Page 45 Review by Stephen
Unexpectedly enormous fun! Apart from the bits that will tear your heart in two.
But, predominantly, this is unexpectedly enormous fun in which comicbook creators are generous enough to have a good old laugh at themselves, and in doing so go some not inconsiderable way to demonstrate that we're far from alone if we act a bit wonky in love, lust or dear old infatuation.
But first a few words about the collection's inclusivity so that none of you feel you're being left on the shelf. *sobs*
"Representation matters, and people find it easier to become who they are when they see themselves reflected in media and stories."
- Chris Roberson, from the foreward.
If you're still not sure whether representation matters, Roberson's own history is almost certain to convince you, and you may end up researching demisexual and indeed graysexual which, sadly, isn't an attraction to crumblies like me. Terms like that aren't about pigeon-holing and labels, but about a vocabulary that allows greater understanding of others and more communicative self-expression in conversation. Hooray!
As suggested on the cover by Becky Cloonan, there's a full spectrum of representation here "of diverse genders, orientations and cultural backgrounds" - also of art styles and narrative approaches from the era-spanning and the era-straddling to a weekend whirlwind romance.
As the word 'Geek' might suggest, unusually fervent obsessions are also very much to the fore, whether it's Katie West's collection of Vampire Lestat editions (not different books in the series, but different editions of the same book; and you for the punchline!!!) or Marley Zarcone's startling moment of waking disassociation from reality in front of boyfriend James Stokoe following waaaaaaaaaaaay too much video-game bingeing. Hello? Yes, I saw a lot of hands going up there. Me too! Unfortunately, however much Bryan Lee O'Malley might suggest it in SECONDS, most of us can't simply reload an old save.
Other contributors manage to combine tales of their obsessions with stories of their love lives in extraordinarily powerful, extremely elaborate or completely ridiculous ways, two of the very best being Levi Hastings's sequential-art heartbreak and JP Laroque's pun-tastically titled 'Love In Alderaan Places'.
It's a Star Wars reference, and a surprisingly clever one at that, for Laroque once had a boyf for whom Star Wars was sacrosanct. It was sacred to the point that even the suggestion that a single celluloid frame might be imperfect was a relationship deal-breaker, let alone all the prequels. And Mr Laroque, he held no love for the Star Wars franchise whatsoever; indeed, he hated it all.
So he lied. Oh, how he lied! Such was his love / lust / infatuation that he willingly subjected himself to entire evenings and repeated sittings of wall-to-wall Star Wars to please his boyfriend and then, to earn extra points, extolled the virtues of what he had seen at length, in depth and with a passion. I can't recall whether this lasted weeks or for months, but I am slightly in awe. The key to all this is how Laroque sets it up - the crash, burn and inevitable, cataclysmic parting of ways when the truth comes out, after which he goes Solo - for Laroque is not without his own passions including the Alien franchise, he's a great deal more candid than he was during this pantomime, and he's a very funny writer with immaculate timing.
On an infinitely more poignant note, Levi Hastings fell for a guy while sojourning in a small, remote town which was thinly populated by those with even smaller minds. No matter. He still fell for this guy who loved the socio-political remake of Battlestar Galactica, so on their weekends, they watched it together and Levi found himself hooked on both fronts.
"The show became our date-night ritual, and I started to equate the drumbeats of the opening credits to the thumping of my eager heart."
Awwww. The couple are all cuddled up on the sofa (this one's comics). But here's where it gets really interesting:
"I soon began to draw parallels between our progress in the show and the stages of our relationship."
And parallels he draws, season to season, are absolutely remarkable and ever so telling. Or, as our own Battlestar expert Dee put it when I told her of this trajectory: "Uh-oh!" Uh-oh indeed! I'm not going to go any further, but that one's a poignant must-read.
What else did I make notes on? Oh yes, Hope Larson's 'Cosplay'. A bit disappointed that it was prose, for I love Larson's art, but the prose itself does not disappoint. She's meeting someone at a bar for the first time:
"I got there early, like I always do, to buy my own drink and avoid the dance over the check. I call this move the Conflict-Averse Feminist. I moved around the bar trying out different seating options, like one of Goldilocks's bears, until I located a spot that would allow for close conversation but didn't invite too much coziness."
Actually it was Goldilocks who tried out all the furniture and the bears who discovered her, but it's a terrific analogy. Anyway, the convention-break date goes swimmingly well and Larson is exceptionally self-aware.
"I trotted out my best material: my most charming stories, my greatest hits." It's at this point I'm usually either tongue-tied or self-deprecating; I find the latter charming, but I might as well just stick a post-it note to my forehead with "LOSER" scrawled across it. "There was no rationing it out, or worrying that I'd built myself up to a sum greater than my parts. I'm not the type to dress up like Wonder Woman and trot about conventions, slipping into character for every amateur photographer, but I understand the impulse. This was my own brand of cosplay, and I was in disguise as myself."
Everything that follows is equally eloquent with a superb sense of stock-taking when it comes to the stage in her life she had found herself at, and he in his. It's the sort of thing you can gauge by your living conditions, love life or work responsibilities.
I count 37 pieces and I haven't read all of them, but I will over time.
One last piece of wit is the 8-bit love hearts between each prose story's chapter break. Neat!
