Joamette Gil

we have a bunch of queer comics anthologies at this point, and this is one of the two best. there's not a clunker in the lot, and a bunch of incredible stories with beautiful art.

I wasn't feeling the first third of the book, but the last 2/3 was generally better. IDK what that's about. Some of the standouts:

"Finding Alex" - surreal mysterious metaphorical adventures that change you. yay!
"Shepherd" - chill and philosophical, but doesn't try to cram too much in. (As opposed to "The Flourishing Feast" which I think was trying for something similar but turned out totally incomprehensible, and not in a way that made me want to reread more deeply.)
"This Far" - wow. wow. show more Need to find more from this artist.
"Dear Paloma" - alienating in its zaniness at the start, but then it comes together really nicely!
"The Lungs of Jeju" - I wasn't into the ending (felt like the artist ran out of ideas), but I liked the rest.
"Shuvah" - totally made me tear up. show less

I really wanted to like this anthology more than I did. It's a beautiful book, with amazing cover art and gilt edges. It's a great concept; there aren't a lot of comics centering non-binary folks. But most of the stories weren't that interesting to me, or felt like half a scene from a larger story.
There were a few stories I did really like: "The Beast in the Garden" (by [[Ver]]), "New Leaves" (by [[Emily Madly]] and [[Maria Li]]), "The Lungs of Jeju" (by [[Sunmi]]), and "Shuvah (Return)" (by show more [[Ezra Rose]] and [[Jey Barnes]]). show less

Does what it says on the tin, really: a delightful and varied collection of comics featuring queer witches, with a lovely diverse range of settings, styles, characters, and creators. I'm not a great comics reader so am probably missing some of the subtleties, but it made for a very enjoyable afternoon's reading.