Kyle's Bed and Breakfast by Greg Fox

When Kyle Graham opens his Bed and Breakfast, he gets his first client within days. Brad Steele, a minor league baseball player, walks in and asks for a room, saying that it's perfect and if Kyle gives him a break on the rent, Brad will act as a general handyman. Kyle has a bad reaction to Brad at first, and tells him it's a *Gay* B&B, whereupon Brad blurts out that he *is* gay, and then suffers a moment of remorse, since he has never told anyone before. But in the end he asks to stay, saying he thinks it would be fun to stay there... without anyone else on his team finding out, of course.

Then Kyle's friend Richard walks in and wonders if Kyle's business is going to make it. But Kyle managed to get his B&B into the Athenian Gay Directory, so business is sure to pick up. Soon after, Lance Powers, a high-powered business director, moves in, followed by Richard and Eduardo, a gay teen kicked out of his house by his parents when they found out he was gay. These become the main characters of the strip, and there is a rotating cast of temporary characters who move in and out of the B&B as the others get on with their lives.

Each of the temporary characters has an effect on the guys, though, from Kyle's temporary team mate Richard Olson, an out gay who gets passed around from Team to Team because of the fact he is gay and isn't ashamed of it, to Father Sean, an Irish priest troubled by his homosexual leanings who came to stay in the B&B for a while to see what he was giving up. He ended up leaving the priesthood, not only for his sexuality, but for other reasons as well, feeling that it wasn't right for him to stay. Or Glenn Mercer, a married man who came out to his wife, and got divorced. He and Kyle end up having Kyle's first sexual relationship in the B&B, but in the end, he goes back to his wife for the sake of his kids.

What I really liked about this series are all the different kinds of gay men you see, from the Stereotypical Club-hopper who seems to have nothing on his mind but scoring (Richard), to the closeted Brad, living in dire fear that his secret will come out and ruin the life he has built for himself, to Kyle himself, an older gay man (30's rather than 20's) who has been through the gay "scene" and knows that isn't what he wants for himself, but instead wants a stable relationship and seems attracted to older guys and guys his age. We even get to see Andrew, a gay man who adopted a child while in a relationship and who is comitted to doing the best for his kid.

This is a fascinating look at a group of men whose only thing in common is their sexual attraction to other men, and the stories of how they live and work with each other. It's a sort of "slice of Life" story, and fascinating and extremely good as you see the ups, downs and sidewayses of the lives of gay men of all kinds. It even shows how some Gay men prey on others, when a French Grifter who charms money out of his lovers moves into the B&B and takes some of the other men there for quite a bit of money before he is caught. Kyle makes sure he pays everyone back by getting him a real job, but the experience is, an experience, for everyone involved.

Not only is this the first collection of "Kyle's B&B" strips, but so far it's the only one. I'd like to see more published at some time in the future. You can also buy a copy by contacting kylesbnb@aol.com. Or go to: http://members.aol.com/kylecomics/page2.html

You'll be glad you did!