Sunstone Volume 1

Can an erotic BDSM graphic novel also be a romantic comedy? I guess it can, because Sunstone by Stjepa Sejic has all the obvious elements of BDSM, but it also has warmth, humor, honesty and a real love story. Though I have read erotic romances, I haven't had any BDSM in my TBR pile, but when I read Sunstone, I wasn't so much into the BDSM as I was into the humanity of the characters. Stjepa Sejic was able to actually have me feel the butterflies Lisa and Ally were starting to feel for one another. A love story that goes beyond whether they are two women and digs deeper and makes us think about why we feel the way we do about someone. How we start to fall in love. What it means to care and trust someone. The Gist of the Story... Ally and Lisa are two "over 21" women, who met at an online chat "group". After a few months of "chatting, webcams and yes, virtual sex", Lisa asks Ally if she'd like to actually meet. (You find all this out, along with some history of the women growing up with a few pages of backstory). It is at this point the story really starts, and we get to experience their pre-first date jitters. When Lisa finally knocks on Ally's front door, the fun begins. And not just the "sex", which is alluded to more than actually shown. You'll see these two beautiful women in sexy outfits (what man could resist drawing that?), and in some suggestive poses, but then the bedroom door closes and they are given some privacy. The "fun" of the story really is Ally and Lisa getting to know each other and the things they are thinking and "not saying". Outside the bedroom they are just two girlfriends navigating life (and learning about BDSM as first timers with each other). There is one other major character at this point in time and that's Ally's friend (ex-boyfriend kinda), Alan, who we meet when he pops in after date #2. Reading Sunstone Volume 1, I genuinely liked Lisa and Ally. They're dialogue is great, and the story has substance. For me the BDSM took a backseat to Ally & Lisa's budding friendship and romance. Good story,well developed characters, absolutely beautiful artwork and 5 stars from me. I look forward to reading the rest of the series. P.S. In the first volume, after the story, author Stjepa Sejic shares how Sunstone came about. That in itself is a great story!

This is an amazing piece of work. Like many others, I ran across this work and this artist by accident. It was in my recommendations one day, because we both post comic art pages to DeviantArt. My comic has little in common with his, but apparently, DeviantArt's recommendations algorithm is a little vague, and just sort of connected us because they were both comics. I don't mind a bit. This work makes me envious of Sejic's skill as an artist and a storyteller. That said, the storyline is amazing. Don't pre-judge it, this is a story of love and trust. If you aren't against erotica in general, give it a chance and read it. The theme of BDSM is combined with same-sex love very fetchingly and with great respect. It isn't trashy, it isn't written to "shock", it is written lovingly and with care to treat both aspects of sexuality with fairness and dignity. It is playful and stoic at the same time in a delightful way that can bring a tear to the eye. If BDSM isn't your thing, that's ok, it doesn't cast aspersions or try to make the reader uncomfortable. Quite the contrary, the full intent of this book is to treat something that many people find challenging with dignity and without demanding that you "condone" anything. You CAN just read this for the story, but the characters are so endearing, I'll bet you find yourself drawn to them (no pun intended) or even identifying with them, in very short order. I would recommend this to any mature person who enjoys good art, a good story, and enjoy expanding their boundaries a little from time to time.

I started reading Sunstone on Stjepan Sejic's side DeviantArt account (shiniez) and fell in absolute LOVE with the comic... so I decided to purchase the tidied-up, published version for myself. And boy-oh-boy. Wowwwwwza. T'was money well spent-- no, invested! I love Stjepan's drawing and art style and am a HUGE fan of his work. He puts so much detail into his comics -- from the unique speech bubbles, the amazing plot, the wide-range of expressions he's able to convey in his characters, to the stunning full-page masterpieces. (Seriously, I don't even know what to call those very detailed and realistically colored artwork gems sprinkled throughout the volume.) The writing doesn't fall short. It's engaging throughout the whole volume. It's funny and thoughtful. The main characters, Lisa and Ally, are slowly molded and developed into these colorful, unique characters and are treated like actual human beings with hopes, dreams, and realistic desires. Even the "secondary" characters, like Alan (who is my absolute FAVE), get many chances to shine. Sunstone is truly a creative spin on the erotic genre that is usually associated with one of the most horrid cliche BDSM books of all time (*cough* Fifty Shades of Grey *cough cough*). And-- AND! Yes, it's a F/F pairing... (I have no complaints whatsoever, but it might not be some people's cup of tea?) BUT IT'S NOT TREATED LIKE SMUT! The art is just... I can't even describe it. It's beautiful, gorgeous, sexy, alluring, jaw-dropping, elegant, intimate, aesthetic -- *insert more positive synonyms here*. I feel confident to say it was in NO way made with a male audience in mind. Yes, it's erotic and kinky. (Hello, how can BDSM not be?) But this is NOT porn. So if you're looking for huge (unrealistic) boobs and a whole book full of raunchy nude women -- hit that back button, buddy. This isn't for you. Sure, you could say that it's on the brink of falling into the risque category, but the scenes are perfectly balanced, straddling the line between being racy and intimate. The nudity is sensual and thoughtfully drawn. This is a work of art. I think I've fangirled over this comic enough. So, in conclusion: get Sunstone! This is a comic that I'm not afraid to recommend to my more adventurous friends. Which I'm now recommending to you, friend. You won't be disappointed! And if you're anything like me, you'll scream/cry when you hit the end. Happy reading!

It's hard to recommend something that could be described as pornographic in nature (although this is more focused on story and characters with eroticism being an element of that, rather than it being what you should be reading the story for). Sunstone is, so far, very much a good enough read that I feel compelled to give some incentive for people to pick this up. Before I say anything else, though, I need to clarify one thing about the nature of this comic: there is sex in it, explicit sex, but the pacing and writing is always focused on the characters themselves. The sex scenes only last long enough to get the writer's point across about what's happened; it's neither rushed to a conclusion nor drawn out for the duration of the act as it would be in an actual porn comic. There are two explicit scenes in the book, toward the middle, and quite a lot of suggestive stuff sprinkled through the rest of the book, but one of the "scenes" lasts about three pages, and the first, while longer, "fades to black" after it's done doing what it needs to do for the story. The story itself, which is focused on two women--Lisa and Ally--who have secret BDSM preferences and find each other online, is primarily about the human element. This isn't a story that glorifies actual domination (like Fifty Shades of Gray does), this is a story about what the narrator herself calls "sexual nerds," and about the personal trust and growing connection between these two women. BDSM, usually only portrayed in terms of pure pornographic fetish elsewhere, is shown in a very accurate light here. The awkward nerves of two partners taking the leap together for the first time, the worry that one might go too far, and yes, even the sheer ridiculous kink of it, is all touched on in this story. What makes it really go is that the characters are just written so well. You don't actually need to buy the comic to sample this story. Large chunks of it are available for free reading on DeviantArt--posted by the author himself under the screen name Shiniez, so it's easy to sample the story and artwork before throwing any money at all at it. It should be noted that the author lives in another country (the exact one escapes me at the moment), so English is not their first language and the dialogue is thus rather clumsy grammatically in these free pages. This is not the case in the published graphic novel; editing has greatly corrected and smoothed out the grammar issues, with only very rare lines still sounding slightly awkward in their wording. One last thing I should mention is that the graphic novel itself is rather thin and a little less than a third of its page count is dedicated to extra stuff--some additional artwork, and a three-or-four-page comic short about the author's own creative blundering into writing this story at the end of a long creative burnout. Charming stuff, but do not expect Sunstone volumes to be omnibus-length. It was long enough to feel worth the ten bucks I payed, but at a guess I'd put it at the length of five or six monthly comic-book issues. There are no page numbers, so I can't give an exact page-count. That said, definitely worth it. I believe so, anyway.

Stjepan Sejic's solo series about a lesbian romance with a BDSM twist is the essential and true romance you didn't know you wanted to read. Sejic, one of the best illustrators in the comics business recently (look no further than his fantastic work on Aquaman's Rebirth series), does admirably in this first volume that brings together two women who connect over their BDSM fetish and the often complicated relationship the world has to fetishistic sex. Lisa and Ally, neither of whom identify as lesbian or bisexual at the story's outset, meet in an online chatroom and connect over their shared fetish. Lisa is a sub and Ally a dom who want to find a partner to experiment with and decide on one another. However, what starts as a simple sexual relationship starts to grow for both women as they start to fall for one another. Sejic originally started Sunstone (the title refers to the character's safe word) as a web comic and erotic artwork before morphing it into the adult oriented story we see here (the first volume includes numerous stills and words from the author about how his wife encouraged him to create an honest story about the characters from the web comic art). While recommending a pornographic story featuring adult situations and nudity seems odd, Sejic's book has a devoted fan base (as seen from the incredibly high Amazon rating) due to the honest and open look at sexuality and relationships between his vivid characters. The only downside, for me personally, is that Sejic's strengths are first and foremost his artwork (which is truly stunning) with his writing being solid, but at times with stilted dialogue that feels a bit unnatural. Honestly, it is mostly a problem here in the first volume with Lisa and Ally often slipping into exposition to explain their fetish and world to the wider audience who may not have any type of interest or history with BDSM. Still, the book is a fantastic surprise and a lovely romantic work.

This is a sexual BDSM comic about a pair of lesbian lovers. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, lets move on to the REAL value of this comic: it is possibly one of the best pieces of romantic fiction ever to be published, comic or not. What Fifty Shades of Gray poorly and sloppily tries to convey in staggering, misinterpreted gestures, this comic parades in a brilliant, almost harmonic display of art, story, and genuinely relatable and realistic characters. The narration is personal and engaging, the flow of the plot and the various focus on every character that makes EVERY ONE OF THEM feel like genuine, full on protagonists in their own rights, and the actual, FACTUAL descriptions and depictions of BDSM in the bedroom, the community, and inter-personal relationships overrides the smear of misleading, garbled smut of Fifty Shades of Gray at LEAST a hundred times over. Stjepan Sejic is one of the most exceptional artists in the comic industry today, and his talent as an artist is only matched by his talent as a storyteller. Despite coming from material created as little more than drawing exercises and costume designs, the characters, story and world all came together in a rush of imagination that he couldn't hold back, and that numerous fans including myself clamored at him to push further into a fully realized story. And he does not disappoint. If you read Fifty Shades of Gray, or saw the movie, or even just have been immersed in the pop culture aftershocks of it, READ THIS COMIC. It will not only clear up every single misconception and mistake made by it in terms of the reality of BDSM, but it will make it look like a child's rushed English assignment compared to Tolkien or JK Rowling. The art alone is enough to make it exceptional, but the story and characters are some of the best in any form of modern fiction today. READ THIS COMIC. YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT.

Sunstone was everything I wanted and oh so much more! I'm so pleased, I'm actually grinning writing this review. I laid on the floor in front of my bookshelves, read this, got up, came to my computer and started typing this review with a goofy grin on my face. It just won't go away! I'm so impressed! Stjepan Šejić worked on the end art of Rat Queens, Vol. 2: The Far Reaching Tentacles of N'rygoth, and I have to say that I wasn't that impressed with it. I was a little apprehensive to go into this, but when I finally found a F/F BDSM graphic-novel (thank you, Chelsea) I really couldn't pass it up. I ended up not only loving the content of this, but also Stjepan Šejić's art. It was so beautifully done, without ever feeling like porn. The whole thing just felt like a positive celebration of female sexuality. Oh, and the entire color pallet of this comic is actually to die for, too. Obviously, by now you should get the idea what this is about and how this is totally for adults with open minds. If you can't admire the female body and you don't want to read about BDSM themes, then this probably isn't the graphic-novel for you. This story is about two adorable girls that meet online because of a particular itch they both want scratched, desperately. This story is actually Tarantino-ed a little bit, where we see our sub, Lisa, writing a story about the love of her life. We are then transported into the past where Lisa is meeting Ally, her Dom, online. They talk for over two months and become fast friends. One night, Lisa ends up asking Ally if she would finally like to meet so that they can scratch that itch I talked about previously. The rest is about the beginnings of their BDSM relationship. And can I just say how freaking adorable and heartwarming it was to see how nervous both of them were to dive into this world for the first time? Like, it was the cutest thing I've read in forever. Hence my still stupid grin. This comic portrays BDSM so healthily and highlights how important trust and communication are. Open lines of communication and asking questions were both such pivotal plot points in this story, and so important to be represented. Stjepan Šejić is doing the Lord's work with this comic, I swear. They even touch on the importance of aftercare and how it's not just for bodies, but for minds, too. Honestly, this graphic-novel impressed the hell out of me and I cannot wait to order the rest of these. Also, I loved Stjepan Šejić's drawn out note in the back. Like, can I please have creative blocks that end up developing into something as amazing as Sunstone. I loved this personal touch, and it made me want to read everything he has ever touched. He also made me fall in love with his wife, and now I need to read Blood Stain . Also, let's talk about how they are totally the pinnacle of relationship goals. Sunstone is, to date, the best graphic-novel I've ever read. I wish I could give it all the stars.

A lot of great reviews have already been written on this work so I'll keep this short and point out my impressions as a non-BDSM lesbian who has triggers around exploitive porn. First off, is it exploitive? No. Does a male author/illustrator somehow adversely impact the depiction of a f/f relationship? No. Is this in the fantasy genre (i.e. vampires, demons, unicorns, dragons)? No. The cover looks like it may be but this is a contemporary romance in our everyday world. Is BDSM well represented? I think so...At least I thought it did a good job of normalizing the desires from both the domme and sub perspectives, where the kink aspect of their sexuality was innate in both characters from early on in their lives. It didn't seem fetishized or anything. Are the characters lesbian? No. It seems both characters are heterosexual and this is their first time with another woman...so, I guess, ultimately bisexual. If you've read 'Owning Regina' by Lorelei Elstrom it has a similar take where the kink (and good partner match) takes precedence as a sexual orientation in itself over the actual gender/sex of the partner. Does the lack of woman on woman experience or bisexuality make the f/f aspect any less sincere? No. Is there nudity? Yes. Is it erotic? For some maybe. Is this a romance? Yes. It actually ends up being a fluffy and sweet romance between Ally and Lisa. Are the characters good? Yep. Despite this seeming to be only about BDSM, the author spent time showing these characters in their friendship (the non-BDSM aspect) vs them in their BDSM play and also independent of each other in their own lives. Ally, though the domme, is a rather geeky gamer type person while Lisa, the sub, actually shows some dominance outside of the BDSM. Overall, with this read, we get gorgeous artwork and a sweet romance with a nice dose of humor that also happens to have graphic depictions of Lisa and Ally's sexual relationship. Recommend? Yes.

Produto de um artista estupendo mas surpreebdentemente também capaz de falar temas como BDSM sem jamais ser vulgar.

Estoy totalmente de acuerdo con lo que ha dicho el compañero Josep Vilà, el tema BDSM queda más en segundo plano cuando vas conociendo más en profundidad a los personajes, con sus inseguridades, dudas y como progresivamente la relación entre ellas va haciendo que deseen mucho más que solo su compatibilidad por el BDSM. Este artista me ha sorprendido tanto por la calidad de sus ilustraciones como por el desarrollo tan inteligente del argumento, haciendo que quieras siempre seguir leyendo la siguiente página, sin que resulte ni lento ni demasiado rápido. Yo desde luego ya tengo los 4 primeros tomos y pienso completar la historia. Es cierto que es en inglés, pero como estoy estudiando el B1 pienso seguir adelante leyendo sin miedo y siempre puedes tener un diccionario de ingles al lado o el traductor de google. Es una historia que te acaba atrapando y de verdad no os asustéis por lo del BDSM porque simplemente saciaréis vuestra curiosidad respecto a este tema y veréis que es otra forma de jugar en la intimidad para algun@s y para otr@s algo que necesitan en su vida diaria como modo de vida; perfectamente respetable siempre que sea consensuado.

No sabia que esperar de este artbook y fue mucho mas de los esperado, excelente historia y arte, las demas partes no bajan de nivel. Muy enriquecedora.

子どもの頃からBDSMプレイに惹かれるアリー。 子どもの頃から「拘束されること」に興奮するリサ。 ネットのBDSM愛好SNSのチャットで知り合った2人はたちまち意気投合、ついにアリーの家で初めてのBDSMをプレイすることに。 何もかも初めて同士の2人の営みは果たして上手くいくのか…？ アメリカ製アダルトコミック、しかもジャンルはBDSMという点だけ拾えばいかにも肉食系という印象を受けますが 実際は憧れのプレイも同性と付き合うのも初めてという2人が 「上手くできなかったらどうしよう？」「ガッカリさせてしまったらどうしよう？」「相手を傷つけてしまったらどうしよう？」と 互いが互いを思いやる、期待と不安が入り混じる心理描写にページを多く割かれているため 『エロス』よりも『萌え』に特化している印象を受けました。 肝心のプレイシーンも美麗な絵とコマ割りで描かれているためか女性が拘束されている様にもハードなものを感じさせず しかし女体のエロさ・美しさに満ちた高クオリティなもの。 ちゃんとセーフワードも決めて「お互いを傷つけないプレイ」を心がけた営みも心地よい。 少しアブノーマルと言える世界で出会った2人が親友としても恋人としても惹かれあっていく眩しいシリーズです。 エロ漫画というよりも萌え漫画、内容紹介文の『erotic romantic comedy』が確かに一番しっくりくるかも。

Sono una fan delle illustrazioni di Stjepan Sejic da tantissimi anni. Ho praticamente comprato ogni fumetto disegnato da lui indipendentemente dalla storia. Vien da sé che quando ho scoperto che aveva anche una pagina su deviantart abbia iniziato a spulciare ogni sua tavola non pubblicata ed è così che ho conosciuto Sunstone. Sunstone infatti nasce come fumetto online gratuito. Se non ricordo male ho letto che era servito a Stjepan per tornare ad amare il suo lavoro dopo un periodo di "perdita di ispirazione". Dire che è stato un colpo di fulmine è dir poco. Era già da tempo che il bdsm mi incuriosiva (ben prima delle 50 sfumature) e qui finalmente ho trovato una storia che tratta il tema in maniera MOLTO intelligente senza "sporcarlo" come può capitare in altri settori. Sapevo che Sejic fosse un ottimo disegnatore ma non pensavo che fosse anche un fantastico autore. La storia scorre benissimo e i personaggi sono delineati veramente bene, ognuno con le proprie caratteristiche e il proprio passato tutto da scoprire. Mi sono veramente innamorata di tutti i personaggi, dai più importanti a quelli che stanno un po' più sullo sfondo. Sinceramente non me la sento di dire che il bdsm sia l'argomento principale di questo fumetto (per quanto abbia un'importanza veramente grande nelle dinamiche delle vicende raccontate), piuttosto direi che Sunstone tratta il cammino di crescita personale di due ragazze e le loro storie che si intrecciano con quelle di altri personaggi (comunque legati dalla passione del bdsm). Per quanto riguarda l'aspetto tecnico il tutto è rilegato molto bene. Avrei preferito una copertina rigida piuttosto che quella flessibile ma va comunque benissimo. Questa versione è in inglese ed è stata pubblicata prima che Sunstone diventasse un best seller in America. Per chi non conoscesse bene l'inglese ma volesse comunque leggere le vicende di Ally e Lisa, può acquistare la versione della PaniniComics in italiano.