Cain Vol. 1

Claudia Lombardi and Barbara Apostolico, known here under the collective title Le Perrugine, mine the more PG-13 realms of the yaoi field, yielding this rote fantasy entry offering little in the way of action, either in terms of the swords/magic/monsters variety or that of the man-on-man frolicking one would expect from the genre. The title character, Cain Lovelock—a porn star name if ever there was one—is a warrior of great renown whose prowess verges on the inhuman and would allow him entry into the service any kingdom he might choose, yet he stays in the employ of a minor lord. That may be because his preference for young lads might get him into hot water elsewhere, and his interactions with his nearly grown old flame, Daniel, and the new boy in town, “Vanquisher,” lend much weight to that theory. The story reads like the romantic daydreams of an adolescent, while the art is only slightly better than the amateur scribbling found in back issues of Dragon Magazine , so curious readers would do well to find their yaoi thrills in a series that actually delivers on the genre's potential. (Sept.)