Archive for the Western Comic/Comix Category


Events: Toronto Comic Arts Festival 2014 Report

May 18th, 2014
"Chika" from Golondrina by est em at TCAF

“Chika” from Golondrina by est em at TCAF

This year Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) was held on May 10 and 11 at the Toronto Reference Library and surrounding locations. As with last year, I bought good books, met amazing people and generally had a blast.

I arrived Friday and hooked up with my roommates for the weekend, Brigid Alverson of Mangablog and Robot 6 and Johanna Draper-Carlson from Good Comics Worth Reading. The weekend activities started for me with a reception at the Japan Foundation, where Japanese manga guests  Moyocco Anno, creator of Sakuran and Happy Mania!, who was premiering her book Insufficient Direction, about her life with her husband, Neon Genesis Evangelion director Anno Hideaki; BL artist est em, creator of Golondrina, and the manga team who go by the name Himekawa Akira who are working on the My Little Pony ~ Friendship is Magic manga and are best known here for their Legend of Zelda manga adaptations, all introduced themselves to the audience, then we mixed and chatted. It was a pleasure to meet est em-sensei and also see Himekawa Akira-sensei again. ^_^

This was followed by a dinner of epic proportions, with Brigid, Johanna and myself joining fellow comics/manga journalists and reviewers, Deb Aoki of MangaComicsManga, Heidi MacDonald of The Beat, Robin Brenner from No Flying, No Tights and School Library Journal writer Eva Violin.

Girl Scouts

On Saturday, I moderated a relatively earlyish panel Art Theft! with Rachel Dukes and Katie Shanahan on how their art went from viral to stolen, what they did about it and what they might do differently knowing what they know now. It was well-attended for the venue and the panelists were great. At the end, we all agreed that we had learned something.

I hit the floor briefly between various panels and did dinner with friends, including manga blogger Sean Gaffney and a few other panels. The “Queering Comics” panel this year was *way* more balanced than last year, including at least one trans artist. I was a very little bit disappointed by the whiteness of the “Writing Comics for Women” panel, but that was remedied at the very excellent and nicely diverse “Women in Genre Comics” panel on Sunday. In fact, this last had me bolting for the floor again and buying up a bunch of the books I’ll mention in a sec.

I finished TCAF proper by moderating est em‘s Guest Panel, with translator Jocelyne Allen, followed by dinner with Sean, Johanna and Brigid, which was a terrific way to end the event!

The people are great, the panels are great, the venues are great, the food is great, Toronto is great, but the star of the show are the comics, and I thought you might want to know what I picked up while I was there. ^_^

standard-sized-single-page-templateThe first thing I snatched up were the first two issues of Sanya Anwar‘s zOMG gorgeous, throat-grabbingly compelling 1001. This is a re-thinking of the famous A Thousand and One Arabian Nights, with a more active Scheherazade. Issues 1 and 2 are up online and Sanya has said Volume 3 will be up in about a month. Her art is stunning, the story really grips you hard and shakes you up a bit and I cannot wait to read the next chapter!

Sanya also participated in  the “Women in Genre Comics” panel. One of the questions specifically asked about re-telling old myths and stories to create them in our own image. I’m excited to see what Sanya has planned for Scheherezade.

 

Lumberjanes by Stevenson Ellis Walters AllenI’ve *finally* had a chance to read The Lumberjanes, Issue 1, courtesy of Brigid, and I have every intention of nabbing up Issue 2 in which a relationship begins to happen in between following bearwomen into the woods and fighting wolves.  And other things. This is an action-packed, gosh-I wish-it-were-longer type story that I gift to my inner 11 year old.

Issue 1 starts right in the middle of an adventure and the tension doesn’t really let up, so readers are left chasing the story right from the get-go, which I completely approve of. No slow build to a thing happening here.

 

stonewall 1 - Venus by sasha steinberg

Magical Bitches by April MaligSasha Steinberg and April Malig were next to each other, so while I was chatting with them, I picked up the first of Sasha’s Stonewall series, and the first issue of April’s Magical Bitches series. This is a sarcastic send-up of the magical girl genre and the first issue is a prelude to what I hope will be a great story.

I asked Sasha about Stonewall and he said he’s working on a multi-part series detailing the weekend when the Stonewall bar became the turning point for American sexual and gender minorities. Each issue will follow a different character. Issue one starts off with Miss Venus, a teenage drag queen. The art for this issue is very mid-century American romance comics…the color choices, in particular, are stellar. Sasha discusses his influences in the back of the comic, from content to art and even has footnotes on the historical facts. Totally swoon-making. ^_^ His first two arcs, Miss Venus and Mark are available for purchase on his shop.

Sorceresses Next Door by Chad Sells and Jay Fuller

The Sorceresses Next Door by Chad Sells and Jay Fuller got me all choked up.  Read it here and see why.

Witchlight by Jessi ZabarskyReading Jessi Zabarsky’s Witchlight, I remembered why pamphlet comics drive me bat shit crazy. JUST as the story gets good, it ends and you have to wait for the next chapter!!

A teaser for Liz Prince’s Tomboy made me wish it was September already. Anyone who grew up as a tomboy will remember these situations. It’s not all bad…but it wasn’t all good, either.

 

Toccata by Shilin HuangI bought an artbook so beautiful I literally said to the artist, “Take my money. Immediately.” Breathtaking work by Shilin Huang based on her original comic Carciphona. There were some Yuri images, but really, it would not matter, the work hit my sweet spot for art. Check out the first page of Carciphona and see what I mean.

Time Travel Magic by Caitlin Major and Matthew HoddyMatthew Hoddy and Caitlin Major, who work as team Space Pyrates, had a fun little two-story collection called Time Travel Magic. Both protagonists were terrific female characters and one story has a little Yuri.

The next purchase I made comes with a somewhat strange story:

Some years ago, I was at the MoCCA event in New York City and an acquaintance mentioned that her friends had put together a collection I might like. The book was called Jardin des Lunettes. I wrote about the anthology in 2009, because I did indeed like it.

Love Lens Anthology by Love Love Hill5 years later, I am standing in another country in front of the same circle and we all have a “Really!?!” moment as I realize I am holding the sequel to that anthology, by the circle now known as Love Love Hill.

The new anthology is called Love Lens and again, Kim Hoang has created a lovely Yuri story for the collection. Do get this if you have any interest in original Yuri and want to support  Western comics creators! The Yuri story really is awfully sweet. ^_^

Fujo Sports Anthology by Love Love HillThe same circle were also selling a BL sports anthology called Fujo Sports. I read it last night and it was cute,; all the stories except one were kind of the same story…but it still was an entertaining read. ^_^

There was one Yuri story in  the collection, as well. And, honestly, the cover was worth the price. ^_^

Before You Go by Denise SchroederThe last pamphlet comic I want to mention comes from the pages of Sparkler Monthly, the English language Shoujo/Josei  manga magazine put out by ex-Tokyopop folks and great ladies Lillian Diaz-Przybyl and Lianne Sentar. They are doing *amazing* work, getting original English-language and translated short stories, manga-inspired comics, manga and voice dramas. One of their short series is recently published Yuri story Before You Go (which you can preview here and you can buy on the Sparkler shop – thanks  wandering dreamer for the heads up!) I picked up an extra copy to give away in a future contest, as well. ^_^

This story is a pretty straightforward “Story A” girl meets girls story, but it’s always lovely to have a sweet Yuri story in among all the angsty BL. ^_^

The last two books I have to mention,  I have not finished yet, but they are both oh so good.

Galaxion 1Tara Tallan‘s Galaxion, which is a story that got its start in 1983 when Tara was in 7th grade and is now on it’s 4th iteration or so as a fully drawn and written space epic graphic novel series that passes the Bechdel Test and the Friedman addendum with flying colors.

Women are leaders and fully formed and people have conversations with other people the way they do and then a plot happens! And there’s space ships and people relationships and politics and a plot. I’m really enjoying the book so far.

 

My last purchase of the show I have not yet had a chance to read, but I was so impressed by one of the creators at the “Women in Genre Comics” panel, I wanted to get it. Namesake by Isabelle Melançon and Megan Lavey-Heaton. I’m at the end of a long post, so I’ll steal the synopsis from the comic’s website:  “Namesake is the story of Emma Crewe, a woman who discovers she can visit other worlds. She finds out that these are places she already knows – fantasy and fairy lands made famous through the spoken word, literature and cinema. Her power as a Namesake forces her to act as a protagonist in these familiar stories as she figures out how to get home.” Another strong female protagonist, another compelling story.

So, here’s my takeaway…again…from TCAF. When you are looking for amazing female characters, warriors, adventurers, time-travelers, sorcerers, scouts, captains and leaders, look at the amazing work of the women and men who are making comics not necessarily carried at your local comic shop or bookstore. Check out the YA sections, look for good comics for kids, get to local comic shows (not comic collecting or collectables; the small local comics shows that are popping up everywhere, MECAF, MoCCA, Stumptown, and more. Don’t know where to start? Heidi MacDonald does “coming up this weekend” round ups on The Comics Beat and so does Tom Spurgeon at Comics Reporter.)

And…if you can manage it, make it to TCAF, where the world comes to sell terrific comics to people who want to read them.





Interview with Queer Comics Creator Leia Weathington

March 25th, 2014

BRUJust about a month ago, indie queer comics publisher Northwest Press announced a Kickstarter for the sequel to one of my favorite comics of recent years, The Legend of Bold Riley. Written by Leia Weathington, and drawn by several different artists, this book was everything I could have hoped. For the sequel, Bold Riley Unspun, Weathington opted for a Kickstarter to pay her artists well and upfront.

Today we have a special treat. Weathington has taken time out of her schedule to take a look inside her process and her thoughts about Bold Riley. I hope you will all welcome Leia Weathington to Okazu!

Let’s jump right into some questions:

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Q1: How did you get into writing comics? Was it something you wanted to do as a child?
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I was obsessed with the Disney Adventures magazine as a kid. They had all of these serialized little comics from Tail Spin, Darkwing Duck, all of the cartoons I’d run home from school and watch. For a few months they were running Jeff Smiths Bone. I was just…blown away.

I was a really big reader as a kid but until I saw Bone I thought that it was impossible for comics to be as immersive and detailed as the prose books I was consuming. I know, that seems absurd considering how fanatical I was about animated shows. When DA stopped running Bone they included a note on the last page that you could still buy it at your local comics books shop. So imagine a ten year old hanging off of her mothers belt loops, almost foaming at the mouth while said mom flips through the yellow pages.

So mom drives me to some little dark comic book store to get the new Bone issues and I came out with Bone, Ranma ½, MIX Magazine and a few other random comics and no change for her 20. I’m lucky my parents love art, media and books so much otherwise I may have been in deep shit.

After that I was balancing my prose books with comics. I read comics for kicks but Jeff Smith showed me what you could really do with comics.

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Q2: Which artists or writers are your role models?
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Ok, here is the Big Fat List: Fumi Yoshinaga, Emma Donahue (The Sealed Letter, Kissing The Witch), Tarsem Singh, Garth Nix , Jim Henson, Chiho Saito , Goya, Margaret Atwood, Zora Neale Hurston, Yukito Kishiro, and Mike Mignola.

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Q3:How long does it take you to write a story?
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Coming up with a cohesive plot can take a couple years of just…thinking. Writing an actual script can take a month or so depending on length. I have a bad habit (that I’ve managed to break only a couple years ago.) of needing to have the beginning, middle and end of something solidified in my mind before I would sit down and write something someone else could actually read.

Here is a bullet point break down of my process:
● Think of concept while doing something mundane, like showering.
● Make a stupid playlist for thing.
● Aggressively think about thing for several weeks while listening to stupid playlist on repeat.
● AGGRESSIVELY TYPE FIVE PARAGRAPHS ABOUT THING.
● Run away from thing for 2-4 weeks.
● Come back to thing, scrap half of thing.
● AGGRESSIVELY PACE IN A LOCKED BATHROOM AGGRESSIVELY THINKING AND AGGRESSIVELY ACTING OUT SCENES IN THE MIRROR.
● Sit down and type rough draft of thing.
● Have small crisis of faith.
● Sit back down and type final draft.

I cannot stress how important the aggressive pacing and aggressive acting out of scenes is. Also, the neighbors are terrified of me and will not make eye contact. To be fair, there are no curtains in that bathroom.

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Q4: How do you go about choosing an artist?
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When I’m developing a story I usually have a really clear idea of what sort of visual style would be most effective. I’m active on Tumblr and Twitter which is where a lot of artists display their talent. I’ve also been working in comics for about ten years now so I have connections with phenomenal talent. Sometimes there will be a toss up between two artists that would suit a script but that’s rare.

After I select an artist, approach them with the story and have their agreement to work on it I have a meeting with them to go over the script. Typically my final drafts are what I think of as “Bare minimum” meaning they are broken down into pages but not paneled. Some artists like having the structure of pages and panels and some don’t. I talk with them about how they like a script formatted for them to effectively work from. I give them folders of photo reference that evoke mood or setting and discuss the general emotional state and journey the characters go through. then they can also bounce back to me if they think that’s coming through in dialog or pacing.

With Bold Riley in particular I try to select artists for stories they would enjoy drawing and also be suited for.The type of artist I want for stories in the series actually strongly dictates the sort of narrative I want to tell. I have never and will probably never have multiple artists do test pages. I select comic artists who already have a body of work.

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Q5: After you have chosen the artist, how does the collaboration work? Do you vet roughs, or critique the art in any way?
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Generally an artist sends me rough thumbs to show how they would like to tell the story, I give the go ahead and then they proceed in the fashion they find the most effective and comfortable. I rarely edit art. If I ask for changes it’s because something is insanely off model or it’s a consistency issue for artists later in the series.

I believe that in comics if you want to be a writer working with an artist you have to listen to their input and be open to revisions. I may panel out something I feel is perfect but if my artist comes to me with an idea of how it could be more effective visually it’s my responsibility to take that into consideration and then rewrite accordingly. Communication is key. I think if you want to involve another human being in a creative endeavor you have to be able to talk things out and compromise.

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Q6: You’re working on your second volume and your Kickstarter funded pretty quickly. What’s going through your head? What do you feel about your success so far?
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I’m honestly amazed, surprised and terrified all at once. This is my first Kickstarter and Bold Riley is my first book. When I started doing this project I thought maybe ten people, tops, would read my lesbian fantasy adventure comic. It turns out that number is more quite a few more than ten and growing. That’s huge, That’s humbling. I have women come up to me at cons and tell me shit like, “This book is really important, We needed this.” and I want to sit down and cry for a little bit. Artists I admire have asked about doing work on this series. Like, this story I believed in and thought was important it turns out other people feel the same way? That’s huge.

Now I sometimes go to sleep and have dreams about every pledger canceling their reward and the whole industry turning it’s back on me but from what I understand that’s pretty normal for most creatives.

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Q7: Do you read any Queer comics?
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Hell yes! Blue Dellaquanti’s O Human Star, Sfe R Monster’s Eth’s Skin, EK Weaver’s The Less Than Epic Adventures of TJ & Amal, Tom Siddell’s Gunnerkrigg Court, Benjamin Riley’s Iothera and Brittney Sabo’s All Night are some of the best comics I’m reading right now that also have a queer theme. I can’t recommend them highly enough. Amazing art and unique voices.

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Q8: Plans for the future? More Riley?
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Oh, so much Bold Riley. If things keep going well the plan is to finish the Bold Riley series with eight trades and a ninth epilogue volume. Book three is already half written and the artist lineup is solid.

I also have a couple projects I’m working on with Joanna Estep, the artist who is drawing “The Lion Jawed,” the final chapter of Bold Riley: Unspun and I’ll be in the Beyond anthology of queer sci fi fantasy comics with a story called “Eat At Chelle’s!” about a transwoman restaurateur who is getting her food stock from bizarre parallel worlds and serving them to a well heeled clientele. I’m really pleased to be working with Lin Visel, who will be the artist for that one.

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Q9: Any message for fans?
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Thank you for reading. Thank you for making all of the time I put into this worthwhile. It means a lot.

Thank you so much for your time today and we wish  you the very best!





LGBTQ Adventure Comic: Gun Street Girl

March 11th, 2014

81TK5BKRjrLWith the kind of synchronicity that I’m used to, there has been a lot of conversation in LGBTQ comics and Yuri circles recently about stories with lesbian leads that are more than just a romance. Yuri anime is firmly entrenched in selling school life rom-coms to man-boys, and many readers are looking for something a little more…fun, with action and adventure. I’ve mentioned The Legend of Bold Riley several times and today I want to talk about a new comic – Gun Street Girl is definitely all that. The lead character happens to be gay, and then a story happens. ^_^

Barb Lien, one of the founding members of Sequential Tart, was tired of reading mainstream gay comics characters whose only story seemed to be that they were gay. Rather than looking at the body of LGBTQ comics to find similar role models, she decided to write the story she was looking for. “Because I wanted to read a story about….I wrote it” is the most common reason I hear for creating a work. It’s a totally valid reason, I’m not dissing it in any way. ^_^

And so, Barb created Gun Street Girl, a comic that if I were asked to describe, I would probably sum it up as “if Willow was Buffy”.  Lizzie is the “gun” for a street wizard named Eddie. We meet them in a fun meta-commentary of comic stereotypes “Everybody Want To Rule The Wold.”  The stories are independent of one another, but we get a glimpse of Lizzie’s relationships, her history for a solid volume. Lien has created fully fleshed out characters, with a slightly less fully fleshed out world. Like Buffy‘s Sunnydale, Gun Street Girl‘s world uses magic freely, then imposes random limitations upon itself, leaving it slightly adrift in time. It’s contemporary, but not our world, exactly.

For a story that was going to just have a gay lead and then the stories happens, Gun Street Girl gets a little heavy-handed in other places, addressing sexism in “An Unsuitable Job For A Woman” (a title which was used back in 1972 by P.D. James and, I felt, was an unfortunate choice in 2013. Update: I am informed that the stories were written about 10 years ago and admittedly comics have changed since quite significantly), and racism in the second story “Waking the Witch” in which we also meet Lizzie’s lover, Prana, who has a secret of her own.  Too much of a good thing and also too little. The lessons are good, but – and here is my sincere concern – why are we still having stories about this stuff? If Lien was frustrated that superhero comics were still wrapped in the most basic “gay” stories, here she was pointing big red arrows at “she’s a woman in a man’s world” and “look how not-white this character is.” Ironically, the whole shebang is set in the UK, which is far, far more  integrated  in media representation than we are in the US.

Ryan Howe’s art is solid, easy to follow, even in “magic”-y scenes. It’s very 2-dimensional, hearkening back to comics of my youth. A few panels felt downright Kirby-esque. ^_^ The all-back and white art suited the story well, I think the pages might have looked messier in color, but then I much prefer B&W to color comics now, having had my sensibilities warped by manga. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 7
Yuri/Lesbian – 7 No obligatory sex – which is good, it’s a little *look, she’s a lesbian* but + for her and Prana’s relationship just being a relationship.
Service – 1

Overall – 8

For action, adventure, magic and fighting with a lead who just happens to be a lesbian, definitely give Gun Street Girl a try!





LGBTQ Comics – The Legend Continues in Bold Riley: Unspun

February 28th, 2014

BRUI’m sitting here in a Kickstarter-induced dopamine rush. Leia Weathington has just posted the crowd-sourced fundraiser for the sequel to her lesbian action fantasy series The Legend of Bold Riley, today. The sequel will be called Bold Riley: Unspun.

Like the original series, Bold Riley: Unspun will be released as several stand-alone pamphlet comics and as a collected volume slated for a winter 2014 release.

There were many things I loved about the first book; the different art styles, the Conan-esque writing, the stunning cover art. I’m still hoping that NorthWest Press will get a Riley t-shirt together.

The kickstarter this time is purely to pay creative costs.  You know how strongly  I feel about artists being paid for their work. So for the first time in my life, I went all-in and pledged the highest level. I know and enjoy the art by a few of the artists and I adore the stories and my birthday is only 7 months away. ^_^

If you like action-fantasy with a lesbian princess who can fight a god, bed a wench and stand up to an evil-eyebrowed wizard with the best of ’em, support Bold Riley: Unspun.

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While I’ve got your attention, NYC-area friends, I have two NYC events of interest.

Tonight at Jim Hanley’s Universe, some of the contributors to Northwest Press’s QU33R will be doing  a book signing!

Rica Takashima will be joining Jennifer Camper and a host of other feminist and lesbian comic artists at the Feminist ‘Zine Fest tomorrow at Barnard College.

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Save all that snow-shoveling money, kids…it’s going to be a great year for LGBTQ comics!





LGBTQ Comics: QU33R Anthology

February 4th, 2014

QU33R“LGBTQ characters are also appearing in mainstream comics, and the code of silence that [Mary] Wings fought against  has been broken. But there still remains a profound need for distinctly queer comics.” – Justin Hall, from the Foreword of QU33R.

Where No Straight Lines, Hall’s historical retrospective of western LGBTQ comix and comics, told us where we came from and  how we got here, Rob Kirby’s new anthology, QU33R: New Comics from 33 Creators, tells us where “here” is.

I’m frequently asked whether western comics have an equivalent of Yuri or BL and I always reply, “Of course! There have always been LGBTQ comics artists and therefore there have always been LGBTQ comics.” But the question is not – and really has never been –  “do they exist?” but “Where can I find them?” There are fewer and fewer weekly gay papers and more and more webcomics, which makes it both much easier and much, much harder to find anything to read. I used to read “This Modern World” by Tom Tomorrow in the Village Voice, now I follow him on Twitter.

A search engine search on “gay comic” or “lesbian comic” actually turns up some excellent stuff…it also doesn’t turn up really excellent stuff that gosh, it would be great to know about, but if Google doesn’t show it above the cut on Page 1, it’ll never get seen. And you may not know about Diane DiMassa, because you weren’t a lesbian in the 90s. Heck, you may not have been born in the 90s. It’s perfectly okay to not know a 30-year old series, but how much cooler is it to read Jennifer Camper, or Kris Dresen or Ivan Velez, Jr. or Carlo Quispe and then meet them at a comics event and think, “Holy crap! I just met a legend!”

This book is full of today’s comics, some talking about yesterday, others about tomorrow and a few delving into an alternate today. With my deep and abiding love of ridiculous lesbian tropes, my favorite story was Jennifer Camper’s hard-boiled assassin story, “Another Night in Carbon City”. I was also deeply moved by Steve MacIssac‘s, “Vacant Lots,” a story of coming back to his hometown, a completely different guy than he left, and seeing how life had changed those who motivated him to become who he is. (Oddly, enough, my mother just brought up one of the two people who function the same way in my life. It’s always bizarre when Mom mentions her, because she remembers I didn’t like her, but not that she emotionally tortured me for years, or that I have long, long ago let it go. All that is left is Mom’s memory that I didn’t like her that she always has to remind me about.)

The book cover reminds me of comics collections of my youth; colorful, densely packed with art and giant words over the art. The interior pages have a feature that all anthologies everywhere ought to include – a visible reminder of the artist’s name prominently displayed on every page. I really liked not having to flip back and forth to remind myself who I was reading. I also liked (and always like) when the contributors get a bit of space to talk about themselves in the back.

If you have ever asked yourself something along the lines of “what do LGBTQ comics in America look like?” you’ll definitely want to pick up QU33R, available in 3 digital formats, hardcover and paperback from the terrific folks at Northwest Press (for whom I have to thank for this review copy. Thanks Zan!) Northwest consistently puts out terrific LBGTQ comics and I hope that, if you’re interested in LGBTQ comics as well as Yuri manga, you’ll give QU33R a chance.

Ratings:

Overall – 8