>Hugz<

Ralf Koenig is a German cartoonist who draws gay comics. I've never had the chance to read his works. (Not easy to find his comics translated in English around my town) First I recognized him from a book on European comics called 'I went for the European Comics' or something. The book introduced him as a cartoonist having alternative theme, gays' life. The second time that I ran into his name was when I watched a movie called Killer Condom which is based on his comic book, Kondom des Grauens. I kinda like his style and I wish I could buy his books some day.

Fumi Yoshinaga is a Japanese cartoonist who is famous for dealing with love affairs between men. She got a fame via Slam Dunk(famous Japanese Comics on high school basketball teams) parody cartoon in which the characters of Slam Dunk are portrayed as gays. In Japan, there are many yaoi comics dealing with love affairs between men. But usually they tend to focus on one thing, sex. Not like usual yaoi cartoon, works of Yoshinaga show people's various feelings from suffering, agony to joy and happiness. One of her works, Antique Bakery(see the picture) was adopted to Japanese soap opera and animation of same title. And in the upcoming winter, a Korean movie of the same title will be run in the theaters.

Tom of Finland is a Finnish gay-erotica illustrator who got international fame. He drew masculine men who wear jeans, leather trousers, police uniforms or nothing!!! His influence on following illustrators is beyond words. And the way he portrayed gays as fun-loving and bright as the word "gay" means, has had positive impact on the viewers. He's done an amazing job for people around the world, including me. :)

Go Fujimoto is a Japanese gay bear manga artist. He's famous for bear calendar series. And he reguarly updates his works on his personal website. Like Tagame Gengoroh or Jiraiya he's so talented in drawing Japanese men wearing only fundoshi , which is so sexy and exotic. Go, Go Fujimoto .

Jiraiya is a manga writer who had drawn the cover of "G-men" for years and published his manga through the same magazine for years. All his characters are chubby and masculine men. And unlike Tagame Gengoroh who had drawn the magazine's cover for years before Jiraiya did is into SM and likes to put his characters in pain and torture, Jiraiya's characters are cute, fun-loving and more easy to relate to. He published two comic books including Goninbeya and one illustration book called "The Art of Giraiya".

Nonbe Kensuke is a manga writer whose works were published through Japanese gay magazines like "Sa-bu" and "G-men" from the late 1990s to the 2000's. He put an emphasis on feelings and stories in his works and his works showed his colorful and unique view of the world, which led many fans to support him strongly even though his works are no longer updated. He's also known as "Pocko dog(pocko-ken)". His works include : Father returns home (see the picture) Wriggling cover Horse Deer Threshold Beast of man Confession (from "G-men) and Tak-chan (from "Sa-bu") (this article is based on the article from Japanese Wikipedia)