5
He dropped his pants readily for me being totally ignorant of the attractions of his backside. He's aware I might have designs on it but is confident I wouldn't dare, and that he can easily manage that risk.
 | | 6 |
He doesn't feel vulnerable at all. He's more interested in what his cock wants and it's beginning to want attention.
 | | 7 |
Ripping open his own vest shows how strong and muscular he is. He doesn't imagine someone else doing that to him.
 | | 8 |
An irresistible package when unwrapped, he imagines. To others it looks like he's longing to be taken.
Back in his military shirt again, he was more than willing to play to my greedy camera And with his testosterone visibly raging I sprang my surprise. "How's about a sequence of shots with you tied up?" I suggested
That stopped him dead in his tracks. Like he'd never heard of stuff like that. Yeah, right!
Of course it would change the balance of power.
"Like this?" he said, simulating restraint admirably for me.
"Yeah, that looks great", I said "but for real and without the shirt"
He took off his shirt readilyly enough, but then he stopped. I guess he suddenly felt more vulnerable without it "Nah, I dunno about that" he said thoughtfully
But I could see he was tempted by the idea - and just a tad excited by it.
"How about I just tie your hands?" I suggested "and add a hundred to the fee".
I can tie hands together very quickly - and very securely, I might add, After that it was simplicity itself to add a couple of embellishments.
As I tied his elbows together I explained: "These pull your arms back, it makes your chest bigger" He seemed to like that. I do love male vanity!
Ropes round the neck are always tricky, they bring home the darker possibilities when you are bound, totally helpless and alone with another man.
"It maintains good posture" I assured him, and he grudgingly accepted that. That was his military training helping me, I guess. You just have to be bossy with them.
He didn't even seem to notice when I tightened that little connector that lifted his hands up clear of his cute little ass.
He strained against them a little, hoping to find some reassuring looseness. "You've tied them real tight" he admitted with a new respect in his eyes.
"Actually" I told him "That combo is totally immobilising". It was a challenge and a threat and he got that, I could tell.
"Now, get down on your knees, Soldier" I said sharply.
He looked at me in amazement "You kidding me?" he drawled. I repeated the order and nudged the back of his knee for emphasis. Down he went. Like I said, you just have to be bossy with them. He didn't like it, but I thought he looked great like that, not liking it, I mean.
Realisation was setting in now - and a bit of manly panic. but he was far too proud to show that to me - so he thought.
He started straining again, but the ropes gave him the same answer.
Meanwhile I just happily snapped away. And then I made him crawl.
The shoot was hotting up in more ways than one and he said he wanted a drink.
I just pointed at the dog bowl of water I'd put it at the side of the posing area, on the floor. Said I wasn't going to feed him.
Tied up like that, it was quite hard for him to stand up and the water was on the floor, so the easiest way to get to it was to crawl.
~
And that was how I got the bondage picture of a lifetime. Unfortunately my roll of film ran out at that point and by the time I'd reloaded the moment had passed, so I didn't get any pictures of him lapping water from a dog bowl with his bare ass up in the air.
We did carry on after that and I'd like to show you more pictures from that steamy shoot, but in the end my trickery backfired on me. A leopard doesn't change his spots and, by the time I'd subjected him to another hour of intimate close ups, he was livid and in the end I had to untie him of course.
In retrospect I should have got someone else to do it and made myself scarce - or just left him with a knife to free himself. Anyway he got me then. That was OK, I can defend myself. Unfortunately, he pretty much wrecked the studio and ran off with my expensive camera and the film inside it. I gotta admit that pained me more than the bruises he gave me.
It taught me a lesson. The next time I did it, I planned the end-game more carefully. But I did have one last laugh on my Military Cop, because he didn't get his extra fee. He didn't realise I'd changed the film mid shoot either. The first roll was still safe in my pocket when he stormed out. Enjoy!
~
The star of this piece, Fred Halsted was something of a legend in the US gay leather community back in the seventies. But he wasn't so well known in the UK where press freedom was still being contested by reactionaries and people were still being jailed simply for indulging in consensual, but real S&M. In that climate, publications like Drummer didn't really make it across the water, and to some extent the era remains shrouded in mystery. These images appeared in 'Action Male', a publication (ca 1978) which presented a number of famous bondage sessions including Jack Wrangler, Hal Paul and ' My Initiation' star Clay Hughes. The photographer, I believe, was Jim-Ed
For more vintage bondage articles at mitchmen click on the label below.
 | | Mitchell - Kneel Dog! |
A captive is ordered to kneel and shown respect to his trainer. Another young man has already submitted and is on his knees. They have been dressed in identical, tight shorts for their training. and put on collars and leads.
This Trainer is renowned for achieving total control without violence So the proud rebel has been bound and gagged, amplifying his vulnerability.
It may take him time, but he will obey. and be grateful for his Trainer's praise.
~
This is an early scene from 'The Flat Cap Gang'
~
I had some fun experimenting on this picture with the AI Cartooniser  | | Mitchell - Heel Dog! Variant 1 |
An older man commands more respect But it's still a struggle of wills for a new sub (who didn't actually volunteer for this).
The software has produced a weird clothed/unclothed look but I love his hairy physique and the sub's shiny muscle tones.
 | | Mitchell - Heel Dog! Variant 4 |
Younger tops are less sensitive to a sub's feelings
AI dreamed up the idea of a street scene and it changes the mood of the piece completely It's also added an entirely appropriate bicep band - and red gag colour.
%20winners%20ifnb00144.jpg) | | They're All Winners! |
Above, art by this year's winner for the second year running, IFNB. Drained but victorious contestants pose with their enormous trophies and their cups.
There will be a third IFNB post soon, watch out for it.
~
According to my Blogger 'hit stats', out of all the mitchmen articles published to date,
those registering the most total hits since publication are as shown below.
Table 1 mitchmen Articles With Most Hits Since Publication to end 2023
Posn (last yr) | Title of Post (& link) | Year of Pub'n | Cum Hits | Hits in 2023 | 1 (1) | | 2018 | 51,757 | 7187 | 2 (2) | | 2017
| 51,385 | 7506 | 3 (3) | | 2012 | 44,375 | 2604 | 4 (4) | | 2008
| 36,621 | 2316 | 5 (5) | | 2010 | 34,495 | 1437 | 6 (6) | | 2018 | 24,857 | 1466 | 7 (8)
| | 2018 | 23,187 | 1145 | 8 (7) | | 2009 | 22,957 | 824 | 9 (9) | | 2016 | 21,657 | 786 | 10 (10) | | 2010
| 19,701 | 624 | 11 (11) | | 2009
| 19,328 | 811 | 12 (14) | | 2020 | 15,865 | 2551 | 13 (20) | | 2008 | 15,409 | 4332 | 14 (12) | | 2010 | 14,752 | 718 | 15 (16) | | 2019 | 14,393 | 1502 | 16 (13) | | 2009 | 13,889 | 414 | 17 (15) | | 2015 | 13,781 | 761 | 18 (17) | | 2018 | 13,048 | 1420 | 19 (18) | | 2009 | 12,313 | 872 | 20 (19) | | 2009 | 12,129 | 729 |
Stats compiled 1/1/24
This year it was pretty much 'as you were' in the all-time table of hits. At the top of the table, Milking Factories-1 closed the gap behind IFNB after surrendering No 1 position to it in 2022 and at the present rate it will be back to neck and neck this time next year. As in 2022 these two are fast pulling away from the rest of the pack, now a long way behind them. Related posts, Milking Factories 3 & 4 also consolidated their places in the top 20 table. The follow up article on IFNB, ' IFNB Revisited' however is still way behind this group at No 80, but it recorded a creditable score of 1,587 in 2023 and rose 16 places.
There were no new entries at all to the top 20 this year and only one change in the top 11 positions with Homoeros Gallery Guide (now 7th) swapping places with Jotto (now 8th). This rise was despite the Homoeros post putting in a faltering performance compared with previous years (after registering a 75% fall in hits). Homoeros' other top 20 article - 'The Art of the Cross' - dropped back to 18th but is still scoring well and has articles in it's sights for overtaking.
The chasing pack are headed up by 3 former Number ones. Priapus of Milet is secure in 3rd place but the long standing rivalry between Cavallo (4th) and Mike Carcel (5th) is not yet over, Mike slipped further behind in 2023 but the gap is still only one year's worth of present hit rates. There's another big gap behind the top 5 who are unlikely to be disturbed for a while.
The meteoric rise of Amalaric's - 'A Slave To Passion' moderated in 2023, rising only 2 places to 12th place but with a top 5 hit rate nevertheless. He's now coming up against some formidable historic totals which will take some chipping away. He's also being chased hard by Brick, well placed to overtake him in 13th position. Brick had the best rise in the table, 7 places, interest in him having been revived by a marvellous stream of new work posted at MetalbondNYC. My A-Z article covers his earlier work.
Other classic artists Malex, Franco, Martin of Holland, The Hun, Kalabro and Julius were all shuffled down by the newcomers and though they didn't have vintage years they mostly posted hit counts that would have rivalled the winner of the 2023 'new articles' table (MPP1).
The entry level to this all-time top 20 is now 12129 about 1,000 more than last year. That increase alone exceeded all the scores of the 2023 new posts and the cumulative total of IFNB is now fifty times the total of the 2023 winning new post. The leading outsider threatening the present residents for next year is the same as last year - The Art of BrosFate – 3 at 22 (up 2 places). Further down, Enslavement Art by Planet Gay jumped 165 places but there are no obvious, immediate challengers for the top 20 places. The mitchmen 'Index of Artists' page reached 87,590 hits at the end of 2023, a 13% rise (compared with 19% last time). It would have earned top spot in this ranking if I counted it as a post.
~
mitchmen blog was first published in 2008 and ten of the sixteen years since then are now represented in this survey, the missing years between 2008 and 2022 are shown below
Average hit rates
The total cumulative hits method used for the all-time popularity table above is biased towards older articles which have had longer to accumulate their hits. However, the higher traffic counts in recent years have been eroding that advantage, enabling newer articles to contest the top positions. The table below based on average hits per year since publication, gives a more balanced view of long-term popularity.
In this list I have left out the 2023 posts because they don't even have a full year yet and their initial surge (if you'll pardon that expression) produces ridiculous hit rates that are unlikely to be sustained. They are covered by a table of their own (MPP1).
Table 2 Articles with the Highest Average Hits per year Since Publication Article | Publicn year | Ave Hits per year | Position (& last year) | 'Total Hits' position | | 2018 | 8898 | 1 (1) | 1 | | 2017 | 7481 | 2 (2) | 2
| | 2020
| 4731 | 3 (3) | 12
| | Homoeros Gallery Guide | 2018 | 4592 | 4 (4) | 7
| | Milking Factories - 3 | 2018 | 4432 | 5 (5)
| 6
| | 2012 | 3790 | 6 (6) | 3
| | 2016 | 3029 | 7 (9) | 9 | | 2019 | 2902 | 8 (10) | 15 | | The Art of BrosFate – 3 | 2020 | 2889 | 9 (8) | 22
| | 2010 | 2536 | 10 (15) | 5
| | 2020 | 2536 | 11 (12) | 29 | | 2018 | 2430 | 12 (14) | 18 | | 2021 | 2402 | 13 (7) | 77 | | 2008 | 2345 | 14 (13) | 4 | | 2020 | 2163 | 15 (16) | 52
| | 2011 | 2010 | 16 (-) | 236 | | 2021 | 1977 | 17 (11) | 125
| | 2018
| 1943
| 18 (18) | 27 | | 2022 | 1909 | 19 (-) | 194 | | 2018 | 1862
| 20 (20) | 26
|
IFNB and Milking factories topped this table too, testament to their dominating popularity at the blog and here too they are way ahead of the chasing pack. All of the top 6 articles kept their positions but hit rates declined across the board. Milking Factories occupied 4 places in the table, down 1 but still including No 2 which clung on to 20th position, despite 2 new entries at 16 (Enslavement Art by Planet Gay, which jumped 165 places) and 19 (Exciting new pictures by Brick). Milking Factories - 5 was the casualty from this group, falling to 23 (19). The other was Amalaric – 2 Ancient History down to 22 from 17. Amalaric's other articles in the table (at 3 and 15) held up well. The same was true of Homoeros whose 3 articles barely budged. A notable riser was Mike Carcel up to 10 from 15, a remarkable reversal of recent trends, thanks to his hit rate holding up much better than it's rivals. Mike actually tied with Brosfate-1 for 10th place but I gave him the better position for his superior consistency. There were two other big fallers. Art of Roa-1 with it's magnificent headline image (at 17, down 6) predictably got more sober scores this year after it's sparkling debut last time. 'Come and Get It!' was also down 6 places, a phenomenon that can be attributed to the launch of the new Royale Studio blog. This article is the only one in the table based on pure photography but IFNB and Amalaric represent the photo-manips. The cut-off point for joining this 'hit rate' table dropped a little this year, from 2023 to 1862 hits per year. Two of the articles in the 2023 New Posts table beat that hit rate based on their short existence so far, Cockaphobia would have been 16th and Chen_X_Chen 19th if I had included them, but they probably won't keep that rate up for a full year. Older promising challengers just outside the table are Muscle Matt-1 and Black Prof ~ The articles I post to this blog are very much based on my own interests and fancies but the results of this survey do help me plan future offerings. My readers preferences doesn't always match my own (where are Les, JoeT and Link?). Nevertheless it's gratifying to see such interest in the great gay fetish artists who often have a fairly low visibility on the web.
Remember, this comparison is only made for entertainment, since I don't really know how accurate Google's stats are, they don't seem to add up to the overall hits at the blog and I suspect they don't count the activity of people who just browse through the blog roll.
Thanks to all of you for your continuing interest and support. This annual set of articles is made up of 3 charts MPP3 - Most Popular Post of All Time (i.e. cumulative performance) that's this article! Charts and reviews for earlier years can be accessed by clicking the 'MPP' label below
A man is seized from his sleep by masked men, but this is no ordinary burglary.
The abductors can't resist enjoying the fruits of their efforts, before finding and passing him on to a paying customer. Anyway it's good preparatory training for him.
Sometimes 'friendly persuasion' really is the best way to get co-operation.
It takes skill to pack a double shipment in one crate, but it saves on shipping costs. Some argue that it's also kinder to the livestock, giving them company and something nice to do whilst in transit.
Sometimes the shipping arrangements give a clue to what awaits them at the end of their journey.
 Courier delivery offers the men their own compartment and the comfort of an escort. Some men find it a genuine pleasure to be packed by a husky, man's man, like this But with these types there is a greater risk of heads ending up at the wheelie end.
This method of delivery overseas has become more difficult with airlines cutting baggage allowances. Electronic comforts are out of the question, of course, thanks to baggage screening at the airport.
Heaven or Hell?
The Devil's in the detail Cellar
You wouldn't think this guy would need a knife to persuade the clerk to open the bank safe. I'm not sure if the captive clerk is trying to distract him here or suggesting a partnership.
The Jomsvikings (from which the Finnish artist takes his name) were mercenary soldiers from Denmark. They supposedly excluded women from their company and were fanatical about the old Norse religion. If that is true, it bodes ill for these two young men whose shaven pates suggest they are Christian monks, sworn to celibacy.
~
This artist has a cartoon style which resembles the comics of the mid 20th century. He's not ultra-flattering to his men who are often given pot bellies and wide hips. That's probably out of habit as most of his art is about women being enslaved. The portrayal is not meant to be sensual, but the situations he puts them in work well. ~ women and cross-dressing feature in most of his pictures, but there are hidden male gems if you are patient.
In the 2000's my cowboy imagery moved away from the confines of ranchery. 'Intimacy and Thorns' explored the brutal confrontation between the new settlers of the West and the ancient inhabitants who were gradually being driven from their ancestral lands.  | | Mitchell - Intimacy and Thorns 2 |
Cavalrymen have been making raids on the encampments of native Americans to punish them for opposing settler expansion. With the advantage of surprise, the troopers are able to cause havoc and many deaths before they leave. But not all of them escape.  | | Mitchell - Intimacy and Thorns 1 |
A group of Native Americans are out hunting for food, food which has become much harder to find since the settlers arrived and drove away the buffalo with vast herds of domesticated cattle. After days of fruitless searching and frustration the hunters encounter a lone cowboy, out checking fences. The young, hungry bucks cannot contain their anger. They want him to feel some of their pain.
These pictures exploring piercing scenarios were a dark precursor to the ' Cactus Kid' fantasy
~
find related posts by clicking on the labels below
This table ranks all posts at the blog, not just the new ones (that's MPP1),
according to their hits recorded during 2023.
Above, Destor777's 'Hunk Milking' taken from the original 'Milking Factory' article which was the most visited of all the posts at mitchmen in 2023. The table below lists the 20 most visited mitchmen posts during 2021.
Commentary notes follow. (Titles have links to the original posts ).
TABLE 1 - Top 20 Posts at mitchmen (2022)
Rank (last yr) | Title (+link) | Total Hits | Last year
| Pub Date | Note | 1 (1) | | 7506 | 9847 | 2017
| 1
| 2 (2) | | 7187 | 8964 | 2018
| 1
| 3 (4) | | 4332 | 6027 | 2008 | 2 | 4 (8)
| | 2604 | 3166 | 2012 | 2 | 5 (3) | | 2551 | 6189 | 2020 | 3 | 6 (7)
| | 2316 | 3347 | 2008 | 2 | 7 (16)
| | 1954 | 1977 | 2019 | 3 | 8 (12)
| | 1549 | 2353 | 2020 | 3 | 9 (15) | | 1502 | 2041 | 2019 |
1 | 10 (11) | | 1466 | 2374 | 2018 | 1 | 11 (14) | | 1437 | 2073 | 2010 | 2 | 12 (20) | | 1420 | 1820 | 2018 | 3 | 13 (10) | | 1350 | 2828 | 2020 | 3 | 14 (-) | | 1239 | 2089 | 2022 | 2 | 15 (-) | | 1200 | 1765 | 2020 | 4 | 16 (-)
| The Art of Tentakun | 1198 | 1375 | 2020 | 4 | 17 (5) | | 1145 | 4555 | 2018 | 3 | 18 (18) | | 1098 | 1956 | 2018
| 1 | 19 (19) | | 1092 | 1900 | 2020
| 1 | 20 (-) | | 1069 | 1811 | 2022 | 4 |
(Stats collected on 1st January 2024)
1
This year both the original Milking Factory post and IFNB review retained their positions at 1 & 2 with a marginal closing of the gap between them (relatively speaking). The hit counts of both articles declined in a year in which visits to the blog generally fell by 27%.
Other Milking Factory posts continued to feature further down the table at 9, 10 and 18. No 4 overtook No 3 in popularity this year (just!). That reversal was probably due to it's connection with a new addition to the series in late 2023 (No 15) featuring the same artist ( Sarander)
The two IFNB articles at 2 and 19 kept their same positions as last year.
2 Brick's welcome return last year after many years absence was celebrated further with a rise to 3rd place for the oldest article in the table, I guess he's finding new fans now! That's thanks to Metalbond who published his new offerings and helpfully guided his readers to my 2008 article on his work. Another Brick article relating to his new work appears at 14. You can see from it's scores that it would have occupied the same position last year, but I disqualified new posts because they 'over-score' in their early months.
Brick headed up a pack of old-timers but they were all a long way behind the top two. Cavelo always has a steady stream of visitors and they helped him climb back up to 6th place. Further down, Mike Carcel rose from 14 to 11 in what seems to be the 'old order' re-establishing itself after the disruptive excitement of the last few years. Their presence in this table seems permanent despite the articles being over 10 years old, their having ceased to publish new work and having no 'home' on the web (as far as I know, if you know better please tell me!). These are great artists but it's still an astonishing testament to their popularity.
Priapus of Milet, a more modern favourite at this blog, also staged a comeback, jumping from 8 to 4. His steady flow of super new art seems to assure continued interest in his origins documented in the A-Z article here.
One of the more recent arrivals 'Amalaric - 1, A Slave to Passion' dropped to No 4 after it experienced one of the biggest falls of visits in the top 20. No 3 in the same series about his art did better, rising to 8th place in a falling market. There were some good performances from other articles in the series, but none look like joining the top table at the moment.
Brosfate-1 was a strong rival to Amalaric when they were first published but fell further behind in 2023. dropping to 13th position, where he displaced The Art of BrosFate – 3 which fell out of the top list altogether, dropping down to 24th position
'Muscle' Matt was the biggest 'newbie' riser with a hit score nearly equal to last year's (99%!). It was the best relative performance of the year and catapulted the article from 16th to 7th place. I love his swaggering, boyish bodybuilders and am proud to provide a platform for his beguiling sketches.
Homoeros also continued to maintain a significant presence in the table with 'Art of the Cross' jumping to 12th place. Effectively it replaced the 'Homoeros Gallery Guide' which dropped 12 places to 17 after a 75% drop in hits, the worst performance in the top 20. It is possibly out of date now and I think the crucifixion article is a better representative of Homoeros' fit to this blog.
4 The first genuinely new entry into the table this year is 'The Bondage Art of Black Prof ' at 15 joining Muscle Matt in the cartoon department but with a very different style and subject matter. It just missed the top 20 last year and I have no doubt that this improvement was prompted by my 2022 discovery of his ' Tarzan Captured' story, which only just missed getting into this ranking - by a mere 9 hits. It's a ringing endorsement of this artist's work by my blog visitors.
Tentakun's appearance at No 16 is a genuine surprise to me, but this article has scored steadily since it was published and kept up it's hit-rate better than most articles this year (87%). I like the sensuality and uncompromising eroticism of his work, thoroughly exploring favourite fetish themes with light touch.
Planet Gay got the blockbuster treatment from me with 4 articles in 2022 because I liked his more realistic, cinematic style and varied subjects. That artist is rewarded with 20th position and could be one to watch.
5
Come and Get It! (about the Royale Studios Archive) also went, with the biggest drop of all, falling from 9 to 106. It has a fantastic, sexy header image but the fall is an understandable consequence of the introduction of the new, separate Royale Studio blog in January last year.
~
7 different years are represented in this year's table There are no photographic entries in the list this year, but 4 photo-manipulators, plus the usual mix of cartoons, renders, and traditional art representing an impressive, eclectic range of interests.
The mitchmen 'Index of Artists' page recorded 10075 hits in 2023, down 19% on 2022, the lowest since 2018. It was still visited often enough to have taken top place if I had included it in the top 20 table above. I'm glad visitors are still finding the index useful and hope it will lead many more newcomers to a fantastic heritage of gay art they didn't know about. Next time I will reveal the most popular mitchmen post of all time, based on cumulative hits, did IFNB manage to keep it's top spot and hold off Milking Factories?
To look at other charts for earlier years just click on the MPP label at the foot of this post.
Thanks to all of you for your continuing interest and support of mitchmen blog.
Keep the ropes tight in 2023!
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