Qu33rby Wolfen MoondaughterReviews may contain information that could be considered 'spoilers'. Readers should proceed at their own risk. Publisher
Credits Grade: 7 Celebrating 40 years since the publication of the first queer comic, Qu33r is a collection of comics from 33 modern comic creators. The stories range in subject from self-discovery, to personal reflections, to the anecdotal, to the entirely fictional. Most are explicitly about being queer, about what alternate lifestyles might entail, but there are a few that are about more general experiences viewed through a queer lense (although in some cases I suspect that a work is included simply because its creator is queer, not because it lends itself particularly to the subject of sexual / gender identity). It also covers how one queer's experiences might differ from other queer's -- and how similar the lives of queer and straight people can be, as life and love can be beautiful and hard no matter what your orientation or gender identity. Those points all on their own would make reading the work worthwhile, offering insight to queer and straight audiences alike. I do wish there were more stories about bisexuality, which seems barely touched upon at all, and on being transgender, which is a little more prevalent in the volume than bisexuality, but not by much.There is some sex, and some of it is graphic, but there isn't a lot. There is some graphic violence, as well -- still not a lot, but perhaps more prevalent than the sex -- in the form of a few instances of battery, someone getting shot in the head, and someone being eaten by rats, as well as threats of violence (sexual and otherwise), and mentions of off-screen violence. If promiscuity bothers you, note that there are some mentions of that as well. I will admit that I don't love a lot of the art, but even when I don't care for a style in and of itself, the story told with it can sometimes make the art more appealing in turn, as sketchy and indie-cartoon qualities can accentuate the personal nature of some of the material. And there are times when the art itself is pretty appealing to me -- but in some of those cases, the story doesn't appeal so well. There were a few entries that, regardless of the art, had me scratching my head and wondering what exactly the point was. As far as stories for the sake of stories, regardless of message, while many were pretty good, none really grabbed me as excellent, and some were downright boring. Still, in so large a collection, just keep reading, and you're sure to find works that appeal to you on some level. Even the entries that might make one uncomfortable still often have a point that should be noted and ruminated upon. I like Eric Orner's "Porno" fairly well; the art was decent, and I appreciated the angst and his guilt, and how his relationship with his father turned around. Mari Naomi's "Three's a Crowd" is a nice little exploration of the complexity of relationships, especially when there's a question of how you feel about your partner and whether or not the relationship is open; again, the art is decent. Ed Luce's "Kindness of Strangers," involving two friends at a concert and how they get through it alive, is both sweet and a bit upsetting, as the pair hit it off well with people they meet there but aren't particularly respectful of personal boundaries (though that issue is addressed some by one character complaining about another being overly familiar). Dylan Edwards' "The Transformers" and Diane DiMassa's "Born Qu33r" both do a nice job commenting on gender identity through children and their toys. (I prefer the art in Edwards' story, but am uncertain of legality of the use of trademarked characters and logos in it.) Justin Hall's "Seductive Summer" is an interesting story about the narrator's experience with a lover who may not have been gay after all, but rather mentally ill, with the narrator fearing he might have taken advantage of the man out of his own fantasy desires. It also involves the narrator's foray into drag, as well as drug issues. I like the art, and it's a very different approach to the "Can I bring the other person around to my orientation?" plot common in yaoi. The art for Jennifer Camper's "Just Another Night in Carbon City," a noir story about two female assassins, was just so-so, but I liked twist! I liked the art of Tyler Cohen's textless "Flux," but I'm not sure I get the story (though I have a theory). Jennifer Camper and Michael Fahy's "So Young, So Talented, So What" was a gay telling of the "teen goes to Hollywood to become famous and gets sucked into a life of prostitution and drugs; here, it's a teen boy who wants to be an artist and is misled by his butch lesbian aunt and people in the art community. It's not a bad story exactly, but it's sad to the point of macabre. I'm not sure if it was meant to be funny, but I felt like it tries to be and fails. In fact, I could have just as easily believed it to have been written by someone who was homophobic, as a warning about getting involved with the gay community, as just a gay take on a trope .... Steve MacIsaac's "Vacant Lots" a story about a man who comes home and encounters a boy who bullied him in school, is one of my faves of the volume. The art's good, and the story seems to go one way, but goes in another direction instead, one I rather appreciated. I like the art in Rick Worley's "For Fetch and Ruski, Spooner, and Calico," though the style seems to change some. Otherwise, it's a poem, and poetry tends to bore me. Carlo Quispe's "Political Will" illustrates small talk at a queer party. I'm not that keen on the art, and the characters are a bit bitchy, but it's still interesting, especially the talk of drugs that purportedly can prevent the contraction of HIV. The art in Andy Hartzel's "Manning / Lamo Project" was decent, even a but reminiscent of Calvin and Hobbes, but the story was hard for me to follow, vacillating between one character talking about his gender confusion issues and questionable actions of the military, of which he is a part, to someone who I guess is a spy trying to get info from him (except he knows other person is a spy?). I don't know. In "Toot Toot Heyyyyyyy Beep Beep," Carrie McNinch shares a little anecdote of exploring her sexuality with a girl she just met, right under their collective parents' noses; the art is simple, and the story is interesting but anticlimactic. Rob Kirby's got a fairly fun style, but his "Music for No Boyfriends" drags a bit at the start of his anecdote, which only gets moderately interesting when he realizes his date has said something that horrifies him, then ends with basically a shrug. In "If You Want Me to I Will Be the One That is Always Good," Sina Sparrow tells of the awkwardness of trying to find compatible sexual taste; the art itself can be awkward, but I mostly like it. In Ivan Valez, Jr.'s "Orso Orso: The Night I Got My Hero Card," a man who has just become a superhero meets his idol at a gay bar for superheroes. It's kind of ridiculous and fluffy and a borderline Mary-Sue fantasy, but it's also kind of sweet and one of the better-illustrated pieces (especially if you like Bara); if only it didn't end on a cliffhanger! I liked the art in Craig Bostick's "Guitar, Bass, Drums" fairly well, too. The comic tells of a singer who wants a guy to play bass in his band, and the awkwardness of the audition and the singer's feelings for the bassist. It was okay, but I think it would have been better as a longer, more developed story. Jon Macy nicely illustrates, both literally and figuratively, the influence various queer figures have had on his life. L. Nichols uses some fairly cute art in "Confesssion," to depict the struggles of sexual and gender identity they went through. There are other stories, too, but those are the ones that inspired me to say something about them, for good or ill -- and maybe they will inspire you to try the book! Note: there is one piece that includes images of underage cartoon characters in non-graphic sexual situations. US obscenity law might forgive the images because they make a point about growing up gay and aren't just prurient, but from what I've heard of British law on the matter, even having a drawn image of a minor simply witnessing a sexual act sounds to be illegal there (I can't tell if context makes a difference, as it seems to with US law). In any case, consider yourself alerted. Written: January 12, 2014
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