Barbara Brandon-Croft

These strips are from twenty to thirty years old, but they still feel pretty relevant today, from the politics discussed, to the friendships depicted, to the representation that matters so much.

The illustrations aren't very dynamic, showing only face-forward talking heads with some free-floating forearms and hands in the panels, and that lost me a little, but by reading the strips in small bursts over a week I was able to keep my attention on the content over the presentation.

This is a show more fairly generous collection of "select strips" but I'd be interested in seeing a complete reprinting of the series at some point.

FOR REFERENCE:

Contents: On Meeting Barbara / Marty Claus -- Cartoonist Profiles: Where I'm Coming From by Barbara Brandon / Barbara Brandon -- Where I'm Coming From Press Kit -- Where I'm Coming From: Selected Strips 1991–2005 / Barbara Brandon-Croft -- Where I'm Coming from Now / Barbara Brandon-Croft -- That's Pretty Cool When You Think about It / Sharon Pendana -- Syndicated Sisterhood / Rebecca Wanzo show less

Individual cartoons from this collection have been reprinted, but the series appeared in only a few weekly magazines, so this book was the first indication I had that the characters were part of a story. Ten regular characters, counting a mostly preverbal baby, and two extras appear in this book. Only their faces and hands are drawn, keeping the focus on the facial expressions, which the author captures remarkably well. The women are different in personalities and apparent ages; often they show more disagree and sometimes they quarrel, but their enduring friendship is downright inspirational.

One way this book could have been better would have been for it to include someone whose politics were right of center. The cartoonist may have grown up in Washington, D.C., where advocates of tighter government budgets tend to be quiet, but still, this book is unbalanced and thus fails to represent Black women like Stacey Dash. It does a splendid job of representing Maxine Waters' fans. show less