Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Sparkplug Highlights: Wuvable Oaf, by Ed Luce

We are super excited to announce that we have copies of Wuvable Oaf #0-4 back in the store!






If you haven't picked up this series yet, you no longer have any excuses -- you simply must read it. Really, it has something for everyone: Bears. Drama. Kitties! (Lots of kitties.) Metal music. Tongue-in-cheek portrayals of hipster culture. Morrissey. Hilarious dating fiascos! Magic? Nods to more great bands than you can shake a stick at. Professional wrestling! Friendship. And perhaps even...love?!

Wuvable Oaf is a rare breed of story; populated with exaggerated characters and silly scenarios, it manages to keep from crossing the threshold into the territory of ridiculous caricature by maintaining a sense of genuine earnestness that completely charms the audience. The eponymous Oaf will win over even the most jaded reader: he is just too sweet, too big-hearted, and too bizarre not to love.

A review of Wuvable Oaf would be lacking, of course, without mention of the incredible art. Luce's round, bold style is especially expressive, and he provides perfectly placed hits of detail that add depth to each scene. The story is enamoring on its own; combined with Luce's drawings, it's doubly so.

"Luce’s style, in keeping with the tone of his writing, is in a cartoon vein. It’s all about line and form. Gay readers who’ve complained about the lack of body hair in superhero comics should take not that there is a great abundance of it here. Let’s hope Luce doesn’t develop carpal tunnel from drawing so much of it. Obviously I found Luce’s writing to be funny, but it was also refreshing to see the world from a different perspective. True, bears can be found in quality erotic comics from Steve MacIsaac, Dale Lazarov, and others. Luce’s approach is rooted in humor, a small dose of satire without bitchiness (is this a dying art?), and dare I say it, wuvableness. Kudos to Luce for embracing bear characteristics with Oafie and transcending them in style. I hope non-bear readers will be open to the idea of reading Wuvable Oaf." Gay League
"A visually and narratively witty breath of fresh (and very odd) air in the world of gay comics, Wuvable Oaf is the product of writer/artist Luce’s out-of-left-field imagination and make-everything-big-and-round drawing style." Dave White, Queerty
Tell us how much you love (wuv?!) Wuvable Oaf in the comments, on Twitter, or on Facebook!

3 comments:

Dale Lazarov said...

I love Wuvable Oaf. I also love that you tagged me in your post. Do you carry my comics, also? :)

Cheers,
Dale Lazarov

milkyboots said...

Thanks for your comment, Dale!
We don't carry your comics at the moment, but you are welcome to submit. Submission information is available here: Contact info

Dale Lazarov said...

I don't self-distribute :-/ I am published by Bruno Gmünder Verlag who are distributed by Bookazine, Baker & Taylor, etc.

My page at Gmünder's website:

http://www.brunogmuender.com/authors/details/id/30/page/7/sort/name/

(You might need to click "EN" to get the page in English. :) )