I've been a big fan of First Second since I started reading getting really into comics, so I'm thrilled to read this piece of news.
Creators: Format: EBook Print
Color: Black and White
Romanceiness: Romantic Elements
Heat: PG13
Tags: vignettes in translation gay lesbian bisexual polyamorous character of color disabled character
Julie Maroh’s first book, Blue Is the Warmest Color, was a graphic novel phenomenon; it was a New York Timesbestseller and the controversial film adaptation by French director Abdellatif Kechiche won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013. Maroh’s latest book, Body Music, marks her return to the kind of soft, warm palette and impressionistic sensibility that made her debut book so sensational.
Set in the languid, European-like neighborhoods of Montreal, Body Music is a beautiful and moving meditation on love and desire as expressed in their many different forms—between women, men, and gender non-conformists alike, all varying in age and race. In twenty separate vignettes, Maroh explores the drama inherent in relationships at different stages: the electricity of initial attraction, the elation of falling in love, the trauma of breaking up, the sweet comfort of a long-standing romance.
Anyone who’s ever been in a relationship will see themselves in these intimate stories tinged with raw emotion. Body Music is an exhilarating and passionate graphic novel about what it means to fall in love, and what it means to be alive.
First Second Launches Adult Imprint
[fa icon="calendar'] Jul 11, 2024 2:39:48 PM / by Press Release posted in announcement
Review: Hockey Girl Loves Drama Boy, by Faith Erin Hicks
[fa icon="calendar'] Oct 3, 2023 10:43:14 AM / by Suzanne posted in review
Faith Erin Hicks pairs a socially awkward hockey girl with an outgoing, confident drama boy in her latest YA graphic novel. Alix loves hockey, but her teammates... not so much. Team Captain Lindsay is a bully and none of the other girls stand up for Alix for fear of Lindsay turning on them next. Classic toxic high school behavior. One day something in Alix flips and she punches Lindsay. She's horrified by her behavior and, most of all, the fact that she didn't seem to be in control of herself at all.
Review: The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich, by Deya Muniz
[fa icon="calendar'] Aug 1, 2023 4:37:12 PM / by Suzanne posted in review
The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich is almost exactly what the cover suggests: a whimsical queer romance with lots of cheese.
Review: Washington's Gay General, by Josh Trujillo and Levi Hastings
[fa icon="calendar'] Jul 21, 2023 2:29:41 PM / by Suzanne posted in review
While everyone else was busy theorizing about Alexander Hamilton and John Laurens, Josh Trujillo and Levi Hastings were captivated by the story of Baron von Steuben, a Prussian military strategist--and kind of a con man, tbh--who played a pivotal role in the American Revolutionary War. Washington's Gay General: The Legends and Loves of Baron von Steuben is the expansion of Trujillo's much shorter comic at The Nib and is a much more thorough biography supplemented with author commentary, historical context and the inclusion of other figures of the time.
Review: Life of Melody, by Mari Costa
[fa icon="calendar'] Jun 13, 2023 1:56:12 PM / by Suzanne posted in review
Thanks to Shop Your Shelves, I finally read Life of Melody, by Mari Costa. It's everything I hoped it would be.
Review: The Sea in You, by Jessi Sheron
[fa icon="calendar'] Feb 23, 2023 2:23:08 PM / by Suzanne posted in review
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.
Exclusive Cover Reveal: Smut Peddler 10th Anniversary Edition!
[fa icon="calendar'] Oct 14, 2022 5:36:56 PM / by Suzanne posted in cover reveal
When folks come to me looking for high quality erotic comics (this is more frequent than you might think), I almost always point them toward Iron Circus Comics' Smut Peddler series. These are giant collections of just-long-enough comics full of consent and joy, pining and hope, diverse bodies and identities and more. They're often weird, unique or thought-provoking. In all, they're good smutty fun.
Review: Money Shot, Vol. 1-3
[fa icon="calendar'] Sep 27, 2022 10:07:35 AM / by Suzanne
Money Shot is a classic case of an entertaining premise falling apart after the first few issues. Without doing any research, I suspect that the creative team had planned out one arc and then the series was successful enough that they got more issues and just flailed about for a while. All that said, the first trade is very funny and appropriately porny.
Review: Chef's Kiss
[fa icon="calendar'] Nov 4, 2021 9:45:00 AM / by Suzanne posted in review
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.
Review: Embodied: An Intersectional Feminist Comics Poetry Anthology
[fa icon="calendar'] Jun 22, 2021 10:05:00 AM / by Suzanne posted in review
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.)