fareehareads's reviews
119 reviews

 What an absolutely stunning comic. This story follows Jules, a tran man living in the body of a nun who essentially trades their soul to a devil for a new life. I'd describe this as a phantasmagoric illustrated manuscript in the best way possible. There are biblical references, stained-glass imagery, and just insanely well drawn characters and dynamics. I appreciated the exploration of a trans couple that is explicitly, on the page, about trans men falling for each other and both secretly trying to save each other. The settings were compelling, the characters were so fun to meet, and overall I loved it. This comic is explicit in depictions of sex, violence, and some light torture. I would recommend it to horror comic fans and fans of experimental comics. Really fun read.

Thank you Netgalley and Fantagraphics for an advance copy of this title. 

This story was pretty unique, the main character had a compelling story as the captain of a team that is overlooked and undervalued. Her strained relationship with her mother, coach, teammates, and the boy she's seeing all felt very grounded in such a short story. The fact that it was all done in color pencils was totally unexpected and impressive honestly, I think it really paid off.

I really enjoyed this story. In it, we follow Basem, Aarfah, and Mustafa who live on the lower levels of their city and use their skills as young inventors to get their way to the top. Disability & disease is at the forefront of this world that discriminates againt people born and infected by a sickness that leads to frequent amputations. They use their inventions to improve peoples lives around them by making prosthetics and are eventually noticed by upper level people for ther skills. 

Overall, I thought the plot was solid but could use some extra chapters. At times, the way information was dropped between text bubbles didn't convey their importance as much as I woul have liked to see in a comic. On one page, we're seeing Basem excited about their ascension to mid level life, then the next it's a new subplot that isn't explained in detail. If there were more chapter, I would have liked to see more scenes with Basem & Mustafa exploring their relationship and budding romance. Also more scenes on Aarfah and what led her to find the resistence movement and how it has strained her relationships. 

These characters are precious! Would definitely recommend.

This comic is so incredibly relevant and present, I hope to see it on more Banned Book Week displays this year! Taking place during the Fifth Republic in South Korea (1980s), Hyun Sook shares her experiences when she was a a freshman in college through a fictionalized memoir style graphic, written/illustrated in partnership with her cartoonist husband,  Ryan Estrada. I highly recommend checking out their comic style interview featured in rich in color in 2020 about the making of this comic, it was really interesting.

The story follows Hyun Sook as she unwittingly joins a banned book club and is introduced to an entirely new world. She meets activists that introduce her to communist, anti-capitalist, and revolutionary literature all the while learning more about reality of corruption that she can't hide away from. This comic manages to stay witty, lighthearted, and entertaining while also containing scathing specificity of the violence that censorship can lead to. There are scenes that actively show children being tortured and forced to confess under coercion. There are mentions of the brutality women and girls in particular face in prisons. It's a hard fought battle and throughout the comic you learn along with the main character as she is radicalized herself. At the heart of it, there is a hopeful message of resistance against systems that would keep the youth down. I can not recommend highly enough. If you ever wanted to know what South Korean schools were banning kids in the 80s from reading, there's a great list in these pages! 

 From the punk rock art style to the heartwarming queer characters, this coming of age story has a bit of everything. Ariel Grace Jones and her band are determined to break into the Southside of Chicago's music industry while also struggling to stay authentic to themselves as their talent gets them noticed by a local punk icon. At the center of it, this is a story of best friends and all the love and frustrations of being in community together. An aspect I loved was how this comic dealt with music on and off the panel. The pages where a band was rocking out on stage felt vivid and the music leapt off the page in Xunise's colorful art style. I would definitely recommend this for folks that love punk music, and even for fans of the show, We Are Lady Parts. 

The second book was hand down the strongest in the series. I loved every second of it. The Jasmine Throne way mainly a set up for this one, which starts off right in the center of the conflict. On one side, we have Malani and her carefully strung together generals and nearly loyal soldiers, on the other, her brother Emperor Chandra. We get to see Malani play a game of political chess as she enacts a war for the soul of an empire that was promised to her both through prophecy, sheer force of will, and, of course, manipulating her strongest weapon, Priya. She calls her to her side to help her in this battle and Priya, ever loyal and also deeply in love, agrees to go. One very interesting thing I find about their dynamic is that neither character is ever trying to stop the other from seeking power or fighting for it, both characters have their own little universe of people to care for and responsibilities to fulfil, but being together is its own special thing. They mean a lot to each other and would fight to the death for each other, even if it means sacrificing a lot of what they've built already. At this point in the story, Bhumika has gained control over Ahiranya after the regent's death (that whole scene was wild and cemented my Bhumika obsession), becoming a temple elder, and trying to create some semblance of normalcy in a rot riven place. Priya lowkey figures out how to heal the land & stop rot from spreading, but for some reason this is not top priority to her or Bhumika which is.... interesting. Priya ends up going to Malani's side despite this deep guilt she feels for leaving her people, half because she really wanted to go, and half because she knew she could trust Bhumika to handle things while she was gone. It is so intensely sad to me that this is the last time they truly see each other. The last half of this book had so much packed into it, from Priya realizing her gods were waking up and planning to bring back the age of flowers, to Prince Aditiya sacrificing himself by fire, breaking Rao's heart in the process. Malani manipulates at least 3 holly people and an entire army to finally get face to face with her evil brother and kills him in a prison cell. She calls it a suicide to keep the priests in line, basically sealing her claim now that her brothers were no longer a threat. Meanwhile, Bhumika finds herself face to face with the yaksa for the first time in a generation. All of these characters have a deep sense of duty and honor, but they also know what it means to sacrifice themselves for their people, land, or ideas. I really enjoyed the second book more than the first, especially the scenes when Priya finally used her abilities to their full capacity. I definitely wanted more scenes with my favs, Sima, Raziya (a literal warrior queen), and Rukh (I'm a sucker for a kid that joins the resistance and has a pure soul), but overall I enjoyed this one the most.

This horror graphic novel did a fantastic job utilizing the panels to keep the stakes high. The art style is dark and at times, convoluted in visibility, but it only added to the cosmic quality of the dimensional travel. I love when a story blends together elements of cultural/spacial history in with a speculative fiction setting and this comic is no different. It begins with Dr. Amal Robardin, a therapist new to their practice that recently immigrated from Beirut. Their very first patient, Yasmin, has schizophrenia and their first session is, well, not very good for either of them. Yasmin has been seeing visions that she is convinced are real and goes missing, in search for answers that no therapist or other being int his reality can provide. Distraught over Yasmin's disappearance (which Amal takes as a personal failure on their part), this failed therapist with a lot of baggage of their own goes on a search for Yasmin that takes them way beyond their wildest expectations.

 I highly recommend all of Nadia Shammas' work, everything I've read thus far from this cartoonist has been inventive and genre bending in quality. Definitely pick up Where Black Stars Rise.