Fast Friends Hardcover – Illustrated, 1 Feb. 2015

This is Michael Broderick's first comic book that tells a single story, here written by Dale Lazarov, and it will hardly need recommending for those who have the two volumes already published. A lot of the pages are given over to sex, but where his previous books consisted of 'snapshots' that suggested a narrative of which this was the single dirtiest moment, here it is filled out, and has a very romantic pull as well as a blatantly erotic one. The images are in soft tones and have quite a dreamy feel as it takes you though the events of a single evening in snow-bound New York. The lack of dialogues makes it quite original, as the story is surprisingly elaborate, but it gives a purity to the medium. Sometimes you have to look for a while to pick up all the narrative clues, making it a bit like doing a jigsaw ( but not too hard ...). Basically it is about a young man and one about forty, who are both treated less than sensitively by their lovers - one of these is married in any case - who meet by chance and discover what seems to be the real thing. Their sexual encounter is very appealing if you like the style, and Broderick's way of getting facial expressions is a great enhancement. He's a kind of modern Michelangelo of gay comics.