May 19, 2022

I read Volumes 1-4 of Heartstopper by Alice Oseman last month and I’m still thinking about it.

The story is so compelling and one of the things I liked best about it was the portrayal of communication and how important that is in all our relationships.

I’ve even been trying my hand at drawing the characters 😅

Queer Comics: Graphic Novels to Check Out

Pixels of You by: Ananth Hirsh (Co-writer), Yuko Ota (Co-writer), J.R. Doyle (Artist)

A human and human-presenting AI slowly become friends—and maybe more—in this moving YA graphic novel In a near future, augmentation and AI changed everything and nothing. Indira is a human girl who has been cybernetically augmented after a tragic accident, and Fawn is one of the first human-presenting AI. They have the same internship at a gallery, but neither thinks much of the other’s photography. But after a huge public blowout, their mentor gives them an work together on a project or leave her gallery forever. Grudgingly, the two begin to collaborate, and what comes out of it is astounding and revealing for both of them. Pixels of You is about the slow transformation of a rivalry to a friendship to something more as Indira and Fawn navigate each other, the world around them—and what it means to be an artist and a person.

The DC Book of Pride: A Celebration of DC's LGBTQIA+ Characters by: Jadzia Axelrod

Discover the rich history of DC’s LGBTQIA+ Superheroes in this inspiring gift-title featuring detailed character profiles and comic book artwork Celebrate Pride with DC’s LGBTQIA+ Superheroes. Written and curated by DC expert Jadzia Axelrod, The DC Book of Pride profiles more than 50 LGBTQIA+ characters in detail, including Harley Quinn, Superman, Nubia, Robin, Batwoman, Aqualad, Dreamer, Green Lantern, and many more. Discover their fascinating origins, amazing superpowers, and key storylines. This title is an indispensable and celebratory companion to the DC Pride comic books.

Spectacle #1 by: Megan Rose Gedris

Fan-favorite webcomic creator Megan Rose Gedris (Yu+Me Dream) crafts a compelling tale of magic, deception, and wonder in this stunningly illustrated comic about the bond between sisters. Pragmatic engineer Anna works as a psychic in the Samson Brothers Circus, but she doesn't believe in anything supernatural... until her twin sister Kat is murdered and comes back as a very demanding ghost. Sharing a room with her sister was hard, but now they're sharing a body while trying to identify the killer. But how can you solve a mystery when everyone around has their own shady secrets?

Blackwater by: Jeannette Arroyo, Ren Graham  

Riverdale meets Stranger Things in this debut queer YA graphic novel, developed from a hit webcomic. Set in the haunted town of Blackwater, Maine, two boys fall for each other as they dig for clues to a paranormal mystery. Tony Price is a popular high school track star and occasional delinquent aching for his dad’s attention and approval. Eli Hirsch is a quiet boy with a chronic autoimmune disorder that has ravaged his health and social life. What happens when these two become unlikely friends (and a whole lot more . . .) in the spooky town of Blackwater, Maine? Werewolf curses, unsavory interactions with the quarterback of the football team, a ghostly fisherman haunting the harbor, and tons of high school drama.

Fence Series by C.S. Pacat and Johanna the Mad Nicholas Cox is a sixteen-year-old and an outsider in the fencing world but miraculously he ends up at Kings Row after losing a match to the prodigy fencer Seiji Katayama. What lies ahead of him is a challenging quest to fix his bad technique while learning to be friends with other fencers. I really loved the drawing style of Johanna the Mad and the straightforward writing style of Pacat let the story flow. I didn't even realize I was at the end because I kept losing myself in the story. Seiji's horrible friendship skills and Nicholas's obsession with trying to beat the best player in the fencing world created a sort of hilarious moments as well as irritating arguments. But that all made the story even better. The other characters in the school were too colourful and from different backgrounds, so there was a sense of mesmerising diversity. If you're feeling like reading an lgbtq+ graphic novel after Heartstopper, this one's worth checking out. I'm madly waiting for the next volume.

Taking a mini break from my thesis to review a few books but this one’s first. After rereading and rewatching Heartstopper, I felt like I was in need of a new graphic novels and this was the perfect choice. Looking forward to reading a few more lgbtq+ books this spring! 

insta: @merueiledreams

There’s only one more graphic novel from Kay O’Neill and I will have read all of their work. This is a funny and sweet children’s graphic novel, but it is extremely fast paced that it feels like I’m missing pages while reading.

3 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Hello, apparently it's Banned Books Week and I wanted to say something about it.

It's makes me sad that my book has become one of MANY to be banned in libraries. It doesn't affect me much personally or financially, but its scary/worrying because Ive been watching this ripple effect over the last few years, it's a reflection of increasingly visibly hateful attitudes in recent years, and we're starting to see similar protests against books and libraries here in the UK, along with the transphobic and queerphobic violence against those trying to stop these bans.

Pls help to stem misinformation. Pls go to protests. And support authors of banned books/share their books with teens and kids who might no longer have access to them!

There's less than 3 DAYS remaining to back Early Bird on Kickstarter!

This older-man centric LGBTQ graphic novel is fully funded with every stretch goal reached. Early Bird Vol. 1 will be available digitally and in print, with rewards for the book beginning at only $14USD!

Character-designing the 55-year-old woman of my dreams

(from Hello Sunshine)

Wait wait wait Nimona was trying to build a connection with Gloreth after being rejected by animals and Gloreth was accepting of her despite being a shape-shifter but Nimona was seen as a monster by the village which then made Gloreth switch her opinions because her parents and the village told her that Nimona was a monster and tried to kill her then 1000 years later Ballister ended up building a connection with Ambrosius a descendant of Golreth and after being rejected by the knights throughout his whole life basically since training started young Ambrosius was accepting of him despite being a commoner but then he was seen as a murderer by the town which had made Ambrosius changed his opinion on him because of what he had seen and what the knights/Director were telling him but unlike Gloreth who while was reluctant at first to treat Nimona as a monster but then gave into hating her and wanting her to die like the people around her did Ambrosius had been reluctant throughout the whole ordeal but in the end stayed committed to Ballister because he loved him despite what everyone else was saying about him and its like the movie was already drawing parallels to how Ballister and Nimona were the same and viewed as outcasts/monsters/murderers but there's notable parallels to Gloreth and Ambrosius in how they were people close to Nimona and Ballister and it came to a point where they had to go against them but the key difference in what happened was the side they chose and the aftermath when they were being forced to chose a side and it really showcases how their generations were different thus their mindsets were different in handling the situation and its just exactly like in real life when it comes to queer people like people especially children can be conditioned to hate queer people with enough fear mongering/hate speech and that's exactly what happened with Gloreth in how she ended up treating Nimona and it was going to happen with Ambrosius but a saving grace was that he was much older so it was harder to change his opinions on Ballister that and he is in a different time period than Gloreth showing how things had drastically changed and advanced in many areas and i feel that the whole point with the parallel between Gloreth and Ambrosius is that times have changed and how even though our past generations have treated queer people like they are monsters and that we should hate them when in reality its not too late for our generation to treat them like equals and that we should love them like holy shit this movie is so insanely and unapologetically queer in so many ways that I did not imagine was humanly possible

NIMONA

🚗 Are You Listening? by Tillie Walden

Bea is on the run, and ends up running into Lou, who is on a road trip. Lou offers Bea a ride and they end up going on a journey that challenges each of them to grow.

When writing about who was my favorite character in a graphic novel with only two main characters, I could decide because I thought both Lou and Bea were very human and imperfect and wonderful and foiled each other. Lou is holding her life together but is filled with an inner turmoil. Bea is brash and angry, but it somehow managing to stay stable.

Tillie Walden is my new favorite graphic novelist, this being the third book of theirs I’ve read. My friend J told me about this one and I saw it at the library, so I had to grab it. The story is so introspective and I liked how each character grew by the end of it to show how much progress they went through, while still being themselves.

Content Warnings: rape, death of a parent

HI HI. I posted a wip of ALL GIRLS ARE MOTHS, allegorical LGBTQ comic I'm currently working on, to swanchime's QUEER TIME TRAVEL JAM. Feedback welcome!!

This has ENBY and trans lesbians so I quite enjoy making it 🥺🥺🥺 it's also heavily inspired by RGU so if you're a fan you will most likely enjoy it! And also inspired by the collage art style.

It's for free (or you can donate to help production!) on 1TCH/IO!

Her Vibes are IMPECCABLE, her braincells NONEXISTENT ✨

“Count” Camembert from The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich 🧀💖✨

In the Comic

The Director: Blackheart is not your friend. You keep trying to kill him

Ambrosius: He keeps trying to kill me. Sort of our texting. Been at it for ages

A unique expansion on the classic novella Carmilla that adds in Chinese mythology to expand vampiric lore. Paneling could use some work to make dialogue flow more clear, but otherwise this was really cool and interesting.

4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

GENDER STUDIES is out now! 🎉

A comic treatment of the challenges, complexities, and occasional absurdity of life at the crossroads of race, gender, and geekiness.

This should be required reading for EVERYONE. I need more people to read this because it was such a gut punch and I’m just here trying to make sense of all the things I read. There is just so much packed into this graphic novel that it’s hard to get my thoughts in order to make a coherent review. Especially when my thoughts were just a revolving door of “WTF?!”, “holy shit!”, and “colonialism is an absolute bitch”. Seriously, my inner monologue was one giant swear word generator the entire time I was reading. Squire is honestly one of the most eye opening stories I’ve ever read and it’s getting a solid five stars. Please, please read this!

Reading Challenge Prompt Fills:

Alphabet Challenge: Q somewhere in the title