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.
When the heroic princess Amira rescues the kind-hearted princess Sadie from her tower prison, neither expects to find a true friend in the bargain. Yet as they adventure across the kingdom, they discover that they bring out the very best in the other person. They’ll need to join forces and use all the know-how, kindness, and bravery they have in order to defeat their greatest foe yet: a jealous sorceress, who wants to get rid of Sadie once and for all. Join Sadie and Amira, two very different princesses with very different strengths, on their journey to figure out what “happily ever after” really means--and how they can find it with each other.
Quick note to say that we've rated this as PG13 because that's as low as we go BUT it's really an "all-ages" comic, recommended for 3rd grade and up.
Fresh off her adventures in the pages of Princeless, Raven is ready to set out on her quest for revenge against her brothers. They've stolen everything that should be hers and now she's going to get it back. But first, she needs a crew. Share the laughs, action, and adventure as Raven assembles the fearless crew of awesome ladies who will help her get her revenge.
How do I love Raven? Let me count the ways...
1) Raven herself is a badass. She's been raised to take over for her father, the Pirate King, which has given her both her title (Pirate Princess) and a whole set of physical and strategic skills that she's determined to use to regain control of her family's pirate empire. (Long story short - her brothers are jerks.)
2) Raven is a heroine with flaws. She's written as a badass (see point 1) but also as a character with some issues to work out. She's impulsive, careless of her own safety, and sometimes unwilling to consider alternatives suggested by her crew. She's in love with one of her crewmates, but can't admit her feelings to the object of her affection or to herself. It's a whole thing. Yet, for all of these "masculine" traits, Raven is unapologetically female and uses her position to lift up women of all persuasions.
3) The crew. In a hilarious and pointed bit of social commentary, Raven decides to populate her crew with only women. The men who "apply" are lecherous, dismissive, or otherwise useless. At least this way, she and her crewmates won't be subjected to harassment or worse on their journey. The crew Raven assembles is comprised of, among others, a character reminiscent of a marshmallowy Brienne of Tarth, a black chemist skilled at blowing things up, a cartographer/navigator (this is the aforementioned love interest), and a thief who kinda falls for Raven herself. Writer Jeremy Whitley plays them off each other for comedic value, but also for surprising episodes of pathos and edge-of-your-seat adventure.
4) The love story. This is a slow burn, since Raven and Ximena have a complicated history that includes a serious betrayal. At the end of Book Three, some stuff happens that finally pushes Raven to admit, out loud, that she loves Ximena. Of course, in true Raven fashion, Ximena isn't nearby and Raven is having the hell beaten out of her by another woman at the time... but it still counts. The two of them have several obstacles to overcome, but I'm really rooting for them.
Speaking of 4... Arc 4 of Raven just started, which means you have three books (or a whole bunch of issues) to catch up on. If you're a completionist, you can start with Raven's introductory arc in Princeless, which is an amazing comic of its own, just without a romantic subplot. We've passed this series along to our daughters and several friends, but I do think it's aged up a bit from the original Princeless series. (Princeless is rated "All Ages" and Raven is "9+.")
TL;DR - Raven is amazing and everyone should be reading this. If you have the slightest interest in lady pirates kicking ass and falling in love, this is the series for you.
Robin & Cat is the story of Robin, a nerdy, awkward young woman who falls for Cat, the clerk at the local comic book shop. The story of their romance started in February, 2014, at robinandcat.tumblr.com.
Bold queer heroes seize the spotlight!
Join us on the adventures of young demon hunters, star-crossed Viking lovers, and cyberpunk street artists as we invite you into new worlds where brave heroes with diverse queer identities demonstrate the strength of their hearts and the power of their dreams!
Find your place alongside ace necromancers, glamorous jazz musicians, fey outsiders, friendly monsters, and a superhero still finding his way out of the phone booth.
Spotlighting the work of diverse voices, this collection includes Kieron Gillen(The Wicked + The Divine), Kelly & Nichole Matthews (Lumberjanes/Gotham Academy), Killian Ng (Legend of Korra: Turf Wars), and many others.
Our stories have heroes who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, non-binary, gender non-conforming, two-spirit, and asexual, from creators who share those identities.
Small Favors, the critically-acclaimed girly porno comic by Eisner award-winning cartoonist Colleen Coover, is back in print in a deluxe hardcover edition! Join Annie and her tiny taskmaster Nibbil in fun, erotic adventures sure to make you blush. This omnibus edition includes volumes one and two of Small Favors, the never-before-collected color special, behind-the-scenes materials, and a brand-new introduction.
SMALL FAVORS appears on almost every list I've seen of sex-positive comics. It was just re-released by Oni Press/Limerence as a deluxe hardcover edition, so I read this book "for research." Before I go any further, you should know that this is essentially a really cute porn comic with a romantic subplot. If that sounds like your cup of comic tea, you'll probably love it.
The Art:
As Kelly Sue DeConnick says in the foreward, SMALL FAVORS is unapologetically cute. The protagonist, Annie, is assigned a guardian (who is sort of her conscience?) to keep her from masturbating. The guardian, Nibbil, is maybe 6 inches tall but eventually learns to scale herself up to human-size. With the exception of the bonus color comic at the end of this book, the pages are drawn in black and white, with limited shading. It's surprising at times how cute the art is in contrast to how dirty the characters are being. It can be a little jarring, but eventually you just roll with it.
The Story:
The book is a couple hundred pages, but the plot could be summed up in about 20. Annie and Nibbil fall in love, they make friends, those friends fall in love... It's the plot equivalent of chocolate cake. It's sweet and satisfying, but you'll wonder how you ate the entire piece in one sitting.
ADULTS ONLY
2012 Edition: Smut Peddler started back in 2003 as a series of dirty little minicomics featuring some of the coolest folks in indie comics. Now, it's back as a full-sized anthology, featuring 24 different stories of love, sex, and a little bit of angst by a huge array of talented creators.
This book offers something for everyone, showcasing a whole rainbow of relationships, sexualities, and genders, plus the occasional robot, satyr, shapeshifter, or major religious figure.
2014 Edition: Smut Peddler, the big, dirty book that rocked the world in 2012, is back with more and better than ever! The 2014 edition of this award-winning ladycentric porn anthology features a dream team of artists and writers, an all-star cast of creators premiering the finest filth you’re gonna find.
This isn't a porn or erotica review site, but these comics are SO GOOD I had to include them. Iron Circus says they're "by women, for everyone" and I agree. They feature a full array of relationships, bodies, situations, and art styles. Consent is present and enthusiastic. Much (not necessarily all) of the sex occurs inside a trusting relationship, with the romance that you'd expect. There are stories about couples who've been together for years, and couples who are just meeting. As with any anthology, you'll find some more to your liking than others, but these books are massive, so you're sure to find just what you want.
If you'd like to buy a copy of this book, please consider buying directly from Iron Circus (only place outside of Kickstarter to get the digital version) or using one of these affiliate links to support the site: Amazon ◊ Bookshop ◊ Barnes & Noble
It only gets better with age! The latest in the Smut Peddler series of high-end erotic anthologies, Silver shines the spotlight on grande dames and silver foxes. Whether you’re drawn to graying hair or eyes that sparkle with wisdom, this collection of spicy sci-fi, fiery fairy tales, and all manner of down-to-earth fantasies is exclusively for those with a taste for experienced hands.
Ignatz Award winner Tillie Walden’s Spinning is a powerful graphic memoir that captures what it’s like to come of age, come out, and come to terms with leaving behind everything you used to know.
It was the same every morning. Wake up, grab the ice skates, and head to the rink while the world was still dark.
Weekends were spent in glitter and tights at competitions. Perform. Smile. And do it again.
She was good. She won. And she hated it.
For ten years, figure skating was Tillie Walden’s life. She woke before dawn for morning lessons, went straight to group practice after school, and spent weekends competing at ice rinks across the state. Skating was a central piece of her identity, her safe haven from the stress of school, bullies, and family. But as she switched schools, got into art, and fell in love with her first girlfriend, she began to question how the close-minded world of figure skating fit in with the rest of her life, and whether all the work was worth it given the reality: that she, and her friends on the team, were nowhere close to Olympic hopefuls. The more Tillie thought about it, the more Tillie realized she’d outgrown her passion—and she finally needed to find her own voice.
With a whopping 400 pages, this book is something of a coming-of-age tome. With a spare, sketchlike style, Tillie Walden tells the story of her life as an ice skating child and teen.
Chapters are named after skating moves, a short description of the action mirroring the events of the story. Through skating, we see Tillie's yearning for acceptance and love: from other girls, from her coaches, from her family, from herself. Walden doesn't shy away from showing us her first love, her bouts of depression, and an assault by her SAT tutor. She lets readers feel the fear, heartbreak, and relief that she experiences while coming out as a teen.
While I spent about half of the book wondering "why the hell is she still skating if it makes her this miserable," Walden does answer that question. The "why" is inextricably tied in with Tillie's own struggle with self-acceptance and her need for approval. Even when she's being bullied at school, at the rink, at home, she still tries to put on a smile and do what is expected of her. This pushes her through skating, through middle school, through concealing her first relationship.
This is not a book for answers, however. Tillie's not perfect and doesn't pretend to be. She acknowledges that she might have saved everyone a lot of trouble by quitting skating earlier, and that she relied on one of her skating friends for a lot of support and friendship that she never really reciprocated. Rather than providing answers, this memoir offers readers a chance to consider the sacrifices we make for the things we could leave behind, and the confusing freedom that comes from breaking with routine and stepping into the unknown.
Two women deal with modern themes of sex, relationships, and fetishism in this erotic romantic comedy. So beware all who enter, because, to quote a few hundred thousand readers on DeviantArt: "I'm not into BDSM...but this story...I get it."