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Amos Lassen wrote on 03/05/2011:

Mioki. “Side By Side: The Journal of a Small Town Boy”, Bruno Gmunder, 2008.
Evan and Rick
Amos Lassen
Mioki has been drawing comics for a long time and in “Side By Side” he gives us a new kind of graphic novel—one that is very gay and very, very bold.
“Side by Side” is the story of Evan and Rick who have been best friends since kindergarten days. They live in a small town and one rarely sees one without the other. Rick is gay and lusts after Evan who thinks he is straight. Evan moves to an unnamed big city and shortly afterwards Rick follows him there and they boys realize that they deeply love another. Evan and Rick meet Billie and Charlie and the four become the closest of friends who party and sleep together.
“Side by Side” is a look at gay life with the ups and downs, the sadnesses and the joys. But this is a book that is all visual and leaves nothing to the imagination. I am sure that some may consider it porn but it is more than that. The drawings are very graphic and Mioki shows many sex scenes but the book never loses its charm and heart.

Karl wrote on 06/23/2008:

You know what's really the coolest thing about this book? The guys in in look like real people. They talk like guys our age talk. They make love the way real guys make love. They have problems, They live from paycheck to paycheck. They have second-hand and hand-me-down furniture. But they're so much in love, and you want them to succeed so badly! I defy anyone to read "Side By Side" and not identify with Rick and Evan. This is a real book, about real boys, and real situations, and the drawings aren't cartoons they are miniture works of art. This artist, Mioki, has developed a technique that elevates the work above the level of a comic book. The characters aren't pumped up and muscular to the point of absurdity, and they aren't drawn like other comic book characters. I mean it, these two will have you begging for more. The dialogue is great too. But with Mioki, a drawing is truly worth a thousand words. The "Motel Scene" would get a rise out of Lazarus.

EJS wrote on 06/10/2008:

This is NOT a comic book. The guys in this book seem real, like you and me, and drawn with an attention to detail that elevates "Side By Side" into a different stratum from just a comic book. The sexual scenes in the book leave nothing to be desired. Realistic in presentation and the fun the guys have with each other comes through very plainly. The scenes are arousing and and the two guys are realistically endowed and the funny banter back and forth Rick and Evan exchange sounds like the things my boyfriend and I say to each other.

For some reason, if the book were done with photographs and real landscapes I don't think it would be as erotic as it is. Mioki has a way of drawing that let's the readers imagination sort of fill in the spaces between the drawings so that the experience of looking through his work is so much more than just looking at a series of highly erotic and arousing pictures. If you're like my boyfriend and me, you'll end up "involved" with Evan and Rick, and wanting more. We hope Mioki is busy at his drawing board!!!

This book is total fun. Really. It's just FUN.

Eichfelder wrote on 06/03/2008:

I dare you not to fall for Rick or Evan, or both of them like I did. From the title page to the last page, this wonderful book entertains and delights. The story line is realistic, and the erotic scenes are everything anyone could ask for. While billed as a comic book, "Side By Side" is certainly much more than that. Mioki's excellent renderings and fine sense of line and shadow make each panel a work of art in itself. Both boys are so natural! Like the guy in the house next door. They're not overly muscled, and are "realistically equiped." Reading through this book leaves you with the desire for more, and personally I hope Mioki sharpens up his pencils, and gets out his paints and serves us up a few sequals! Bravo! Four stars plus.