Massive: Gay Erotic Manga and the Men Who Make It
Massive: Gay Erotic Manga and the Men Who Make It is a 2014 manga anthology edited by Anne Ishii, Chip Kidd, and Graham Kolbeins, and published by Fantagraphics Books. Collecting works from Gengoroh Tagame, Jiraiya, and numerous other artists, it is the first English-language anthology of gay manga. Contents. "Massive" is composed of nine comics by prominent gay manga artists, each of which is accompanied by an interview with the artist. The works included are: Manga artist Go Fujimoto was referenced in the tentative list of authors in early  press materials for "Massive", but does not appear in the anthology. Development and publication. "Massive" was conceived in 2012 when Graham Kolbeins sought to interview gay manga creators for his personal blog, seeking assistance from Anne Ishii for Japanese translation; Ishii had previously worked as a private translator for the gay manga collection of graphic designer Chip Kidd. Kolbeins, Ishii, and Kidd jointly pitched publisher PictureBox for what would become two books: "The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame: Master of Gay Erotic Manga", the first English-language book of works by Gengoroh Tagame, and "Massive". Ishii and Kolbeins traveled to Japan  to conduct interviews for the books, and concurrently launched Massive Goods, a fashion brand and gay manga publisher. At the Toronto Comic Arts Festival in May 2013, PictureBox formally announced that it would publish "Massive" for release in spring 2014. Following the dissolution of PictureBox in December 2013, Fantagraphics announced that it had acquired the license to the title, which it published on December 18, 2014. To promote the release of the book, Jiraiya made his first-ever public appearance as an artist, attending signings and speaking events in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York. Reception. "Massive" was positively  received by critics, and was nominated for Best Anthology at the Eisner Awards in 2015. Writer and editor Shaenon K. Garrity called "Massive" "one of the best, not to mention one of the smuttiest, collections of manga ever published in the U.S." in her review of the anthology for "Anime News Network". "Publishers Weekly" called the anthology a "fascinating overview of contemporary gay manga and its creators," while "IndieWire" praised "Massive" as an "intriguing insight into a segment of Japanese pop culture that’s virtually unknown in the West." "The A.V. Club" characterized "Massive" as "more than just a collection  of pornographic stories," noting that "just like any other great pieces of art, these stories are outlets for unbridled creative expression."