A look back on BL webcomics of yore.

One facet of BL I believe tends to get overlooked are webcomics and the role they played in introducing people to the genre, especially in the US. Although some individuals may still get their first taste of boy/boy lovin' from webcomics, my focus is on a time period before Gundam Wing, high-speed internet, and the formation of scanlation groups such as Obsession and Nakama made it readily available to all. I'm writing about the mid-to-late 90's. Although during this time it was possible to find yaoi, BL was almost non-existent anyplace outside of Japan. Yes, there were always little groups of people who swapped scans, and we had aestheticism that did reviews and provided translations and bunches of other services, but BL wasn't as accepted as it is today, so to create a BL webcomic took a lot of courage.

My first BL webcmic was a high school romance called, "Tei and Riki".

There are four chapters in the comic and to this day it remains incomplete. The story takes place in a Japanese all boy school and follows Riki and how his attraction to Tei turns both their lives upside down. The first three chapters are comedic as Riki forms a hairbrain scheme to get closer to Tei and in retaliation Tei creates one of his own to get Riki away from him.

Of course, as is required by romance law, nothing goes as planned for either of them. The two end up going their separate ways but because they operate within the same group of friends it isn't long before they have to make contact again. This happens at a ski resort where we learn Tei has issues and Riki isn't able to get over his crush. This fourth chapter entitled "Journey", diverges from the comedy path and takes on a serious tone. I remember being turned off by this chapter when I was younger and to this day it doesn't seem to blend well with the previous chapters. Tei's "issue" seems to come out of nowhere and the way Riki reacts to Tei's problem, I felt, was over dramatic.

Reading it now, I feel as if the creator didn't really have a clear direction of where her comic was going. Also, I believe she was being led by two different audiences. I remember around the time she started drawing the fourth chapter, the comic began being archived on a site for homosexual readers. And here lies the problem. BL, is for a straight female audience. But I believe when Eve, through her work, began to meet more people who were homosexual she wanted to stop making light of something that is a very serious issue for some people. I'm not saying it's impossible to make a story with both audiences in mind, but I don't think Eve knew how to do this.

Despite the unevenness of the writing, the artwork improves greatly by this point. The characters are better proportioned, her screentoning improves, and her backgrounds become more greatly detailed.

Isn't this page just beautiful? Really, compare it with the one I posted above it and I'm just floored by how much she improved. Anyway, if you want to read Tei and Riki yourself you can still find the website here. It's a fun read and you might enjoy watching the progression of the art as I did. I'm really curious what happened to Eve, though? I wonder if she kept drawing? Maybe I could find her on DA? If you have any info, pass it my way. I would love to see how much she's improved by now.