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A review by emeelee
Fresh Romance by Marguerite Bennett, Sarah Kuhn, Kate Leth
3.0
This is an anthology collection containing five different comics.
1.) "School Spirit" is an adorable comic about two sets of star-crossed lovers.
To the other students at their high school, Malie and Justine appear to be fighting over a boy named Miles, but in fact are secretly dating each other. Meanwhile, Justine's friend Corrine is the one who is actually secretly dating Miles. See, Corrine is a witch who's dads don't allow her to date mortals. But prom is coming up, and all four of these teens are tired of keeping secrets.
I adored all these characters, and loved the artwork. This reminded me of Archie comics, if Betty and Veronica dated each other, and Archie dated Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Fun drama, romance, and hijinks! 4 stars.
2.) "Ruined" is an Austen-esque regency romance about an arranged marriage.
Catherine had a previous romance, and rumors of indecency have given her a tarnished reputation, but her family has money. Andrew's father and older brother lost the family fortune to gambling and seeks to return their estate to its former glory. Both of them are determined to make their arranged marriage work, but are somewhat awkward with each other. After a botched wedding night, things get even more strained.
I liked how soft this comic was, in art and story. I appreciated the emphasis on consent, even in a marriage bed. However, I feel like this story has only barely begun, and the comic ended with a "To be continued...". 3.5 stars.
3.) "The Ruby Equation" is about a cupid-esque creature named Ruby who works in a modern-day coffee shop.
Ruby is anticipating meeting her matchmaking quota so that she can leave the human realm behind and pursue greater missions. She doesn't like her "mushy, gushy" assignment, and makes her matches based on mathematical algorithms. However, it turns out that most of the matches she's made never went anywhere after the first spark-- Ruby's math has failed her. Now she has to make one last match; one that will make her genuinely feel something.
I ended up being a bit disappointed by this comic because I expected it to go in a different direction. I thought that Ruby might be aro/ace which was why she was having trouble with matches, but then she found romance in the end... Maybe you could say she's demi, but the narrative was pretty clearly about the importance of romance (and "feelings" were presented as intrinsically tied to romance), so I just felt let down. 2.5 stars.
4.) "Beauties" is a Beauty and the Beast retelling in which Beauty's family are the actual monsters.
When the merchant prince captures the Beast, he and his two eldest daughters treat him cruelly. Only the prince's youngest daughter, Beauty, treats the Beast with kindness and gentleness. They fall in love and hatch an escape, but with the prince after them they'll have to make sacrifices in order to exist undetected.
This was an interesting retelling, and beautifully told, though I don't know that I completely bought into the notion of love being embodied in cruelty. In the narrative, the prince and two eldest daughters "love" the Beast, but selfishly, which in my mind isn't actual love. 3 stars.
5.) "First, Last & Always" is a very short comic about a woman who, with each first kiss, will simultaneously experience her last kiss with that person.
This is an interesting premise, but the comic is so short that nothing really had time to happen. I also wasn't a fan of the way the main character addresses the reader as if we are who she is about to kiss. 2 stars.
Overall, this is definitely a comic anthology worth picking up, especially for "School Spirit."
1.) "School Spirit" is an adorable comic about two sets of star-crossed lovers.
To the other students at their high school, Malie and Justine appear to be fighting over a boy named Miles, but in fact are secretly dating each other. Meanwhile, Justine's friend Corrine is the one who is actually secretly dating Miles. See, Corrine is a witch who's dads don't allow her to date mortals. But prom is coming up, and all four of these teens are tired of keeping secrets.
I adored all these characters, and loved the artwork. This reminded me of Archie comics, if Betty and Veronica dated each other, and Archie dated Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Fun drama, romance, and hijinks! 4 stars.
2.) "Ruined" is an Austen-esque regency romance about an arranged marriage.
Catherine had a previous romance, and rumors of indecency have given her a tarnished reputation, but her family has money. Andrew's father and older brother lost the family fortune to gambling and seeks to return their estate to its former glory. Both of them are determined to make their arranged marriage work, but are somewhat awkward with each other. After a botched wedding night, things get even more strained.
I liked how soft this comic was, in art and story. I appreciated the emphasis on consent, even in a marriage bed. However, I feel like this story has only barely begun, and the comic ended with a "To be continued...". 3.5 stars.
3.) "The Ruby Equation" is about a cupid-esque creature named Ruby who works in a modern-day coffee shop.
Ruby is anticipating meeting her matchmaking quota so that she can leave the human realm behind and pursue greater missions. She doesn't like her "mushy, gushy" assignment, and makes her matches based on mathematical algorithms. However, it turns out that most of the matches she's made never went anywhere after the first spark-- Ruby's math has failed her. Now she has to make one last match; one that will make her genuinely feel something.
I ended up being a bit disappointed by this comic because I expected it to go in a different direction. I thought that Ruby might be aro/ace which was why she was having trouble with matches, but then she found romance in the end... Maybe you could say she's demi, but the narrative was pretty clearly about the importance of romance (and "feelings" were presented as intrinsically tied to romance), so I just felt let down. 2.5 stars.
4.) "Beauties" is a Beauty and the Beast retelling in which Beauty's family are the actual monsters.
When the merchant prince captures the Beast, he and his two eldest daughters treat him cruelly. Only the prince's youngest daughter, Beauty, treats the Beast with kindness and gentleness. They fall in love and hatch an escape, but with the prince after them they'll have to make sacrifices in order to exist undetected.
This was an interesting retelling, and beautifully told, though I don't know that I completely bought into the notion of love being embodied in cruelty. In the narrative, the prince and two eldest daughters "love" the Beast, but selfishly, which in my mind isn't actual love. 3 stars.
5.) "First, Last & Always" is a very short comic about a woman who, with each first kiss, will simultaneously experience her last kiss with that person.
This is an interesting premise, but the comic is so short that nothing really had time to happen. I also wasn't a fan of the way the main character addresses the reader as if we are who she is about to kiss. 2 stars.
Overall, this is definitely a comic anthology worth picking up, especially for "School Spirit."