POWER & MAGIC: The Queer Witch Comics Anthology collects fifteen original comics about queer witches of color as they master their abilities, discover their traditions, and navigate love as beings with incredible power. This edition of POWER & MAGIC is 178 pages, black and white, and features the work of 17 women, demigirls, and bigender creators of color. From the euphoria of holding the stars in your grasp, to the sacrifices we make to reach them, POWER & MAGIC explores what it means to be a person of power in all its complexity.
The second volume of Power & Magic is funding on Kickstarter right now (7/14/17) and the first volume just won a PRISM Award. Since I've had the PDF on my iPad for a few weeks, I figured it was time to give it a read. It's... wow.
What you get for your $10 (digital) is 15 stories about queer witches of color, some more magical than others, all of them accessible and engaging and evocative. I don't know if I've ever truly liked every story in an anthology before this one, and that alone makes this volume a stand-out. Lest this turn into an incoherent episode of fan-girling, I'm going to bullet this out:
In short, it's obvious why this beautiful, inspiring, comforting, heart-achingly real yet magical anthology won an award. I can't wait to read the second.
Leia Weathington’s sword-and-sorcery epic The Legend of Bold Riley is illustrated by Leia and a host of talented artists. “Who is Bold Riley?” you might ask. She has hunted the wildest game and dallied with countless beautiful girls, but still longs to know the world beyond the city walls. Princess Rilavashana SanParite, called Bold Riley, leaves behind her station and sets out to travel through distant lands and find forgotten ruins, fearsome enemies, inscrutable gods and tragic love.
THE LEGEND OF BOLD RILEY is an adventure comic featuring a (bold) princess who fights monsters, seduces ladies, and uses her wits to help people as she travels around Southeast Asia. The compiled book I read (not the standalone issues) includes several short stories, each with a different artist and plot. Riley is smart, beautiful, daring, and kind. I would have gladly spent more time with her.
We've rated it "R" for lots of nudity, violence, and some post-coital snuggling. With several different art styles, you probably won't like every story visually, but the sometimes sad, sometimes humorous, sometimes gory tales are an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon.
Love in Panels is two blogs, each with their own searchable database. One blog covers comics with queer and romantic elements, the other is dedicated to romance novels. We post news, reviews, and lots of other fun stuff!