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A review by fareehareads
Strange Bedfellows by Ariel Slamet Ries
5.0
This comic was my first read for the Trans Rights Readathon and easily my first 5 star comic of the year. Wow. I am familiar with this cartoonist's work, I read Witchy many years ago when it was just starting out as a webcomic, so it was really nice to see how this artist has progressed.
It takes place on an alien planet where people are born with abilities that ultimately determine their future and lifestyle. Our mc wasn't born with abilities like the rest of his family and after experiencing an embarrassing and very public event, he secludes himself and doesn't even reach out to his siblings, family, or old friends for help. His story was endearing, the plot was entertaining, and no panel felt wasted. Oberon and his ghostly companion were really the heart of it. My only critique would be that the world building at times felt as if it was more fleshed out to the artist than it was to the reader. There would be points when something specific to the world would be brought up without explanation and it didn't seem to harm or help the page. I just let myself be confused during those panels, but honestly, the story would have been fine without them.
A strength of this story is definitely the character relationships, especially when Oberon was reconnecting with friends or had fights with their older sibling, all of those interactions left the reader wanting to learn more about the backstory and I felt like that was a really effective way to show strained relationships in a comic like this. The twist in the last act was also really good, it's hard to do those in comics and it was really well worth it for that ending. I'll keep it intentionally vague. I definitely recommend it.
It takes place on an alien planet where people are born with abilities that ultimately determine their future and lifestyle. Our mc wasn't born with abilities like the rest of his family and after experiencing an embarrassing and very public event, he secludes himself and doesn't even reach out to his siblings, family, or old friends for help. His story was endearing, the plot was entertaining, and no panel felt wasted. Oberon and his ghostly companion were really the heart of it. My only critique would be that the world building at times felt as if it was more fleshed out to the artist than it was to the reader. There would be points when something specific to the world would be brought up without explanation and it didn't seem to harm or help the page. I just let myself be confused during those panels, but honestly, the story would have been fine without them.
A strength of this story is definitely the character relationships, especially when Oberon was reconnecting with friends or had fights with their older sibling, all of those interactions left the reader wanting to learn more about the backstory and I felt like that was a really effective way to show strained relationships in a comic like this. The twist in the last act was also really good, it's hard to do those in comics and it was really well worth it for that ending. I'll keep it intentionally vague. I definitely recommend it.