DESTINY, NY is a 120-page graphic novel about love, loss, magic, cats, coffee, sex, growing up, and the way we build our own destinies every day.
This is going to be a bit of a Squee - you have been warned.
I first heard of DESTINY, NY when I was scrolling through Kickstarter and decided to back Vol. 2. Magical girls in love? Sign. Me. Up.
Fast forward a bit, and I've got a digital copy of DESTINY, NY (Vol. 1) waiting for me on the iPad. I had a terrible day yesterday. Not going to get into specifics, but trust me, I needed a pick-me-up.
Turns out, DESTINY, NY was just the thing! The original GN is 160 black & white pages, with two different art styles - one for present and one for flashbacks. I loved both styles, and really dug the blurred, surreal feel of the flashbacks, particularly the magical aspects.
Magic, you say? The main characters are both part of a group of young people identified by seers as having a "destiny." They go to a special school to learn about their destinies and prepare them for the challenges to come. After they've completed their destiny, the school provides them with the training they need to re-enter society at large and get on with their lives. Logan, the main heroine, fulfilled her destiny when was just thirteen years old, which has made the last decade of her life rather... unfulfilling. She's lost the love of her life, she's working as a barista, and she's pretty unhappy. Then she meets Lilith, our second heroine, and her life tips upside down.
First things first: this story is definitely a romance. Lilith and Logan have a pretty great meet-cute, followed by a hot and tumultuous relationship. The ending is somewhat ambiguous, but I choose to believe their Happy-For-Now will be a Happily-Ever-After. (Volume 2 explores this, but I don't have my hands on it yet.)
No matter how much I liked Logan and Lilith, the secondary characters really steal the show here. Gia, a fat girl with a scary destiny, is really well done. I loved that her size isn't "a thing," and that she was unapologetically into sex and love and friendship. I can't emphasize enough how important it is to see characters who don't fit the the "ideal" living full lives.
My biggest (only?) criticism is that the "big bad" felt undeveloped. She's evil from the time she's a little kid, which doesn't tell me much about her motivations. She is definitely awful, however, and it's quite satisfying to see her get her due.
Tl;DR - I loved DESTINY, NY and can't wait for Volume 2. The first volume proved to be exactly what I needed at the end of a rotten day, and I hope it gives you the same feels. Rated R for nudity, sexual situations, violence, language.
Meet Roger Hare. He's an up and coming novelist and single father of triplets. One night after a long trip he finds a man passed out in front of his apartment door and decides to bring him inside. What kind of sane person does that? Who's this mystery man and how much is he going to change Roger's life?
Four stories of love and lust from comics' coolest artists and writer ALEX DE CAMPI! First, a demon who prowls the 1978 New York disco scene in Old Flames, drawn by KATIE SKELLY. Then, a curvy photographer's assistant who falls in love with someone way out of her league in Twinkle & The Star, with ALEJANDRA GUTIÉRREZ. A spacefleet captain who captures a most infuriating pirate in Invincible Heart, with CARLA SPEED MCNEIL. And a princess who runs away with a dragon in Treasured, with TRUNGLES.
Plus steamy prose romance stories from awesome folks like Magen Cubed and Vita Ayala, and more comics shorts about love from Meredith McClaren, Sarah Horrocks, Margaret Trauth and Sarah Winifred Searle.
Collects Twisted Romance #1-4.