Review of a very graphic novel: Black Wade by Franze & Andaerle

Franze & Andaerle
Black Wade: The Wild Side of Love
Bruno Gmunder Verlag, August 2009

Genre & Keywords: M/M, graphic novel, erotica, pirates, rape

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Heat level: 3 out of 3 flames

Backblurb:

The rough and merciless pirate Black Wade and his band are the scare of the seven seas. And just like his greed for gold is insatiable, his sexual craving knows no boundaries as well: When they board a British ship, Wade takes Lieutenant Jack Wilkins as a prisoner to satisfy his lust. At first Wilkins struggles with all his might, but soon he has to acknowledge that he actually has pleasure in the eager sexual encounters with the handsome pirate. In the meantime his fiancée Annabeth is waiting wistfully for the return of Jack, not knowing if he’s still alive. And on the pirate ship emotions are running high as well: Buccaneer Marak keeps a jealous watch over the prisoner Jack. He would love to polish Wade’s gun barrel himself. Due to the rising nervousness Wade realizes that he cannot allow himself the tender feelings he begins to have for Jack. To prove how merciless he is, he maroons Jack on a raft and relinquishes him to the forces of the wide ocean. But that’s nowhere near the end of the story…

Black Wade website
Buy Black Wade here

Why I read this book:
When one wicked woman blogged about it, another wicked woman bought the book and offered to send it to me after she read it. Thank you KC and Leontine! *click at their names for their posts on Black Wade*

Ohmyohmyohmy! Reading Black Wade is a completely unique and hot experience!

But I’m a bit at a loss here how to review this sexy, exciting and beautiful graphic novel. Because, when I look at it pure plot-wise, like I’m used to do mainly with regular romance novels, it’s not much of a story. It’s rather schematic and predictable. It has a nonconsensual beginning which would’ve put me off in any other story, but in this case the drawings drew me in again. The twists and turns that bring the love couple together, split them up and bring them together again seem artificial. And the emotional level of the protags’ feelings seem rather superficial. I missed the depth that I usually get from the descriptions in a regular novel.

Well, looking at Black Wade pure plot-wise and on a textual level doesn’t do the book any justice, that’s for sure!

I learned very quickly that the drawings are much more important than I initially gave them credit for (duhuh!). Looking more intense at the pictures learned that I could ‘read’ much more from them than from the little text balloons. They are not mere illustrations that accompany the story, no, they are telling a big part of the story themselves. Where I was at first more focused on the explicit sexual pictures, that are gorgeous *ahum*, at second glance the other pictures were extremely artistic too!
One of my favorite scenes is this tender, though rough, moment:

*click the picture to enlarge*

Wade’s sexy crudeness and Jack’s shy submissiveness are captured beautifully in word and image here.

I wish I could ‘quote’ the complete book, to show you its great and varying artwork, but alas you better get yourself a copy to enjoy its full potential. It’s worth the money, although it seems a lot for 80 pages.
I’m browsing through the book one more time before I return it to Leontine, but I think I’ll be missing it within a few days and I’ll have to get my own copy. As soon as I’ve found a good hiding place for it...