The year is 2020, and of all the momentous things happening, both good and terrible, there is one event that we must honor, as we do every year: Hourly Comics Day. Welcome to my third annual roundup! This year’s Hourly Comics Day fell on a Saturday, and gave us a fun peek into various cartoonists’…
Normal Offers Queer, Desi Horror That Packs a Punch
The last Gaysi zine I reviewed was All that We Want, a gorgeous, warm celebration of queer desire. Their newest zine, Normal, is a complete departure from that exploration of queer joy, and instead dives into all that keeps us from such experiences. As Niyati Joshi makes known in their introduction, queer and trans people…
Best American Comics 2019 Offers a Time Capsule of Exciting, Poignant Work
Several weeks ago, I was browsing in a favorite local bookstore when Best American Comics 2019 (BAC) caught my eye. While the cover, illustrated by Sophia Foster-Dimino, has a bright, engaging image of a comics reader and comics character watching each other through a window (hello there, windows and mirrors theory!), it was the name…
Four-Color to Forearms: WWACers and Comic Book Tattoos
Tattoos are a way to permanently declare your allegiance, your identification, your love. It should be no surprise, then, that a lot of WWAC contributors have fabulous comics tattoos. If you’re considering a comics tattoo yourself (I am!), let this photo gallery serve as inspiration.
Kitten Construction Company is a Sure Hit for Reluctant Readers
Kitten Construction Company: A Bridge Too Fur John Patrick Green First Second October 1, 2019 Welcome back to another edition of Melissa and Alenka Review a Comic about Cats! In past installations we talked about cats and identity in Finding Molly from Emet Comics and the delightful strangeness of Benji Nate’s Catboy. This time we leaned…
Stage Dreams is the Comic Queer and Trans Teens Deserve
Stage Dreams Mel Gillman Lerner Publishing/Graphic Universe September 3, 2019 A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Three years ago, I interviewed incredible color pencil artist Mel Gillman about Stage Dreams, a young adult graphic novel they were drawing for Lerner Publishing’s imprint, Graphic Universe….
Benji Nate’s Lorna is Cute, Violent and Relatable
Lorna Benji Nate Silver Sprocket May 2019 A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Lorna is a comic about a girl who loves knives, loves to threaten boys, collects skeletons, and maybe is the reason those skeletons are available to be collected. It is about…
WWAC Chats: Bicons For Bisexual Awareness Month
Oh hey—it’s that time again! That day—September 23rd—or week, or heck, that whole MONTH where we remember that bisexuals exist and have our own unique styles, struggles, and memes. We have a LOT of memes, y’all. https://gallusrostromegalus.tumblr.com/post/166314618898/are-you-a-finger-guns-bisexual-or-an-awkward We also have a lot of disaster bisexuals, including me—your humble zine-loving bisexual who really meant to…
Our Queer Older Siblings Will Guide Us: An Interview with the Queer Zine Archive Project
I am sick of articles and think pieces that tell us zines are back. The more I visit zine festivals, talk to zinesters, buy zines, and check out zine libraries, the more I realize that zines never left. Zines, and the people who make them, have grown, found new avenues to reach people, and continued…
The Ominousness of Orange: An Interview with Kat Verhoeven on Meat and Bone
CONTENT WARNING: This article discusses eating disorders. A review copy of this book was provided by the artist. One of the most thrilling parts of being a webcomics fan is watching an artist grow as they complete a project. It’s exciting to see someone’s style evolve over time, and to speculate on how they’re finding…
Dora Explores New Relationship Ground: A Questionable Content Roundtable
Warning: Spoilers below! In a recent strip of the long-running webcomic Questionable Content, a thunderstruck Tai immediately knelt on the floor of the Coffee of Doom and proposed to her girlfriend, Dora, after Dora stated, point blank and without hesitation, that she’d close her coffee shop immediately and follow Tai if Tai had to move elsewhere….
We’re Queer and Here because of Alison Bechdel: A Review of Alison Bechdel: Conversations
Alison Bechdel: Conversations Rachel R. Martin (Editor) University Press of Mississippi October 18, 2018 Where do we need to go, and how far have we come? This, perhaps, is the question a good, earnest reader would ask when diving into Rachel R. Martin’s Alison Bechdel: Conversations, a collection of interviews with the queer comics legend….