Best of Kalabro

 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

Kalabro - Anak Slammed

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.

 

Kalabro - Anak and the Statues of Doom (detail)

 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.

 

Kalabro - Adrift

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*.

 

*see the original mitchmen A-Z article on Kalabro for comments about his artistic style.

 

 

Kalabro - Jake in Trouble (Strange)

 

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.

 

Kalabro - Apeman In The Well

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.

 

 

Kalabro - Korak In The Lava Pit

 

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. 

I have taken the liberty of toning down Kalabro's original colouring here which is intensely red. Compare the original here

 

Kalabro - Milking A Bodybuilder

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.

Kalabro - Kraig Helpless

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.

Kalabro - Karson prepped for surgery

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.

 

 

Kalabro - Breaking Nick's Jaw

 

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.

 

 

Kalabro - Nick Gut-Punched

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.

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.

 

Kalabro - Leyva and The Engineer 5

 

 

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!

See this series of 5 images at Kalabro's blog (Leyva)

 

~

 

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:

mitchmen A-Z of Fetish Artists (Kalabro)

 

post-script of the mitchmen A-Z, letter K

 

You're Goin' Down! - 4  

The Milking Factory

 

Snakes and Chains - 1 

 

Kalabro Slave Gang

Mitchell's A-Z of Fetish Art - Kalabro

Kalabro is a most interesting artist. In the past he has labelled his pencil drawings using many names - D-extreme, Morpheus, Kal and simply 'K'. He also has collaborators who produce coloured versions of his work with their own names appended - but Kalabro's own style is unmistakeable.

Kalabro - Punish a Pledge

 

The characters in the pictures are marked out by hard muscles. Their thighs and calves are disproportionately large but grafted onto long slender legs. In action poses these bodies are quite stylish in appearance.

Kalabro - Forced March

 

He typically depicts cute and muscular young men in peril but the dangers they face are far more explicit and extreme than your average comic hero has to face! They may face assaults on their manhood (of course!), brutal punching, throttling, even drowning at the hands of massive opponents. These are subjects which are unusual in fetish art. Conveying the action of a fist fight or showing underwater scenes is difficult in drawings and I admire Kalabro's ambition tremendously - it lifts his work into a different league.

Kalabro - Tarzan Beaten

 

There is a fantastical element to all these situations and Kalabro sometimes employs stock literary characters like Tarzan, Mummies and Beast-men to add colour and embellish the drama with our shared knowledge of these beings. The Tarzan example shown here is one of his more recent works and the technique is impressive. I like these sketches which have a freshness about them which can disappear in the hard edges of neat final versions. On his blog he regularly shows the development of a picture from sketch to finished article and you can judge for yourself.

Kalabro - Ben in Peril

 

Although he clearly draws inspiration from Comic Book imagery, there is a great deal of originality and inventiveness in Kalabro's reworking of these themes into adult entertainment. 'Ben in Peril' is a good example, I have never seen this idea before. The beautiful Ben is menaced not only by the whirling propeller sucking him in but also by the possible loss of his mouthpiece and the inevitable exhaustion of the oxygen cylinders. You can conjecture for yourself how he got into this pickle and what is going on above him on the boat. If you search for Kalabro's pictures you will find his heroes in plenty of even more challenging situations!

Interestingly many of Kalabro's pictures do not depict explicit sex. The erotic intention is always apparent but it's main thrust lies in the brutal subjugation and destruction of beautiful young manhood. Not everyone's cup of tea I suppose, but in a way that's the hook, Kalabro dangles beauty in front of us and then destroys it. Or at least he pushes it to the very edge of destruction and leaves the rest to you. It's all (relatively) bloodless, certainly no worse than the average Hollywood film.

Kalabro has a good blog at The Erotic Art of Kalabro where he shares and talks about his recent work.

It's not been updated for a while and he seems to have moved to Patreon.

 

UPDATE, Feb 2022 - I have added an extension to this article with lots more pictures and an update on where you can find his art in Best of Kalabro

Readers are welcome to contribute their own comments - even if they differ from mine!
For earlier examples in this series click on the A-Z label below

The Milking Factory

KW - The Farm (click to enlarge)

 This is the earliest example (2011) I have found so far of the Milking Factory Idea, although I suspect more might be unearthed in due course. KW visualises an alien-like construct with youthful subjects secured to posts and even suspended in the air while their juices are coldly and continuously extracted. The subjects provide an interesting array of facial expressions ranging from resignation and bewilderment to orgasmic excitement at the moment of delivery.
Thanks to JJJJ for providing information on KW's identity/web location (see comment 1)

Kami Tora - Night Shift

Kami Tora's take considers the requirement for a little stimulation to ensure plentiful production. Thus the natural pumping qualities of the vacuum tube are augmented by electrical stimulation of the testicles. The choice of supplementary, giant dildo rammers is a little more questionable since such equipment, though exciting to watch, is not necessarily conducive to maintaining an excited erectile state except in the mind of well-practised recipient. However, one might expect to witness a spectacular ejaculation from time to time. The expressions of these captive milkers are more exaggerated suggesting that they are not experienced users, possibly even straight since their minder is a female nurse. Her calm indifference as she monitors their production efforts on a clipboard is a signal that the process may be unremitting for some time yet. Notice how the brackets holding the dildo ram to it's base resemble a human hand. Nice touch.

more Kami Tora (Note it's femdom!)

Destor777 - Hunk Milk - Milking Factory (click to enlarge)

Destor777's version of the idea is much more humanitarian. The victims subjects are allowed to lie down on a platform (not obviously padded for comfort, be it said). They are loosely restrained, just enough to prevent interference in the process, and stimulation is limited to the pump itself and testicular electro-stim. Destor's recreation of the various stages of excitement and ejaculation is rather subtle and well observed and the loose restraint helps make that possible.

see Destor777 at Deviant Art

Kalabro - Milking Factory (colourised by Jotto)

Kalabro has acknowledged at his blog how he took his inspiration from Destor and he has effectively reworked the same image in his own style which will appeal to the lovers of bulkier, slightly older men. Personally I like his less spiky technique although Destor captures the movement of the captives rather well. Kalabro's innovation is to combine a catheter style draining bottle with a robotic pumping arm, perhaps the most aggressive approach to extraction of them all.

Kalabro - Milking Adam

Kalabro also sketched other ideas for the scene. This one using the customary pumping sleeve and just a suggestion of anal stimulation. Kalabro always names his characters and that approach here suggests a group of buddies undergoing the same experience together.

Kalabro - Milking Dave

Kalabro subjects Dave to an even tougher regime featuring testicular noosing and electro-stimulation plus a fearsome-looking dildo ram whose demanding effects are written across the subject's face and evident too in his straining arms and twitching feet. You can see the working of the drain tube/bottle device in this image.

 

Kalabro - Milking Jamie

The floppy-haired youth is a familiar face in Kalabro's stable of suffering and Jamie here seems to be destined to experience life after milking as his draining tube flies away at the very point of ejaculation and an unpleasant-looking robotic clamp-like device waits in the wings to take over. 

See more at Kalabro's blog

also my A-Z article on Kalabro

why not visit  Another Milking Factory? 

Mitchell's A-Z of Fetish Artists - My Favourite 'K'

It's my custom to select a favourite artist from each letter based on consideration of fetish content, technical skill, sensuality and story-telling. The letter K has interesting candidates. 

 

Kent's artistry and fetish content is powerful but doesn't spark fantasies within me in the same way as Kok and Kai's equally accomplished work. Klaus von Brandenburg also has great fetish content and story lines to fantasise over but somehow his heroes lack personality and the static situations don't work for me. Kirwan's fetish diversity is amazing and full of observation and humour, but is it sexy? Kuchar and Kalabro's work is interesting for presenting the male body in slightly distorted way which accentuates it's sexuality. If Kuchar's subject matter were a touch less frivolous he'd be amongst my front runners here. 

 

 Kalabro - Electrocution Proof

But really there is only one possible winner for me and that is Kalabro. His work has sense of drama and action which none of the other contenders come close to. To do this without losing sexiness is quite an achievement (just think how most action hero comics fall tantalisingly short of being sexy, Kalabro doesn't!). The marriage of cute faces and strangely beautiful, angular limb shapes overcomes the absence of sensuality in skin tones and musculature. His subject matter is daring technically and explores dark, dangerous scenarios but keeps on the right side of the 'forbidden' line for me - but I guess that's a matter of taste.

Visit Kalabro's blog at The Erotic Art of Kalabro

Links to other artists can be found in the individual articles

Readers are welcome to contribute their own comments - even if they differ from mine!

For earlier examples in this series click on the A-Z label below

Most viewed mitchmen post during 2022 (MPP2)

Kalabro - Milking Dave

 Above, a dramatic image by Kalabro taken from the original 'Milking Factory' article which was the most visited of all the posts at mitchmen in 2022. The 2009 mitchmen A-Z article on his early work also broke into the top 20 this year at No17 (below) and this artist also provided the second most popular new post of 2022.

 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 (2)	The Milking Factory - No 1	9847	9931	2017	1
2 (1)	IFNB A Fantasy World of BodyBuilders	8964	11987	2018	1
3 (5)	The Art of Amalaric – 1 A Slave To Passion	6189	5022	2020	2
4 (-)	Mitchell's A-Z of Fetish Artists - Brick	6027	806	2008	3
5 (3)	Homoeros Gallery Guide	4555	7396	2018	4
6 (-)	Mitchell's A-Z of Fetish Artists - Franco	3830	886	2009	3
7 (9)	A-Z of Fetish Artists - Cavelo	3347	3389	2008	3
8 (10)	Priapus of Milet - 1	3166	3116	2012	3
9 (12)	Come and Get It! (Royale Studios Archive)	3241	2304	2021	5
10 (7)	The Art of Brosfate – 1	2828	4053	2020	2
11 (4)	Milking Factories - No 3	2374	6051	2018	1
12 (16)	The Art of Amalaric – 3 Hunks & Manipulators	2353	2169	2020	2
13 (6)	The Art of BrosFate – 3	2312	4562	2020	2
14 (11)	A-Z of Fetish Artists – Mike Carcel	2073	2533	2010	3
15 (8)	Milking Factories – No 4	2041	3515	2019	1
16 (19)	The Art of 'Muscle' Matt -1	1977	2064	2019	6
17 (-)	Mitchell's A-Z of Fetish Artists - Kalabro	1964	1145	2009	3
18 (18)	Another Milking Factory (No 2)	1956	2076	2018	1
19 (20)	IFNB Revisited	1900	2040	2020	1
20 (-)	The Art of Homoeros - 6 (Crucifixion)	1820	1952	2018	4

 

(Stats collected on 31st December 2022) 

1

This year the original Milking Factory post finally claimed the prize of being most visited during the year. It has been edging closer and closer to top spot ever since it first appeared in 2017 and in 2022 finally overtook the 'mitchmen review of IFNB' which has been it's principal rival in the last couple of years. However, the hit counts of both articles declined in a year in which visits to the blog generally were slightly down.

Milking Factory posts continued to feature further down the table at 11, 15 and 18 (albeit with reduced hits) and with three more bunched together just outside the top 20, the popular appeal of this series seems undimmed.

The same is true of the IFNB series which continued to score well despite being edged out of top position and the companion article 'IFNB Revisited' slightly improved it's position to No 19. The disappearance of this marvellous and very popular blog is a great loss, 

I must do a 3rd IFNB feature here soon!

 

N.B. The 'Etienne/Stephen article index (whose sudden popularity in 2021 surprised and bemused me) turned in another reasonable performance by normal standards this year, not quite enough to stay in the top 20, but it finished at 23.

 

2

There was quite a big gap down to the third placed article 'Amalaric - 1, A Slave to Passion' but that article did succeed in raising it's hit count during the year, considerably closing the gap on the leaders. No 3 in the series did the same trick, lifting it to 12th spot while Part 2 (Ancient History) just missed the cut at No 21. The institutional enslavement fantasies of these articles did much to set the tone of this blog in recent years and there's no sign that they are running out of steam yet. I didn't add to the series in 2022 but there is more material I would like to post, so watch this space.

Brosfate was a strong rival to Amalaric when they were first published but fell further behind in 2022. His more conventional bdsm scenarios still secured two places in the top 20 at No 10 and No 13.

3

2022 saw something of a return of the old days with a number of favourites from the mitchmen A-Z of Fetish Artists series unexpectedly entering the chart -  Brick (at No 4), Franco (6) and Kalabro (17). In the case of the last two it's been a gap of 4-5 years since we saw them in the top 20. 

The popularity of the Brick article was linked to the release of those tremendous new pictures from him at Metalbond , who helpfully guided his readers to read my 2008 article on his work.

The Kalabro article benefitted from the publication of his Slave Gang picture here at the start of the year and the 'Best of Kalabro' post I was prompted to write as a result. I admit that I shamelessly promote Kalabro's work here and greatly miss his contributions to our art.  

 ('Slave Gang' was one of two 2022 posts which would have squeaked into this table except that I have disallowed new posts this year, the other was a promotional post on Brick)

Franco is another great artist of long standing but his sudden return took me by surprise. His older works mentioned in my A-Z article can lay claim to being pioneers of the Mechanical Milking genre and he's achieved the remarkable feat in recent years of re-inventing himself in an entirely new style, producing more realistic variations of his old pieces that are supremely erotic. Like Brick, his hits mushroomed dramatically during the year but unlike Brick I don't know why. I guess someone has posted a link to my blog somewhere and wholeheartedly thank them!

These three re-joined the amazing Cavelo (7) and MCarcel (14) whose 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 is a new boy by comparison but is shaping up the same way. His steady flow of super new art seems to assure him of continued popularity here. 

This phenomenon has meant that 8 different years are represented in this years table

4

Homoeros continued to maintain a presence in the table with the Gallery Guide (whose popularity seems bafflingly at variance with the rather dry content) in 5th place and 'Art of the Cross' reappearing at 20, possibly benefiting from the St Jinx picture I posted this year.

 

5

I was personally gratified to see that my Royale Studio Open Archive Post continued to attract hits this year at No 9. It's not really a measure of popularity because I regularly publish new versions linked to the Archive updates but I think the preservation of information on these pioneers of British fetish photography is highly important and the best way to achieve that in this day and age is copy it and copy it. My hope of consolidating as much as possible about Royale within the open archive is really just the first small step but I'm delighted that there are plenty of people out there who support it with their interest. 

This post and the two IFNB articles were the only photographic entries in the list

6

'Muscle' Matt continued to attract visits at No 16. I love his swaggering bodybuilders and am glad mitchmen blog has provided a rare platform for the retrospective appreciation of his stylish, amusing and very special sketches. 

~

The most interesting post that didn't quite make it into the top 20 was The Art of Black Prof at No22, helped this year, I suppose, by my new post about his Tarzan storyette (which only just missed the cut for the top new post of 2022). His male bondage scenes are something of a side-line but I'm hoping that one day he will produce something for us that emulates the voluptuous glamour of his female captives.

The four posts displaced from last year's table are:

 Milking Factories - 5 (The Development Lab), 

The Art of Roa 1 – The Conquered Hero

The Art of BrosFate 2

Control Room Violation

Roa and Control Room Violation were two of the outstanding new stars of last year of course and their fall vividly demonstrates the difficulty for new articles in keeping up with the scores of their first weeks following publication. It underlines the achievement of the 'old timers', that seem to have 'built-in majority' any politician would die for. 

 

~

This year's chart favourites are the usual mix of old and new, with photography, cartoons, renders, photo-manips and traditional art representing an impressive, eclectic range of interests. 

As I reported in the last post, overall visits to the blog dropped a little this year (by 1%) after last year's amazing 20% rise. The winner's total here and the 'cut off' figure for entering the top 20 dropped by rather more, suggesting visitors are exploring a wider range of articles.

The mitchmen 'Index of Artists' feature recorded 12,497 hits in 2022, up a modest 2% on 2021 but still less than 2019's record 13,951. 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 Priapus of Milet still manage to keep his top spot and hold off IFNB and Milking Factories?

To look at other charts for earlier years 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 it tight in 2023!

Kalabro Slave Gang

Kalabro - Slave Gang

 Dirk still could not quite believe what was happening to him and his team mates. Yesterday they had been celebrating winning the Football Championship in front of their adoring fans. He could remember how their excitement had continued in the dressing room afterwards, as they stripped for the showers. Unusually, the steam had filled the whole room and then Joel, the striker, had suddenly collapsed. As they went to help him someone shouted that the door had been locked. He remembered feeling drowsy himself and that was it.

When he awoke he found the entire team was locked in a dungeon-like cell with bare stone walls. They were all stark naked (even those who had fallen wearing their jockstraps and kit). They had been deposited here and a thin layer of scratchy straw was all that separated their bodies from the cold, hard floor. They soon realised that while they had been unconscious, they had all been fitted with tight metal rings around their cocks and all the rings were linked together by a heavy chain. As they all gradually cleared their heads there was plenty of discussion, speculation and confused anger but no-one could remember much of what had happened, let alone knowing why. Time passed and in the humid confines of the cell, the millionaire superstars were soon reduced to the sweaty men they really were.

Eventually someone came for them. They were led out, walking sullenly in file, one behind the other with the chains that joined them looping between their legs. They were taken down a long tunnel, led by their captain who had been assigned the first ring. The chains swung from side to side as they walked, brushing their muscular thighs as they negotiated corners and tightening up between their ass cheeks as they negotiated steps or when the man behind failed to keep up. 

When they emerged from the tunnel, they somehow hoped it would be into the stadium they were so familar with, but it was a vast arena, as bare as their cells, surrounded not by raked stands full of cheering fans, but a tall wall, and beyond that, bleak, snow-capped mountains. It was not cold, there was a watery sun, but many of them shivered, realising that there was no-one here to help them and escape would be a formidable challenge. There they were arranged in a line in military fashion and waited, gleaming with perspiration and watched from a respectful distance by the guards.

It was Jimmy who saw him coming for them. A big man, bare chested, hairy and muscular - and he was flourishing a whip. Jimmy felt fear spreading through his loins. One of the guards noticed. "Don't worry" he called out, "his whip is worse than his bark, but he'll soon lick you cover boys into shape".

story text by Mitchell for mitchmen

~

mitchmen has always been a great fan of Kalabro's work but it's usually the drama of struggle and mortal danger that provides the kick in his images. This is very different, a study of bewilderment and impending menace. These men are better groomed than his usual heroes, hence my comparison with modern soccer studs, but the bleak, alien landscape they are stranded in, conjured up with a wash of red, is a typical setting, normally home to primitive muscle men contending with giant predators who can't decide whether to eat them or dangle them by the balls.

This image seems to have its origins in the work below. I can't identify it but it seems to originate from the same render kit used by Homoeros. (Update: thanks to a reader has supplied the correct attribution in the comment below, Achillias) There's no shame in adapting another artist's work and Kalbro's cock chain is an inspired embellishment. In fact, simply by reworking the scene in pencil he transforms it and gives the men character and emotions.

Read the mitchmen review of Kalabro's Art from the A-Z of Fetish Artists 

I have added an extension to this article with lots more pictures 
plus an update on where you can find his art in Best of Kalabro

Most Popular new mitchmen Post of 2022 (MPP1)

Brick - Slave Academy 2022 (No 10)

Above:- One of Brick's incredibly sexy, new Slave Academy pictures at Metalbond

(See below for direct links}

~

The table below lists the most popular of the new mitchmen posts published during 2022. I'm sticking with last years method of simply counting hits with a mention of other factors in the notes.
(Titles have links to the original posts, column 4 shows annualised hit rate).

On mobiles the table is best viewed by turning your phone sideways

 

TABLE 1 - Top 20 New Posts of 2022 at mitchmen

 

Rank	Title (+link)	Total Hits	Hit Rate Ranking	Pub Month	Note
1	New 'Slave Academy' Pictures by Brick	2082	5	Apr	1
2	Kalabro - Slave Gang	2059	10	Feb	2
3	Oztangles Retrospective 2	1856	3	July	3
4	Enslavement Art by Planet Gay	1811	2	July	4
5	News Of New Pictures By Brick	1602	11	Feb	1
6	Oztangles Retrospective 1	1255	9	Jun	3
7	Most Viewed mitchmen Post Of All Time (2021)	1236	16	Jan	5
8	Art by Ridley - 1	1180	12	Mar	3
9	The Art of Gilgamesh	1135	6	Aug	3
10	Art by Arsch	1136	15	Aug '21	7
11	The Art of Gilgamesh 2	1065	4	Aug	3
12	Vintage Bondage - Dean Spencer	1058	17	March	6
13	Most Popular Posts - Previous Winners (2021)	1039	21	Jan	5
14	Art by Spacron - Sexy Boys	1026	14	Apr	8
15	Ehrlik - The Blacksmith of Zambe	1019	19	Feb	7
16	Best of Kalabro	1018	18	Feb	2
17	Milk Outlets by Penguin Frontier	1004	1	Oct	8
18	Domination Art by Planet Gay	914	8	Aug	4
19	Art by Damo - 1	902	13	May	8
20	Art by St Jinx	885	7	Aug	8

 

(Stats collected on 31st December 2022) 

 

1

 

The outright winner is an index which I created, linking to a series of posts at Metalbond featuring 11 brand new pictures by Brick. An earlier announcement about the first release of these new pictures also made this table at No 5. It celebrates a welcome return of a talented artist to the fetish art scene after a lengthy absence. The story shows two newcomers being inducted into the Academy. He doesn't seem to have lost any of his imaginative flair during the layoff and his technical skills are even better!

There were no blockbusters this year. Brick's winning score of  2082 is the lowest since 2017 when the inaugural Milking Factory post scored 1411. Top scores since then have hovered around the 3000 mark. At the foot of the table, the cut-off scores have levelled off in the last 3 years, 885 was slightly down on last year's 1012, but in line with 2019. Visits to the blog overall in 2022 also dropped, but only slightly (by 0.7%) after last years spectacular post Covid recovery. These trends seem to imply a broader range of interests in my visitors. 

I must thank all my readers for continuing to show your interest in mitchmen blog!

2

 

Hot on Brick's heels was another 'old hand' - Kalabro with 'Slave Gang', a vibrant picture that picked up on the current vogue for slavery scenarios. I'm a long time admirer of this artist's dynamic 'ordeal' images but paradoxically this wasn't really one of them. 

Kalabro seems to have withdrawn from sharing his amazing art of late, a sad situation that prompted me to post a retrospective of his work this year as a supplement to the A-Z article of 2009 . 'Best of Kalabro' also made this chart at No 16.

3

 

I posted a major, long-overdue retrospective of the work of Oztangles (2006-2022) at mitchmen blog during the year so it's not surprising to see two of the five articles near the top spot. I would normally have expected the lead article to do best, since I send people there if they want to read the whole series from the start. It's there but some way behind at No 6. Oz is another well-established artist and his gifted but sometimes puzzlingly uneven offerings made a fascinating project for me.

Gilgamesh gained two mid-table entries in the chart this year with his own unique brand of renders featuring heavily muscled protagonists whose maturity makes their plight all the more poignant as they are condemned to incarceration and torment in chains in dark, damp dungeons. He too started posting his images way back ca 2006, but his modern work shows a leap in intensity and realism since those early days and the dark story-telling, laden with menace and despair is engrossing. I suppose these hyper-masculine creatures are an acquired taste but there's an earthiness about them that makes them quite different to the bound hunks of J.F. and the youthful lust of 'Muscle' Matt. 

Ridley at No 8 is perhaps this year's wild card. His art, like Oztangles and Gilgamesh dates from the early years of rendering (ca 2005) and it seems surprisingly polished in retrospect. The milking theme that dominates the samples I posted is however a perennial favourite here at mitchmen so it's understandable why it's done so well.

 

4.

 

I also posted 5 articles featuring the work of Planet Gay at mitchmen in 2022, two made it into the chart and he is the top 'new wave' entry this year. He seems to have carved a niche for a sort of chocolate box style of bdsm art, with beautiful images showing delicious men being introduced to the delights of fetish practices in a way that seems surprisingly innocuous. Most of the articles were published too late in the year to make an impact in the table but the first got to 4th position and the second one squeezed in at No 18. It will be interesting to see how they fare in the longer term. His rankings of 2nd and 8th based on the 'rate of hits' shows how popular his work is.

5

My year end reviews often do well in the following year's table and it's a phenomenon I don't really understand. I usually give credit to the lead image rather than my own writing and the marvellous Priapus image I was able to use to headline the all time winners post for 2021 this particular post justifies it's position at No 7. Priapus has a similar 'mild' approach to fetish scenarios as that of Planet Gay but has been around for a lot longer. His work seems to have become more adventurous of late and indeed, more prolific, miraculously without losing any of the artistic skills that have propelled him to the top of my all-time rankings. 

Another of these reviews came in at 13 topped by a picture drawn by the ever-popular Cavelo which doesn't disprove my theory although I admit that I'd like to think I have some followers with similar geeky interests to myself! Both of these articles would have finished lower down if I had applied a correction for their favoured position of piking up hits from the very first days of the year, their positions in the Hit Rate Rankings (column 4) suggest a more modest position would better reflect their popularity.

6

Nestling just below the midway point of the table (at 12) is the solitary photograph-based post that managed to get into the top 20 for this year, but it's a good one - Dean Spencer's vintage bondage scene with Andrew Lennox in Can Am's 'Fetish Sex Fights 3'. Dean had a oddly alluring, 'pretty boy' sullenness that was great for bdsm bottoming and he had a notable career in the field. Dressing him in yellow rubber for this video was inspired and the uncluttered photography makes a good case for a fetish genre which is often submerged in over-elaborate overdressing. 

Royale Studio imagery topped last year's table but none of the 17 posts this year could repeat the trick. 'Airman's Gym Spanking' did best but it's score of 665 was well short of the top 20 cut. These posts made up 12% of the total articles published during the year and I am concerned that the Royale Project may be conflicting with the other aims of the blog. I will be making an announcement about this soon.

7

The rest of the table is made up of a varied selection of newcomers. One of them Arsch at 10 is a hangover from last year when he just missed the cut. It features a familiar milking scenario so I'm not surprised that it continued to score in 2022, if fact it's score in 2022 alone would have got into this years table, so I decided to let it in for this year. I have adjusted it's score to take account of last year. 

I did consider other contenders from 2021 (e.g. Ehrlich - Lab Rat and Roa Part 4) but considered those artists were already adequately represented and other names deserved a chance. 

Ehrlik, however, does figure in the final quarter of the 2022 table but with a different post "The Blacksmith of Zambe". This is the latest in a string of posts about his work, all of which have struck a chord with readers here even though they are mostly fem dom not gay. The 'little boy lost' angle seems to go down a treat.

8

Of the remainder, Penguin Frontier's 'Milking Outlet', was a simply conceived image with an arty finish and intriguing Sci-Fi back story. It made a spectacular debut, storming into the table with the top hit rate of the year. However, posted in late October, it's early days so I'm not predicting a new colossus has arrived  just yet!

The Spacron's renders and Damo's cartoonery are not ultra sophisticated but they are sexy and it's nice to see them representing different techniques in the table. Likewise St Jinx's more traditional draughtsmanship, his fantasy-based subject matter wouldn't normally be seen at mitchmen but his unusual crucifixion image which squeezed in at 20 is an elegant contribution to a niche genre that I suspect will be around in appreciative circles long after the artist's fairies have been forgotten.

~

This year's table features articles based on photographs, comics, cartoons, renders and traditional art, another cavalcade of gay, artistic talent which testifies to the wealth of sexy, expressive art available to us in the age of the internet. Long may it continue!

~

Next time - The most viewed post of the entire mitchmen blog during 2022.

 

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 2022

 

 

 

 HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

from mitchmen blog