Julius - Military Prisoner Tormented
Julius is a prolific artist and (like Tom Jones) he occasionally dips into fetish topics. His comic pictures are instantly recognisable – black and white with simple inked outlines. These are frames from stories so there is good use of
clothing and background detail to add context and variety to the
pictures. His straight forward technique enables him to bring out
details like ropes which might be lost in a more 'photographic' style.
The bondage scene in the picture above seems almost incidental to the story he is telling, but it's representative of a steady undercurrent of cruel domination in his work, often interwoven with love and infatuation which is true S&M.
He often depicts sexual encounters with the characters standing and seen from the side – as in 'Military Prisoner' above. Julius demonstrates considerable skill in using line shading and occasional solid areas create a sense of depth and solidity which pretty much overcomes the absence of conventional signals of perspective like converging, receding lines. However the technique falters a little when angled perspective is required, as in 'Over the table' below.
Julius - Over The Table
Julius hardly ever shows characters in full length poses, even in the background (see top picture), usually preferring 'thigh upwards' close ups instead. This cinematic/photo technique adds intimacy and sexiness and the opportunity for sensual detail but in the picture above, the captive's body is little more than bare outlines with minimal detail or shading hinting at muscle shape. The treatment of the older man seems quite different. Julius is very good at showing older men as sexually attractive creatures. In this arena he probably has no equal, furnishing them with authentic stubble, strategic wrinkles and heavily muscled, often hairy, bodies. These features provide body shape signals that compensate for the absence of conventional shading but one is left with the impression that the mature man is the main focus of the artist's interest.
Julius - Groping
This picture is drawn in an attractive, softer style and
the detailing of the clothing is nicely done. It highlights just how little
use Julius normally makes of body shading in his comic pages. Younger characters abound in Julius' art as he pursues his cross-generational agenda. They usually have rounded
chins and snub noses creating a pleasant puppy-fat appearance. However
they are rarely depicted in so much detail as the young man in 'Groping'
above, the minimal technique seen in the preceding image is more
common. Frequently they are relegated to the edges and corners of the
frames from where they worship their elders and betters. Even in this image, it's the older man who has the more interesting and characterful, smoother Latin
look.
Julius - Glominius Files II
When Julius chooses to show man on man interactions the resulting images can be pretty impressive. However, he conjures up some pretty, bleak worlds where might is right. Fleeting scenes like this form a background commentary of continual threat and danger, constantly threatening to engulf the more innocent souls who pass through. It's a traditional embellishment to hero-in-danger stories but in Julius' hands masculinity oozes out out the image (in more ways than one) merging the physical threat with the sexual.
Julius - Flogging the Tormentor (from Ramon and Julian)
Thankfully, the bad guys sometimes get their come-uppance, Julius captures this ones horror at the role reversal, although the punishment doesn't seem to have impaired his libido. Interestingly, Julius chooses to show the slave administering the revenge flogging without referencing the colour of his skin. In pictorial terms he too takes second place to the hairy, mature villain. This may be a way of circumventing racial taboos, but this is 1997 and Julius doesn't shrink from using clothing indicative of race in other stories. It's almost as though the artist doesn't really acknowledge the identity of the younger people in his pictures, which is surprising and slightly disturbing.
The use of angled perspective here is more successful than my previous example but Julius is hampered from fully expressing the drama of the scene by his own preference for close-ups and the need to conform to the 'portrait' page orientation, to match the rest of the story. As a result the scene looks rather cramped and the drama of the sweep of the lash is considerably muted.
Julius - Punishing a Rustler (from Ramon and Julian)
Where Julius employs male bondage in his stories he gives it a context which enriches the appeal of the images and stokes the imagination, compensating for the relative lack of sensuality in the style. Frustratingly they are often stand-alone scenes, there is no tantalising precursor of capture and stripping to whet the appetite for this climax. This scene is just as crowded as the one above but Julius' preferred sideways viewpoint is more successful. By drawing back a little he is able to incorporate some extra background detail which also enhances the scene.
Julius - Vikings II
Abductions are part and parcel of the Julius experience, inevitable in a story about Vikings I suppose, but examples involving an adult males are less usual. Although it's a bit 'posed', I quite like this depiction of the cornered captive who's been secured with some attractive rope work. Note the hair colours - Vikings are blond!
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| Julius - Marine |
From my point of view, one of the most important contributions Julius has made to erotic art (and it is borderline fetish) is in his depictions of uniforms and clothing in general. His comic pages are positively stuffed with these, all depicted in remarkable variety and detail and it's clearly an area of great interest to him. This single example scarcely does justice to his capabilities in this field (and I may revisit this aspect of his work).
Unfortunately the 'favourite faces' and recurring close-up poses do become a little repetitive over time. Which is not decry the individual pictures which are mostly very sexy with attractive looking chunky men. His excursions into fetish subjects – abductions, spanking and rope bondage – are important ingredients in his stories but he doesn't delve deeply into the subject. In that sense he is not truly a fetish artist but some of these pictures are quite memorable and rank alongside the 'specialists'.
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| Julius - Pole-tied |
My final example is perhaps a taste of what might have been. This image had been rattling around my collection for years seeking it's proper attribution until I finally spotted that the faded signature was that of Julius with his trademark two digit date appended. I would never have guessed him as it's creator from the subject matter or the style. It's 3-dimensional technique and convincing depiction of genuine restraint shows an interest and commitment to bondage that is far from evident in other work like that shown above.
I don't know if Julius is still active,
his own website at 'Julius Toons' is gone now but a search engine will throw up lots.
There's a good selection at Daddy's Here
For earlier articles in this series click on the label A-Z below.
Mitchell - Skinhead, Skinhole
