Haphazard pirates, wayward ghosts, dashing knights, rampaging kaiju (and down-to-earth regular joes!) are all assembled here to amaze and delight you in a wildly unique anthology celebrating love between men, from an astounding array of comics creators who know exactly how it feels.
Featuring stories and art from SINA GRACE, NED BARNETT, ANTHONY OLIVEIRA, CHARLES PULLIAM-MOORE, NICK ROBLES, IAN MCGINTY, and many more, YOUNG MEN IN LOVE is a heartwarming, uplifting, and vibrant return to the glory days of romance comics!
Coming this July from A Wave Blue World, YOUNG MEN IN LOVE is an imaginative genre mix with a gay male focus, delivering exactly what the cover promises for its audience. This title includes safe for work content; YOUNG MEN IN LOVE collects love-themed stories for adults that avoid erotica, making it teen-appropriate and a safe choice for cover-out displays. Editors JOE GLASS and MATT MINER discuss creating this heartwarming graphic novel. Read the full interview below!
For those who aren’t familiar, can you tell us what readers can expect from this book?
JOE GLASS: Honestly, this book is filled with so many wildly imaginative tales, people can expect a bit of everything. You want pirates? You got ‘em. You want ghosts and ghouls? Right here. You want thoughtful slice of life tales with messages of self-love and discovery? We got you! Everything from folklore to super sentai, all wrapped up in gorgeous artwork and beautiful words.
MATT MINER: It’s an all-ages romance book for anyone looking for a dose of optimism and charm in their life, from the most talented queer men and AMAB non binary folks in comics. It’s a book for those who might be struggling, or those who’ve overcome their struggles – it’s for everyone who ever wondered if love was something they could find. It’s love stories perfect for queer adults, straight allies, and for young people who might just be figuring things out for themselves.
How did this project come about?
MM: I’d been part of putting together multiple award-nominated anthologies with A Wave Blue World in the past, and when the idea popped in my head to do a book of mlm (men loving men) romance stories created entirely by writers and artists with a completely authentic point of view, I approached Joe, a gay writer whose work I respect a lot, to partner up and bring this book to AWBW.
JG: When Matt approached me, I was immediately sold on the idea of curating a collection of stories that told male romance from a more authentic perspective. What there is out there, and there’s some to be sure, is largely handled by straight creators or women, so the intricacies and precise inner feelings of being a young man and falling in love with other men has always felt like it was being told to us by someone else; someone other. We wanted to take a chance to tell our stories from our perspective, for all those out there who might be needing that.
Can you tell us more about the selection process for deciding which stories go in the book?
JG: As I say, authenticity was a keyword when putting this book together, so we wanted to make sure that we had queer male creators telling their stories from a more authentic and genuine perspective. We knew also that we wanted to bring as much of a diverse range of identity within that too, so made sure to reach out to creators of all parts of the spectrum of queer sexuality, ethnicity and inclusive of AMAB and AFAB men and non-binary creators.
MM: We were especially careful to guide stories to a place of romance, and not sexuality. We wanted to be sure that this is a great book for adults, but also for especially cool parents to buy for their kids.
What would you say is the most rewarding part of the process?
JG: Honestly, the most rewarding part of the process has been seeing the stories come together. We have some of the most amazing established creators and some of the most exciting new and rising voices all in this book, and seeing the stories they put together (all expertly connected by a tour de force of lettering from Lucas Gattoni) has really been an absolute joy. The next reward will be seeing how happy this book makes people…because it’s going to make a lot of people very, very happy.
MM: When I was growing up in a very small rural town, calling someone “gay” was the surefire way to get in an immediate fight. And that gross homophobia that ran so rampant through the 90s made accepting my queerness really hard. Being bisexual was especially tough, for me, because I saw the gay folks around me erase and dismiss us and the straights hate us just the same. So I was closeted for a very long time, and only a few people here or there, aside from men I’d dated, really knew.
The media of the time didn’t help much, either. I felt very, very, alone – being queer, and especially a queer man, was a punchline on TV over and over again, and positive representation was extremely hard to find. So this is a very longwinded way of getting to the point that with this book, we created the book I’d have liked to have had when I was a kid and realizing my sexual identity. I hope the book helps young queer kids feel less alone in the world.
In terms of audience, who is this book for?
JG: I know it’s such a cop out to say ‘everyone’, but it really is. We’ve seen in the young adult book market, both in terms of graphic novels and prose, that male/male romance is a very popular subgenre, so this will really appeal to anyone who loves titles like that, such as Heartstopper. But perhaps most importantly, it’s for young queer men and non-binary kids who would just like to see that love, romance and happiness are out there for them too.
What are you hoping readers take away from this book?
JG: That their future is bright. That there’s love to be had and shared, and that nothing can truly get in their way, no matter how they want to live their life, or who they want to live it with. Love, adventure, action and happiness…they’re all up for grabs.
MM: There’s hope, there’s acceptance, and there’s love out there.
