The SS Odysseus was a long term, long distance research vessel tasked with finding alien life. Technically, the mission succeeded when, 20ish years into the mission, the astronauts– Kay Chalabi, Latoya Monroe, and Nike Marmaledov– were woken from cryosleep and were immediately kidnapped by aliens.
Before they could be sold off to the highest bidder (or eaten) the crew were rescued by the Argo; a sentient-ish ship with a motley crew.
The crew: Fuzz, the foul mouthed Furby-looking engineer, Tachs, the four-armed HR rep, Dr. Worm, a doctor who is also a worm, Charli, the teaching robot with calculated control over her emotions, Vee, last dude in the universe with a tragic backstory, and finally Captain Samira Doshi; morally ambiguous space pirate captain with a heart of gold and indisputable leader of the ship.
Now they all travel from place to place, trying to solve the mysteries of the universe: why are we here? Is there common ground between species? Why was humanity wiped out? And can you make bonds with people who don’t have your past– just your present?
Pick it up at your local comic or book shop!
Your favorite girls from Beverly Hills are back in an all-new adventure! It’s senior year and Cher, Dionne, and Tai find themselves in a bit of a crisis of self… Where are they meant to go, and what are they meant to DO after high school? Luckily they have all year—and each other’s help—to figure it out!
This continuation of the much-loved 90's movie, Clueless, isn't as heavy on the romance as the original, but it's getting a review here because I loved it and this is my blog.
The premise is simple: Dionne, Cher, and Tai are trying to figure out who they want/should be as they navigate senior year and an assignment from Ms. Geist. I'll warn you now - if you didn't like the movie, you won't like this comic. Like the original, it's heavy on 90's slang, excellent/horrible outfits, and female friendship.
Unlike the original, Dionne and Tai get real character arcs! Dionne was my fave in the movie, and her arc in this GN is empowering and smart and her boyfriend finally learns to respect her as she deserves. Tai's arc brings the girls out of their comfort zone and puts them to work (physical labor?!) on a big project together.
Cher? She's lost. At the very beginning of the book, Josh suggests that he and Cher take a "break," adding momentum to Cher's existential tailspin. As for romance, everything works out in the end, romance readers. Have no fear. Amber and Sarah wouldn't do that to you/us.
As for the art, the style and colors were perfectly matched to the story. The art captures the fashion, joy, and youthful energy of Clueless and puts readers solidly in the 90's. (Background details are really fun to pick up on a reread, which is one of my favorite things to do with a comic.)
Overall, this was a fun way to spend a couple of hours. Just be prepared to watch the movie immediately afterward.
If you'd like to purchase a copy of Come Together, it's available directly here in PDF.
Come Together is an erotic anthology featuring a host of comic talents from all over Europe edited by Tab Kimpton and Alex Assan. Now available to buy post our kickstarter!
Our book's theme is Reunion; old friends sharing sizzling tension in a Finnish sauna, long distance lovers yearning for each other on a train ride to rural Italy, rival fashion designers clashing in battles of sexual prowess in Berlin, and more.
196 pages and thirteen stories from many cultures and countries, covering a multitude of times, places, peoples and sexualities... In a world growing increasingly more divided, it's time to Come Together.
Contact High is a landscape format, one-shot sci-fi comic about a society where human touch has been outlawed, and one man's fight for meaningful connection in that world. This work is entirely for charity: 50% of sales go to the Southern Poverty Law Center, and 50% of sales to Lambda Legal.
It's a classic love story: doughy appetizer boy meets doughy appetizer girl. Together they exist in a world cohabited by humans.
Croquette is looking for love—his sweet, silly other half. Empanada hopes she can find someone who accepts her for who she is. It’s a match made in tasty, tasty heaven. Internationally bestselling author Ana Oncina’s Croquette & Empanada explores modern love and domesticity with charming comics. Enjoy the antics of this adorable, culinary couple as they navigate romance and cohabitation, from deciding to move in together to purchasing their first pet.
21 years ago, Azrael pardoned a life...
Cunning Fire is an urban fantasy story about witches and spirits in modern day Chicago, following the journey of Akiva Stein as she enters this unfamiliar, hidden world and learns the craft of the Death witch. Caught up in her new coven's quest to create the legendary Elixir of Life, Akiva is forced to face her ability to see spirits and come to terms with the ways magic has tainted her past, and how it will shape her future.
CONTENT WARNINGS: This comic contains some scenes and imagery dealing with death, blood, and abuse. Crude language is used throughout the story. The above categories will be warned for in the description sections of each chapter cover page. Please proceed through the story with this in mind.
DAR! chronicles the six year long autobiographical story of Erika Moen, a lost 20-year-old lesbian artist-wannabe in college who falls in love with a boy in England and the evolution that her sexual identity undergoes before winding up marrying him as a queer 26-year-old full-time cartoonist. Along the way there are many vignettes about sex, farts, the queer community, the Brits, vibrators and figuring out sexual identity.
(This is the comic that preceded Erika Moen's Oh Joy Sex Toy)
Now that the Kickstarter is over and Vol. 1 has gone to print again, you can pick up Volume 1 and 2 in both print and digital. Buy 'em all here!
Dates is an anthology of queer historical fiction comics, Kickstarted in September and October of 2015 and published by Margins Publishing in February of 2016. When we started work on Dates, we wanted to create a book that showcases queer characters and experiences throughout the ages without being constrained by what a lot of media might have us believe is “historically accurate.” Since so much of historical fiction only features queer characters in the context of tragedy–if they appear at all–we were desperate for more stories. Stories that better represented the diversity of our experiences, in all the times and places that we’ve existed. Dates is a book that doesn’t rewrite history, but instead reframes it so that the spotlight is on people who are all too often ignored.In the first volume of Dates, we had three rules:
Though our length requirement has changed, rules 1 and 3 are as central to Dates as they were when we launched the first book.
(Dates 2 is now through the Kickstarter process, you can see the campaign here.)
Review based on Dates 1:
Cravats. Latin. Rope-walking. Androgyny. Pirates. Girls in gowns running away together. Boys and boys and girls and girls and people who don't identify any particular way... This book is hard to review because not only is it an anthology, the stories within span thousands of years of history, continents, empires, cultures... it's impossible to pin down. This is a good thing if you want short, sweet stories of love and adventure.
As with any anthology, if you're looking for a longer, cohesive narrative, this isn't the book for you. If you want something you can pick up and read for a bit? It's perfect. With 25 tales, the art and plots are as diverse as you'd expect. You won't love every piece, but I think you'd have to be a true curmudgeon not to find a few you like. As for queer rep? Lots of relationships and orientations are represented, and some of the characters are never "defined," which is as it should be.
Short review because the title says it all: Dates is an anthology of queer historical fiction. If that sounds like something you'd like, you should pick this up.
Read about Dates II here!
A zombie apocalypse has happened and Mikael and JP are left in the city trying to survive after most of the population has fled. A slice-of-life post-apocalypse comic. Sometimes you find love in weird places. Like when you're trying not to get eaten.
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.