Hello and welcome back to WWACommendations! Originally created by the incredible Draven Katayama, this monthly round-up gives WWAC contributors a chance to shout out the comics they’re reading just for fun. Remember reading for fun? It’s something I’ve been trying to do more this year, and I’m very excited to bring back this series to encourage the habit. Without WWAComendations I also wouldn’t know about the queer, sexy, demon-fighting priests of Covenant, which would be some kind of crime.
This month, we’ve got everything from a return to X-Men to werewolf romance to the horrors of being too wrapped up in internet culture. Dive in and enjoy!
Alenka Figa: I have been reading a ton more Webtoons recently, in an effort to keep myself from doomscrolling/mindless scrolling on social media. Some comics I’ll binge read up to the most recent episode, forget about it, and then have to dust off my memory when they next update. Others I stay up WAY too late binging and eagerly await new episodes.
One of those sleep-reducing, excitement-inducing comics is The Doctors are Out by Blau. This wholesome romance focuses on veterinarian Fernando Guevera, who just moved to a new town to escape an emotionally fraught situation. Unbeknownst to Guevera, the storefront he hastily rented is right next to the doctor’s office run by Matias Guevara. The doctors’ similar names cause a lot of confusion for the small town’s residents, creating a rivalry that of course ends with them catching feelings.
This is a seriously sweet story that involves a lot of open conversation about feelings, bisexuality, polyamory and even parenthood. While it is wholesome, Blau doesn’t shy away from discussions surrounding sex and includes some spicy fade-to-black/cut away sex scenes! It’s also pretty long, at 101 episodes with much story still ahead, so if you’re looking for a warm hearted, ongoing romance to dig into this is a good one. I also just realized that Draven also recommended this Webtoon in a previous WWACommendations so once again I am indebted to them!
New TDAO episodes are up. You know the drill, head on over to Webtoon to read pic.twitter.com/N55xBtHraY
— Blau (@Blaubble) June 13, 2022
Louis Skye: After falling out of touch with the X-Men for years, I’m crawling my way back in via Dawn of X. I was initially daunted at the prospect of going through around 16 collected volumes but my love for the X-Men took over. Even though there weren’t that many stories focused on the characters I most love, I found the featured characters just as fascinating. Reading Dawn of X reminded me why I’ve loved the X-Men more than other superheroes. The characters have such distinct personalities. They’re unique, not only because of their powers but who they are as people, as mutants, and as Krakoans. The dynamics between the groups has become a lot of fun now, mainly because most of the mutants like each other, even if they don’t always trust each other. I haven’t had this much fun reading comics in a while!
Also, I have to second Alenka’s recommendation for The Doctors Are Out. It is super cute and wonderfully queer and I couldn’t wait to finish my day just so I could read it.
Carrie McClain: I stumbled upon Lucid’s The Hunt webcomic on the Tapas app sometime last year when I was surfing the webcomic apps for something new to read. I was not disappointed when I found the story of the supernatural shenanigans of Avery and Rhys, now college students who rekindle their middle school hobby of ghost hunting. Lucid, best known for her BL comics in the webcomic sphere, makes these two guys who uncover the paranormal messiness in the local haunts as thrilling as it is funny. Avery, who is bespectacled and clumsy as hell, is Captain Obvious and determined to become a member of G.E.I.–Ghost Encounters Incorporated (that gives me Travel Channel’s Ghost Adventures vibes). Avery, who is a lovable character who is absolutely oblivious to all manner of things: the supernatural and to the budding feelings that he has for Rhys.
Rhys is that childhood buddy who went abroad and came back a ten but he’s a sucker for trying to keep poor Avery out of trouble and is crap at expressing himself. He has a secret that Avery hasn’t figured out: at times he has an aversion for moonlight, is “allergic” to certain flowers that look harmless and saves Avery with incredible feats of strength. Also he tends to growl a lot. For some readers it may be a test of patience to see them dance around each other but for me, I consider “slow burn” to be my middle name. Together these lovable idiots are slowly uncovering what things are bumping around in the night and how their bond ship may be just what their small town needs to survive a future onslaught of evil entering this world.
I love the awkward romance that’s been building, I love Lucid’s art style but I think what grabs me the most is just how funny this series is! Every week that this webcomic updates is a week that I know I’ll get some laughs in and that goes far in this pandemic present economy of doom, gloom and misery that we keep finding ourselves in. Avery and Rhys are a fun duo together and the situations that they find themselves in really push the envelope for hilarity and ridiculousness. And as a plus, if you like your webcomics to be a bit spicer, here’s looking at you 18+ crowd! The smut is here. For a comic described as a “gay romance webcomic series about ghost hunting, werewolves, and kissing your bro under the moonlight,” it has checked allll the boxes! Read online on the Webtoon and Tapas apps, see the uncensored version updating on Lucid’s website.
Part 1: Pg 52 #BL #BLwebcomics
Follow here or at:https://t.co/h7wAdjzQxjhttps://t.co/7efjBKwVtohttps://t.co/QkDe9EoUQAhttps://t.co/9Ar5amBRq6 pic.twitter.com/rmbyrCFOnR— The Hunt (@thehuntcomic) November 6, 2020
Paulina Przystupa: Some awesome person retweeted Keezy Young’s new autobio comic into my feed and I was completely drawn in from the image previews. I read Taproot a few years before and the coloring of this new work contrasted so much I couldn’t pass it up. It’s short and unsettling and although available on Gumroad, I would love to have a physical copy of it someday.
Specifically, I was captured by the way that she integrates text with the art to express impression, rather than a need to read everything. There are parts that are clearly meant to be read, like the text messages the character receives in the comic, and there are other sections that look like words but are not quite legible. And that incomprehension creates a feel for the reader of Young’s particular experience. While their mental health experience is not one I share, I was struck by how the work expressed it without it feeling invasive or, at least in my experience, traumatizing to consume. It captures a haunting and troubling event in a respectful way, without it feeling at the expense of the author’s experience.
In addition, the strong and harsh colors provide such amazing contrast throughout the comic that would make reading this in print extremely cool. It’s also one that I feel like I’ll revisit again just to bask in its art and composition.
Kathryn Hemmann: Since Elden Ring was released this past February, it’s been celebrated with an explosion of gorgeous fan comics. If you think the world and characters of the game look cool but aren’t interested in extremely difficult and punishing gameplay, the two hosts of the podcast Bonfireside Chat will walk you through the story. They have good chemistry with one another, and they’re supportive of all types of players. The most recent episodes of Bonfireside Chat are only available on their Patreon, but even a one-month subscription will allow you to access to everything on their network, including Abject Suffering, a podcast about the culture of bad video games, and Unfilmable, a podcast about cheesy movies based on horror fiction.
hangin out at the Jar Sauna pic.twitter.com/fRjLQig570
— Yuko (@aidosaur) July 5, 2022
You may have also seen your favorite artists posting tributes to the game Stray, which was released in July by Annapurna Interactive, a publisher that specializes in unique and stylish narrative games. The game’s website describes it as “a third-person cat adventure game set amidst the detailed, neon-lit alleys of a decaying cybercity,” but really it’s about hope and friendship. The story is divided into twelve chapters that alternate between nonviolent 3D platforming segments and more text-based exploration segments, the combination of which provide a fun and interesting mix of narrative elements. Stray is accessible to a diverse range of gamers, and the rich and detailed visual splendor of the posthuman cityscape will be a delight to fans of cyberpunk comics and manga.
small stray fanart. i really enjoyed the game. and not only for the visuals, gameplay and sound design are 👌👌👌 too pic.twitter.com/gOkeJEDSLK
— Edouard Caplain (@edouardcaplain) August 14, 2022
Alenka: I just finished The Con Artists by Luke Healy and am in that “wow, I need to tell someone about this” place. I was really awed by this story, but especially the last third. Healy sets up a silly and familiar frame: he starts the book speaking as himself and explains that the comic is fictionalized, while putting on a different shirt and mustache to become Frank. Frank is not Luke, but Frank is Luke, of course. The comic then proceeds, and circles around various questions: how do we confront friends who manipulate us, but who need us – or at least seem to need us? How do we manage our own mental health as our beloved friends lean on us while they struggle with theirs? How do we live with guilt?
This is maybe a spoiler, but I want to share it because I have never seen this happen in a comic before: at a stressful point in the story, Luke returns and interrupts for a full two-page spread. He makes us, the readers, take a break. An anxious cartoonist interrupts his own anxious comic to give an anxious reader a moment to ground themself and breathe. It was a surprising moment, but also a nice one that didn’t disrupt the story – just the potential anxiety of the reader. Very cool.
Masha Zhdanova: I am at all times thinking about What Happens Next by Max Graves. It’s a pretty dark comic about what happens when some terminally online Tumblr tweens… have to deal with the aftermath of committing a gruesome murder, years after the fact. What I find really fascinating about this comic (besides the fact that I can never remember the title D:) is how accurately it portrays every detail of this hyperspecific internet community I remember so vividly from my own teenage years, and the kinds of people that participated in those spaces. It really captures… something. I don’t know. It does make me want to know What Happens Next.
Kayleigh Hearn: I’m writing this in August, but if the faux-vintage clothing labels already blowing up my inbox with “spooky sweater deals” are any indication, it is never too early to talk about Halloween. And for me, Halloween is synonymous with my favorite horror hostess – that scintillating siren of silver screen shlock, the one and only Elvira: Mistress of the Dark.
Elvira has had several comic book titles to her name over the years, but I’ve recently dived into her long-running Elvira: Mistress of the Dark series originally published by Claypool Comics in the 1990s (recently reprinted in a new omnibus). Each issue is a sly, affectionate love letter to classic horror films – but moreover, they’re love letters to Elvira herself, featuring bodacious good girl art printed in crisp black-and-white. Then there’s the murderer’s row of creatives involved, including Dave Cockrum, Paul Dini, Terry Austin, Kurt Busiek, Jo Duffy, and Lea Hernandez. If you like your Halloween comics to be silly and self-aware more than sinister, check out Claypool’s Elvira: Mistress of the Dark comics. She’s a ghoul for all seasons.
