Archive for the Western Comic/Comix Category


Western Comic: I Thought You Hated Me

August 7th, 2016

ithoughtyouhatedmeEvery once in a while, a comic comes along that is so beautiful you just want to run around with copies and hand them out, screaming “READ THIS! READ IT RIGHT NOW!”

I Thought You Hated Me, by Mari Naomi is one of those comics.

I Thought You Hated Me is a tale of female friendship from  elementary school through adulthood, with all the trials and tribulations possible. Naomi’s stripped down art and short-vignettes highlight key pieces of two lives, from which we can extrapolate all the other emotions and experiences that fill a life. Like an incredibly sophisticated pastry, you could peel layers from this book for days and still have more layers to look at.

I read this book in one gulp, something I almost never do anymore. Paging through it with an urgency that surprised me, I needed to know where it would wrap up. And my thought upon completing it was that it was absolutely beautiful.

I Thought You Hated Me is a triumphant story of love and life shared between two people and a much-needed look at the complexities of female friendship.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 9
LGBTQ – 3

Overall – 9

I recommend this book highly. It’s available for pre-order on Amazon for a low $9 and you can read preview pages at Retrofit Comics. It’ll make a great gift for your best friend. ^_^

Thanks very much to Mari Naomi for the review copy. It was a real treat to read this and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did!





LGBTQ: Alphabet Anthology

August 5th, 2016

ALPHABETfabricsmall-1024x1024In honor of the Prism Comics annual Queer Press Grant and to raise money for this wonderful, inclusive, friendly queer comics consortium, the folks at Prism gathered 40 popular and successful queer comics artists and built a book. Alphabet Anthology is that book.

It is…well, it’s really quite wonderful. ^_^

It celebrates  and agonizes over sexuality, gender, race and being part of a queer comic community, with all the many ways to inflict self-torture all of these can provide.

Alphabet is wry, and honest, and a little painful, sometimes. It’s snarky and funny and fun and annoying all at the same time – exactly as you’d expect with this meeting of the great queer comic minds. In fact, it’s awfully like attending a conference and sitting in on panels with these folks. You find yourself laughing-crying, sharing heartache and joy and facepalming constantly.

There are so many good comics in this book it’s impossible to call out just a few. The names in this book are names you should know in contemporary queer comics art.

So if you want a really sweet glimpse of the current state of queer comics, check out these comics by amazing comic artists like Ahri Almeida, Elizabeth Beier, Christianne Benedict, Bex, Jennifer Camper, Vi Cao, Tyler Cohen, Howard Cruse, Dave Davenport, Dylan Edwards, Tana Ford, Melanie Gillman, Diego Gomez, Soizick Jaffre, Emeric Kennard, Robert Kirby, Hanna-Pirita Lehkonen, Ed Luce, Steve MacIsaac, Hazel Newlevant, Hanna Oliver, Eric Orner, David Quantic, Carlo Quispe, Sonya Saturday, Mike Sullivan, Dax Tran-Caffee, Josh Trujillo, Kelsey Wroten, and many more!

Please excuse me a second while I kvell at the fact that I have had a chance to meet so many of these amazing, talented folks. Squee. If there is one best reason to go to comic events like SPX, Flamecon, Nijicon, Queer and Comics and the like it’s the chance to meet and speak with this extraordinary talent and all the really interesting and fun people who admire them.

You can still purchase Alphabet Anthology from Prism, and they now have it available in hardcover, which would make a stellar donation to your local or university library.

Ratings:

It’s an anthology – so everything is variable.

Overall – 10

Speaking of events, I will be at Flame Con this year, but I’m going to be just in from Europe the night before. So if you want to catch me as I fall, do drop by and look for me staggering around the new location. If you keep me upright, I’ll be giving away random crap as a reward. ^_^

 





LGBTQ: Dates Anthology (English)

July 10th, 2016

DatesCrowdfunding has been an amazing source of press and distribution for LGBTQ comic and narrative anthologies. Where traditional publishing would not be flexible enough to publish a niche volume and get it out to distribution in large enough numbers to make an impact, crowdfunding allows folks who would pay to see it published actually pay to see it published, with room for the creators to either invest in larger print runs and seek bookstore/online distribution AND/OR provide interested parties a chance to get a PDF so they can enjoy the content and save room on their shelves. It is, quite literally, a win-win situation.

Among the many crowdfunding efforts I supported last year was Dates! an anthology of historical LGBTQ fiction and comics. Dates! is available in softcover and PDF format from Margins Publishing on Gumroad. (Gumroad has been a huge boon for comics and niche creators, giving folks a chance to create the kind of small-run print and e-book offerings that I would have killed for in 2003. ^_^; )

Right off the bat, the thing that stands out in Dates! is the multiculturalism of content and characters. Stories set in locales from Ireland to Korea, in time periods from the stone age to during the Mahabharata to Renaissance Italy to 20th century America.  I never felt like I was reading the same story over or suffering from the kind of “typicality” that themed anthologies often suffer from, where too many stories seem too similar.

The stories are also pleasantly widely cast along the spectrum of gender and sexual minorities, with a number of strong entries discussing gender, sexuality (or lack thereof) without any self-loathing or external hatred needed. In fact, if I had to sum the book up I’d say “coming out need not apply.” These characters are not coming out, dealing with or working through…they are. Then the story happens.

The art is variable and so is the storytelling and characters, so your interest will certainly be piqued by the kind of story set in the place or time you like best, but there was something for nearly everyone in this collection.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

This is was an absolute delight and a terrific use of crowdfunding. I hope to see more from the folks at Margins in days ahead.





Fantasy Sports, No.2 – The Bandit of Barbel Bay (English)

April 24th, 2016

FSP2About a year ago, it was my very real pleasure to read and review Fantasy Sports No. 1 by Sam Bosma. It had everything I ever wanted from a kid’s comic. “Giant robot evil undead conquerors, wizards, treasure, skeleton hordes, tea, adventure, puzzles, and basketball. Gosh, this book was so wonderful.” I have been on tenterhooks waiting for the sequel, Fantasy Sports No. 2 and now that I’ve read it, I have to say…it’s even better than No. 1!

In Volume 1, we met Wiz Kid (“call me Wiz”) an intern of the Archmage, who is out and about plundering with her boss Mean Mug. In Volume 1, they are having some office politics issues, but when we see them again in Volume 2, they appear more partner/partner, than boss/intern.

They find themselves in Barbel Bay, a town populated by humans and fishpeople all of whom share a deep loathing for the Mages who, they say, destroyed their town some years ago. Wiz isn’t entirely convinced, but she’s appalled at even the thought that her people were the aggressors. She and Mug lose their treasure and are forced to enter a volleyball tournament to regain it. During the tournament they – once again – deepen their teamwork. I won’t tell you the ending, because there is no good reason at all for you to not get this delightful book and give it to a kid who loves comics or your local library, or keep it on the shelf to re-re-read from time to time. ^_^

The color palette is a little different this time, full of reds and blues and purples, but still very far from primary-colors one expects in children’s comics. It gives Barbel Bay a unique feel of it’s own.

And the story….oh my goodness can Sam Bosma tell a story! In 50 pages, he crams in so many levels of meaning, plot, character development and room to grow. Neal Stephenson could learn a lot about telling densely packed stories with brevity from Bosma. Before I give this volume to the library, I’m definitely going to give it another read or two. It’s that good.

Once again Wiz Kid is a fabulous protagonist and this time, Mug steps up to be the mentor that he hadn’t previously been. But he’s not a bodyguard – Wiz is hero all on her own with her own physical skills and mental wherewithal. She makes a terrific role model for all of us. As for the fishpeople,  there’s always something to be learned from other cultures. The lessons we learn here are sure to come back and help Wiz and Mug on their future adventures.

Ratings:

Art – 10
Character – 10
Story – 10

Overall – 10

Treasure and giant clams and teamwork and shadow history and shiny champions and fishpeople and magic! Volume 3 will feature field hockey. I can’t wait!

Thanks ever so much to Nobrow Press for the review copy. <3





Yuri Manga: Mahou Josei Chimaka (English)

March 28th, 2016

scanWhen Chimaka was younger, she had been a magical girl. But when it came down to saving the world, she didn’t have what it takes and failed to defeat evil, or realize her eternal fated love. Now she’s a bitter adult in a day job and is at loose ends.

In Mahou Josei Chimaka, (one of several Yuri works put out by Sparkler Monthly, the English-language josei magazine) the creative team KaiJu takes on the tropiest trope and decides to look at it from a completely different perspective: What if it doesn’t all work out? The cynic in me thrilled to the premise…and as I read, I found a lot to like in the treatment.

The art is competent and I like the inclusion of a WoC as the main character. More important to me than the art, always, is the story – and in this I think this book excels. Not only is it a unique rendering of a magical girl story it is, I dare say, a “magical” love story, between two characters who would be more than welcome to come over for lunch. ^_^

Chimaka is available in a Digital edition or in Print and I recommend it highly. Not only do you get the satisfaction of supporting Sparkler Monthly, which is  fine thing to do, and domestic Yuri manga, which is equally dopamine-inducing, but also you get a very fun story, with a lovely ending for the money. All in all, I wouldn’t mind a sequel. Hint Hint. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8
Character – 8
Yuri – 7
Service – 1 on principle, because people are weird

Overall- 8

Congratulations to KaiJu and Sparkler Monthly for winning a DINK award this past weekend!