Velvet Collar, written by sex worker Bryan Knight, is not your typical comic book series. Instead of muscle studs with super powers, the main characters in these pages are muscle studs who make a living as escorts.

 

So far, two issues have been released, and a total of nine have been planned.

 

The series was inspired by the federal closure of Rentboy.com in 2015. At the time, seven people were arrested when the company's New York offices were raided and bank accounts seized. Two years later, CEO Jeffrey Hurant pleaded guilty to promoting prostitution and money laundering, and was sentenced to six months in prison.

 

The comic book series starts in 2017, following characters Abel Rey, Daddy, Billy, Page and Storm who come back together to discover that the closure of the escort site business puts them in the cross-hairs of an international espionage plot.

 

 

New characters have been introduced in issue 2, inspired by porn award winners J.D. Daniels, Draven Torres and Seth Knight. With semi-autobiographical elements, the writing is based on the real thoughts and feelings of the people depicted in the series.

 

Actors expected to appear in Issue 3 include Dallas Steele, Joel Someone, and Osiris Blade.

 

The comic series started as a Kickstarter project, and managed to raise just over $10,000.

 

"Velvet Collar would be the first comic series to focus not only on the lives of modern adult industry workers, but specifically on male-identified individuals," the creators said at the time. "Explicitly, these are experiences of professionals who have voluntarily participated in the industry ...This work talks about what actually happens with both adult industry members and the people they are involved with."

 

Issues 1 and 2 are available in print and digital format through VelvetCollarComics.com.