Girl Town

Finally got around to this a year after I purchased it at SPX. My loss!

Two stories in particular are worth the price of admission. One is "Radishes," which I'd read before but is reprinted here in gorgeous full color. The color (and larger format, iirc) really heightened my reading experience and suited Nowak's lovely art. It's a coming-of-age story set in a fantasy world mall, so yes please.

Then there's "Diana's Electric Tongue," which is, wow, probably one of my favorite short comics of all time. It's a slightly surreal story about love, robots, and identity, i.e. my three favorite things. The structure is ingenious and the art is bold and inventive. In addition to the raw emotion of this story, I found myself appreciating small show more details, like the way Nowak draws backdrops as little isometric rooms with cutaway walls - visually pleasing, but also a neat trick to show time and space in a unique way.

The other stories weren't as memorable for me, but it's all good work. If you like accessible but weird comics by and about women, this one is recommended. show less

Nowak is a talent to watch, even if this book was a little disappointing for me. Though there were many interesting moments and characters, the short stories collected here didn't feel complete or satisfying. I think I would have enjoyed them more as middle chapters of longer works.

Illustrator Carolyn Nowak drew such memorable and diverse characters in Lumberjanes, that it left me curious to check out her solo debut.

Not all of these short stories land for me. For example, I quickly abandoned, “The Big Burning House,” a story about two girls starting a podcast about a mysterious movie. Others, like “Radishes,” brought me to totally unexpected tears. Nowak’s illustrations are so fluid and fun, everyone in her world is different and a little weird and wild. But they’re also compelling, relatable and deeply endearing.