance, but about a man's inner strength and ability to perform under pressure. 



It's a pity this image is not in colour because it's equally worthy of the accolades of bondage lovers.
Stripped of his remaining clothes our hero has been further restrained at elbow and ankle.
Parked on the floor, completely helpless.

I suppose you might call this style of bondage 'rustic'. 
There's minimal elaboration of the roping, 
none of the sort of complexity that characterises shibari.
No artiness about the knotting, just the basics required for the job.



This image was the first sight I ever had of this series and it was hidden away, one of 52 male images in a novelty pack of 'saucy' playing cards. I can't remember the denomination (the 8 or 10 of something) but it was the only one depicting bondage in the whole pack, many of them were not even nudes.

What was so astonishing was that this wasn't even a run-of-the-mill bondage image, his balls are tied to his feet for goodness sake - and in tension, although I was too young at the time to fully grasp the full significance of that detail.

The model's face, burdened with the distorting effects of a gag (and dodgy hair style), does not exactly enchant, which is a shame because he has a beautiful, softly undulating physique gleaming with nervous perspiration and topped by remarkable square-cut pecs.



This black and white variant serves him better, I think and diverts attention to his groin area where there is another notable size effect. You might observe that the coiffuring at this end is 'au-natural' and untamed, in contrast to his lovingly layered top mop. He would probably sniff at modern, trimmed pubes but to me his own cock-crown cries out for a close encounter with a razor to better align the area with his hairless torso.  



There's nothing like a 'little boy lost' look to bring out the helplessness of a man in bondage.
But what a man he is, his pecs positively loom in this shot.


This is a rarely-seen image from the shoot,
a study in predicament contemplation.
Somehow it brings out the incongruity of his haircut
Good balls shot too.



The captive is released for the closing sequence and left to ruminate on the experience.
Paying overdue attention to a cock that has been simmering manfully throughout.
Although I dare say the photographer lent a helping hand to keep him going.




I've wondered about this model's identity for many years. Some magazines tagged him as 'Hal' but it wasn't clear if that was his 'real' name or invented for the bondage narrative. Quite by chance while preparing this article, I stumbled across an identification at Tim in Vermont and that led me to the picture below at Adonis Male




That's pretty clear now!

My next project is to identify the model in the picture I have christened as 'My Initiation',
a post which I've recently updated. There is some similarity there seems to be a disparity in model ages and build.

I'd welcome comments from those better informed than me.


The mitchmen, 'Vintage Bondage' Series:

There's also some retro stuff in my Muscles and Rope series, notably No 11 (Steve Landless by Zeus), No 15 (Robert Black at CanAm & Beau Hopkins at Zeus), No 19 (Can-Am) and No 20 (Rocco De Vega, Zeus). 

Or simply click on the 'bondage' label at the foot of this post!













Monday 20 February 2023

BDSM and Fetish Art by Deon

Felix Deon - Japanese Bondage

This picture is based on one of the most familiar of vintage, bondage photos (see Hal Paul in bondage). Deon has sprinkled the elixir of youth and added shoulder tattoos but otherwise has left it unchanged. When you know the original you get the eerie sense here that the captive has been tied up for the very purpose of inking his body. A Westerner being subjected to the arcane arts of the ancient East.

The other striking feature of the image is, of course, the styling, derived from the traditional pen and ink drawings of Japan. The parchment-like surface adds authenticity and he's even included Japanese script, a poem perhaps?


Felix Deon - Bullfighter

You'd hardly credit that Deon drew this image. The academic, pastel style seems quite unlike his more familiar images, but he has a drawn many pictures in this style. The subject too is more dramatic than you expect from him and although he hasn't quite caught the sense of strength and struggle, the concept is a marvellous expression of masculinity. Of course, wrestling naked with the bull is precisely what bullfighters don't do. They exhibit a similar level of bravery but instead of engaging directly, prefer to strut in elaborately decorated clothes, frustrating the beast and despatching it from a distance. 



Naked man in hogtie bondage with squid between legs and fish
Felix Deon - Japanese Bondage 2

This example from the Japanese Bondage series features a chunky man who looks like the Japanese youths of Okawa and his contemporaries. He is not totally naked, having been allowed to retain his head band and fundoshi (loincloth) both of which have a deep cultural significance in that country, related to manliness and growth. 

 He's surrounded by the creatures of the sea, including an octopus or squid between his knees which may be an allusion to the famous erotic picture of 'The Dream of The Fisherman's Wife' (see Octopuses at mitchmen blog). The parchment colour gives the impression of a sandy beach but the creatures are drawn in a way that gives the sense that he's actually lying on the seabed, like a character being tested in an ancient legend. The simple, loosely secured hogtie does allow him scope to escape, like a latter day Houdini.


Felix Deon - An Unfortunate Encounter

Escape seems less easy for this swimming party in the open sea, ambushed by two octopuses who seem have more on their minds that just dinner, stripping the unfortunate young men and sexually assaulting them. One is being dragged off for some other nefarious purpose in private. The seaweed seems to be aiding and abetting the abduction, reaching up from the depths. Or perhaps the immobile seaweed has bribed the octopus to bring the young man to it, who knows?

Deon has depicted the swimmers in 1930's bathing suits, loose fitting and modest (but easy meat for a multi-armed predator). He's employed a matching, contemporary style of painting like that once used for boy's adventure comics which lends a perverse sense of nostalgia to the scene (see also the Art of Sherer). There's a nod to Japanese art in the styling of the wave crests on the surface and the tiny signature scroll, top left.


Felix Deon - Saint Sebastian


If you looked at the Sherer link above you'll see the connection to this image which is European in origin but was enthusiastically (and morbidly) embraced by the famed poet and writer, Yukio Mishima and it later found it's way into the erotic works of other Japanese artists like Hasegawa.

Deon stays within the European tradition here deploying an arty, elaborate cartouche (frame) and saintly upward gaze, which silently rebukes the Lord for his part in this fine mess. The fleshy build of the martyr seems to reference females in Renaissance art but the styling of the cameo inside the frame is mid-20th Century. The simple, loose sheet serving as Sebastian's loin-cloth has somehow become snagged on the tree as though it's participating in the torment, like the seaweed in the swimming disaster image above.


 
Felix Deon - Japanese Bondage 3


This third variation on the Japanese Bondage theme tweaks the hog-tie in an unconventional arrangement whereby the captive's arms are pinned to his sides by a simple harness looped around his backside. The captive himself is given the thirties, Leyendecker treatment with bouffant hair and suspiciously pink lips. The traces of tattoo we can see are different to the dense, samurai-inspired shoulder ink in the previous examples, here it seems lightly decorative rather than block-like bulk and comparatively feminine 


Felix Deon - Happy Servants

The sense of pre-war WW2 decadence pervades the styling of this image too with the subject matter itself reaching back to the Edwardian Belle Epoque. For an artist normally associated with the cute and witty this take on service is surprisingly S&M. It's pleasing to see the stereotypical role of camp dominatrix given an all-male treatment. 

There's an unusual double edge to the term 'servant' here exploring beyond the modern world of consensual leather servitude with a Downton Abbey, Upstairs-Downstairs twist that sees the footman and the groom vying for the attention of their kinky, aristocratic paymaster. Unfortunately, thanks to the sensationalism of the current era it's a scenario that doesn't have the power to surprise like it once did.


Felix Deon - Tattooed Submissive

Strangely enough this undramatic variation on the theme of domination is more unexpected. Or to be precise, the sight of a young westerner totally engulfed in oriental tattoos is unexpected. They simultaneously seem to disguise and yet in a strange way accentuate his nudity and vulnerability. It's hard to imagine why he would do this to himself and in this image he's not so much being submissive (as the title implies) but being dominated by the neatly dressed, leather master.


Felix Deon - Spanked

Another pastel drawing, directly inspired by an image which is well-known to me but which I can't quite place. It's a slightly awkward spanking  position but I can't fault the authenticity of the spankee's pain-filled face which Deon has beautifully captured. 


Felix Deon - Bird In Hand


I don't even know where to begin with this one. As one comes to expect with Deon, it draws on popular art of the past with distinctly Art Deco trees and turn of the century iconography in the peacock seducing the young (inevitably) gardener of some stately home. The naïve depiction of the formal garden in the background goes even further back to the 1700's. I suppose it must have roots in the legends of Asia as well, since Westerners are usually more reticent about relationships with the animal kingdom.

Saturday 18 February 2023

Royale Guardsmen Colourised



These fascinating, colourised versions of three Royale Studio photos showing two Guardsmen wrestling, bare-top were kindly submitted to me by Roo Morgan. The colouring transforms these images. The flesh tones draw in the eye, promising erotic interest, which is there if you care to look - the hand placed on the one man's raised buttock , the forearm embedded in the other's own crotch and as for the hidden head, we can only surmise what that is doing. Their interlocking itself is supremely intimate



The uniforms these men are wearing are genuine and Roo has given them authentic colours persuading us that these are real soldiers, real Guardsmen, which they probably were. Men chosen to represent the heights of maleness and strength in our society. The wrestling scenario amplifies those manly characteristics and these two even have tattoos, a badge of uncultured maleness in the 60's, not a fashion.

Royale's predilection for real servicemen gave their images a thrilling tang of reality. Making them strip and touch each other in erotically interesting zones like buttocks, implied that the manly veneer conferred by their uniform concealed undercurrents of bold, homo-erotic desire. In this picture the hint of physical domination and submission to intimacy seems to epitomise that.

It subverted the whole military service ethos of obedience, discipline and working together.
No wonder the establishment was alarmed.


These images show the two Guardsmen in undignified poses, not the sort of image to command the respect their superiors would want of the Services. The upraised bottom and open crotch are hugely suggestive sexually, distasteful even today and socially unacceptable then. There's already a suggestion of mutual embracing here but these two, carefully contrived poses only need to shift a little horizontally to become a simulation of oral sex. A typical example of 60's hidden eroticism which gay men would spot but would go over the head of the average 'man on the Clapham omnibus'. 


 If you haven't visited the new Royale Studio Blog and Gallery yet I encourage you to do so. 
There are several new or upgraded posts there that have never appeared here:

Sailors Wrestling in the Rigging - expanded from one picture to four. 

Peter George in Underwear (the missing PUN-1?)

Peter George's Storyettes (new list)

Peter Watts tied to the rigging (new information)

Plus a whole series of posts about Royale and how they operated
and index of forthcoming storyettes.

~

I welcome any feedback (via comments)

about how you find the design of the new site


Wednesday 15 February 2023

Jero - Make Mine An Old Fashioned

Muscle man in jock spanking machine sore butt
Jero - Chase at the Spank Clinic

These images by Jero give the world created by the great, gay artist Franco a fresh new look. 'Chase' here experiences a rotating paddle spanking machine, similar to Dr Bottomthrob's Spanking Machine and the Spankinator (below). The mad Professor too is straight out of the Franco playbook of cruel professional spankers. However, Jero's muscular victim, indisputably adult and clad in a delightful white jock strap, is entirely his own invention. He squirms in his restraints, gleaming with a mix of nervous perspiration and sheer sweat induced by the energetic battering his buns are suffering 

The 'patient's' restraint arrangement is also original and testing in itself. It involves suspension and straddling of a platform that only allows his toes to touch the floor while a lock bar attached to his balls  inhibits any attempt to arch forwards out of the range of the whizzing paddles. I imagine their rotation can be reversed to better punish the opposite buttock. Their blurred motion is hard to make out at first but leaves little doubt that the bite bar in the jock's mouth is an essential, humane accessory. The jock's clothes discarded onto a chair at the side are a great detail that prompts us to imagine his discomfort as he strips in the opening scenes of this painful encounter.


young man naked spanking paddling machine sore butt
Franco - Spankinator Machine

Franco's clinician has a more business-like appearance almost debonair.
Behind him an array of alternative treatments for men's ailments.
 
I must say, Jero's concept of a 'Spank Clinic' intrigues me. 
Is it a place where spanking is a therapy?
 A place where hopefuls learn the art of being spanked?
A place where spankers learn to spank effectively?
Or simply a place where a spanking punishment is carried out
 in a clinical fashion, professionally and dispassionately?


Muscle man in jockstrap spanked over the knee OTK voyeur  musclejock
Jero - Stepbrother's troubles

Franco is equally renowned for conventional hand-spanking imagery, but once again Jero brings his own unique touches to this scenario with another victim of enviable, sweat-soaked muscularity, striking a balletic pose and desperately reaching toward us in a feat of perspective that Franco would never have used. 

Jero graphically brings out the young man's shock and anguish at the intensity and humiliation of his OTK punishment. The anger and venom of the ghoulish, weedy, parent figure who is dispensing the chastisement is also vividly captured. Jero's exaggerated facial expressions sometimes move his images out of sexy into grotesque comic caricature, but this one is nicely balanced. 

The stepbrother looking gleefully in at the window to witness the big jock's come-uppance looks like a nod to Jonathan who had a bit of a thing about public humiliation. The jock's untidy room, littered with sporty items, weights and discarded clothing is full of interesting detail. It is perhaps the reason for his punishment. 


Nude man strapped to chair in Doctor's lab with open legs raised
Jero - Creepy Doctor's Strange Examination

This jock has yet to discover what awaits him. His referral to this Doctor was for a reason unknown to us but it appears to involve his nether regions. A sporting injury perhaps, an unexpected lump or simply not feeling himself for a while. Being asked to strip naked for his examination might have seemed unusual, doing so without the benefit of a curtain screen might have been a surprise, but then he was accustomed to undressing in front of his mates in the locker room and the Doctor was a senior professional man, so he instinctively did as he was told. 

Now he's wondering how he came to be so comprehensively restrained. The strange examination chair was entirely new to him and he was mystified to discover that the seat was barely big enough to perch on, but it made more sense when the Doctor lifted his legs into the thigh supports. It felt less precarious and more comfortable that way, just a little awkward and embarrassing. 

The Doctor's explanation of why his thighs had to be strapped into the supports seemed perfectly reasonable at the time. When he started to do the same with his left wrist the jock felt more alarmed and questioned why, but the Doctor's grip was strong and his matter of fact explanation confused the young man. In the short time it took to wrap his wrist with the leather strap and secure the buckle, he couldn't summon up the courage to oppose the Doctor's intimidating professional manner.

The right wrist was a different matter and he whined anxiously and resisted at first in a panic, but by that time he was already three-quarters spread-eagled and the Doctor's show of irritation and firm grip overcame his last ditch objections without very much difficulty. The Doctor's final step was to open out the thigh supports, spreading the jock's legs wide, there was a click on each side as the locking device on each one activated. It left the jock in an uncomfortable position and he felt highly vulnerable but once the Doctor left him, he soon confirmed that even his highly trained thigh muscles were able to close the leg supports again. 

Behind him he heard the Doctor murmuring over his notes and sorting out his equipment. He craned his neck round but in his recumbent position couldn't see what he was doing. He felt a rising tide of panic creeping up through his body.

"Doctor, what are you going to do to me?" he moaned.


Jero - Testing The New Milker

This image is not connected to the one above but suggests a possible outcome. In Jero's title it's described as a test although it's not entirely clear whether it's the machine or just the student that's being tested. There's an element of Sci-Fi mind control going on via the blue-lit arms enclosing the subject's head and he believes he is obliged to cum over and over again in order to earn an extra credit from the professor. 

His personal sperm production equipment looks hugely impressive, but after 8 loads his body is flagging and his demanding mentor is about to bring the prostate stimulator into action. We might suppose that will be a new experience for him, a ride to remember, but whether it will induce the desired production is another matter.


Muscle man strapped to chair, milked by vacuum tube appealing for help
Jero - Creamerie

Mandatory Milking was another Franco speciality but this image by Jero owes little to him. Rather this image of a muscle man gagged strapped to chair and being milked by vacuum tube seems to share the inspiration (or vice versa) of the Jakarta clip featured in last years Milking Parlour post. The captive's muffled appeal for help and the circumstances of his discovery set out in the accompanying narrative are cast in similar vein. 

Jero, however, has chosen to focus on the fate of this single man, rather than a whole roomful, isolating him for good measure in an empty space that barely qualifies as a room. It creates a terrific atmosphere for the piece and a scary one for the unfortunate man being milked. One can imagine hidden spectators able to watch through the opaque walls.



Jero - Prostate Stimulator

This scene has a similar erotic theme and might be more aptly titled as 'Decontamination Protocol' for these black suited men are not aliens or space pirates but members of the spaceship's medical team. In in a delicious reversal of the normal hierarchy they are carrying out their decontamination procedure on the ship's Commander. 

Apparently it's his huge balls that give him away and though he protests he is not contaminated they are determined to drain him and that requires the him to lie on his back legs in the air, not very dignified for a man in his position, especially if it is all a mistake. The purpose of course is to permit ease of access for the 'prostate stimulator' which is being called into action (we are told) after 3 discharges have been deemed insufficient. The device is surprisingly low-tech considering the setting, although we are told it has an amazing ability to burrow into the tightest hole. Manually controlled by a member of his crew, it's another layer of embarrassment for the Captain whose masculine self-image is eloquently expressed by his carefully shaped beard. 

The aerial viewpoint here (a particularly useful feature of rendering) makes for an attractive image with the three medics flanking the decontamination table in a neatly balanced compostion. 




Jero - Test Subject

In this final variant of the milking theme Jero goes a bit crazy with a fully automated milking machine that strips and processes volunteers without the need for human intervention. These flexible robotic arms also feature in Ehrlik's Test Subject. His is a contrasting, calmer treatment, not funny but sexy. 

It looks as if the strip phase still needs a little refinement and though the jock's dance on the table is entertaining, it might be advisable to try and to stabilise him better if you want to use needles and plugs to enhance his responses. Studs being recruited from a nearby gym by the promise of $50 seems plausible but there won't be too many more takers if they end up with ripped underwear and bruised butts. 

See Platoon 69 for more onwards links to Jero at mitchmen
Jero has a gallery at Deviant Art and a Twitter page
 

Sunday 12 February 2023

Bareass Blogs No 67

Probation cop butt naked bent over car waiting to be probed

 Bareassed Bad Example by Probe-ation Officer

I suppose it's one way of getting those delinquents interested.
In being closely supervised and reformed, I mean of course.

Go to Bareass No 68

~

For other mitchmen bareass blogs, click on the label at the foot of the post 
or start reading at Bareass No 1 and follow the links

Saturday 11 February 2023

Bareass Blogs No 66

Man in tee shirt naked butt staring out of open window after captive escaped

 Bareassed at Break of Day

Looks like another one managed to get away
while he was sleeping.

Go to Bareass No 67 (link pending)

~

For other mitchmen bareass blogs, click on the label at the foot of the post 
or start reading at Bareass No 1 and follow the links

Friday 10 February 2023

Bareass Blogs No 65

 


Bareassed Bobby Dazzler

(with a cheeky smile!)

possibly a member of the Flat Cap Gang?

Go to Bareass No 66 (link pending)

~

For other mitchmen bareass blogs, click on the label at the foot of the post 
or start reading at Bareass No 1 and follow the links


Tuesday 7 February 2023

Superhero by Deon

 

I rather like Felix D'Eon's eclectic range of artistic styles which encompass various, traditional, 'old-fashioned' techniques, sometimes imitating them for subjects they were never intended for. These two examples of his 'vintage comic' style are good examples in a mode from a bygone era, aimed then at younger people, but here featuring mature subjects and mature men (and he makes such a good job of showing that he understands their attractions you wonder why he bothers so much with fledglings).

The superhero here is El Oso, The Bear. Hence the paw on the front of his suit. I love the way D'Eon has subverted the clean cut (American) view of  such men with the very gay iconography of a romantic, chunky 'bear' finding his mate (I nearly said cub but that would be an inappropriate word after what I said above!). He's been whisked away from danger clad, appropriately enough, in just his very traditional, white Y-fronts which are betraying his own inner feelings. It's a splendid recognition that ordinary men are admirable and sexy too.

The drawing here doesn't have to be spot-on but the perspective treatment of the fleeing arsonist down below is pretty natty (and very much in accord with the chosen style). The trail of El Oso's flight however is less impressive, suggesting that the great man is flying sideways. Maybe he is, or maybe it's an imitation of the naivety in 1950's originals, but whichever the case I'm glad I'm not the only artist who draws himself into a corner sometimes!

In the Spanish dialogue here, 'chispas' is an expression of anger, "i mi plan ha sido arruinado por el oso" simply means "and my plan has been ruined by The Bear". The shrine to the virgin on the front lawn is another Spanish feature.



This picture picks up another typical genre paired with this comic style, the western. I don't think men in union suits with plunging necklines ever featured in those original cowboy comics. It's a mode of dress that always seems deliciously seedy and earthy, thanks partly to those realist cowboy films that depict them as underwear that is never taken off or washed. I like that this cowboy has donned his best boots and hat for his morning constitutional on the front porch. 
 (I confess I'm not exactly sure what a morning 'Joe' is, J/O?). 

More Deon at mitchmen blog