CANOGA PARK, Calif. – Mercenary Pictures owner Lexington Steele has formed a new division called Black Viking Pictures that will distribute a new genre of content considered "Mercenary avant garde." All titles that emerge from Black Viking will be marketed alongside Mercenary releases and will be targeted at gay consumers.

"There's a sizable gay audience who buys my product despite the fact that I'm a straight performer," Steele said. "They know me, they know my work and they know Mercenary.”

The new division is slated to produce a solo male masturbation line, a Brazilian-produced transsexual series and several other gay titles, to be announced. The talent that appear in Black Viking titles also will appear in some of Mercenary’s straight titles.

“I've long felt that the guys in the gay market would outperform 90 percent of the guys in the straight market,” Steele said. “If I can recruit a few good men who could work in Mercenary's titles, who are genuinely attracted to women and are clean for STDs and HIV, I will place them in Mercenary's movies.”

Directors involved in the new launch include Tina Tyler, director of Mercenary's “Fresh Out the Box” and “IronHead” volumes 3-7, Don Picone, a Brazilian native who has directed more than 60 gonzo releases to date, and Jason Sechrest.

A renowned director himself, Steele will not be directing for the new product line and will instead continue to focus on his Mercenary line.

The new line of titles will begin shipping in February and will be distributed on Super DVD.