Our Favorite #SpideyPool Fan Art From Around the Web

Just when the homoerotic SpiderMan/Deadpool fan art was starting to die down, Ryan Reynolds and Andrew Garfield had to stir the pot by making out at the Golden Globe Awards. Missed it? Click here. 

Since then, there has been a resurgence of passion for #SpideyPool art. This includes our blog staff. So, here are some of our favorite images from around the interwebs. We selected these based on artistic merit, unique perspective, and....oh who are we kidding. We picked the ones that gave us boners. Enjoy!

Stripling Warrior - The World's First Gay Mormon Superhero Vol. 1: The Law of Adoption Kickstarter

After three successful Kickstarters and three amazing issues of the world's first comic about gay Mormon superheroes, Brian Andersen and artist James Neish are back with a new Kickstarter campaign for the Stripling Warrior Vol. 1: The Law of Adoption Anthology. In case you missed our earlier article about Stripling Warrior, you can check it out here.

Vol 1 includes all three of the first comics, plus two brand new issues. First up is a 50 page Stripling Warrior Annual featuring heroes Sam & Fe and their respective spouses joining forces to battle the famed Book of Mormon hero Ammon and his pet Quetzalcoatl! The Annual Issue is filled with action, romance, and more! It wraps up the first three issues and introduces new, exciting themes for future potential stories. There is also a special super sexy, 8 page mini issue featuring Sam and Jase's early days in their relationship as they explore sex as out gay men.


Some may scratch their heads and ask why there is a need for gay Mormon heroes. Andersen eloquently explains:

"I grew up in an era when being gay was the worst possible thing a young boy could be. I was told I was broken. That I was sick. That homosexuality was a defect, a curse. That my gayness was the worst possible sin next to murder. I'd been called insulting, derogatory names my entire life, both in person, via the media, by my political leaders. And most hurtfully still by my faith. 

As a youth it was rare for me to see any homosexuals depicted in the media. The few times any gay person made it on screen, or in a comic book, they were only allured to being queer. That or they were the villain, the sassy best friend, the sexless joke, anything other than equal to their straight counterparts. 

Today, my own church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints, has labeled my family and I apostates. The Mormon Leaders have decreed my innocent daughter is no longer welcome simply because she has two dads. 

Rhetoric like this is damning. It is one reason finally embracing my true self, accepting my inherent, ingrained queerness, was a struggle I nearly didn't survive. Yet once I was able to grapple with and shake off my shame, as I finally began to date and explore my homosexuality at twenty-sex years old, I was shocked to learn that shame was also deeply rooted within my queer community. 

There still is so much shame in the gay community: bottom shame, slut shame, body shame, femme shame. It's a hold over from our culture that we, as a group, need to free ourselves from. STRIPLING WARRIOR stands as my response to this cultural, communal and religious shame meant to keep us subjugated and fearful."

Be sure to watch the the tongue in cheek Kickstarter video for Stripling Warrior Vol. 1. And if you have a few extra dollars, consider donating! They have gone above and beyond with the perks.

The Young Protectors Giveaway Winner Announcement!

Thanks so much to everyone who entered our Young Protectors Giveaway! We picked a winner randomly from all of the entries. Congratulations to:

Reed W. from Beaverton Oregon!

Be sure to keep checking the blog on a regular basis! We will be starting a new contest in the coming weeks!

Enter To Win: The Young Protectors Vol. 1 Signed by Alex Woolfson + Awesome Fan Bundle!

Enter to win a free copy of Young Protectors Vol. 1 "Engaging the Enemy" signed by Alex Woolfson and both artists, penciler Adam DeKraker and colorist Veronica Gandini! On top of which, you will get more goodies! See below for a breakdown!

Entries accepted until Midnight on January 30th. Winner will be notified via email - so ixnay on the fake email addresses. If you do not respond to our winner confirmation email within 72 hours, we are going to pick a new name. Also, we will not use any of your personal information for anything other than the purposes of this contest. So, no worries. You won't suddenly start getting a bunch of unwanted spam in your inbox.

The prize will be shipped sometime in February or early March directly from Alex Woolfson's staff.

Here's what the winner gets:

1) The Young Protectors Vol. 1 signed by Alex Woolfson and both artists, penciler Adam DeKraker and colorist Veronica Gandini!

This is a physical copy of the first trade paperback of THE YOUNG PROTECTORS: ENGAGING THE ENEMY, a multi-chapter superhero comic with explosive action, sly comedy, tender romance and powerful drama.

It contains the Prologue, Chapter One, the Interlude, and the Spooky/Commander Bonus Story from the webcomic, along with exclusive bonus features, including an illustrated, newspaper article explaining the origin of superheroes in the TYP world!

2) An authentic and official Spooky Cap, just like fan-favorite superhero Spooky Jones wears in the comic!

This is a baseball-style cap with an adjustable strap, dark charcoal in color. It features an embroidered Spooky Jones Ghost Logo on the front and an embroidered The Young Protectors logo on the back velcro strap.

Bring your Spooky cosplay to the next level or just impress your friends with this very unique and fun premium-quality cap! It's a cap like no other!

(Oh, and the white parts glow under ultraviolet (black) light. It's pretty cool.


3) Four Packs of trading cards: POWERS, ROMANCE, ORIGIN, and FIRST TIME. + A special 18+ Fifth Set of Erotic trading cards!

The POWERS CARD PACK contains 9 cards featuring the heroes and villains of The Young Protectors Volume One, with full-color art showing each character using their abilities in powerful and dramatic scene.
Each card also reveals information about that character's abilities along with other cool superhero/supervillain stats.
The ROMANCE CARD PACK contains 9 cards featuring the heroes and villains of The Young Protectors Volume One, with full-color art showing each character in a sexy, "calendar pin-up" style pose.
Each card also reveals details about that character's sexual orientation along with their romantic interests, turn-ons, and ideal type.
The ORIGIN CARD PACK contains 9 cards featuring the heroes and villains of The Young Protectors Volume One, with full-color art showing them using their powers as a hero/villain for the first time.
Each card also reveals how that character discovered their powers and chose to be a superhero (or villain!)
The FIRST-TIME CARD PACK contains 9 cards featuring the heroes and villains of The Young Protectors Volume One, with full-color art showing their very first "real" kiss.
Each card also reveals intimate details about that character's first-time experiences with romance and sex.
The 18+ CARD PACK contains 9 cards featuring fully nude art of the seven adult heroes and villains of The Young Protectors: Engaging the Enemy Vol. One. The backside of these cards reveal intimate sexual stats and what each  character is actually like between the sheets. This pack also includes two NSFW fantasy pairing cards voted on by the readers.


4) Two 4" x 5" sticker sheets featuring the heroes and villains of The Young Protectors Vol.1 
Drawn and colored by artist Brian Stone, each character has been re-conceived in a totally huggable-style, and rendered in poses that show off their cool powers. And you can peel every hero/villain off the sheets individually and stick them to whatever you want!

Bring your favorite characters with you everywhere and show off your The Young Protectors pride with these premium-quality sticker sheets!

Good Luck and Thanks for Entering!

Ultimate Gay Fighter: A Short Q&A With Creator Michael Patrick

In January, 2014, Handsome Woman Productions is making history by unleashing upon the world the very first gay fighting game - Ultimate Gay Fighter. The game will be available as an app for both Android and Apple products and features 10 gay combatants, each with unique super-moves, as well as 3 super powered bosses representing the League of Oppressive Self Righteous Zealots or LOSRZ for short.

Here's the premise:

In 2007 the first annual Gay Fight competition was held to find America’s most ruthless LGBT fighter. The contestants were narrowed down to the ten strongest, and the tournament took place in the fighters hometowns and local hangouts. The victor was muscle-queen porn star Josh Maxxx, however, three days after his title was won, he vanished. Now, ten new fighters are competing to win the title of Gay Fight champion. Little do the fighters know, there is something very ominous about the competition itself. The League of Oppresive Self-Righteous Zealouts have created the tournament for two reasons: make the LGBT community destroy itself and brainwash the winner to carry out the League’s nefarious plans.

Creator Michael Patrick confesses that UGF started as a joke between his friends at brunch. They had the hilarious idea to reenact all the fighting games they loved as kids, but with gay characters with varying lifestyles and interests. After doing some research and realizing no such game exists, Patrick was determined to create the very first game in this genre.

He explains, "I started thinking about how gays are represented in the media. We are the sickly ones, your sassy best friends, the funny ones, the ones who sing, and the ones who decorate your house, style your clothes, and do your hair. We are never the kick-ass fighters, the bad-asses who rescue you and save the day. And if we are, we are washed with heterosexual personas and mannerisms."

Sure, Ultimate Gay Fighter is campy and a bit over the top with its hilarious representations of the various gay stereotypes. But, it's with a point. Ultimate Gay Fighter wants you to be comfortable being who you are. Perhaps Michael Patrick sums this up best, "This game is my love letter to my gay family. You can be queeny, you can be butch, or you can be in-between. You can be any or all the bandana colors and the colors in the rainbow flag. But no matter what color, we are fighters. We are warriors. Now go out there and kick some ass."

Keeping this in mind, I set out to talk to Michael Patrick, fighting my way through secretaries and lackeys and publicists and yes men until I got to the big boss. Recognizing that I was indeed a fearsome foe, he agreed to answer a few quick questions.


 Q: What was your favorite fighting game growing up?
MP: Super Street Fighter 2 was by far my favorite. I thought the graphics were amazing when it came out and I loved the 4 new characters that were introduced.

Q: If you could have one super power what would it be?
MP: To make pizza magically appear before me when I am hungry. Can I also have pizza give me the same nutritional value and calorie amount as kale? If no, then I'll just to pizza magically appearing before me.

Q: What UGF characters didn't quite make it to the game?
MP: This character Heith Kitchen. He was supposed to be this kind of repressed, closeted business man who was a recovering alcoholic (I don't know why we added that aspect, but for some reason we thought it fleshed him out as a character), but we ended up replacing him with Gogo Gary. We thought he was more fun.

Q: Which fighter best represents you (and did you purposely draw it that way)?
MP: Hahaha, I have been every single character in that game, at one point or another, but more importantly they kind of were inspired by friends or people I would see on reality shows. The game was a labor of love to my friends who are much more clever and funny than I am.

Q: What other evil creations are you working on now?
MP: Promoting this for now! And watching the hate mail pour on in. But we have more many more fun ideas. Stay tuned!

Early rendition of  UGF Characters

-Visit UGF's Facebook Page!
-Visit UGF's Tumblr!