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| Ain Postolous - Dungeon Bondage |
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The table below lists the most popular of the new mitchmen posts during 2024. I'm sticking with last year's method of simply counting hits with a mention of other factors in the notes.
(Titles have links to the original posts, column 4 shows hit rate ranking
On mobiles the table is best viewed by turning your phone sideways)
TABLE 1 - Top 20 New Posts of 2024 at mitchmen
Rank |
Title (+link) |
Total Hits |
Hit Rate Ranking |
Pub Month |
Note |
1 |
Ain Postolos - Recruiting Workers for the Milking Factory | 1475 | 1 | July | 1 |
2 |
IFNB 3 - Naked Bodybuilders Newsletter | 955 | 9 | Feb | 2 |
3 |
Art by Aizenhower |
744 | 12 | Apr | 3 |
4 |
Art by JomsViking 1 |
735 | 17 | Jan | 4 |
5 |
Defeated Army Enslaved |
698 | 13 | Apr | 4 |
6 |
Enslaved Sailors by Planet Gay |
635 |
2 |
Jul |
1 |
7 |
Art by Catweazle |
633 | 7 | Jun | 6 |
8 |
Milking Factory R&D (No18) |
594 | 3 | Jul | 5 |
9 |
Milking Factory 16 by Gorounaoki |
571 | 14 | Apr | 5 |
10 |
Brosfate 5 – The Art of Control | 546 | 4 | Jul | 6 |
| 11 | Mitchell's Cowboy Folio 8 |
516 | 18 | Apr | 4 |
12 |
Captivity Art by Eclyom | 508 | 16 | May | 6 |
13 |
The Art of Uruonurun - 1 Heroic Endings | 503 | 5 | Aug | 3 |
14 |
Brosfate – Recent Highlights | 484 | 10 | Jul | 6 |
15 |
The Art of Uruonurun – 2 | 461 | 6 | Aug | 3 |
16 |
Vintage Bondage – James Seely | 459 | 19 | May | 7 |
17 |
Homoeros – Ross In Trouble | 453 | 21 | Feb | 6 |
18 |
Art by JomsViking 3 | 449 | 20 | Mar | 4 |
19 |
Roman Prisoners of War | 429 | 15 | Jul | 1 |
20 |
Etienne's 'Sailor Beware' and Royale Studio | 428 | 23 | Jan | 1 |
(Stats collected on 31st Dec 2024)
NOTES
7
1.
2024 was the year AI art really made its mark and Ain Postolos was the runaway winner of the 'Most Popular New Post' with the 'Recruiting Workers' article, a group of images which I cunningly wove into the Milking Factory saga, although strictly speaking, they are not true factory depictions. His winning total comfortably exceeded last year's winner (as did the runner-up). A separate Ain post with a better 'factory' feel - 'Milking Factory 19' failed to make the cut, but his present popularity is underlined by the continuing success of his debut post at mitchmen. 'The Season of Chastity' from Christmas of last year racked up 589 hits in 2024 alone, a total which would have propelled it into the top ten if I had admitted it. Its hit rate would have placed it just inside the top 20. This artist's work is extraordinarily sexy and he shares Absolut Bleu's love of exaggeration to almost unpublishable lengths. However, AI can trap artists into churning out more of the same, I hope he will broaden his range of subjects in the new year.
Two other AI posts made the top 20 - Planet Gay's reworking of an image from Etienne's marvellous 'Sailor Beware' story (at 6) and some images from 'Roman Prisoners of War', an anonymous artist (at 19). The Planet Gay post actually finished second in the 'rate' table, which takes account of time since publication. Coincidentally, it's subject, 'Sailor Beware' featured in another post (at 20) that presented fragments of a rediscovered, original version from the 1960s and linked it to Royale Studio's 'Shanghai'd Sailor' storyette (also newly-unearthed this year from early beefcake magazines). Posts about Royale Studio have now moved to the new Royale and Hussar blog.
2
There was a case of déjà vu next in the table with 'IFNB newsletter', the third in my series of articles about the 'International Federation of Naked Bodybuilders'. It finished as runner-up. I attempted to re-create the original fantasy and feel of the now-defunct IFNB website in this article and am pleased that it went down well with the fans who sorely miss the wit and craft of the original author. It's already showing signs of longevity, posting more hits in December than any other month since it was posted in February.
3
Third spot this year somewhat surprised me. Aizenhower's art veers between truly sensual imagery and outright cartoonery with fetish interests occasionally blended in. It's good, otherwise I wouldn't have featured it here, but doesn't strike me as blockbuster material. However, his result speaks for itself.
Uruonurun has a similar cartoon-driven style, but his hunting ground is 'young superhero' territory rather than Aizenhower's more romantic, retrospective fantasies. Uruonurun' s images are much more sexy, however, and seemed to be enthusiastically received by mitchmen readers. He got two articles into the table, and at one point I thought he was going to have a tilt at top spot. They ended up at 5th and 6th in the hit rate table, but only made 13th and 15th positions based on total hit counts.
4
Traditional, pencil on paper art was well represented this year by JomsViking with two posts that finished at 4 and 18 (with a third, Part 2 just missing the cut). It gives him a valid claim to be regarded as 'Artist of the Year', especially if you side with the AI nay-sayers! His comic style takes some getting into, there's no colour, the individual images are small, and he doesn't set out to be pretty, but there are some sexy gems lurking amongst the frames and the underlying abduction storylines are compelling
More traditional art is also represented in the table by my own 'Cowboy Folio No 8', placed at 11. I regarded the two images in this post as interesting ideas that hadn't developed into full pictures, but I polished them up for publication and gave them an AI gloss and am delighted with this result. A number of other posts in this series were also well received and one of my attempts at pure AI art, 'Experiment with a Swimmer' almost got into the top 20, scoring 406, so it's been a satisfying year for me. Both these were probably bolstered by some exposure on 'X', of which more in the next post
Perhaps the most surprising event this year was the first appearance of a truly traditional, painted, 'old master' artwork in the table. I think it's the first to even figure in the blog, let alone the top 20 table. 'Romans Under The Yoke' by Glyre headlined the 'Defeated Army Enslaved' post, which finished in 5th position. His treatment of the extraordinary mass humiliation of the Roman Army was as sensationalist as my post title, with fearful men passing under the severed heads of their comrades, so it's perhaps not so surprising that my readers should enjoy it! By chance, it happened to appear at almost the same time as the 'Roman Prisoners of War', some AI art (at 19) which perhaps shows there's never anything truly new.
5
Milking Factory posts have dominated this table in recent years, and they took 3 places this year, including Ain Postolos in top spot. Arguably though, Gorounaoki in 9th place was the most authentic of them, with a row of restrained captives giving their all, whereas 'R&D' in 8th position and Ain at the top illustrated 'behind the scenes' processes. I expect to see more fireworks from this series of posts in the 'all-comers' and 'all-time' tables.
6
Despite the AI-surge (if you'll pardon that expression), rendering
continued to be well represented in the table led by another newcomer, Catweazle at 7 with his man v
monster mini-epics which rely on the popular, fetish theme of 'man in mortal
danger, dressed only in skimpy clothing'. His images are not
gay nor overtly sexual but are nevertheless very sexy, and I accorded them 3 articles, unable to leave the subject alone. 'Leaves you wanting more' is an accolade for any artist.
Brosfate returned with two articles at 10 and 14 illustrating his continued progress in refining his technique with some truly stunning, new imagery. He made his name with 'Captured Soldier' but recent work has featured some promising domination storylines which only lack a similar dark intensity and maturity in the visual concept.
Some of Eclyon's art (at 12) will have been familiar to old hands, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover some experiments with epic-style, historical scenarios that bore comparison with PlanetGay's enslaved Egyptian adventurers.
The final render contributor is our old friend, Homoeros at 17. My 'Ross in Trouble' post was insubstantial, simply drawing attention to his new series, which felt like he was striking new ground in terms of the intimacy and intensity of the punishment scenario. That it should do so well is a tribute to the popularity of Mr H.
7
A photographic entry took top spot in this table last year, but this year's sole representative of that genre (excluding the IFNB photoshop post) was the first part of my profile of the vintage model James Seely, which finished in 16th place. I confess that I was captivated by his expressive face and sexy physique, and am relieved that it seems I'm not alone!
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This year's table features articles based on photographs, comics, cartoons, renders, traditional art and AI. The wealth of gay, artistic talent enhances all of our lives in difficult times. Long may it continue!
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Next time - The most viewed post of all the posts at mitchmen during 2024.
A big, big Thank You!
to all my readers for your interest in my blog,
I hope mitchmen has managed to divert you from the tribulations of the world in 2025
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