My first full length graphic novel.

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Product Description

In 1941 Poland, silence is a way of life. Eighteen-year-old seminary student Koby Bruk has watched for two years as the people of his home town allowed the Germans to move in, displace homes and families, and impose their rule on the people who remain. When Koby is bullied by his classmate Irvine, he chooses to speak up against him. This doesn't sit well with Irvine's friend, Hitler Youth Oskar Keplar. Oskar corners Koby in an alleyway and makes a sinister promise.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #456170 in Books
• Published on: 2007-07-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 131 pages

About the Author
Tina Anderson and Caroline Monaco are better known to doujinshi fans as Elegant Madness [formerly Studio Plugâ(tm)n Play]. Despite working separately on small projects for other publishers, the pair decided to pursue creating professional works as a team; their first was for gay comic publisher Class Comics entitled "Diplomatic Immunity," featuring that companyâ(tm)s signature comic star Camilicat. Only Words will be their first full length graphic novel together.

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Customer Reviews

Superb First Effort
4.5 STARS. This is the first manga I have purchased from the new Irish Print publisher. I really enjoyed the novel, "A Strong and Sudden Thaw" so I decided to gamble on a western yaoi from them. It was well worth the purchase. The artwork is very good. The body proportions are usually correct, and the shading and backgrounds are well done without being crowded. The characters look real and completely male; though not as attractive as in most yaoi - but that is more realistic anyway. My only criticism is that the lines are a little thick (not cartoon/coloring book thick, thank goodness!) so it isn't as clean looking as the work of mangakas such as Yamane or Nitta. But, this is a personal preference and did not deter my enjoyment of the story. The artist is likely to improve in subsequent work in any case.

The story is set in Nazi-occupied Poland, and so the tone and art is understandably dark. There is not nearly as much dialog as in other yaoi I have read, but it fits with this story. Our hero finds himself almost unwillingly attracted to Hitler youth, Oskar. Oskar's feelings are not revealed, at least until the end. Hmmm, the end. What a SHOCKER! I will not spoil it here, but I will say that this is the first yaoi manga to actually surprise me with the conclusion. I will certainly look for more from Anderson & Monaco and may also check out Iris' other yaoi titles. Highly recommended.

An Unexpected Delight!
Wow. This isn't what I expected. I'd seen other Nazi yaoi from Japan, and it's mostly stupid, unrealistic, and it looks like its just the same old sex story, but with hot Nazis in well drawn uniforms--or if there is no sex, it's some unrealistic drama that's best seen on a ladies soap opera with lots of ellipses and little sense, but hot Nazi's in well drawn uniforms.

Not this book. Only Words actually has a story, and while it's not an earth-shattering deep one, it's something of a page turner, and I couldn't put it down. It doesn't feel like the kind of story that is formulated as an Excuse to have a sexual relationship between two men. I picked this up a convention, and the book is in great condition, though the print seems a bit dark on some pages, and I think there might be pages missing because it just abruptly ends after the artist `freetalk', with a blank page, and some publisher information. Given writer Anderson's reputation to love to hear herself talk, (world's largest Ego, really) I can't believe she didn't write notes for this book. The art is very interesting, and the artist isn't afraid of using black, in fact, Ms. Monaco seems to be a master of it, and her character designs are refreshingly unique and interesting. You're not going to find breath-taking bishounen in this one; you're going to find guys you might know. Another plus, in my opinion.

I don't want to spoil the story, but I can't help but share some of it. It takes place on a border town in Poland at the start of the war, and we meet this young man named Koby, who would've been a priest, had it not been for the German invasion. He attends school with many German youth, most notable, young men in the Hitler Jugen. One bit of Praise: Kudos to the artist for knowing her uniforms - I've seen too many Nazi-fetish manga that cater to cosplay fans by putting manga Jugen and Wafen SS officers in their Summer best and placing them in stories with snow falling or no leaves on trees. The Winter uniform just isn't as sexy, but it depends on how you look at it. Thank you Ms. Monaco. But that's a nitpick, apologies -Koby manages to provoke one of the young men, and gets him booted from class. This puts the ousted student's friend Oskar, on a mission to bully Koby; what he doesn't realize is that Koby likes that sort of thing. I know, it sounds weird, but to yaoi fans, it makes complete sense.

As I said, I won't spoil. It's one of the better written yaoi in English books I've picked up, because it's solid and it isn't all over the place, trying too many plot lines at once. It's like a film; it never strays off course and keeps you reading. I think most Yaoi in English titles suffer from an inability to find good stories to match great art. Yaoi Press is notorious is for this, thank goodness Iris Print seems to have figured it out. The sex is not impossibly lovely, in fact, it seems awkward in some panels, but the character designs are still sexy, if you're into `males', and not `genderless pretty boys'.

i'd really give this 4 and a half stars if i could...
so yeah! i finally got a copy of this book after waiting for its release for over half a year.

I do love this genre of stories, forbidden love and taboo love affairs between two people that should never be together, and Only Words is all about that. if you're not into Nazi stuff, this probably isn't for you. This book dosen't glorify Nazis, it just tells it the way it was.

it is a good story! i recommend it to anyone. Its a bit short, but what is there is good. :) Tina and Caroline did a terrific job!

and now for my detailed review (contains spoilers)

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its set back in 1939 a little after the German occupation of Poland. Its about a catholic boy named Toby, training to be a priest. He is constantly picked on my these asshat Jugen boys, although he secretly fantasizes about one of them, Oskar.

you see, Koby is a closet pervy masochist...and Oskar is a angsty teen with a troubled childhood. at one point, Oskar says that he is going to have sex with Koby..and they do..but afterwards...well Oskar commits suicide. After that the story is pretty much over. It didn't surprise me though, with a subject like this i knew there wouldn't be a happy ending. In fact i thought it would be more tragic than it was xD I figured both Koby and Oskar would meet a miserable fate, but with this story, Koby just goes on resuming his life normally..

my critiques...

TOO SHORT! XD i kind of felt like wanting more but then again i kinda didn't. even though the story was short, what was in the story was fulfilling enough. Besides, it would be difficult to make these characters have some long lasting love affair..Oskar was in the Jugen and he would probably be sent off to war..while Koby stayed back in Poland..and well, you'd have no story there!

but since the story was short, there wasn't a whole lot of character development. We never know why Koby is such a pervert and a masochist, and we never find out Oskar's true reasons behind wanting to have sex with Koby, or why he killed himself. although maybe it was just like the way it was in the story, Oskar could have just wanted to have sex with Koby nothing more, and was miserable with the way his life was going didn't want to be part of the war so he decided to end it all? I don't know, i reckon there could have been other reasons, but the reader has to guess that for themselves.

But, the story could have been longer if the two boys had a longer love affair while Oskar was still in Poland. Although, we never know whether he is just interested in getting some quick sex or if he actually was interested in Koby...so there could have been lack of story if all Oskar wanted was a one night stand....and if they just kept having sex with no meaning to it, the story would be kinda boring.

but then again its not fair to demand more from these girls, they don't have the time to dedicate everything into making a graphic novel, if they had to opportunity to do so maybe they could have made the story longer and with more content. but like i said, even though it was short and there wasn't a whole lot of character development the story was still fulfilling for me. and i enjoyed it a lot!