Barazoku 薔薇族: the manga angle

There's a lot of male-themed manga in the collection; I just scanned something that was laying around. This is from The Barazoku, a venerable gay-male magazine:

Barazoku was Japan's oldest gay magazine, and was in print for 33 years. First published in 1971, Barazoku was known as a trailblazer for other gay publications and a leader in Japanese gay culture, boasting celebrity fans including Akihiro Miwa, a drag queen rumored to have been a lover of famed author Yukio Mishima. During its 33 years, the magazine survived mainstream disapproval, legal injunctions, and numerous arrests of its founder and editor, Bungaku Itō.

According to the wikipedia entry, the magazine ceased publication in 2004.

Wikipedia also provides a good summary of the magazine's contents:

A typical issue of Barazoku had approximately 300 pages, including several pages of glossy colour and some black and white photographs of younger, fit men in their late teens and twenties (these photographs were censored in accordance with Japan's rules, which require the obscuring of genitals and pubic hair). Despite the inclusion of pornographic pictures, however, Barazoku was not a pornographic magazine.

The bulk of a typical issue of Barazoku was made up of articles and short stories, advice, how-tos, interviews, news, arts, and community listings. In comparison with other gay magazines like Badi, Barazoku typically had fewer pictures and less manga stories and news, which may have contributed to its demise.

I'm not totally sure what's going on here, but it looks like the big queenie bear is some sort of super hero figure. Midwesterner's should be able to relate to that, right?

Two more things to look for when browsing this mag:

Barazoku was the first gay magazine in Asia to be sold at mainstream bookshops, such as Kinokuniya. It became such a cultural phenomenon that its title has entered the mainstream language as a synonym for "gay".

In its early years, the magazine published anonymous work by some of Japan’s most famous poets and authors, and artwork by Goto Mishima. Founder Ito's determination to fight discrimination led the magazine to publish an interview with Japan’s first known AIDS sufferer when the mainstream media refused to address the issue.