Archive for the LGBTQ Category


Sex Education 120%, Volume 1

July 7th, 2021

Sex Education 120%, by Kikiki Tataki, with art by Hotomura was a very good book. I’m saying that right up front.

I won’t belabor us all with the details of how execrable “health” education is in school. We all have our own excruciating tales of teachers unwilling or unable to talk plainly or parents bent out of shape at even basics. I probably am old enough that my sex education, despite it’s heterocentrism, was at least still accurate…if not wholly adequate. And since then, it’s pretty obvious that the adequacy has dropped even further, which is why I think I would definitely give this book to a tween if I knew one to give it to.

The story is straightforward, Tsuji is the health teacher in a Japanese high school who is teaching the kids actual sex education, despite the constant push-back from her colleagues and administration. But that’s only half the story. Yes, the sex education as far as it goes (and it goes relatively far) is both accurate and adequate, but the story is about a lot more than just sex. 

There’s a chapter on coming out, as two of the girls admit to being in a relationship – and we get a discussion of dental dams and how they work. Same sex couples are given some quality time. A goofy chapter ends up educationg readers on the fact that love hotels are not allowed to discriminate against same-sex couple. There is a chapter about masturbation. There’s also a lot of (mostly useless and goofy, ala Heaven’s Design Team)  tidbits about animal behavior, and a nod to omegaverse and BL. We learn enough about Tsuji to root for her and enough about sex to pass part of an exam…there are notable bits about heterosexual stuff left out, presumably either to appear in later volumes.

The characters were likable, the lesbian couple is cute and Tsuji’s enthusiasm is just exactly ridiculous enough to keep you rooting for her and this was an incredibly fast and fun read. Thanks to CW for letting us know about it just before it was licensed by Yen Press.  On the sensible premise that the sex education most people get is limited and barely adequate, I highly recommend this series.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 10
Service – Not really, except to make a point about salaciousness.
Queer – 10 the lesbian couple is out by the end of this volume

Overall – 9

I picked this book up on Global Bookwalker with some extra coins I got from Yuri Day specials and was very pleased with my purchase. ^_^ It’s also available on Amazon, RightStuf and a manga seller near you! Volume 2 will ship in October.

 





DC PRIDE #1

July 1st, 2021

2021 is not the best timeline ever, but this year both Marvel and DC decided to acknowledge the queercreators and characters in their line-ups. A few days ago, I took a look at the Marvel Voices #1, their Pride collection. I had no particular expectations for either anthology, but expected that DC might do a better job, as they’ve had a bit more experience and a handful of more well-known characters who are out.

Marvel took the opportunity to talk about all the “firsts” they’ve done, without noticing that those firsts often lack follow-up. It made for a self-congratulatory feature that, I’m sorry to say, wasted some top-notch talent. In the end, I came into the book not knowing some of the characters and I left in the same state. Yes of course I can look the characters up, but why should I have to?

So here we are at DC Pride #1, and again, I had no idea what to expect. What I found was a really interesting approach. DC took their currently known, beloved characters from their DC TV Universe and focused on them. It was innovative in a way, because they were offering up two ways to engage with these characters at once – in comics and on television.

Again, I didn’t know every character when I began the book, I don’t watch DCEU on TV. I tried, most of the shows just didn’t hook me. But I do like Batwoman, and I’ll be the first person to tell you how much of a surprise that is. I even like Alice. I mean – I really like Alice as a character now, so far removed from the stuuuuupid origin story. And Javicia Leslie gets two thumbs up from be as Ryan Wilder/Batwoman.

So, I sat down to read this anthology…and by gum, I enjoyed it. Trung Le Nguyen’s art in the Batwoman story was fab, but I love-love-loved Lisa Sterle’s art for “Clothes Makeup Gift.” The Harley x Ivy story was a bit weak. I don’t much like Harley, but I especially dislike that Ivy ends up being the good cop to Harley’s chaos agent schtick. “Try the Girl,” written by Vita Ayala was a fab story all around and well drawn and colored by Skylar Partridge and José Villarubia. Of all the stories, I thought this one stuck the landing best.

Also, let me remind you, that I have permanently retired “Date Night” as a title, so dear comic artists, don’t use that anymore. Ever. It’s over. Done. The story was solid, I liked “meeting” Nia (again, I don’t watch TV much…) I loved seeing Brainiac, because I always did think that Silver Age Braniac was a bish. ^_^

Overall this anthology did exactly what I wanted both anthologies to do – introduce the queer characters from that universe and give me a taste of their personalities and powers. If you know someone queer who wants to get into American superhero comics but has no idea where or how or even if to start, you could do worse than hand them this anthology to get a broad idea of who is out there, what their stories are  and why they might be interested. Dear Marvel – this is what anthologies are supposed to be. Do this next time.

 

Ratings:

Art – 8 Overall excellent, some sublime moments. And Lisa Sterle!
Story – 7 Generally very good, a little performative, but each choice served a purpose
Queer – 10 Yes, and… old school and current and varied in a way that I truly enjoyed
Service – Shockingly little

Overall – 9 Hands down this anthology was a winner

 

If you haven’t picked this issue up yet and aren’t virulently opposed, hop over to Comic Shop Locator and find a comic shop near you! Or, of course, you can get this digitally on Comixology.

After how much I really disliked DC’s Love is Love Anthology, (“searing white-hot rage” is a quote from my review)  Pride #1 was a relief and a genuinely enjoyable read.





Marvel Voices #1: Pride

June 28th, 2021

The week after DC announced their Pride anthology this year, Marvel jumped in to say that they would be launching their new “Voices” series with a pride issue as well! My feelings about this were ambivalent. I will remind you that for my first two decades of life I was a hard-core Marvel fan. I have recently sold all the comics that no longer sparked joy, but I retain two long boxes with my whole Defenders run and my Thor and key issues that I have loved for years. I wanted so much to love this issue, and I knew I would not. Why? Because Marvel feels and sounds and produces and creates like a company that is putting out stories that aren’t theirs and so, they kind of don’t get how this works, really.

Marvel definitely got top notch talent to write and draw this issue, so much love to the creators – they really put their heart into the work. Voices #1: Pride had some really terrific art, especially. But….

I know what it is…but who is it for?

Honestly, I was hoping to read a bunch of cool stories about queer characters  – whether I knew them or not  and by doing so, get to meet them. Instead I found myself neck deep in “explaining how it feels to be not-straight/cis 101” and “performative teen trauma 102” and “woops, this is all the intro this character’s gonna get.”

You shouldn’t need wikipedia open to enjoy a 8 page comic.

The layout is all wrong. The book begins with factoids about every one of Marvel’s breathrough first “whatever” and later, mid-book, actual issues are cited, without them being referenced in the initial discussion….in fact, there’s no continuity from the one to the other, which would have been a nice touch. “XYZ happened! Whoooo us!!!!” and no hint of “For where it happened, look on on page 18.”

My favorite story is heavily laced with irony for me, as I historically absolutely do not like the X-Men franchise on account of working at a comic shop in the mid 80s and having to tell the same guys every single week on Thursday, “No, I don’t read X-Men” as they stood there for hourssssssss trying to convince me to read X-Me on the busiest day of the week.  X-Men fans in the 1980s came in 2 types – one of them was cute little fae, looking for something gayishishish to hang on to and the other kind asked me every single Thursday if I read X-Men.

Anyway, I really liked the X-Men/famous detective fanfic crossover “Grey Ladies”by Tini Howard & Samantha Dodge with Brittany Peers on colors. ^_^

And, in the end, that was why the book did not uplift me. It was all short scene-fanfic. Not a fully developed story in the lot. I know it was a lot to ask, but I would have paid twice as much for one whole story.

Ratings:

Art – 8 Outstanding in places
Story – Okay for what they were, and you kind of have to know the characters and their circumstances for it to work.
Queer – Yes, but yeah, as a comic nerd I’m not comfortable with all my heroes being cool club scene – kiss randos in the post-HIV, post-pandemic, post-Pulse, post I’m a fucking old grumpy nerd wolrd.
Service – A wholly reasonable amount of cheese and beefcake and I have no complaints, honestly.

Overall – 6 It could have been so much more. But attaboy Marvel, this is exactly the kind of self-congratulatory thing I expected. Adequately done.

If you feel that this deserves a deeper, much more abrasive dive, check out this fabulous Twitter thread in which Zoe does it better than I could ever.

…and I want to be very clear about this…Bobby Drake never “came out.” He was outed and I am still extremely pissed off about the choice by Marvel. It was not admirable.

Lastly, I bought the America Chavez cover….she’s not in the fucking book. SMDHaM





NO STRAIGHT LINES: The Rise of Queer Comics

June 27th, 2021

It’s the final Sunday of Pride month. NYC is gearing up for a virtual Pride Parade, which is being televised and sponsored and a real Queer Liberation March at which police and corporations are not welcome. Compton and Stonewall and all the other early protests were, after all, protests against police violence, specifically.

So I can’t think of anything better at all to celebrate this day, than to talk with you about NO STRAIGHT LINES: The Rise of Queer Comics.

In 2013, the wonderful artist Justin Hall curated a book called No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics. It was absolutely compelling reading. As I said in my review, I couldn’t put it down.  And while Justin was working on it, he was speaking with a bunch of folks including force of nature Jennifer Camper. It occurred to her that she lives in a time of miracles – all the first wave Gay Comics artists were still alive and reachable and so she reached out and created the Queers and Comics events in 2015, 2017 and 2019, for which I never wrote up a report, bad on me, but I was there for one day and ran a panel! As Jennifer said at the first event, she wanted to create an archive by and about queer comic artists while we had the chance to talk with the folks who were there. The was a bit prescient because after the 2017 event at which Howard Kruse was keynote speaker, he passed away and we only have those panels on page and film left of him.

Honestly, one of the greatest honors of my life has been to be a speaker at these events, and meet the women who are the early lesbian comic artists, just as meeting some of the earliest Yuri manga artists has been so important to me.

Justin teamed up with director Vivian Kleinman to create this film that took that idea a step further. They focused on five pioneers of queer comics, and let them tell their stories for us to enjoy. Alison Bechdel (Fun Home), Jennifer Camper (Rude Girls and Dangerous Women), Howard Cruse (Gay Comix), Rupert Kinnard (B.B. And The Diva) and Mary Wings (Come Out Comix).  Their stories are glossed by younger queer artists who talk about the effect that art had on their lives and their works.

My wife and I rented the movie on the Tribeca Film Festival website. We both thought it a terrific watch. There were some touching moments, a few tear-jerkers and a lot of joy and laughter. Thinking back now on those moments that became so…historically important….its always fun to remember the people doing them are people. People you can be just like and do your own thing, too. ^_^

Tonight NO STRAIGHT LINES will be closing out the Frameline Film Festival in San Francisco, and I have to stop typing as I am absolutely awash with so many memories of these people and their work and our shared experiences. Keep an eye out for screenings near you on their website. As soon as this has a more general release streaming or on video, I’ll be sure to let you know.

For those of you who read Okazu…this is our history. You should know it. These people are our groundbreakers, you should know them. The fact that so many of them are still here and still telling their stories just highlights the point that we live in amazing times to be a fan of queer comics.

Ratings:

Overall – 10

Celebrate our Pride Month, support a queer comic artist today!





Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 4 (おとなになっても)

June 23rd, 2021

In previous volumes of Otona ni Nattemo, we met Akari and Ayano, who met in a bar and spent the night together, Ayano’s husband Wataru, who has wondered what that means for him, and assorted family, friends, coworkers and students who have become involved in the lives of our principles. No one know what they are doing. Sure, they are adults, but…

In Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 4 (おとなになっても), the whirlpool sucks them in further. Wataru suggest a separation and Ayano agrees. Wataru’s going home to live with his parents. Akari, not knowing this, has also decided to move to give her distance between her and Ayano. At school, Ayano is playing at being a grown-up with answers for the children who have their own love triangle issues and is torturing herself on faking competent adulthood for elementary schoolers, while her own life is in turmoil.

Ayano and Akari coincidentally meet at the train station and coincidentally look back at one one another and, as the final pages of the volume are turned, Ayano suggest they go to the cafe at the station and talk….

I’m calling it – this series is Shimura Takako’s best work to date.

For years, I have said that her work reminds me of Melissa Scott’s novels – solid concepts with slightly too much emphasis on sex and gender considering the lack of conviction with which it was executed. For the first time ever, I feel that this book isn’t trying to say something – it’s a fully conceived story about people who might be real, and neither sex nor gender is the story, just part of human existence as a whole.

One does not dislike Akari, Ayano or Wataru, they are all sympathetic in their own ways. I don’t pretend to know what the future holds for any of them, frankly. I don’t even have an opinion on whether any of them ought to be together. I’m content to see where the story – which is well-drawn and well-told – goes.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 8
Service – 0
Yuri / Queer – Impossible to tell at this point. Ayano may be bi, Akari is lesbian, Eri might be ace, but we can’t be sure about anyone of them but Akari.

Overall – 8
I hope you’re all reading this story as it comes out in English as Even Though We’re Adults from Seven Seas. It’s Shimura at an absolute peak of her work and a story wholly for as well as about, grownups. Volume 1 is out, Volume 2 just came out last week, and Volume 3 will arrive in October (you can pre-order it on RightStuf or Amazon already.)