The Yaoi Review » HamletMachine

YAOI NEWS: Two New GloBL Anthologies

Jennifer LeBlanc AKA Asami's Girl — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 05:12:10 +0000

There are two new Global Boys' Love (GloBL) anthologies that will be made available for YaoiCon, Adamo Anthology and Crown Royale. Tina Anderson did a nice post summing them both up with details and pictures so I suggest checking it out. I'm going to pick up a copy of both but by the time I review them, there may be no copies left so probably best to jump on that now.

~Jennifer LeBlanc

YAOI INTERVIEW: HamletMachine of Starfighter

Jennifer LeBlanc AKA Asami's Girl — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 02:15:33 +0000

As a continuation of Global Boys' Love Month, I recently interviewed HamletMachine from the webcomic and recently self-published Starfighter (which I just reviewed). Enjoy!

Since I’m currently featuring “GloBL” artists, can you share with us what country you’re from?

-Sure! I'm from the United States. Born and raised in NYC.

Why HamletMachine?

-Years and years ago, a friend of mine told me about a theater production she had seen of Die Hamletmaschine, by Heiner Müller and I think my brain nearly exploded from the pleasure of hearing those words together. I'm a big fan of Shakespeare and robots, so I kept the handle, as it embodies so much of what I love!

Your current project is Starfighter. Are you both the writer and the artist for it?

-Yes.

What inspired you to write it?

-For a while, I had been kicking around the idea of two characters in a military space setting, but it was just something sitting on the backburner until my good friend from DeviantArt, Kippery, mentioned that I should draw some hot guys for her. I decided to try and fulfill her request while trying out some character designs in the process and this happened. I love sci-fi and I love erotica, so the pieces of the story came together pretty quickly for me.

Do you consider Starfighter to be ‘yaoi/boys’ love’ or do you feel it’s more of a gay comic? Do you yourself read a lot of ‘yaoi/boys’ love’?

-Haha, I have seen some incendiary debates about this topic and it's all way too intense for me. When I draw the pages, I just concentrate on drawing what gives me the greatest pleasure and hope that someone else in the world can derive similar enjoyment from it.. Um, also, how I'm going to pay my rent.

I think I've read a fair amount of boy's love.. But at the same time, you could probably school my ass on a conversation about mangaka.

Now for the controversial question, do you consider what you write to be manga or a comic? Either way, what inspired you to produce a webcomic and what influenced you as an artist and writer?

-It seems that the etiquette is, Japanese-made comics are referred to as manga and all else are referred to as comics. Even if a "Western" comic has some Japanese influence, it's still considered a comic, which I think is where Starfigher might fall.. I'm not entirely sure what I'm getting at, but I usually refer to Starfighter as a webcomic/comic.

As for inspiration for producing a webcomic, Starfighter kinda started online, since I first posted the character design on DevianArt, so it seemed natural to keep it in that realm! It wasn't predetermined or planned out to specifically evolve into a webcomic.. it just sorta became one! That is really because of the support and encouragement of friends on DeviantArt.. they really inspired me to continue with the story!

Oh man, I have a lot of influences! Movies and music have always been a big contributor to my drawings and interests.. I try to listen to songs that matches the mood of the subject I'm trying to draw.

Do you have a schedule for when you post Starfighter updates or is it just when you are able to complete a new page?

-Since I can only draw after work or on weekends, it's definitely the latter! As soon as I get a page done, I post it!

You’ve already completed the first chapter and put it up for sale. Do you have an idea of how many chapters Starfighter will be or are you still determining where the story will go?

-Hmm, I don't know how many chapters it will be.. but I hope I can draw it for however long I can! It's my wish to finish the story.

Is there anything you’d really like your fans to know?

-Even though we are far apart and we are strangers, I want you to know in your heart that I love you. You, my sweetheart, for you are my master and I am your servant. Thank you so, so much.. You are so beautiful.

I hope you enjoyed the interview! HamletMachine has been nice enough to agree to answer some fan questions so feel free to ask your questions in the comments below. Please keep them professional!

You can find HamletMachine on Twitter, deviantART, and Facebook and as always on the Starfighter site.

~Jennifer LeBlanc

YAOI REVIEW: Starfighter ~ HamletMachine

Jennifer LeBlanc AKA Asami's Girl — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 20:48:16 +0000

Starfighter Chapter 1 ~ Hamlet Machine

47 Story Pages/10 Illustration Pages

Self-published & webcomic

Quick Synopsis:

Space can be a cold place and on a space station full of men (and seemingly no women) what’s a boy to do? Fuck his teammate, that’s what. Ok, so maybe I’m simplifying the story just a bit but to be honest, we’re still early on in a story that is staying tight lipped on what is to come. There’s an unknown enemy to fight, teammates to despise and underhanded scheming that makes me desperate for more.

Plot:

The story revolves around navigators and fighters with navigators being portrayed as intelligent but weak and fighters as gruff and more apt to do their thinking with their fists. Neither likes the other yet they must work together to fight the enemy. You see, in each ship there’s a navigator to navigate during the fight and the fighter who fires on the enemy. One can’t work without the other.

I love that Starfighter takes place in space with this fiery division between the fighters and the navigators. In order to do their job they must work together but it is clear each thinks they are better than the other. The only time they seem to come together is when fighting the enemy and in this volume, we have yet to find out who that is and just why they are fighting.

After reading chapter 1, I found myself wondering if the navigators and fighters are breed for their roles. The similar look they have to each of their own kind as well as similar personality traits makes me wonder if they are some sort of lab creation or if on their world they are each a specific race or ethnicity. I guess we’ll have to wait and see!

Character Development:

Our two main characters have the task names of Cain and Abel. Cain is a fighter and Abel is his navigator so if their designations don’t tip you off to the impending conflict, their names sure do! To put this in yaoi terms, Cain is definitely the sadistic seme whereas Abel is the timid yet sometimes feisty uke. I think I can best sum this up with my favorite quote from the book:

“Oh Abel… I’m going to fuck you.”

And fuck him he does.

Sexual Content:

Speaking of fucking, let’s get into the sexual content of this one since that is a huge part of this chapter. Is there sex? Yes. Is there lots of sex? Absolutely. In fact there are 16 pages of sex out of a 47 page story and it IS explicit. Boy parts look like boy parts, no ghost penis here. It’s in the sexual content that I feel Cain absolutely shines. He’s sadistic for sure yet here and there he shows just a hint of sweetness to Abel; although you could compare this sweetness to a stranger offering a piece of candy to a child so take that for what it is. If you’re looking for sweet, loving sex scenes, this isn’t going to be for you.

Readability:

This is originally written in English so there was no translation necessary. The speech bubbles are well placed and when it changes to inner dialogue, it is obvious. Speaking of, that is one thing I really loved in this story, Abel’s inner dialogue. It would be so easy to dismiss him as a weak uke type but his inner dialogue makes him so much more than that. I believe him as a character and I find him to be just as interesting as the sadistic Cain. I usually don’t find myself that interested in the uke characters but I like Abel and I find myself worrying about him. But let me say this, don’t write off our little Abel as naïve. I think he’s more aware than he lets on.

Illustrations:

As far as the illustrations themselves, there are quite a few things I really like. First off, HamletMachine has a very unique style in my opinion. It’s a nice combination between a more realistic style of drawing and the manga style and it works. You can see more of the realism when you see the naked butts. No I’m not kidding and I’m not embarrassed to say it!

Where HM really shines is in the background detail. More often than not it seems the background detail is overlooked or is considered to be a minor part of the story. With Starfighter taking place in space, there are great details in the starships, the fighting and the space station itself. I must make one other observation that I’ve never made before… I love the font! It works!

Starfighter is not black and white. There are hints of color with the black, gray and white theme of the story. I think if this was full vibrant color, it wouldn’t work. The story is dark and somewhat sinister so the hints of color really bring attention to what was intended by the artist.

Another element of the illustrations I enjoyed was the expressions of both Cain and Abel. The look on Abel’s face when he first see’s Cain’s dick is priceless and the final shot of Cain is so damn sinister, you realize then there is so much more yet to come (in more ways than one I bet!).

Now here’s the REAL reason you want to go and pick yourself up a copy, the illustrations in the back of the book. Holy hot! There are 10 color illustrations after the story and damn, some of them are seriously dirty. As far as I know, these are not anywhere online so if you want to see them, you need to buy a copy. A physical copy of Starfighter goes for $14 on the Starfighter website. The cover is glossy and the paper quality is much better than what we typically get. I’m guessing this is because of the color and it not being a black and white comic with the usual cheap paper.

Final Thoughts:

I think it’s pretty obvious I love this one. The story is fabulous yet totally mysterious, the sex is scorching and the illustration quality is pretty damn good and getting more and more refined. What’s even better? You can read it for free (and legally) right online! If you love it like I do, you’ll want to buy a copy. It’s so worth having in your hands and being able to flip through, especially for the hot and oh so dirty pics in the back!

Plot: A (I’m holding off on an A+ until I see more)

Character Development: A

Sexual Content: A+

Readability: A+

Illustrations: A+

Overall: A+

Read for free at www.starfightercomic.com

Where to buy

~Jennifer LeBlanc

CONTEST: Starfighter Fan Art Contest Winners!

Jennifer LeBlanc AKA Asami's Girl — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:45:37 +0000

Well, by far this was and probably will be the toughest contest to decide of them all. So tough I had to bring in the help of some 'celebrity' judges to assist me. The four of us ranked the entries and I decided on those rankings who came in 1st, 2nd and 3rd as I felt those three all deserved a prize. As a reminder, I was looking for the entry that best captured what Starfighter was about and I think you'll agree the first place winner did just that. Without further adieu, here they are!

First place goes to Chelsea and here is her entry (definitely original and captures the dynamics between Cain and Abel):

The second place winner is SilverTofu and here is her entry (this one had a different take on Cain and Abel but still fits very well. I loved the color palette in this one):

The third place entry was submitted by Darkheart510 and here is her entry (This one wins purely on cute factor alone and I can definitely see Cain being a brat as a kid!):

The first place winner will take home a signed copy of Starfighter Chapter One. The second and third place winners get first crack at the yaoi stash I'm giving away, which includes a few two volume sets! Congrats to you all and thanks for entering!

~Jennifer LeBlanc

CONTEST #3: Starfighter Fanart Contest

Jennifer LeBlanc AKA Asami's Girl — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 00:05:24 +0000

This week's contest is a fanart contest based on the Starfighter webcomic. What's up for grabs? How about a signed copy of Chapter 1 of the Starfighter comic? That's right! The winner of this contest will receive their very own print copy of chapter 1 signed by the creator, HamletMachine. Here are the rules:

Fanart needs to be about the Starfighter webcomic and include at least one of the main characters (Cain or Abel)
I will not be judging based on artistic ability but on who captures Starfighter the best. You could draw stick figures but if it's funny and truly represents the characters, you could win. No excuses! Anyone can win!
When submitted, it should be in a JPEG format. Size doesn't matter (unless you're a boy… then it does XD ), as long as the JPEG is small enough to be emailed to me.
This contest is open to all countries.
All submissions need to be emailed to me at info AT theyaoireview DOT com on or before 2/12/10.

This contest is, of course, sponsored by:

Don't forget our other contests!

Contest #1: Design my Web Banner!

Contest #2: Valentine's Day Themed AMV

Please post any questions you may have in comments. Thanks and good luck!