Secret Journey

Zappa Go: a mangaka with a fetish for dominant women! Po-ju: a mangaka with a fetish for beautiful young boys! With their combined powers, they produced: Secret Journey, a porn version of the Journey to the West with a beautiful young boy Sanzo and his traveling companions: sexy domme Goku, sexy domme Hakkai, and sexy domme Gojyo!

Let’s just acknowledge the obvious horseman warnings for dubious consent and some very prepubescent-looking characters, because it’s Zappa Go and Po-ju and that is how they do. Here are what I consider the high points:

1. The character designs. This volume has a great section at the end containing a bunch of character development sketches that show how the looks of the main characters evolved, and I eat that stuff up. I’m particularly into their brand of techno-fantasy look, with lots of machined metal decorative elements. Plus it’s nice to find creators as into fingerless opera gloves and thigh-high tights as I am…
2. The fact that this book is clearly a collaboration built around two creators indulging in their respective fetishes. It’s particularly hilariously obvious that at least one of them is super into glasses and will jump through any hoops required to wedge them in at least once, fantastic ancient world setting be damned.
3. There’s a lot of interesting fucking and it all looks great. This is a good quality in pornography.

(The next time I hear the specious argument that Western superhero comics indulge in equal-opportunity objectification because the male characters also have idealized physiques, I’m going to post beautiful Po-ju boys until someone cries uncle…)