meeshling's Full Review: Terry Moore - Strangers in Paradise: High School!
You think comics are all spandex and Batman? You think that all women in comics have no waists and huge breasts?
Well, it’s not totally true. Yeah, if you want to read spandex superhero comics, more power to you. I bet you’ll have fun and enjoy ‘em. But I find that I don’t really enjoy them.
What I do enjoy are deep, meaningful comics that have realistic characters and plots that draw you in and make you think and suprises you. That’s what Strangers in Paradise is.
Terry Moore’s comic book series is unlike any other comic book series I’ve ever read. I tend to read mostly sort of esoteric comic books – very rarely is anything I read in color. Strangers in Paradise is the story of two friends, Katchoo and Francine, and what goes on in their life. This book is Volume 1 (there are also Volumes 2 and 3, making up a total of ten books [and it is a continuing series]). It is a three part mini-series – that means, for all you non-comic book people, means that it is made up of three individual issues. It was the mini-series that launched Terry Moore into SiP.
Katchoo and Francine have been best friends since High School and beyond. Katchoo is small, with huge blonde hair, and an attitude to match anything (and a police record, but that’s not very important right now…). Francine is a normal 25 year old brunette, with a sweetness and lack of self-confidence to add a little bit of flavor. Katchoo is in love with Francine, and Francine has some idea of this, but slightly just ignores it, as Katchoo tries to most of the time. Now, just stop here for a sec – yes, there are gay characters in this comic book, but Moore executes it brilliantly, not dwelling on the fact that Katchoo is a lesbian, and just sort of going through it and accepting it as who Katchoo is.
The mini-series also introduces another important character: David, a guy that Katchoo meets in an art museum. David promptly falls in love with Katchoo (she’s irresistible, don’t ya know) and tries all that he can to try and maintain some kind of relationship, any kind of relationship with her. David takes a little bit of the concentration of off Katchoo and Francine, so even though it is a very intense story, David helps to sort of take the “pressure” off of the intensity of Katchoo and Francine’s relationship.
I had promised myself I wasn’t going to start any more comic series – I was knee deep into Jeff Smith’s Bone (which consists of seven books so far) and was trying to save up my money to buy them (they run about $12 to $17 each). But my boyfriend (he works at a comic book store and just reads everything) picked up a copy of SiP and read it, and told me I might enjoy it. So I read the first two issues in his copy, and jumped at the next opportunity to buy my own. I loved that the characters seemed like real people, people that I could relate to. Moore’s art is great too – it’s slightly cartoony, a bit more than any other comic I’ve ever read (except for maybe Bone, but they are cartoons) and it helps that he is the writer and the illustrator – it brings something to his stories that individual writers and pencilers lose.
This comic really appeals to a wide range of people, particularly those who have never read comics before. So if you’ve never read a comic before, but thought hey, maybe I’d like to try, try SiP -- you’re almost guaranteed to like it.
The Strangers in Paradise Books are:
Volume 1: The Complete Strangers in Paradise
Volume 2: I Dream of You and It's a Good Life
Volume 3: Love Me Tender, Immortal Enemies, High School!, Sanctuary, My Other Life, Child of Rage, and Tropic of Desire
For more information, you can check out SiP's website @ www.strangersinparadise.com
Katchoo loves Francine, but her wild past and dangerous enemies prove to be more than Francine can handle. Find out where the girls go from here in th...More at Buy.com
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