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laughing_tree
As Watchmen did for superheroes and Sandman did for horror, Love Everlasting will use the tropes of romance to explore the heart of humanity. -- Tom King
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laughing_treeAs Watchmen did for superheroes and Sandman did for horror, Love Everlasting will use the tropes of romance to explore the heart of humanity. -- Tom King
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laughing_tree
Love Everlasting is my dream project. It is a chance to create another Vision or Mister Miracle, to explore the themes of conformity and rebellion through the tale of one woman's journey through the fantastic and horrifying world of Romance. -- Tom King
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Love Everlasting #2 - "The Hunt for Love!"
Apr. 7th, 2022 05:49 pmlaughing_tree
For about 30 years Romance comics made up about a fourth of all comics. Thousands of stories drawn by people like Toth, Kirby, Frazetta, Romita, Wood, and Estrada. Love Everlasting mines this fascinating, insane, lost history to tell a modern story about being trapped by love. -- Tom King
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Love Everlasting #1
Feb. 28th, 2022 07:01 pmlaughing_tree
Love Everlasting is an epic, mind-blowing tale of hope, death, and rebirth set in a world as frighteningly fantastical as any found beyond the stars or after the apocalypse: The Romance Comics of the 50s, 60s, and 70s. -- Tom King
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leahandillyanaWhen I began this series I mentioned that some comics will feature material impossible to publish in American market. Wrecked Hearts epitomizes this type of a story. This manga-style comic was created by two French author-artists and published by a Swedish publishing company. The comic contains two sci-fi romantic stories. In the first story 15 year old Fio is a girl living in a space colony on Callisto who lust over a cute boy she’s never spoken to and has a secret – she’s only half-human and has shapeshifting powers, which she decides to use to pursue her crush – as a boy. In Dark Energy, a cat-shaped robot journalist travels the galaxy to find interesting people to interview and write books about. This time he chose to interview Astree, a girl living in a greenhouse spaceship. Their meeting gets side tracked by sheaningans such as a planet being swallowed by a fissure in space, the ship turning into a refugee for sentient fart clouds, and other craziness among which Mikael falls in love with Astree.
Why a warning for such seemingly cute stories? There’s plenty of teen nudity and sexual fantasies, including a scene in which a character molests their sleeping love interest. In fact, the comic is opened by a scene of sexual harrassment dreamt by a character.24 pages out of circa 200.
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Boyfriends by Refreinbow
Feb. 7th, 2022 04:13 pmleahandillyanaBoyfriends is a series of sweet slice of life vignettes featuring scenes from the lives of a polycule of four boys known only the archetype/stereotype they represent: Goth, Jock, Nerd and Prep. The story focuses on the interpersonal relationships between the four boys and is rather light on plot. The art style is heavily inspired by the kawaii aesthetics of franchises like Hello Kitty or My Little Pony, making it stand out among BL series. Additionally, it's a very rare gay romance story featuring a trans man in a romance. The comic’s format is adapted for reading on smartphones, this may appear strange to readers unfamiliar with the format at first, but it’s something very intuitive to learn. The comic can be read on Webtoons. The website doesn’t allow the users to download the pages, so I’ll only share the promo image of the season finale. It perfectly showcases the art of the comic.
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A Thing Called Truth #4
Feb. 7th, 2022 01:48 pmleahandillyanaA Thing Called Truth is a romantic comedy by Iolanda Zanfardino and Elisa Romboli. Magdalene Traumer is a scientist dedicated to her work to the point she can't be bothered to sign her divorce papers and who hasn't been out since she's been a PHD student. Unfortunately, her corrupt employers, seeing the breakout she made, fired her to take the IP rights of the miracle cure for themselves. Dorian Wildfang is a woman who's lost both her mother and brother to a genetic disease. Afraid to learn whether she's about to succumb to it, she instead opts to take a transeuropean road trip her brother planned - in doctor Traumer's car, with the hungover Magdalene still inside! The series started only recently, so I cannot say anything for sure, but so far I am greatly enjoying its mix of humor and psychological introspection. And of course the budding romance between the two protagonists.
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leahandillyanaThis is certainly one comic with a striking title, and it delivers exactly what the cover promises – a cheerful love story about cheerleaders. Its main characters are Annie, an antisocial girl who discovers that, to her anguish, she needs to get involved in extracurricular activities to be admitted to a university (Is this a real requirement? I know next to nothing about the American school system...), and Bebe, her childhood friend with an outgoing persona and member of the cheerleading squad. Encouraged by her mother, Annie joins the cheerleading team and reconnects with Bebe. The simple story stands out thanks to the charming art style it was drawn in, as well due to the fact that Bebe is a transgender girl. A cute story to cheer you up. 9 pages out of circa 100.
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Crema by Johnnie Christmas and Dante Luiz
Feb. 6th, 2022 12:32 pmleahandillyanaCrema is another example of my favourite genre, gothic romance. Esme is woman with the ability to see ghosts after drinking coffee whose only friend is the ghost of Gerry, a long deceased actress. To have an excuse to be constantly drinking coffee Esme became a barista, and during a work party she met Yara – a woman of striking resemblance to Gerry - who happens to be the owner of the caffee Esme works in. The two women are immediately attracted to each other, and quite surprisingly for the genre the complications come not from any dark past one of the women may have, but rather one extremely stubborn ghost who is hell-bent on having Esme do his biddings. 9 pages out of 100.
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Liebestrasse by Greg Lockard and Tim Fish
Feb. 5th, 2022 03:26 pmleahandillyanaLibestrasse is a simple story, both in terms of plot and art, which doesn’t mean that it’s poor. The art of this independent comic reminds me of art deco, artistic movement popular in the years depicted in the story, while limiting the scope of storytelling to three major characters helps in making the narrative clear and straight-forward. While the story starts in 1952, majority of the comic is a flashback of the main character Sam, an American businessman who moved to Berlin in 1932. In the lively gay scene of the city he meets Philip and the two fall in love. However, the happiness of both the men and Philip’s sister, avantgarde painter Hilde, is short lived. The graphic novel amazingly portrays the atmosphere of hopelessness, knowing that the world you are used to is ephemeral, and that the situation can only go from bad to worse. The story has no happy end or hopeful resolution, with the ending being one of the bleakest ones I’ve seen in American comics. Nonetheless a highly recommended work. 12 pages out of circa 100.
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Baraou no Souretsu by Aya Kanno
Feb. 5th, 2022 03:07 pmleahandillyanaRequiem of the Rose King is a long running, slow burn romantic tragedy. Inspired by the historical plays of Shakespeare, the manga tells the story of Richard III. The story keeps a strange equilibrium between being historically accurate and playing loose with historical events to establish depths of the characters and philosophical insight. The two most important departures from the historical knowledge are:
a) Richard’s supposed ‘hideousness’ being the fact that he was an intersex person in a medieval society, and
b) the star-crossed romance between Richard and Henry VI, supposedly mortal enemies who cannot help but be pulled towards each other.
Requiem of the Rose King has many subplots, but Richard and Henry’s romance is the driving force of the plot for several volumes. Like the characters themselves, I couldn’t help but be pulled into the story, wishing for them to find a way for themselves among the political turmoil, despite knowing from the beginning how the story will end. The manga is one of the most unique stories recently published, and I highly recommend it for readers who won’t be bothered by highly triggering content – the manga deals with very dark themes from the beginning, taking a deep dive into the darkness of human soul. In complete seriousness, if you think of a trigger, you will probably find content triggering it in the manga. Also noteworthy are the artistic values of the manga, as shown on the covers below.
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a) Richard’s supposed ‘hideousness’ being the fact that he was an intersex person in a medieval society, and
b) the star-crossed romance between Richard and Henry VI, supposedly mortal enemies who cannot help but be pulled towards each other.
Requiem of the Rose King has many subplots, but Richard and Henry’s romance is the driving force of the plot for several volumes. Like the characters themselves, I couldn’t help but be pulled into the story, wishing for them to find a way for themselves among the political turmoil, despite knowing from the beginning how the story will end. The manga is one of the most unique stories recently published, and I highly recommend it for readers who won’t be bothered by highly triggering content – the manga deals with very dark themes from the beginning, taking a deep dive into the darkness of human soul. In complete seriousness, if you think of a trigger, you will probably find content triggering it in the manga. Also noteworthy are the artistic values of the manga, as shown on the covers below.
( Read more... )
Eighty Days by A. C. Esguerra
Feb. 3rd, 2022 02:47 pmleahandillyanaContinuing the theme of romance, I wanted to talk about one of the most unique non-Japanese comics I’ve ever read. Eighty Days is the debut graphic novel of a Filipine author, a story that’s difficult to categorize. Perhaps the most fitting description would be one of an alternate history war story, only its setting doesn’t really have a divergence point from our reality. Or maybe it has one so far into the past that seeking it doesn’t matter.
Eighty Days is a story of three people living in a setting somewhat resembling Southern Europe. Jay is an introverted pilot of a small airplane, a job crucial to the economy of the setting, relying on plane transport to an extend much greater than real world did at that stage in history (1930s-40s). Fix is a brilliant and charming boy from the class of undesirables who gets employed as Jay’s partner and radio operator. In the first part of the story, the two gradually get to know each other and slowly fall in love. Their situation is complicated by the fascist polity AVO conquering the nations of the setting one after another, putting Fix and his people in danger. It complicates even more when Sable, the employer of the two boys, joins the AVO because she sees no other option for herself.
In spite of being an one-shot in the bunko format, the story of Eighty Days has a complexity more fitting a multi volume manga series. Three main characters undergo development that makes them almost unrecognizable at the end of the story. It’s also gorgeous in terms of art – every picture is dynamic and fluid, with special attention given to airplanes. You can clearly see how much the author loves aviation. All in all, it’s one of the best comics I’ve ever read and I highly recommend it to any reader. The pages below are taken from the author’s personal website.
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Eighty Days is a story of three people living in a setting somewhat resembling Southern Europe. Jay is an introverted pilot of a small airplane, a job crucial to the economy of the setting, relying on plane transport to an extend much greater than real world did at that stage in history (1930s-40s). Fix is a brilliant and charming boy from the class of undesirables who gets employed as Jay’s partner and radio operator. In the first part of the story, the two gradually get to know each other and slowly fall in love. Their situation is complicated by the fascist polity AVO conquering the nations of the setting one after another, putting Fix and his people in danger. It complicates even more when Sable, the employer of the two boys, joins the AVO because she sees no other option for herself.
In spite of being an one-shot in the bunko format, the story of Eighty Days has a complexity more fitting a multi volume manga series. Three main characters undergo development that makes them almost unrecognizable at the end of the story. It’s also gorgeous in terms of art – every picture is dynamic and fluid, with special attention given to airplanes. You can clearly see how much the author loves aviation. All in all, it’s one of the best comics I’ve ever read and I highly recommend it to any reader. The pages below are taken from the author’s personal website.
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Gothic Tales of Haunted Love Anthology
Feb. 2nd, 2022 02:11 pmleahandillyanaFebruary is the most appropriate time to share the stories of love, and I would like to share with you my favourite romantic comics from recent years. The comics come from various cultures, presenting a multitude of storytelling traditions, some of them having content unacceptable in American comics. First I want to share an international anthology of gothic romance. The stories differ in themes and art style, but all have high artistic value. My favourite shorts are:
• L’Heure Verte by Caroline Dougherty, Zakk Saam and Femi Sobowale, in which a modern woman kisses a 19th century ghost lady during a historical costume ball in an old mansion.
• Minefield by Hien Pham, a Vietnamese language comic featuring a Vietnames farmer during the American invasion and the ghost of his boyfriend.
• The Return by David A. Robertson and Scott B. Henderson, in which a medicine woman helps heal a zombie woman.
• The extremely haunting Green, Gold and Black by Cherelle Higgins and Rina Rozsas, told from the perspective of the ghosts of infant children of a slave woman smothered at birth by her jealous owner. This story is all gothic and no romance, but hits the hardest out of the collection.
• Fazenda do Sangue Azul by H. Pueyo and Dante L. tells the story of a journalist who escapes the Brazillian regime of the 60s by hiding in a mansion seemingly abandoned for decades – but from the title of the anthology we can already tell it wasn’t.
• My Hearts Still Beats For You by Amber Noelle and Allison Page focuses on a young man who underwent a heart transplant.
• Ouroboros by Svetla N. and Lab tells a short and simple story of a couple resurrecting each other.
The anthology is very long – the stories I mentioned are only about half of its total length! I included a few kinda random pages to showcase some of the art. Hope you enjoy!
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• L’Heure Verte by Caroline Dougherty, Zakk Saam and Femi Sobowale, in which a modern woman kisses a 19th century ghost lady during a historical costume ball in an old mansion.
• Minefield by Hien Pham, a Vietnamese language comic featuring a Vietnames farmer during the American invasion and the ghost of his boyfriend.
• The Return by David A. Robertson and Scott B. Henderson, in which a medicine woman helps heal a zombie woman.
• The extremely haunting Green, Gold and Black by Cherelle Higgins and Rina Rozsas, told from the perspective of the ghosts of infant children of a slave woman smothered at birth by her jealous owner. This story is all gothic and no romance, but hits the hardest out of the collection.
• Fazenda do Sangue Azul by H. Pueyo and Dante L. tells the story of a journalist who escapes the Brazillian regime of the 60s by hiding in a mansion seemingly abandoned for decades – but from the title of the anthology we can already tell it wasn’t.
• My Hearts Still Beats For You by Amber Noelle and Allison Page focuses on a young man who underwent a heart transplant.
• Ouroboros by Svetla N. and Lab tells a short and simple story of a couple resurrecting each other.
The anthology is very long – the stories I mentioned are only about half of its total length! I included a few kinda random pages to showcase some of the art. Hope you enjoy!
( Read more... )
LGBT Month: Cheerful Amnesia
Jun. 26th, 2021 09:36 amlordultimus
What if your girlfriend lost all memory of you?
And what if she was really excited to discover she was in a long-term relationship with a pretty lady and wanted to continue as if she hadn't?
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ozalineSo thanks to the comments on my last post I was clued into there being a spin-off manga AU story... wherein things go differently for Katarina. She regains her memories of her past life not at age eight where she was just being introduced to society, her fiance, adopted brother, and other friends, but at age 15.
She's already bullied her brother for eight years, and started bullying Maria at school. She's trying to make amends now to the people in her life since she feels remorseful, and also has less than one year before she faces her impending doom.
She makes a lot of the same moves as before, and manages to build a better relationship with her maid, and make friends once again with Mary Hunt, and Prince Alan, she even manages to get one of her followers to give up on bullying Maria (the rest abandon her though). She tries to break off her engagement with Prince Jeord, but he refuses to allow it first because he still finds her as useful deterrent to other suitors, but later he starts to become interested in the ways she's changing.
Maria forgives Katarina and starts to become friends with her as well... But old wounds are not so easily healed.
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She's already bullied her brother for eight years, and started bullying Maria at school. She's trying to make amends now to the people in her life since she feels remorseful, and also has less than one year before she faces her impending doom.
She makes a lot of the same moves as before, and manages to build a better relationship with her maid, and make friends once again with Mary Hunt, and Prince Alan, she even manages to get one of her followers to give up on bullying Maria (the rest abandon her though). She tries to break off her engagement with Prince Jeord, but he refuses to allow it first because he still finds her as useful deterrent to other suitors, but later he starts to become interested in the ways she's changing.
Maria forgives Katarina and starts to become friends with her as well... But old wounds are not so easily healed.
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ozaline
This has become my latest obsession, the light novel series "My Next Life As a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom," which has both a manga and an anime adaptation (the first season of the anime just finished, and it's been announced for a second season). It's a shoujo isekai series about an Otaku girl who is reborn as the villain in her favourite otome game (a dating sim for girls/women), where she is destined for death or exile. She comes up with contingencies for this, the main one is, "be nice to everyone," and they all fall in love with her (girls and guys alike).
It's super charming, and some of the characters remind me a lot of people I've known... so I thought I'd share some of the manga. So here's 11.6 pages of chapter 1, and 11 from chapter 2.
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