King me, the past and the future.

Hello everyone, thank you for stopping by.

I'm Nli, the author/artist of "King me" and other comics such as "Cold spell in spring" (erotic short story 18+) and "Colorful past" (ongoing webcomic for teens and young adults).

From BL to yaoi, just an idea.

For the longest time, "King me" was just an idea floating in my mind. I read a manga "BL metamorphosis" (one of my all-time favorites) and it has this little scene where the protagonist, Ichinoi, sees (and buys) a doujinshi titled "THE TWO KINGS (NAKED)." For some reason that imaginary doujinshi -cover sparked something inside me. My initial thought was "I want to read it." But soon an even stronger urge arose: "I want to DRAW it." 

I started brainstorming and sketching a storyboard in spring 2023. I sketched the first 13 pages and then hit a wall (just before the sexy scenes!) I felt like I didn't really know the characters. I knew sort of what I wanted them to do, but I couldn't picture how. I sat on the idea for a while and visited it again on my Easter vacation. At that time, I sketched the main characters and their outfits, but there was still that feeling of "I don't know who these characters are" and after drawing their early versions, I didn't care about drawing them again and finding out.

I was pretty certain that this was a project I would just abandon. So I went on with other things and projects, mainly writing and drawing "Colorful past." Until over a year later, when I was trying to come up with a completely different erotic story (that just wasn't shaping out) I drew a quick rough sketch of the sexy scenes in "King me." Since the unfinished storyboard was bugging me a bit and I wanted to feel like I'd gotten at least something done, I finished the storyboard (at the time 30 pages) and left it at that

The project didn't truly take off until I came up with decent character designs. The point I want to emphasize here is that sometimes things just come together when you're not even trying. Cadoc and Adrastos got their current looks as I was traveling to see a friend. It just hit me like lightning from a clear sky: "This is how I want them to look; this is how I want to DRAW them." I scribbled a hasty sketch and defined their appearances on a forty-minute-long train ride

From boys to men.

As an indie comic artist, it's sometimes hard to schedule all the projects you want to carry out. In the beginning of 2025, I was finishing up a backlog for "Colorful past" and began uploading it regularly. As a treat for working on "Colorful past" so diligently, I decided that I could dedicate the whole month of February to the kings. I wanted to finish it while I still felt enthusiasm for the project (and I really needed a break from drawing high school boys and their friendship drama). So I started drawing, thinking that it wouldn't take too long. But as often happens, things won't go the way they are planned.

Firstly, it took me a bit longer to draw and finish up the king comic. While drawing just the kings and then alternating drawing the "Colorful past boys" and my thirsty kings, I managed to wrap up "King me" on 19.3.25. Yay!

Secondly, "King me" was supposed to be released as a physical comic zine at a Finnish comic book event, but for time and financial reasons, "King me" will only be available as a digital version for now. I'm still super glad that I have the opportunity to publish it here. 

Chapter 1?

Note that while the heading does state that this is only the first chapter, "King me" can be enjoyed as a standalone story. In my mind, this is the part where we get to meet the characters, get to know their temperaments and see how they behave with each other. And I could as well leave it at that. 

I could, but will I?

Honestly, I do have it all planned out in my mind. All in all, the story of Cadoc and Adrastos would take around 3 chapters + some extras. Later chapters would require a lot more work and time, which I currently just don't have. One massive passion project and an attempt to keep my art business going and growing and finding sources of income are all in all very time- and energy-consuming. Though I have high hopes for the future, this project has definitely taught me that there's no use in forcing things into fruition.

Thank you for reading this and hopefully the comic as well. Support my work by sharing and liking, reading and commenting. 

You can follow me on Insta and Bluesky.

Extra note

You can find the doujinshi part in the English version of the manga "Bl metamorphosis" from volume 2, pages 16 and 22.