Archive for the LGBTQ Category


Gunjo, Chapters 10-13

August 6th, 2009

I haven’t talked about Gunjo (new spelling courtesy of the editors of Morning 2 magazine) in a while. It’s not because it stopped running, although there was a hiatus for a bit of the spring.

It was because, simply, I couldn’t. I could not write about what is arguably the most amazing story I have ever read, bar none.

I tried to verbalize why this was yesterday to the wife and began to cry, because I just couldn’t talk about it.

I last left you after the two protagonists spend a night of loss, love, passion and pain, after we get a glimpse into the lives they’ve put behind them, and watch as the blonde’s former lover is forced by her sheer misery to come out to her parents – who kinda knew and, really kind of liked the blonde.

That’s when this story went from really amazing to sublime. And that’s when I became incapable of writing about it.

The morning after, the protagonists, whom I have given the horrible nicknames BL (Blonde) and BN (Brunette), walk away. I mean that literally. They take a look at the blood they’ve left on the sheets and the towels, and the destruction they’ve caused in the room during their various tantrums, and they drop their purses, and every yen they have on the bed…then they walk away. And almost immediately, a policeman sees them and calls out after them.

They run. They run hard, suddenly realizing that they want freedom…and, when a train nearly hits BL and BN leaves even her shoes behind to run fast enough to save her, they realize that they want to live.

They spend the night wandering in the cold rain. BN is shoeless, and getting a cold as the night wears on. Almost immediately, before they’ve even been able to taste it, their freedom swirls away down the sewer. This was a 72 page chapter – it was indescribable. I felt utterly exhausted and breathless after reading it. They are clearly at their end of their very short ropes, when BL finds a coin and uses it to make a phone call.

She calls her brother. He’s amazed to hear from her and comes to get the two of them. As it happens, it’s her nephew’s birthday so, while BN huddles miserably in the car, BL spends a few happy hours with her brother’s family, coming out to him and his wife. “What’s it like, being a lesbo?” he asks, then apologizes.

BN, filled with misery and self-loathing and a head cold wants out. But BL is driving them both – somewhere.

And here we are, waiting on what will probably be the penultimate or ultimate chapter. I still don’t know how this will end, but I have no doubt that it will be epic. And beyond that, I await – as I hope you do – the collected volume with bated breath.

This really is not Top 10 for 2009 material – this is Top Ten for my entire life material. I’ve never loved such loathsome people so much.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 10
Characters – 9
Yuri – 9
Service – 1

Overall – 10





Passion Art Show

July 12th, 2009

Friday night I was honored to be able to attend the opening of the “Passion” Lesbian group art show, which was part of the Fresh Fruit Festival at the Leslie/Lohman Gallery at 26 Wooster St., NYC. It runs through July 25, Tue-Sat, 12 Noon – 6:00 PM and if you are in or around the NYC area, please do stop by. I spent some time that night talking with people about Rica’s art and taking pictures of them interacting with it. I invited them to visit this blog and see those pictures and copy them for themselves. Hopefully, we will be able to print them off and post them around the art itself in the gallery. Thanks to everyone who let me take a picture of them!

Rica’s art is about fluidity of identity, of gender and race. It’s about how people treat us certain ways because of what is on our outside and sometimes we can only show a little about who truly are inside. She invites everyone to be someone new, something new, with her energetic and cheerful interactive art. Her exhibit consists of three pieces – two that hang and are double sided, and one stationary on the wall. The hanging pieces depict a black woman/white man, an asian intersexed person/white intersexed person and the wall piece is a black intersexed person. The two hanging pieces were carried in this year’s Heritage Pride parade. The pieces are all for sale.

Please click the photos below to see a larger version





Yuri Manga: Ghost Talker’s Daydream, Volume 3 (English)

July 1st, 2009

You know what I just love? I love when people who aren’t lesbian or gay tell us what we feel and think. So, how convenient that “what lesbians feel” is described for me in Ghost Talker’s Daydream, Volume 3.

Saiki Misaki is an exorcist, She can see and talk to ghosts; spirits of the dead that are still attached for some reason to this plane. By seeing and speaking with them, Misaki facilitates their passing on.

In Volume 3, Misaki is asked by a lesbian friend, Shizue, to exorcise the spirit of a runaway who she didn’t sleep with, but didn’t help, either. The runaway, Arisa, and the woman who brought her to the lesbian bar, Naori (who, we are helpfully told is “gender dysphoric,”) die together, but Arisa continues to haunt Shizue. In discussing Naori, Shizue kindly explains to Misaki that all lesbians have fallen for a straight woman at least once and cursed the fact that they were a woman. We have, have we? All of us? Oh well, yet again, I am a bad lesbian. Thanks for confirming that.

Naori saves Shizue from Arisa’s anger, Misaki sends them all on to their next life and Shizue gets to live with guilt to go along with her shame.

It’s sort of touching, sort of annoying, sort of creepy because, even in death, Arisa, Naori and Shizue don’t manage to cut any ties. Now *that’s* typical lesbian behavior. ^_^

The next story follows Misaki’s civil servant friend/sidekick in a weird little sleep-deprivation-driven dream, followed by a story about ghosts needing Misaki to guide their granddaughter, and a violent little epic of rape, murder, ghosts and taxicabs.

I’m not really sure what to make of this manga. It’s clearly for Dark Horse’s target adult male audience. Misaki dresses like a whore, but obsesses constantly about her virginity. There’s almost sex, and implications of sex and mentions of sex, without there being any real sex, something I will never understand. Dark Horse does a nice reproduction job, though, so it’s easy to read and reasonably entertaining.

On a day when I was in a good mood, I’d be inclined to be charitable and say I liked it. Today I’m in a foul mood, but can’t bring myself to excoriate it. I’ll stick with “it’s sort of touching, sort of annoying, sort of creepy.” It’s also not really “Yuri.” The characters are actually Lesbians. That’s kind of a nice change. Too bad they need to “explain” stuff wrong.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – Variable, let’s say 7
Characters – 6 (No one I’d have over for lunch)
Yuri – 0, Lesbian – 6
Service – 8

Overall – 7

My sincere thanks to sponsor for today’s review, Okazu Superhero Daniel P, for introducing me to this series. I’ll stick it on my “to read some more one day when I get the chance” list! ^_^





Press Release: Prism Comics Seeks Grant Submissions‏

June 29th, 2009

*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*

Contact: David Stanley Co-President, Prism Comics

San Diego, CA — Prism Comics is seeking submissions for its fifth annual Queer Press Grant, established to support and encourage new LGBT comics creators. In conjunction, Prism will again offer portfolio review at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con International exclusively for those interested in applying to the grant.

“We were very happy to offer portfolio review last year,” says David Stanley, Prism Co-President. “It was terrifically helpful for the applicants and the reviewers enjoyed it tremendously, as well.”

The application deadline for the Prism Comics Queer Press Grant is October 1, 2009. Application guidelines are detailed on the PrismComics website at http://prismcomics.org/grant. Completed applications, along with queries about the grant, can be submitted by email to [email protected].

Past winners of the grant include Steve MacIsaac (Shirtlifter), Megan Gedris (YU+ME), Tommy Roddy (Pride High), Justin Hall (Glamazonia), and Pam Harrison (House of the Muses).

The grant award began with $1,000 for the first recipient and the amount has increased over the years depending on fundraising; last year’s award was $2,000.

Portfolio review will be offered at the 2009 San Diego Comic-ConInternational /exclusively/ to those interested in applying for the Queer Press Grant. Among the industry professionals offering advice and critique will be Phil Jimenez (The Amazing Spider-Man, Infinite Crisis), Bob Schreck (Editor, who has worked at DC Comics and Vertigo) and Colleen Coover (X-Men: First Family, Small Favors). Before attending the sessions, applicants are required to read through the application guidelines.





Events: LGBT Comic Signing, Girls Read Comics Project

June 23rd, 2009

This Saturday, June 27, at Jim Hanley’s Universe I, Rica Takashima, Abby Denson, Ariel Schrag, JD Glass and a bunch more LGBTQ comics artists, writers, publishers and distributors will be doing a Prism Comics book signing for Gay Pride. Seriously, don’t miss it – it’s going to be a star-studded event!

Deb Aoki, the highly engaging editor and writer of manga.about.com, was on Twitter yesterday, musing about several recently articles in the mass media that were severely demeaning to women planning on attending San Diego Comic Con. These articles implied everything from “women are only coming for cute boy actors” to “women go to get laid, because as we all know, no women are into comics.” None of these articles mentioned the many women and girls who draw, read or publish comics. Deb was musing about a “protest t-shirt” against invisibility of women in the comics industry and market. The conversation took on a life of its own and viola! a “Girls Read Comics” project was born.

Deb is looking for female artists to contribute one panel of art depicting a female character in American superhero, Indie or Manga style, with an empty word balloon. We’ll be filling in the balloons with comments like “Girls Draw Comics” “Girls Read Comics” “Girls Buy Comics” with (variations for “Women” and “Girls”) and a few other pithy comments submitted by other Twitterers.

T-shirts will probably be sold through Zazzle and proceeds will go to charities such as Friends of Lulu, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art. We’re going to try and make it so you can choose the charity of your choice, rather than us doing it.

So, if you are a woman, and would like to be contribute an art panel to the project, please contact Deb at debaoki at hotmail dot com. Published artists are especially welcome. Let me suggest that, if you do submit an art piece, you sign the piece somewhere.

If you are a guy and want to help out, feel free to email Deb and ask how you can help, but buying a shirt and showing your support for women who like comics is definitely a *great* way to help.

Comic-Con is coming soon, so if you want to participate, art has to be in by Monday, June 29. My guess is that we’ll keep working on this post Comic-Con, but let’s see if we can get it off the ground asap!