Steve MacIsaac
Steve MacIsaac is a Canadian comics artist and creator living in Long Beach, California.[1] He is known for his comics series Shirtlifter (2006-2019)[2][3] and the graphic novel, Unpacking (2018).[4][5] His comics focus on the lives and relationships of contemporary gay men,[6] from marriage to casual encounters.[7][8] His work has been collected in “Best American Comics”[9], and other anthologies.[10][11]
Steve MacIsaac | |
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Born | October 21, 1969 Antigonish, Nova Scotia |
Nationality | Canadian |
Area(s) | Cartoonist, Writer, Artist |
Notable works | Shirtlifter, Unpacking, Sticky, |
stevemacisaac.com |
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Career
Early in his comics career, MacIssac published gay male erotica. In 2006, he collaborated with writer Dale Lazarov on Sticky, a wordless graphic novel focusing on the sex lives of gay men.[12] 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[13] - 6[14]). 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.[15]
MacIsaac’s comics explore the varied facets of gay men’s lives and experiences in modern life, including sex and sexuality.[6] 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.”[8]
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[9] and his graphic novel, Unpacking, was a nominee for the 2019 Lambda Literary Graphic Novel Award.[16] MacIsaac won the inaugural Queer Press Grant for LGBTQ comics creators from Prism Comics[17][6] and a 2007 Xeric Foundation grant.[6] His work has been collected in anthologies such as No Straight Lines[10], QU33R[11], Alphabet [18](with Todd Brower), Stripped,[19] Boy Trouble,[20] Blocked,[21] and “Best Erotic Comics 2009.[22]
References
- "Get To Know The Creative & Intelligent Steve MacIsaac". Manhattan Digest. 2015-09-10. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
- "Steve MacIsaac". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
- "Author - Steve MacIsaac". www.amazon.com. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
- "Unpacking – Northwest Press". Retrieved 2020-07-13.
- "Unpacking". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
- Kirby, Robert. "Shirtlifter #5 |". Retrieved 2020-07-13.
- Chance (2019-02-15). "Unpacking Explores Monogamy, Masculinity and Moving On". Fanboys of the Universe. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
- "Shirtlifter #5 | Steve MacIsaac | Gay Comic Books | Bears". Steven Surman Writes. 2015-09-07. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
- Neil Gaiman, ed., The Best American Comics 2010 (Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010), 323
- Justin Hall, ed., No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics (Seattle: Fantagraphic Books, 2012), 171
- Robert Kirby, ed., QU33R (Seattle: Northwest Press, 2014), 127
- "Sequential Tart: Dale Lazarov and Steve MacIsaac -- Sticky Moments (vol VIII/iss 7/July 2005)". www.sequentialtart.com. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
- MacIsaac, Steve,. Shirtlifter. Hall, Justin, 1971-, Fuzzbelly,, Ilya,, Macy, Jon, 1964-, Williams, Eric Kostiuk,. Long Beach, CA. ISBN 978-0-9791349-0-6. OCLC 935548915.CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
- MacIsaac, Steve; Brower, Todd (2019). Shirtlifter #6. Long Beach, CA: Drawn, Out Press. ISBN 978-0-9791349-6-8.
- MacIsaac, Steve,. Unpacking. [Seattle]. ISBN 978-1-943890-40-8. OCLC 1090804028.CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
- "Previous Winners, Lambda Literary Awards". Retrieved July 13, 2020.
- "QUEER PRESS GRANT | Prism Comics". Retrieved 2020-07-14.
- Alphabet : the LGBTQAIU creators from Prism Comics. Macy, Jon, 1964-, Avery, Tara Madison,. Walnut, CA. p. 327. ISBN 978-0-9970487-1-1. OCLC 957772440.CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
- Stripped uncensored. Berlin: Bruno Gmünder. 2009. p. 17. ISBN 978-3-86787-025-2. OCLC 318673911.
- The big book of boy trouble : gay boy comics with a new attitude. Kirby, Robert, 1962-, Kelly, David, 1965-. San Francisco, Calif.: Green Candy Press. 2006. p. 108. ISBN 1-931160-45-7. OCLC 71165391.CS1 maint: others (link)
- Shwed, Ally, ed. (2017). Blocked: Stories from the World of Online Dating. Querétero, MX, New Jersey: Little Red Bird Press. p. 65. ISBN 1931160457.
- Christina, Greta, ed. (2009). Best erotic comics 2009. San Francisco, Calif.: Last Gasp. pp. 69, 101. ISBN 978-0-86719-711-2. OCLC 262433187.