Would you label a webcomic containing a gay couple as "BL"?

[Kalma]

First of all, hello, I'm new to SJ and I was thinking of posting a comic of mine - whenever I get to start it.

Well, I have a problem.

My comic would be fanart, and will have adventures as the main topic - and pirates. However... the main couple in the comic is the only one which is gay. The rest are hetero. There will be hints around the main couple and such, but the main plot won't turn around their relationship.

Now, would you label this comic as BL? I'm afraid to put a BL warning and get my comic rejected by BL-haters, even though adventures are the most important focus.

Also, would you read a comic containing gay couples, even if it was not a romantic comic? In which case yes and in which no?

Thanks in advance for the answers!

[gameboy+micron]

If the plot doesn't focus on their relationship then I don't think it would be BL

[Kalma]

If the plot doesn't focus on their relationship then I don't think it would be BL

Thanks for your opinion!

Do you think people would stop reading once they find out that the main couple is actually gay?

[Seven Rain]

Do you think people would stop reading once they find out that the main couple is actually gay?

If they do then they weren't true fans in the first place and nothing of value was lost. I agree with gameboy, if it's not the center of the plot and just a fan/popularity cash-in then people shouldn't care if there are homosexual couples/romance in your comic. However if there is explicitly shown sex I'd be sure to mention it through a disclaimer, though I'd say you should give such a disclaimer if a couple of any orientation has visible sex in your comic.

[blankd]

Do not label your comic as BL just because it has homosexual (main) characters, the "BL" label has become some kind of label to indicate "strongly romantic" and to some, mindless chickboy on chickboy action. I wouldn't even bother putting a 'warning' anywhere (even the summary) based on what you've said of the distribution of the elements.

As for stories, I will read anything so long as the art or premise interests me. Homo/Het relationships don't affect my reading unless they portray or propagate negative cliches/stereotypes of those relationships, at which point I grow annoyed.

EDIT: Some will quit just because the characters are gay, but nothing of value is lost if that is their criteria. By that same stroke, some will read just because they are gay, there isn't a whole lot you can do.

[Seven Rain]

Forgot to answer this;

Also, would you read a comic containing gay couples, even if it was not a romantic comic? In which case yes and in which no?

Characters' sexual orientation is irrelevant to me enjoying a comic. Some people are straight, some are gay, it's no biggie. Hell, I even plan on having some gay couple in my own stories.

[cure]

I wouldn't consider it a BL comic.
But frankly speaking, if you label it as BL comic you'll probably get more fans. Just look at the most popular comics. Most of them are BL/yaoi.

[blankd]

But frankly speaking, if you label it as BL comic you'll probably get more fans. Just look at the most popular comics. Most of them are BL/yaoi.

DO NOT DO THIS.

[Kalma]

I wouldn't consider it a BL comic.
But frankly speaking, if you label it as BL comic you'll probably get more fans. Just look at the most popular comics. Most of them are BL/yaoi.

I'm not looking for popularity, just for a couple of readers without prejudices who enjoy adventures,
crazyness and the occassional candy.

[mosama]

I wouldn't label it as BL unless you're willing to appeal to what the typical BL fans want to see- which from what i heard is nude sex scenes within the first 10 pages of the comic. If you mislead them- and say its BL and they dont see 2 scrawny boys goin at it ASAP they'll be disappointed.

Although if i were you i would label it BL just to fuck with their heads- and make them understand that theres MORE to homosexuality then just the kawaii desu sex.

[blankd]

I wouldn't label it as BL unless you're willing to appeal to what the typical BL fans want to see- which from what i heard is nude sex scenes within the first 10 pages of the comic. If you mislead them- and say its BL and they dont see 2 scrawny boys goin at it ASAP they'll be disappointed.

Although if i were you i would label it BL just to fuck with their heads- and make them understand that theres MORE to homosexuality then just the kawaii desu sex.

That kind of tactic doesn't work on the ones you want it to work.

[Kalma]

Homo/Het relationships don't affect my reading unless they portray or propagate negative cliches/stereotypes of those relationships, at which point I grow annoyed.

Well, one of the characters is totally NOT a beautiful-doujo-girly teen. More like an ugly, selfish, old fart. How non-cliche is that for you? Haha~~

I wouldn't label it as BL unless you're willing to appeal to what the typical BL fans want to see- which from what i heard is nude sex scenes within the first 10 pages of the comic. If you mislead them- and say its BL and they dont see 2 scrawny boys goin at it ASAP they'll be disappointed.

Although if i were you i would label it BL just to fuck with their heads- and make them understand that theres MORE to homosexuality then just the kawaii desu sex.

NO THANKS, I don't want a horde of furious BL-lovers to gang up against me ;A; And I've got nothing against them, I also enjoy a good yaoi with a good back plot ^^ Development and such... How difficult is it to find one of those!

[K-cho]

I think that a lot of the time labeling a comic as "BL" right on the banner or whatever serves less as a warning for those who don't like that sort of thing, and more as an advertisement to attract those who do. (And whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is up to you.) So if I were you, I'd keep that in mind and think about what kind of story your comic is, and what kind of audience you want to attract.

I think you'd be perfectly okay not making a big deal out of it if you don't want to, and if people stop reading when they realize it involves a gay couple, their loss.

Though I could be a little bit biased, because I'm in a similar situation (comic that will eventually contain some BL content, but has a bunch of other stuff going on as well), and I briefly mention it in the comic's profile, but that's it.

It's really up to you, though!

[Loverofpiggies]

Hmm, I think its like this. Most comics that label themselves as BL are desperate to get fans, and seem to only exist for perverts, no thought put into characters/stories.

The best thing to do for your story, is NOT label it a BL. See, I don't care of a comic has gay characters (Ive had quite a few in my comics), and the idea of a comic centering around a gay couple on SJ WITHOUT being desperate for pervy fans sounds awesome and refreshing. I'd LOVE to see a comic with a gay couple that didn't center around the romance the entire time, and the sound of an adventure comic with these aspects is even more interesting.

This is comic from someone who's pretty anti-BL.

P.S. I had a comic where one of the characters was revealed to be a gay pimp, and to the best of my knowledge, no fans were lost because of it.

[mitchellbravo]

I wouldn't, only because in my mind BL means something different than just the inclusion of a gay pairing(s). I would have higher expectations as a reader regarding characterization and writing from a comic not marked as BL, only because of the cliches and tropes I've learned to expect from a BL comic. Even the abbreviation BL, standing for Boys Love, has a specific implication. Not that they are underage (though sometimes they are) but it's a bit different from saying "two young men meet each other and begin to date" or "gay college guys have a friends-with-benefits relationship*." BL to me calls to mind the following, although I know they do not apply in every case:
1. high school setting
2. being out and homosexual in high school doesn't appear to cause either of the characters social strife as it often does in the real world
3. in fact, most others don't even pay attention to the main characters, despite how nontraditional or feminine they look**
4. one of the "boys" is small and weak/shy, while the other is taller and often deviant
5. the only story at all is their relationship- they think of each other, they hook up, whatever, but we know very little of the characters outside of how they relate to one another

From a comic that just included a gay couple, whether the couple was main characters or side characters, I would have different expectations:
1. setting can be anywhere (why are there no gay nursing home stories )
2. a. perhaps a scene where one of the characters is coming out to someone, showing the anxiety they may feel when wondering if they will be accepted
b. showing how not everyone is supportive of the pairing, to say the least- even if this isn't a huge part of the story, perhaps a waiter or fellow movie patron or something says something that makes the two feel uncomfortable
3. the characters dress and behave like actual people ***
4. maybe BOTH characters look alike, and aren't visually coded so we know who tops and who bottoms -_- ****
5. characters have jobs, families, disabilities, projects, OTHER FRIENDS (that aren't cardboard cutouts) that come into play from time to time.


Clarifications because I know this can be a touchy subject to some.

Spoiler! :

*it was really hard for me to word this summary so that it DIDN'T sound like a porn set-up

**I realize that some gay guys dress in a more feminine manner, and some gay women dress in a more butch manner (though who makes comics about THOSE, amirite? amirite?), but it's WAY overdone in most of the BL comics I see. Especially if the setting is high school, your fella probably isn't going to wear a dress to school and have everyone else- other students, teachers, various administration- be totes cool with it. I think he would probably actually be wary of it just on his own, and would avoid doing things that he would feel could get him picked on. I am aware that in this great vast world there must be some very progressive and forward minded pockets of people where high school students truly don't care what others look like or who they're attracted to. But if you're writing a representation of your average American high school, sadly, we're not at that point yet.
In addition, the cross-dressing thing is... I odn't know, I feel weird about it. Sometimes I get the feeling that the writer/artist doesn't understand that gay couples usually are pretty cool with there being two guys or two women since, you know, they're gay. Maybe the writer/artist doesn't udnerstand how such relationships work, and in order to make it "okay" has to make one of the pair look WAY girly and the other WAY macho in order to reconcile this confusion. Cross-dressers, transexuals, transgendered people, I love seeing respectful and tasteful representation of these people in the media. But that's not really what's happening in these comics from what I can tell- if that IS the author's intent, it's very subtle and vague.

***After my huge paragraph just then I don't htink I need to explain this too much. To summarize, in a realistic comic featuring a gay couple, I don't expect one of the characters to have cripplingly low self worth and shyness (to the point where they seem agoraphobic) 100% of the time, no matter who they're talking to or where they are. I also don't expect the other one to be a horny horny hound dog 24/7, who NATURALLY is TOTALLY into BDSM or at least some kind of dom/sub thing. Or for them both to be blushing blushing wallflowers of precious virginity and timid tinges of femininity who would fall apart if anyone so much as introduced themselves.

****A well written comic doesn't need to rely on visual cliches in order to convey the character personalities to the reader. Clothes are a great way to express oneself, but actions say a lot about a person too.

Wow. I didn't think I had that much to say about the BL genre Uh, to summarize, gay couple =/= BL or GL, homophobes can go look somewhere else if they need something more heteronormative.