Issue #1 - Cocksucking Theban in a Cape?!
Hello, everyone!
I’m Cam, and this is my webcomic newsletter, Thumos!
For those of you who don’t know me, I’m a cartoonist who enjoys making comics and illustrations. I also dabble in making video games and trading card games. Some of my obsessions, and favorite things to draw, are superheroes, anime and manga, mythology, track and field, and Premier League soccer. Use the links below to check out some of my work on social media!
Instagram - therealcamleecomics
Tumblr - camleecomics
So what’s this newsletter about?
Good question!
The primary purpose of this newsletter is to provide a place where I can share my webcomic, Leon x Lykos.
Leon x Lykos (pronounced “Leon and Lykos”) is an LGBTQ fantasy/romance webcomic inspired by the mythology and history of ancient Greece. It follows the story of two young men, Leonikles and Lykosidas, who join the Sacred Band of Thebes, a super-powered battle corps composed of 150 male couples. Essentially, it’s about two guys who join a gay, ancient Greek, Justice League of sorts. At the time I’m writing this, I’ve been working on the comic for about a year. There are 28 chapters of the comic so far and they’re all available to read at the links below.
Tapas - https://tapas.io/series/leonxlykos/info
Instagram - leonxlykos
Tumblr - leonxlykos
New chapters of Leon x Lykos are currently in the works, but before we get to those, I will be republishing the first 28 chapters of the webcomic here in the newsletter. Tapas, Instagram, and Tumblr’s community guidelines prevent me from sharing the more spicy chapters of the webcomic without censorship, so one exciting aspect of Leon x Lykos being published here is that I can share the raw, uncensored version of the comic!
In addition to sharing chapters of the webcomic itself, I’ll also use Thumos! to share behind the scenes content for Leon x Lykos, like sketches, character designs, unused pages, and other things of that nature. Also, though Thumos! will mainly be focused on Leon x Lykos, it will occasionally feature other projects I’m working on as well.
The long term plan is that Thumos! will be a weekly newsletter, but over the next few weeks you may see multiple issues in the same week, as I try to synch up the newsletter’s posting schedule with my Instagram posting schedule.
Leon x Lykos - Chapter I
Without further ado, here’s the extra long, debut chapter of the webcomic!
Behind the Scenes - The Giant
Above is a concept sketch for the giant who appears in the first chapter.
One of my favorite parts of making this webcomic is that I get to do my own take on the characters and creatures of Greek mythology. Today when we think of giants we usually think of very large humans. This makes sense given that today, in modern English, we use words like “gigantic” to describe things that are large in size. But not all descriptions of the giants from Greek mythology are focused on their intimidating size. Some depictions of the giants focus on their martial side and show them wearing armor and wielding weapons. Others ascribe reptilian features to them, such as scaly limbs, or even serpents in place of their limbs and hair, traits we usually think about Medusa and the Gorgons having. The most consistent trait giants have is their violent nature.
For the giants of Leon x Lykos, I didn’t want them to just be really big humans, so I added in some of that reptilian flare by giving him scaly arms and legs. While I opted not to give this giant snakes in place of hair, I did try to make his long flowing hair tendrils reminiscent of that idea. The pointy teeth and ears also help to dehumanize him a bit.
Another thing I love about Leon x Lykos is that it’s my love letter to the superhero genre. In the case of the giants I tried channel a bit of the look and feel of Marvel’s gamma monsters, like the Hulk and the Abomination. In this concept art I even put a little gamma symbol on his briefs, and I honestly kind of regret not putting the symbol in the final comic. However, more giants are sure to show up later in the comic so there will be future opportunities to use those briefs.
Nathan Ake sketch
Lastly, here’s a non-Leon x Lykos thing. It’s a sketch of Manchester City footballer, Nathan Ake. It’s based on a photo of him I saw on here on Tumblr. I really like the colors in the photo from all the crazy lighting in the room. I also have a tendency to only color things naturalistically, or to not color things with dynamic lighting and shading so I wanted to nudge myself out of my comfort zone a bit with this drawing.