I have a love/hate relationship with anthologies and showcases. On the one hand, I love to see a variety of creators getting to present their material. On the other hand, a lot of times, it means you get a snippet when the project could really use a longer treatment. I was worried about that when I got a chance to check out Young Men in Love from A Wave Blue World. Thankfully, for the most part, the stories work in a limited number of pages.
The collection covers a wide array of styles and settings, but the one thing it does across all the tales is feature a collection of fun, gay, positive romance stories that are suitable for anybody from teens to people who have been adults for, let’s just say, a while.
A few of my favorites include On That Grind by Jarrett Melendez (writer) and Jacoby Salcedo (art). The tale of an owner of a coffee shop owner romantically connecting with a customer who turns out to have more in common with him than he suspects.
If you are looking for something in the superhero genre, then my pick would be Blazing Ahead by Joe Glass ( writer) and Gavin Mitchell (artist). In this one, we see the young hero realize that the guy who he thought was his long-standing rival might actually be something else entirely.
In my opinion, the best of the collection is Boys Will Be Toys by Joe Corallo (writer) and Chase Bluestone (artist). It takes us to a very Pixar-esque setting where toys strive to find a connection while the threat of being put away in the attic looms above them.
There are a few stories that could have used a little more room to breathe, but overall, it’s a great grouping of gay tales without an unhappy ending in sight—something I sorely needed at this point in time. If you are a fan of comics, gay love, or just happy ever afters, then you owe it to yourself to pick this one up.
Paper Phoenix ink 