Jeff's Muscle Studio: Hearts & Iron

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HEARTS & IRON This is the story of Carl Hanson and John Sullivan, two iron-pumping gay men who begin a life-journey together. As competitive athletes who don't live in a major urban center or in a gay ghetto, Carl and John may challenge ideas of what gay people are like, as will the presence of gay punk / alternative characters. Their path will take them into scuffles in which they turn the tables on gay bashers, and into competition in the Highland games, and in other timelines where they compete int he ancient Olympics. ORDERING COMICS Click here to go to the Store, and to see previews of individual issues. Hearts & Iron #5 is now available, as are the 4 previous issues, in digital versions. Go to the Webcomics page page to see other adventures of Carl and John, and of my other strips, Paul Bunyan and Ursa Major, the Werebear's Tale. *Hearts & Iron* and Ursa Major are also appearing monthly in Desert Knight News.

MORE COMIC ART		PRESS
Muscle Men, an erotic anthology, Cleis Press. I contributed a six page comic story called "Muscle Meeting." Click here for a preview of my story.		An interview (in German) with me on the blog Samstag ist ein Guter Tag An interview with me in Bear Mais magazine #42 (in Portuguese.) Bearotic.com article on my web comics! An article on Bear Nerd, a Brazilain bear site (in Portuguese.) Compete Magazine article on Hearts & Iron: This Comic Strip Stands Out Patte d'Ours/Bears paw 3.0, a French bear art site, with a page devoted to my artwork... http://pattedours-bearspaw.com/page2/page2.html *Pagina 12, an Argentine publication, has an article about me/Hearts & Iron* and 3 other comic artists. I believe it's in Spanish - happy translating! PRAISE FOR "HEARTS & IRON" "I am enjoying your work immensely. Most of all your ability to weave an interesting story with believable characters and plot lines." - John Calimee, artist "I was fully expecting to mostly enjoy the strong visuals. While your artwork is extremely well done, I found myself really being drawn into the storyline." - D.B., WI
Strip AIDS USA, 1988 A collection of cartoons from a diverse group of American cartoonists such as Will Eisner, Alison Bechdel and Frank Miller. All work was donated by the artists and profits from the book went to various AIDS foundations. My contribution was a two page story called "Safe Sex 2088."
Gay Comics #25, 1998 A collection of past Gay Comics contributors in celebration of 18 years of publishing. John and Carl of "Hearts & Iron" make their debut here in a one page story entitled "Midway".
"An Early Grave," left, is a previously unpublished comic from the late 90's exploring a couple of my favorite topics, prehistory and myth. Joseph Campbell's "Primitive Mythology" provided much of my source material on prehistoric shamanism and the possible meanings of cave paintings. Click here or on the icon to download the 5 page pdf comic.
Influences I grew up reading 1960's Marvel and DC comics, and science fiction of the Golden Age. There were also little-known gems like the Classics Illustrated Comics Story of Great Scientists (such as Einstein, Curie and Pasteur), with its beautiful, uncredited artwork and delight in learning about the world around you. Mad magazine, great fun when I was a kid in the Sixties, soon paled next to the more sophisticated and subversive National Lampoon. I followed Jack Kirby's Fourth World books devotedly, but my interest in comics was waning. After a long period of not reading comics, I was pulled back by books like Crisis on Infinite Earths, Secret Wars, Alan Moore's Watchmen and V For Vendetta, Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, Batman: Year One and Daredevil, Akira and Neil Gaiman's epic Sandman. Now, I was hooked again. Artists I have admired over the years include Jack Kirby, Frank Frazetta, Al Capp (whose L'il Abner strip was ghosted by Frazetta for years), Mad magazine's Mort Drucker, Neal Adams, Mike Dringenberg of the early Sandman issues, Yukinobu Hoshino's amazing art and storytelling in the science-fiction graphic novel 2001 Nights, the stark, Alex Toth-like brushwork of David Mazzuchelli on Frank Miller's Batman and Daredevil issues, and the lush compostion and masterful figure drawing of P. Craig Russell. Tom of Finland and Bill Ward of Drum fame are gay artists whose work I greatly admire, as well as the humor and imagination of Roberta Gregory, Howard Cruse's precise line and sophisticated storytelling, and Ivan Velez 's comic/soap opera Tales Of the Closet.
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