Archive for the Western Comic/Comix Category


Western Comic: Tomboy

November 18th, 2014

tomboy Graphic Memoirs are a bit of a conundrum to me. They are super popular, often incredibly well executed and yet, as I read them I often feel a sense of intense boredom, as I might if anyone were to tell me their entire life story in a monologue, without any kind of break.

Tomboy by Liz Prince hit me square in the middle of my problem area. Prince’s art is quite good, but her life…was my life. I already knew about the feelings, the gender expression issues, and the teasing. Although the details were different, the substance is the same. I wouldn’t bore anyone else with those details – at this point they are 40 years old anyway, what’s the point? So, reading about Prince’s experience with a gender expression at odd with society’s expectations was, for me, a trifle exhausting.

Two things made this book pop for me. The rare moments when Prince stops telling the story to comment on it were exceptional. It’s the adult voice looking back at the child that interested me most. I dealt with 13-year old issues at 13, it’s hard to be terribly enthusiastic about that now. But 31-year old Liz Prince commenting on things that were incongruous…“The irony of being called a farmer while wearing a suit jacket and carrying a leather satchel briefcase was lost on me.”…that was worth reading!

The second stand out feature was, honestly, the very end of the book, when she suddenly realizes that, although she thought she was telling a story about her life and the guys she looked up to and wanted to hang with and be with, she has a sudden epiphany that the story is equally about the women in her life. The girls she emulated, adored, befriended, who guided her and gave her the chance to become who she is. As I read that bit, I – for the first time in my life – had my life flash before me, in a series of memories of all the girls I looked up to, who broke my heart before I knew that was what was happening, who were my best friends until they weren’t and those who were there for me when no one else was.

In that one moment, this book went from good to excellent. Because while I don’t expect everyone to care about me, or my childhood, Liz Prince quite literally pulled it whole out of my brain and laid it out for me to see.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – My life, my friends, my experiences and me. 10
Service – 1 on principle
LGBTQ – 5 the narrative is wholly about being gender non-conforming

Overall – 8

So, from one tomboy to another (and who also gets mistaken for a guy about half the time) – Thanks, Liz Prince. Let’s climb a tree together one day. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Lepakkoluola Anthology (Finnish and English)

November 14th, 2014

lepakkoluola_350Lepakkoluola is a Finnish Yuri anthology created by a circle called Team Pärvelö.

I was originally made aware of the collection last June when I was contacted by a Team member, Hanna-pirita, to let me know about the Kickstarter for the anthology. Crowdfunding was successful and it was my very sincere pleasure to receive a copy! Really, all I can say about the anthology is – wow.

The story content and variety were exceptionally strong. A female Prussian officer and a woman of the nobility, young black singers in early 20th century Harlem, witches during the Inquisition, Eve and Lilith, a samurai’s wife and a Buddhist nun…the variety of time and place was mind-boggling.

While the text in the body of the comics is in Finnish, pages are subtitled in English. It made reading the book an adventure, as I’d read the English, then spend time just looking at the page and enjoying the art and the flow of the story.

Artists did not attempt to imitate any style, what we have here are young artists letting themselves draw what they wanted, the way they wanted. And I have to say – a lot of the art was really, incredibly good. Each story is so utterly unique that they all stood out in their own way.

My personal favorites were an Annie Oakley x Calamity Jane fanfic I had no idea I needed, but apparently, I did; A story about Sappho and her super #1 Fan harpy and a lovely, lovely little story about a “crazy” woman and the troll who loves her.

Every single story was good. I ended each and every one with an “Aw,” or a “Cute!” or “Squee.”

You can order a copy (priced in Euros) from the circle directly on their website.

And, if you should one day run across this unique and lovely anthology, do scoop it right up. It’s a delight.

Ratings:

Ratings are all variable of course, but…

Overall – 9

This was an excellent read and will be an excellent re-read . Thank you Hanna-pirita and the other members of Team Pärvelö! Lepakkoluola is a delight.





Western Comix: Paris in the 20th Century

November 11th, 2014

paris20Ana DuPre is both the heroine we want and the heroine we need. And luckily for us, Brian Gardes and Keri Grassl of Kilted Comics have created her especially for us.

In the alternative Paris of the alternative 1920s, along with airships and goggles, Ana DuPre, thief extraordinaire steals rare items, fights with laser guns and does other expected acts of derring-do. And she wears a leather pilot’s outfit and has a famous girlfriend…what more could we ask of her? Well…early 20th century literary references, of course! And luckily, Brian and Keri know what we want and give it to us. Which brings us to this lovely little comic, Paris in the 20th Century, starring charming adventuress Ana DuPre.

Ana has been hired by Michael Verne, the not-famous son of the famous French science fiction writer to retrieve a book from his father’s publisher. Of course, nothing goes easy for Ana…if it did, we wouldn’t have a cool story now, would we? ^_^

Gardes and Grassl have done a fair bit of homework and the people, places and situations among which Ana treads are real, including her bombshell girlfriend, Tamara de Lempicka, who was “notorious”ly bisexual during her life.

You may have guessed that I’m a sucker for this kind of comic, and I am. But what really got me, were Grassl and Gardes’ interest in and love of pinup art, combined with their love of throwing things to the wind and letting them be carried off in a zeppelin. Who doesn’t love a smart, sexy, bisexual, whimsical, gentlelady thief?

Ratings:

Art – YMMV, but I liked it – 7
Story – 8
Character – 7
Yuri – 2 Implication only
Service – 2 Pinup-y art

Overall – 7 and I definitely want more. ^_^

You can read sample pages of Paris in the 20th Century on the Kilted Comics website, along with the ongoing adventure, Ana DuPre and the Eye of the Kraken. You can buy Paris for $7 plus shipping. Totes worth it, but you won’t get it inscribed “Thanks for last night” like I did, unless you pick it up at a show. ^_^ (I always get people to inscribe it that way. I want my heirs to have something to think about as they clean my crap up after I’m gone. We even got some of the doujinshi artists at GLF to inscribe books to me that way. ^_^)

If you like Kerri’s art, do check out her page, Hooligan Lili (great name…!), where she has some lovely pinups and chicks on motorcycles and other things that make me happy. ^_^





Upcoming LGBTQ Comic/Yuri Manga Events

September 21st, 2014

DSCN5321For folks on the East and West Coasts of the USA or in and around Tokyo, Japan, there are a number of events of interest coming up and I *hate* reports that start “Oh, hey, I did the coolest thing this year and forgot to mention it was happening in time for you to plan to be there!” So, in order for some of you to make plans to be at these events, here are several upcoming events that I think you might want to make an effort to attend!

 

GLFes 

October 19, 2014, Yokohama, Japan, Yokohama Minato Mirai, Hall Marineria (横浜みなとみらい・横浜産貿ホールマリネリア)

This is the 12th Girls Love Festival event and it looks fantastic this year.  I think this is their first time in Yokohama, and next year it appears to be back in the Tokyo area. I actually changed my plans this year to attend, because under the GLFes umbrella, one of the events is “Onaji Hoshi ni Umareta Futari” an all-Yuri Sailor Moon doujinshi event. Amano Shuninta-sensei (Watashi no Sekai o Kousei Suru Chiri no You na) did the cover art and I felt almost obliged to be there for the first-ever all-Yuri Sailor Moon event, y’know?  ^_^

The way GLFes works is that there are a bunch of thematically-organized sections. There will be a KanColle “event”, the above-mentioned Sailor Moon section, Sakura Trick, Yuru Yuri, PreCure and whatever other series are popular will get their own sections. Tucked in between are original works which, as you may be aware, is what I like best. ^_^

There are no panels, but I will be with a few folks with coherent Japanese and hope that I can speak to a few of the folks there interviewy-like. Fingers crossed.

 

Geek Girl Con

October 11-12, 2014, Seattle WA, Washington Convention Center

The reason I will not be at NYCC this year is because I am going to Geek Girl Con. This year is the 4th GGC and I wanted to at least experience it once.  Pretty much the entire Panel Schedule is of interest to and focused on Women in fandom, gaming, media, comics, etc. What I’m not seeing a whole lot of is LGBTQ-themed stuff, which sort of surprises me.

Queerbaiting in Genre Television: Representation or Exploitation?

Gaylaxy Quest: Exploring Queer Fantasy and Science Fiction

are the only things I see on the schedule. There is a BL-focused panel. No Yuri, but I wasn’t applying to run one, and there are, as I always say, way more straight girls than gay ones.  There are some “Female Gaze” panels, but from experience I know that those tend to be very straight (and usually pretty objectifying men-focused) and not my cup of tea.

I know The Legend of Bold Riley‘s creator Leia Weathington is supposed to be there and I hope to hang with her and a couple of Friends of Yuri. If you’re gonna be there, do let me know and we’ll make time to catch up and say hi!

 

New York Comic Con 

October 9-12, 2014, Javits Convention Center, New York City, NY

New York Comic Con has gone back and forth on Queer presence and equity of representation, but this year they seem to be making a special effort to have a number of panels on Women in Comics and Geek Media. Here are few you probably don’t want to miss:

Prism Comics Presents: Women in Queer Comics

Women of Color in Comics: Race, Gender and the Comic Book Medium

The Mary Sue Presents – Strong Female Characters: The Women Shining in Geek Media

Because I will be on the other side of the country for the weekend, if you do attend NYCC, (especially any of these panels) and would like to do a write-up of your impressions, please let me know and I’ll give you a quick tutorial on how to write something up! Industry panels are written up by every blogger in the universe, but far fewer people cover the meaty topic-oriented ones. I’d love to have eyes and ears at NYCC. You’ll get a colorful YNN Correspondent badge to display on your webpage or social profile in thanks. ^_^

 

International Manga Festival

November 23, 2014,Ariake, Tokyo, Japan, Tokyo Big Sight

The International Manga Festival, aka the Kaigai Fes, is held as a part of Comitia, the biannual all-original doujinshi event. Begun just a few years ago, the Kaigai event is getting larger and more exciting every year. A bit like the opposite side of the TCAF card, the Kaigai Fes has comic artists from outside Japan, and it’s a lot of fun, seeing folks who are bridging the oceans to communicate about comics and comicking.

Comitia itself is a very cool event. Because it focuses on all-original doujinshi, I’ve found some good LGBTQ narratives and some straight-up Yuri as well. Next year I plan on revisiting the Kaigai and Comitia and seeing how far they’ve come. ^_^ If you can’t make it, rest assured, a number of manga bloggers will be covering this event. Keep your eyes especially on Deb Aoki’s Manga Comics Manga site for news and reporting.

 

Winter Comiket

December 28,29,30, Ariake, Tokyo, Japan, Tokyo Big Sight

World’s biggest small press and self-published comic show. Makes SDCC look like a baby event. It’s huge, intimidating and electrifying. Everyone who loves comics should do this once. ^_^ There are Yuri parody and original circles, but you have to work at it a bit to find them all.

 

And while this is 6 months out, I want to give you all a heads up for these 2015 events:

Queers & Comics – LGBT Cartoonists’ Conference

May 7-8, 2015, New York, NYC, Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies (CLAGS)
The Graduate Center, CUNY – 365 Fifth Avenue, NYC

The Keynote speakers will be Howard Cruse and Alison Bechdel.  More information can be found on their website or their Facebook page. I’m hoping to be there, although it means I will probably miss TCAF, because the world is like that, but I don’t want to miss it!

 

Toronto Comic Arts Festival

TBA, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

I can’t rave enough about TCAF. It’s got a strong manga presence, a strong LGBTQ presence and it’s generally the most fun I have at a North American event. The 2015 dates and location(s) have not yet been announced, but if you can make it, do!

 

So there’s a few vacation ideas for you coming up in the next half year or so. If you’re going to be at Geek Girl Con or GLFes, let me know so I can say hi!

 

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Wayward Comic, #1 (English)

August 17th, 2014

150013_603727_3Yesterday, on the week’s Yuri Network News report, I mentioned a new comic by Jim Zub, Steve Cummings and John Rauch called Wayward. Today, thanks to Jim Zub’s generosity, I am able to tell you all about Issue 1.

Without preamble, we meet Rori Lane, the half-Irish, half-Japanese protagonist on her way to Japan to move in with her mother, after trying to live with her father in Ireland; something that wasn’t working out, she assures us. Upon arrival, Rori immediately has a strange thing happen – when she wishes to know where a thing is, the roads mark themselves for her. It is obvious to us that Rori’s feelings of Japan being “home” to her is not entirely just wishful thinking.

Rori reunites with her mother and again, the next morning, strange things happen to her. I won’t spoil anything, but it’s worth noting that this series includes creatures from both ancient Japanese mythology and modern Japanese comic mythology.

Let me get the few negatives out of the way first. For us, an audience steeped in Japanese manga culture, there is ever so slightly a “zOMG, Japan is so alien!” a feel to the first issue. The author’s note contains a comment about how Japan embraces it’s strangeness…guess they’ve never been to London. Even lines about how many people there are ring strangely off to me. If you’ve ever been in any city, anywhere in the world, I can’t see Tokyo seeming that much more crowded. (OTOH, Rori has been living in Ireland, and I will give the creators the benefit of the doubt and imagine she’s a suburban girl.) So, maybe, if you’re not all wide-eyed and misty about exotic Japan, this might rub you the wrong way. I found it merely something to note, nothing that ruined the experience for me. IF, however, you know a person who loves the idea of Japan, but hasn’t read 14 million stories about school festivals and confessions on the school roof, this could be a great title to suggest.

That minor thing out of the way, let me talk about the positives. The first, major and most positive thing about Wayward is Rori. She’s a teen girl, written and drawn by a bunch of guys and there is nothing “trying too hard” about her at all. She’s written the way we always say we want – like a character, not “like a girl.” So, despite the fact that there are a lot of stylistic shorthands in the storytelling, Rori doesn’t come off as a girl written by a guy who is thinking, “Gee, what do girls like?” And jet lag. Yes. It is just like that.

The characters and action is well-drawn and appealing. Who doesn’t want to fight Japanese mythological creatures and have mysterious powers and a magical sidekick? We all do, you know we all do. ^_^

As soon as I wrap up here, I’m calling my LCS and pre-ordering Wayward, because I want to know what happens. And that, above all things, is the sign of a good comic.

Wayward #1 is a good comic.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Character – 8
Service – 0
Yuri – 0 as of yet

Overall – 8

I was almost immediately super in love with Wayward, because –  plane to the train to the subway and Rori steps out of the station into Ikebukuro, my own home away from home. ^_^ (psst, writers, Friendly Limousine bus service or the Narita Express go direct.)

It’ll make a nice change of pace from romance manga. As a creator-owned work, is a good way to support comics creators directly. (And, that’s two terrific female-lead comics from Image, along with Rocket Girl. Go Image!) It’s interesting to note that between My Little Pony, Lumberjanes, Rocket Girl and Wayward, I am now reading more American comics again than I have since the 1980s. And none of them are DC or Marvel.