Steve MacIsaac is a Canadian

comic a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...

s artist and creator living in

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. He is known for his comics series ''Shirtlifter'' (2006-2019) and the graphic novel, ''Unpacking'' (2018). His comics focus on the lives and relationships of contemporary gay men, from

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to casual encounters. His work has been collected in “Best American Comics”,Neil Gaiman, ed., The Best American Comics 2010 (Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010), 323 and other anthologies.Justin Hall, ed., No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics (Seattle: Fantagraphic Books, 2012), 171Robert Kirby, ed., QU33R (Seattle: Northwest Press, 2014), 127

Career

Early in his comics career, MacIssac published gay male erotica. In 2006, he collaborated with writer

Dale Lazarov Dale Lazarov (born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico) is an openly gay American comics writer and poet. He is known for writing wordless homoerotic short stories and graphic novels. His work has been included in "best of" anthologies featuring erotic comic ...

on ''

Sticky Sticky may refer to: People *Sticky (musician), alias of UK garage producer Richard Forbes * Sticky Fingaz or Sticky (born 1973), nickname of the US rapper and actor Kirk Jones Adhesion *Adhesion Adhesion is the tendency of dissimilar ...

'', a wordless graphic novel focusing on the sex lives of gay men. However, since 2006, he has focused on his series about gay men's relationships and experiences in the early twenty-first century, ''Shirtlifter'' (vols. 1 - 6). ''Shirtlifter'' is an anthology series in which MacIsaac has focused on creating short stories and serializing long-form comics work, such as his graphic novel, ''Unpacking''. MacIsaac's comics explore the varied facets of gay men's lives and experiences in modern life, including sex and sexuality. MacIsaac has said that he is less focused on arousing desire, but more "interested in how sex defines people, how it can be a sublime way of revealing character and motivation. People let their guard down when you sleep with them; you often get to know them in a way that doesn’t happen when you’re simply friends. I think that’s one reason why, for gay men, sex is so often a path to or conduit for building friendships.” MacIsaac's work has been honored by comics and literary professionals. His short story, "Ex-Communication" (with Todd Brower) was selected for inclusion in ''Best American Comics 2010'' and his graphic novel, ''Unpacking'', was a nominee for the 2019

Lambda Literary The Lambda Literary Foundation (also known as Lambda Literary) is an American LGBT literature, LGBTQ literary organization whose mission is to nurture and advocate for LGBTQ writers, elevating the impact of their words to create community, prese ...

Graphic Novel Award. MacIsaac won the inaugural Queer Press Grant for LGBTQ comics creators from

Prism Comics Prism Comics is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that promotes awareness of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) creators, stories, characters, and readers in the comics industry. It does this through informational booths and pro ...

and a 2007

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grant. His work has been collected in anthologies such as ''No Straight Lines'''','' ''QU33R'', ''Alphabet'' (with Todd Brower), ''Stripped,'' ''Boy Trouble,'' ''Blocked'', and “Best Erotic Comics 2009.

References

Canadian comics artists Canadian erotic artists LGBT comics creators Living people Canadian LGBT artists Canadian graphic novelists Canadian gay writers 1969 births {{Canadian-comics-creator-stub