That Blue Sky Feeling

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School is difficult for most people for one reason or another, but when you’re the only gay kid in class, it can get awkward. The manga That Blue Sky Feeling is about just that — at least at first. When Noshiro moves to a new city, he wonders why the other kids tend to leave Sanada alone. Being the overly friendly sort, Noshiro can’t let that stand and makes it his mission to make friends. And the rumours that Sanada might be gay don’t dissuade him — even if that stirs up some unknown feelings in Noshiro.

That Blue Sky Feeling is a really sweet manga. The story starts when Noshiro sees that Sanada is alone and he initially tries to befriend Sanada out of kindness. But when Sanada confirms that the rumours are true — and he is, in fact, gay — Noshiro’s not sure what to think. Not in a homophobic way; if anything, Noshiro goes too far in trying to appear okay with Sanada’s homosexuality. But instead, Noshiro starts wondering if he might also be gay. (And that he might just have a crush on Sanada. Strike that. He definitely has a crush on Sanada.)

The tone and feel of the story is pleasant and rather slice of life than drama. Though the other students are leery of Sanada, once Noshiro admonishes them, Sanada’s welcomed back into the group — even if Sanada’s ostraciation is hinted to be part of Sanada’s own desires to be alone. Noshiro is sometimes clumsy with his emotions, but he’s always shown as at least trying to do the right thing; and when he does screw up, it’s nothing major.

Sanada soon introduces Noshiro to Hide, Sanada’s ex-boyfriend and an, at least compared to the high-school kids, “older” guy — Hide is 26. He ends up becoming somewhat of a mentor-figure to the two boys, though, and Noshiro goes to him to find out more about not just Sanada, but about being gay and whether or not he’s gay himself.

That Blue Sky Feeling started out as a webcomic that was redrawn for the print edition. It’s also the debut for the creators, writer Okura and illustrator Coma Hashii. Hopefully we’ll keep seeing more from these talented creators and their authentic take on the gay coming-of-age story.

Batman is not allowed to have a penis because people are whack

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Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo’s Batman: Damned #1, the first in DC Comics’ Black Label series for “mature readers”, reveals a new look at the Caped Crusader. You can have a look below:

Inevitably body shame is still a hot trend in the 21st century, even in a publication made specifically for adults. So objection to the revelation actually prompted DC to edit the superjunk out in digital editions. And Bleeding Cool reports that some retailers in more conservative areas of the U.S. are calling to make the comic returnable. Because we all know that smashing people to a gulp with baseball bats is all good but showing the human body goes too far, right?

Video Playback Problems

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Hey, just wanted to let you know real quick that I‘m aware that some videos here and on juiceboys don‘t play in Safari.

While I can’t say I‘m shocked (Safari always was the worst browser imaginable :P) I‘m currently looking into other plugins to embed videos so they will work for everyone.

In the meantime, if you’re on a Mac you can use Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome to watch the videos. On mobile devices using iOS there’s no workaround I’m aware of since Apple doesn’t allow third-party browser engines on their devices so even Firefox and Chrome have to use the Safari engine on the iPad and iPhone.