A fantasy queer romance based on traditional Scandinavian folklore with two adorable huldre wives and delicious Scandi food!
On Huldra:
Huldra are a type of Scandinavian troll, which have variations depending on which country they come from. They’re generally accepted to be temptresses, similar to Greek Sirens, who draw men into the woods to drain them of life. When viewed from the front, they are said to be beautiful beyond compare until they turn around. Their backs are usually depicted hollowed out like a tree trunk rotted out. Some Huldra have been described with a tail like a fox, or a tail like a cow. This is usually their give-away as one of the fair folk.Ildri, our Huldra, is a mixture of these folklores. She has an open back, and the tail and ears of a cow. Huldra are not necessarily completely malevolent. Several stories exist where a human has shown kindness to a Huldra, and she has rewarded them with generosity in return through crops or material goods. Typically they appeared to shepherds and coal-burners, seeking food or warmth. Huldra were powerful, but could be tricked into marriage by capturing them or drawing their blood. When they marry a man in a Christian church, their tail comes off and they lose their beauty, but their children are strong and retain their magic.
On Hollow’s Content:
Though nothing explicit will ever be posted in the story’s canon content, certain panels might be NSFW or not intended for an audience under 18. Due to the nature of Ildri’s body, some might find images of her hollow back disturbing. Also, while careful research has been conducted to root Hollow’s story in a believable culture, the story takes place in a completely fantasy environment, any resemblances of actual people or places are coincidental, and no harm is intended.
Since being bitten by a strange wolf as a child, Malaya Walters has attempted to live a quiet life…hopefully a life free of attempting to eat her family or the customers at her family’s coffee shop. Being the only werewolf she’s ever known, Malaya has managed her condition by keeping tight control on herself and the world around her, with lackluster results. That is, until a strange guy wanders into her shop one day and introduces her to a whole world she never knew existed…How to be a Werewolf is a long form, ongoing story, started in February 2015. It features a diverse cast, as well as a cast of mostly LGBTQ characters.
No full review (YET! it's in the queue) but we wanted to note that the comic starts out in B&W and is now in full color. Both are lovely.
This story is mature - mostly for language and some sexual themes.
BOOK ONE: Make It Rain
“Alex Sleeper thought that when he went to a concert for Fallen Empire, a smallish emo band, that he was just going to keep his friend company. He didn’t realize he’d wake up the next day having been marked as an Aztec rain god’s next sacrifice. The deity has an unexpected change of heart and seeks to keep Alex safe, while Alex develops confusing feelings of his own for the immortal. With any luck, and lots of devotion from the god himself, Alex may survive the next few days.”
Nokia is a young adult, living on a space station New Rauma. Nokia has just gotten their immortality and the best use they can come up with it is to browse the old internet all day long without eating or sleeping and not having to worry about dying of hunger. After three weeks of old internet Nokia's parents decide they've had enough.
Young, stubborn and fearful, Kasora comes to the Nordi throne with one goal in mind; to not be like her war-like grandfather, Alari Seabreaker.
Varia Hirore, also young and stubborn but hardly fearful, is assigned to guard the young queen. She just wants to do her job and eventually, maybe, finally go home again.
But they must work together, and fast, because across the narrow southern sea, the Ansellan Empire is rapidly consuming neighboring countries and the Nord may be next.
From Volume 1: Grim Beginnings
Part-time grim reaper. Full-time cutie! Like most university students, Kim works a part-time job to make ends meet. Unlike most university students, Kim's job is pretty cool: she's a grim reaper, tasked with guiding souls into the afterlife.
Like most university students, Becka has a super intense crush. Unlike most university students, Becka's crush is on a beautiful gothic angel that frequents the underworld. Of course, she doesn't know that.
Unaware of the ghoulish drama she's about to step into, Becka finally gathers up the courage to ask Kim on a date! But when she falls into a ghostly portal and interrupts Kim at her job, she sets off a chain of events that will pit the two of them against angry cat-dads, vengeful zombies, and perhaps even the underworld itself. But if they work together, they just might make it... and maybe even get a smooch in the bargain.
A 2019 New York Public Library Best Books for Kids
A 2020 Tayshas Reading List Selection
A 2020 Maverick Graphic Novel Reading List Selection
Mads is pretty happy with her life. She goes to church with her family, and minor league baseball games with her dad. She goofs off with her best friend Cat, and has thus far managed to avoid getting kissed by Adam, the boy next door. It's everything she hoped high school would be… until all of a sudden, it's not.Her dad is hiding something big―so big it could tear her family apart. And that’s just the beginning of her problems: Mads is starting to figure out that she doesn't want to kiss Adam… because the only person she wants to kiss is Cat.
Kiss Number 8, a graphic novel from writer Colleen AF Venable and illustrator Ellen T. Crenshaw, is a layered, funny, sharp-edged story of teen sexuality and family secrets.
Author Mariko Tamaki and illustrator Rosemary Valero-O’Connell bring to life a sweet and spirited tale of young love in Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me, a graphic novel that asks us to consider what happens when we ditch the toxic relationships we crave to embrace the healthy ones we need.
Laura Dean, the most popular girl in high school, was Frederica Riley's dream girl: charming, confident, and SO cute. There's just one problem: Laura Dean is maybe not the greatest girlfriend.
Reeling from her latest break up, Freddy's best friend, Doodle, introduces her to the Seek-Her, a mysterious medium, who leaves Freddy some cryptic parting words: break up with her. But Laura Dean keeps coming back, and as their relationship spirals further out of her control, Freddy has to wonder if it's really Laura Dean that's the problem. Maybe it's Freddy, who is rapidly losing her friends, including Doodle, who needs her now more than ever.
Fortunately for Freddy, there are new friends, and the insight of advice columnists like Anna Vice to help her through being a teenager in love.
www.loveinpanels.com/comics/laura-dean-keeps-breaking-up-with-me
From Sarah's site: A story of two guys from different roads of life. Jasper prefers growing flowers over pastries, while Damian is a young musician with a dream to perform on stage. By chance the two cross paths at a bus stop and they start to become friends.
Lavender Tea follows a teenage boy working in his aunt's tea shop. The comic explores gender expression, love, and friendship, with some very cute art.
A cross-cultural romance with comedy, drama, magic, worldbuilding, and bilingual shenanigans.
Leif is a gardener in thrall to a mysterious debt, serving his native Sønheim at a foreign embassy. Thorn is a Knight of Ceannis who got severely burned while dragonslaying, and was rewarded with a cushy job guarding the embassy gates. (“Cushy” if you discount the smugglers, monsters, vampire aristocrats, industrial accidents, and slow-brewing ethical disasters….)
Thorn doesn’t speak Leif’s language too well at first — but as they get to know each other, he finds a lot of reasons to learn.