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A review by circlepines
Juicy Mother: Celebration by Howard Cruse, Michael Fahy, Jennifer Camper, Robert Kirby, Joan Hilty, Alison Bechdel, Stephen Winter, Diane DiMassa, Ivan Velez Jr.
3.0
I've been an Alison Bechdel groupie for a long time, and really wanted to read more queer comics. This collection -- a volume of alternative comix from writers and artists who are women, PoC, and/or LGBQ -- looked great. As the introduction puts it, "Here is a home for the stories about the rest of us. Here are comix for Discerning Homosexuals, Uppity Ladies, Fierce People of Color and all their friends." Sounds good, right?
I wasn't surprised to love Alison Bechdel's contribution, "Oppressed Minority Cartoonist", which takes shots at mainstream publishers and audiences while reflecting wryly on the perils of self-maintained isolation. Jennifer Camper's "Ramadan" and Robert Kirby & Stephen Winter's "Dollface" were moving stories about the intersections of race and ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation. Most of the other pieces were pretty light on substance, but were worth flipping through for the art (Ariel Schrag's plotless but adorable strips) or the "yeah, I've been there..." smiles that they produce (Leanne Franson's "Chicken-Head Love", Robert Triptow's "Teddy Bears' Wedding"). My favorite, hands down, was Joan Hilty's hilarious "You Must Not Read Gabriel Garcia Marquez after the Breakup". The remaining pieces felt like filler -- especially Serena Pillai's "The Italian Cousin", featuring a dozen pages of Lolita-esque sex between an Italian teenager and her butch American cousin.
The quality of the comix in here is really uneven, and the collection isn't as thought-provoking as I thought it would be. But it's a quick and entertaining read, the bad pieces are easy enough to skip -- and it's a good gateway drug for finding good LGBQ cartoonists, which is exactly why I picked it up in the first place. There's a second volume out that I've heard is better, and will totally read if I can find a copy.
I wasn't surprised to love Alison Bechdel's contribution, "Oppressed Minority Cartoonist", which takes shots at mainstream publishers and audiences while reflecting wryly on the perils of self-maintained isolation. Jennifer Camper's "Ramadan" and Robert Kirby & Stephen Winter's "Dollface" were moving stories about the intersections of race and ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation. Most of the other pieces were pretty light on substance, but were worth flipping through for the art (Ariel Schrag's plotless but adorable strips) or the "yeah, I've been there..." smiles that they produce (Leanne Franson's "Chicken-Head Love", Robert Triptow's "Teddy Bears' Wedding"). My favorite, hands down, was Joan Hilty's hilarious "You Must Not Read Gabriel Garcia Marquez after the Breakup". The remaining pieces felt like filler -- especially Serena Pillai's "The Italian Cousin", featuring a dozen pages of Lolita-esque sex between an Italian teenager and her butch American cousin.
The quality of the comix in here is really uneven, and the collection isn't as thought-provoking as I thought it would be. But it's a quick and entertaining read, the bad pieces are easy enough to skip -- and it's a good gateway drug for finding good LGBQ cartoonists, which is exactly why I picked it up in the first place. There's a second volume out that I've heard is better, and will totally read if I can find a copy.