Dark Prince Volume 1 (Yaoi) (v. 1)
This first of a trilogy is written by the publisher, which isn't unusual from small comic companies—who better knows what suits their vision for their line? By naming the company after the popular boys' love manga genre, Abraham makes clear what audience they're going after. Perhaps that's why this volume is so hardcore. It ships shrink-wrapped due to mature content, and they're not kidding; the first scene features the title character orally pleasuring his brother. The dark prince has been murdering boys because of demands from his demon lover. Instead of being an imaginative figment, that character's real, too, and randy. Other cast members include the jaded ex-wife running the palace brothel and a peasant boy whose stepfather tried to sell him into sexual slavery. (He winds up raped by an aristocrat.) The story is an odd combination of an elaborate fantasy religion and a string of atrocities and fetishes, all illustrated by a new artist. Typical of young creators, Sambre's style is heavy on surface qualities and decorative flourishes while the basics are lacking. No one's three dimensional in either anatomy or approach. The characters are defined only by their sexual purpose.(Nov.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.