Way back in 2018, I wrote a post about Merfolk in Romance and included what was then a webtoon publishing on Tapas, The Sea in You. Five years later--dang, I've been at this for a while--Iron Circus is publishing it in all its sapphic underwater glory! This full-color book is out in March, 2023.
Sigh. Chef's Kiss is pretty to look at (art below) but it's really shallowly developed. The opening scenes consist of Ben moving in with three roommates shortly after graduating from college. He applies to and interviews for lots of writing and editing jobs before stumbling upon a job opening at a nearby vegetarian restaurant. Thus begins a drawn out plot in which Ben has to cook three existing dishes and develop one new one for the restaurant and get approval of the chef's pig, Watson.
I posted a bit about Embodied over on the Love in Panels Instagram account, but I loved this book so much I wanted to make sure it got to as many sets of eyes as possible.
I received a digital review copy of the book but never got around to reading it, so when I saw it's shiny glory on display at my local indie bookstore, I picked it up. The cover is truly gorgeous, a computer image doesn't do it justice. (It's shiny in that silver-blue-purple way that only the best drag gowns are.)
The Girl From the Sea is a sapphic young adult graphic novel with a summer romance between a human teen and a selkie. Ostertag's recognizable art style is rendered here more clearly than in The Witch Boy series and Maarta Laiho's colors are beautiful. But yet again, I'm annoyed at a publisher for putting only one name on the front of the book when it's a collaboration. Colorists are so important and deserve credit, dammit. Worse, Laiho isn't listed anywhere on the book page on Amazon. Here's why it's especially important in this case: I think Laiho did a better job than Ostertag usually does and therefore this is a better product. It feels almost abusive. *shakes fist at Scholastic*
This book is only for adult audiences. If you are not 18+, please close this window.
This is the book for you if you like:
1) messy sister relationships
2) magic, used for both good and evil
3) a distinctive art style with emphasis on watery tones and pops of red
4) folktales
The Daughters of Ys is a retelling of an old Breton folktale, set in a magically protected and constructed seaside city called Ys. (Similar to Atlantis, it's a magical city that's now sunken and never seen again.) The Queen, possessed of faerie magic, has just passed away and her two daughters are left with an irresponsible, grieving mess of a father. The elder sister takes to the countryside, bonding with animals and local people, even finding love with a commoner. The younger sister takes her anger and magic and uses them to keep the city going with her father. She does all the things no one else is willing to do and it's unclear whether she's actually "bad" or just does evil things. If she didn't do them, the city would fall into the sea and the sea monsters that guard it would attack all the inhabitants, so is all the murdering she does to feed the monsters and magic really that bad? Hmm.
Come Together is a collection of erotic comics from a stellar group of comics creators. Many will be familiar to comics readers, including Niki Smith and Hari Conner, but several were new to me and I'm happy to have read them. One of my favorite things about anthologies is the opportunity to be exposed to new creators and Come Together didn't disappoint.
You Brought Me the Ocean is an origin story for Aqualad, this time as a gay Black teen living in the US Southwest. So many secrets. His mother's been keeping him away for water his entire life, but why? What are the "birthmarks" on his arms and why do they glow when exposed to water? Is he gay? Why does everyone think he's dating his best friend Maria? And is it time to talk to the only out gay guy at school? Or do more than talk?
DC continues to impress with their YA origin stories. We've reviewed several, with more to come soon, but this one was billed as a fantasy romance, so we decided to give it priority.
