Archive for the Western Comic/Comix Category


The Legend of Korra: Ruins of the Empire, Part One

June 7th, 2019

Legend of Korra: Ruins of the Empire, Part One is the beginning of the new three-part comic series following Avatar Korra and her friends, allies and enemies. Many thanks to Okazu Superhero Eric P. for sponsorship of today’s review!

This time, the story begins just before the Earth Kingdom holds a democratic election, as a new general seeks to re-establish martial law and with it, the Empire. General Guan has the martial might and probably the force of personality needed to make him a real threat, but he’s also secretly brainwashing people, which will clearly give him an unfair advantage in the election.

Korra decides to vist former Earth Empire general Kuvira and gain her insight on this situation. The team is uncomfortable with this  decision, but when Korra allows Kuvira to leave her prison to help fight Guan, tensions run pretty high. Asami is not quiet about her lack of trust and unwillingness to be anywhere near the woman who killed her father.

Vivian Ng’s and Michelle Wong’s illustrations are solid, and the writing is now much like stepping into comfortable shoes. We know the people, we don’t need any of the “oh, hey, let’s deal with this thing over here” that we had to in Turf Wars. Korra and Aasmi’s relationship is stable, even if their perspectives are in opposition. That said, there is care taken to remind the reader that they are a couple. Just in case you didn’t get the memo. So while I would not say that this is a “LGBTQ” comic, it is a solid adventure comic (as well as a equally solid “Politics 101: Why People Suck” for tweens ^_^) comic that includes a stable lesbian couple.

Like the previous series, things move pretty fast in this short graphic novel. Whether, ultimately, Kuvira can be trusted is still up in the air. I’m hoping that she will be written as nuanced and complex as she was in the cartoon. For my money, one of the things LoK did best was the portrayal of the adult women as fully developed humans. I’m hoping we’ll see Kuvira in that light, once again. Some of her history is briefly surfaced, so that’s good.

If you’re looking for a YA graphic novel for a kid who likes to think, one that checks multiple boxes on diversity (although there is still room to expand in this regard), has male and female characters who are given the space they need to be seen as whole, and is an good entree into understanding politics and human society as we experience it in real-time, this is a great bet.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Service – 0
Yuri – 10 In this case, because Asami and Korra just are, together, not because of any grand coming out.

Overall – A very solid 9

The book itself has no ratings or age limits of any kind, which puts it by default into All-Ages. And it’s currently #1 in Amazon’s LGBT Graphic Novels category, to which I say, “Happy Pride Month, Korra and Asami, welcome to the family.”





Western Comic: When I Arrived at the Castle (English)

May 23rd, 2019

Despite the increase in lesbian vampire (or not-a-vampire) stories in recent years, there has not yet been a lesbian horror renaissance. Recently in a twitter conversation several folks were speaking about how in many genres including, but not limited to, both BL and Yuri, horror is often transformed into something “sexy.” As a result, the horror of that horror is never fully felt or addressed, because its presented to the reader wrapped in a cloth of sexual desire.

In my TCAF panel with creator Emily Carrol, (a recording of which you can listen to, thanks to Jamie Coville!) she made the point that, for her, horror must be unresolvable for it to work.  And for me, the horror must have lingering discomfort or it’s just fear and not “horror.” When I Arrived in the Castle ticks all these boxes.

We begin in the middle of a story, one for which we will learn a beginning, but not the beginning and for which we will never truly know the end. An apparently nervous cat-woman arrives at a castle where a predatory female something will taunt her emotionally and physically. Maybe she and we will learn a truth, but never the truth.

Presented in black, white and red, with a variety of visual styles, the art leaves us as unmoored as the narrative and prose.

All though the narrative progresses in a straightforward fashion, the tale is nonlinear and climax does not bring resolution or knowledge. In the end, we are left with unanswered questions, unquestionable feelings and a pervading sense of having seen something, but what, exactly we’d be hard pressed to describe. 

If you are interested in lesbian horror, this is about as close to and as far from Carmilla (original novel or recent web series based on it) as you can get at the same time.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – ????
Service – 6 There are nudity and sexual situations, but whether it’s salacious really depends upon you
Lesbian – Yuppers

Overall – 9

 

This is a brilliant work of horror and you should all read it to learn something about yourself.

 





Western Comic: Chronin, Volume 1 (English)

May 19th, 2019

I’m really excited to be able to talk about a terrific comic today, Chronin, Volume 1 by Alison Wilgus. I’m obsessively promoting this work and, after having spoken to Alison at both TCAF and again this weekend at Queers & Comics I have convinced a few people to pick up a copy of this book. Now I hope I can convince all of you to do so.

Chronin, Volume 1 begins in Japan of the late 1800s, when a young woman approaches a ronin for help. He rejects her request, but nonetheless find himself accompanying Natsu on a trip whose purpose she will not tell him.

The story follows a team of young time-travelers from our near future, graduate students on trips to study history as it unfolds. Among them is Yoshida Mirai, a woman studying Japan’s Bakumatsu period, the years immediately after Japan was forced open to western trade by the arrival of Admiral Perry and his black ships, before the Meiji Restoration. Mirai visits Kyoto to study city life at that time. Of course, the team of young time-travelers are warned to not get involved, but as tensions between the Choushuu clan and and the Shinsengumi increase, Mirai finds herself trapped in time. I’m not going to spoil a single thing about the story, because I really hope you’ll all read it.

The background is well researched, which gives Wilgus’s story a chance to soar as the characters are introduced, developed and embedded within this complicated tale of social and political upheaval and personal conflict. Even more appealing, Wilgus’ art is incredibly good, with both backgrounds and people drawn more in the style of late 19th century Japanese drawings than in any current western style. Backgrounds are carefully drafted, but people are lightly drawn, which really gives the reader a way to sense Mirai’s feeling of being inserted in a world not her own. In this feeling, Chronin reminded me so strongly of another time-traveling Japanese history comic that was I was totally into almost 20 years ago, Amakusa 1637.

I apparently never reviewed it on Okazu, but if I was reading it now, I might. By longtime Flowers magazine creator Akaishi Michiyo, Amakusa 1637 followed a Japanese Catholic high school student council who were transported into the past….just before the 37,00 Japanese Christian civilians and rebelling soldiers were beheaded by the Tokugawa Shogunate, (which was partly the catalyst for the Shogunate to close Japan to the west and outlaw Christianity and Western influence in Japan, the very laws that Perry’s arrival overturned.) To make the story work, Akaishi ended up changing Japanese history completely, allowing Natsuki and her friends to create a whole new future. There are a lot of parallels between Amakusa 1637 and Chronin, none of which I will mention because they’d spoil the fuck out of the story and I really want you to read it! I know Alison is not familiar with this story, but it’s absolutely fascinating to me that she’s so neatly tying up the end of that story in a story that so closely parallels it!

I will tell you this, while Volume 1 is gay only by proxy, I was told by Alison this weekend that Volume 2 is exponentially more queer. Since Volume 2 is slated for a September release we won’t have too long to wait – get that preorder in. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 9 Well thought out and executed, without being heavy-handed
Story – 9 Checked a lot of my boxes for historical fiction
Characters – 8 Kuji’s a dipshit, but I like everyone else
Service – 3 Very restrained, but necessary
Yuri – 0 so far, but I’ve got my eyes on the prize

Overall – 9

Even aside from any future gayness, this story includes cross-dressing and fucking around with history, as well as solid artistic chops. Chronin is an excellent read.

 





LGBTQ Comic: Summit Volume 1, The Long Way Home (English)

March 24th, 2019

Lion Forge Comics came out of the gate in 2011 at full speed. With leadership that loved comics and embraced and supported diverse creators, stories and audience, and very talented folks working for them at every level, they have it all going on in the right direction.

I had been told to keep my eye out for this particular book, and now that it has been collected in a graphic novel, I thought it time to buckle down and give it a good look.

Summit, Vol.1: The Long Way Home follows the story of Valerie “Val” Resnick-Baker, the only surviving member of a space mission to deflect an asteroid hurtling towards Earth, a mission which failed horribly. Also killed in the subsequent impact was Val’s girlfriend Kay. A year after the event, Val is not okay, even if Earth is slowly recovering, thanks to Lorena Payan, visionary CEO of Foresight Industries.

The story is told in non-linear segments, tracking back and forth from before the “event” to the present in which Val learns the whole truth about what happened and explores the powers the event left her with. She rediscovers old allies, makes new friends and finds out who not trust.

Val is a woman who was pair-bonded with another woman. There’s no reason to expect that her next lover, should she take one, will not be a woman. Val is a lesbian lead character and then the story happens. This is a refreshing take on the whole issue. Her sexuality is not a “thing. It’s not a plot complication or a climactic reveal, it’s mere a fact of her existence.

That her lover is dead is such an overplayed plot point that I almost feel a little bad for writer Amy Chu. I guessed she was straight, or she might have not chosen this really threadbare backstory to begin with. But I’ll give her and the rest of the team the benefit of the doubt that the story will involve some character development. Even Kate Delafield eventually moved on and found herself in love with someone new. Took ten years and a couple of novels, but it did happen.

The characters here are strong, the world of Summit is set loosely based around Foresight Industries’ Mexico City Headquarters. Summit is a solid work. The art by Jan Duursema and lettering and coloring are all exactly what one wants from a western-style comic book. The plot is not complicated (if anything it’s a tad predictable,), which makes Volume 1 a good place to begin from, and sets up what I hope will be a solid superhero narrative going forward.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 7, except for Fiona, who deserves an extra point or two
Service – 0
LGBTQ – 4 There’s no squeamishness, it remains to be seen if it’s relevant to Val’s future as it is to her past

Overall – 7

The cast of and staff working on the series look like the world we live in, which gives me hope that there is someone at Lion Forge who is queer as well and can keep this series from falling into all the plotholes of lesbian literature. If Val starts drinking, I’m going to write a cautionary letter, that’s all I’m sayin’.





Jook Joint Comic, #1 (English)

October 17th, 2018

The one thing I still love best about cons is the chance to walk through the artist alley and discover original works, speak with artists, and get to see the stuff you might not find in the Dealer’s Room. At NYCC this year, I was pleased as punch to get my hands on Jook Joint, #1, the new venture by Bingo Love‘s Tee Franklin with Alitha Martinez, Shari Chankhamma, Taylor Esposito and Mike Hawthorne.

The title comes from an American black southeastern colloquialism, Jook, (aka Juke) Joint, a honkytonk that served the black population. Think “Jukebox.” A Jook Joint is a place for people to escape their lives, grab a drink, some companionship and relax. THIS Jook Joint is also a place where women can get revenge on those who assault them., among other things.

The book comes with a trigger warning for sexual and domestic abuse, and violence, it also comes with a raft of hotline numbers. (See the bottom of this post for those numbers, if you need, there are people who can help you. Call them.) Because I felt this book’s violence to be entirely therapeutic, it didn’t strike me as violent at all. Nonetheless, it is violent.

In Jook Joint #1, we meet a lineup of women who need shelter from men and the witches who protect them, all centered around Mahalia, who uses her magic to offer the sick and frightened protection and, if they desire, vengeance for the abuse.

There is a touch of lesbian sex and my gut tells me Mahalia loves both the women and the men who treat her with respect. Hopefully we’ll see some of that in upcoming issues.

This was such a great comic, honestly. It felt like a throwback to the horror comics of my youth in which the grotesque was eclipsed by the everyday horrors of real life, for which revenge would be no more than a bandaid. Slasher horror and psychological horror wrapped up in some beautiful art. So good.

#1 ends with the story of Heloise, the victim of domestic violence, but now that her husband is turning his wrath on their daughter, she’s had enough. Will she go through with Mahalia’s spell? Tune into Jook Joint #2 to find out! You know I will. These are all available in print and on Comixology on Kindle.

Ratings:
Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Service – 9 Nakedness, but for me the service is the vengeance
Lesbian – 5 Only a few panels in the beginning, but pretty blunt

Overall – 9

Some excellent American horror comics right here. It felt good.

Call, if you need help:

National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-HOPE (4673)
National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233
National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-27-8255