Week Eleven: Strangers in Paradise

I had a really good time reading the contemporary comics. I found myself reading several of them this week, among them Footnotes in Gaza, Acme Novelty Library #1, Daytripper #1, and Strangers in Paradise #1. Strangers in Paradise was the last of these that I read, and perhaps the work that I was able to relate to the most. 

From a strictly visual standpoint, I love the look of the piece. I'm a sucker for black and white comics, I love their dependence on careful, deliberate line work. I also really liked the stylization of the characters; the stylization is enough that there is a distinct style to the work, but everything still leans more towards realism rather than abstraction-- and does so very convincingly, something I'm struggling to achieve with my own art at the moment. 

I think above all else, however, what really made the work for me were the characters. Their experiences seem to communicate some (unfortunately) universal experiences and do so very effectively. The part where the protagonist is continually pressured into sex with her boyfriend, for example, was presented in such a way that was comical, and also intensely realistic for me; I suspect I'm not the only one who felt that way. Here we see a girl being pressured into something she doesn't want and the man doing the pressuring still being played off as the victim, neglected and deprived of something he needs. And the fact that it's presented with a comical tone is even more telling in that these situations are often brushed off and joked about, in reality. 

I also like the inclusion of the protagonist's best friend, who is an artist, a lesbian, and evidently very in love with her best friend. I probably just haven't read enough LGBT work, but I really liked this portrayal, largely because I've never seen a queer character like that before. She lives up to the angry lesbian archetype, but personally I find it kind of endearing. She's humanized and dynamic-- just one issue in and we already have gotten to see the gruff personality she presents to the general public, and her vulnerable side, wherein she cries alone over driving her best friend away. We see her as she is presented as a sort of selfish, self assured, rude character, and then as a gentle, caring, attentive, and patient friend. I'm really here for that. 

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