Erika Lopez

Part art book, part memoir, part manifesto, Erika Lopez' The Girl Must Die is an eye-opening statement. With no interest in redemption or convention, Lopez overturns traditional feminist notions of abuse, sexuality, and morality and puts forth acerbic and in-your-face arguments about race and gender. This isn't a tome full of rants, but a well-crafted intertextual experience that is as hilarious as it is confrontational.

Erika Lopez presents her readers with a tits-out account of what it's like to grow up sexy and become a Monster Girl in this book. It's a sardonic, gritty, unapologetic social commentary wrapped up in brutal feminism with a side of tenderness. It's hard to describe Lopez's work in any other way. In The Girl Must Die, all of your questions about what it's like to be biracial, bisexual, poor, sexually voracious, and human are contained within these pages. Structurally, the narrative is tight show more and there is a good balance between illustration, white space, and text. Every single word belongs on each page and this attention to craft and detail makes it next to impossible to set the book aside until you're finished reading. show less

this feels like the basis for things that erika lopez did much better in her later books. still, i am really drawn to her sense of humor and point of view.

An out-there road-trip memoir, at times funny, touching, outrageous, cringe-worthy, baffling, sweet, empowering, & more. Her stream-of-consciousness style mixed with retro ink stamp artworks & funky (sometimes faded) fonts make it an art piece as well as a diary of sorts. It's definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but I would consider it a unique entry into the 'female adventurer' category.