I love this book. I was gobsmacked from seeing it in my local Barnes and Noble to reading the last page because Mari's journey is so ridiculously similar to my own. I think my mind exploded a bit. I couldn't believe it. I thought I'd read a lot of queer stories, but Mari's journey of discovery and mine are twins. There are differences, sure, but I was constantly wanting to reach into the pages, take Mari's hand, and say, "I know your pain. I was here too."

Also, this was in Barnes and Noble??? Like, CITRUS, which according to the back blurb is similar to GIRLFRIENDS, was on the featured manga shelf. I'm not saying I cried in the middle of Barnes and Noble, but I teared up. You know what was on the featured shelf when I was a kid? Male protags with male-heavy casts punching each other. There's nothing wrong with reading shonen manga: in fact, some of my favorites are in that genre. But girls liking girls. That is what I want to be featured in the world.

Just....ahhhhhh, go to your local bookstore and buy the two complete collections of GIRL FRIENDS because there will be no regrets and also kissing.

Another fast-paced, hold-tight-to-your-hat adventure! Cap is back mostly because it's the Marvel Universe, and the poor fellow is stuck in a hopping time loop of his life's tragedies until his friends bust him out. I enjoyed the Avengers teamwork in this one: there's lots of Bucky, Sharon, and Nat holding their own and kicking HYDRA butt. Again, the story and art (especially the art) are male power fantasy with a side of testosterone cocktail. Steve is more myth than man in Brubaker's work.

On a fannish side note, I now have even more questions about Cap's adventures. Why do the same villains just keep fighting him again and again? It's either Red Skull, Zola, Zemo, or Namor, with little mini-bosses of Crossbones or Green Skull. All of them have weird homoerotic villain-hero subtext with Cap. What is going on? Do I want to know what's going on? How many days of the week does Steve spend punching people? It's like 8 days a week of punching with this Cap. Why were there no sad memories of Peggy or dropping his favorite ice cream in the dirt? Why do I keep writing these annoying reviews insisting Steve be a human being and not just a superhero? I just want Steve Rogers, the hero of our country, to be a fleshed out character, guys. I want him to kiss his husband Bucky good morning and discover vegan muffins. This might be too much to ask.

While WATCHMAN tackles politics through the lens of the superhero, the V literally tackles the forces of totalitarianism and the police state to champion freedom and voluntary anarchy. V FOR VENDETTA is an magnum opus, an punishingly detailed and intelligent work with as many layers as there are pages. It's a brilliant protest and a flaming love song to thought. Definitely for mature readers, it's an apt read for an election year.

I picked up AMERICAN BORN CHINESE since it's on several GoodReads lists of "Best Comics" and, let me tell you, those lists are right and I have no regrets. With a subtle and humorous hand, Gene Luen Yang explores racism against Chinese Americans in a way that's both accessible and heartbreaking. The art is not only ridiculously cute, but also incredibly in tune with both the overt and subtextual messages. Those messages are both empowering for Chinese readers and enlightening for non-Chinese ones. If you're a writer wanting to write Chinese characters (like me), I cannot recommend this book enough. Every single member of the humanity should read it.

I feel like I say this after every Cap comic, but this is my favorite Cap comic. For the first time in forever, reading Captain America is not like snorting testosterone and instead like reading the adventures of the most Gryffindor man to ever Gryffindor. The amount of diversity in this comic is astounding, and each character is allowed emotion, vulnerability, AND badassery. Like, seriously, Steve is friends with gay Jewish black disabled pacifists. I'm not talking just subtext here. Explicitly in the text, both Steve's best friend Arnie Roth and fiancee Bernie (btw, I love Bernie, I want to be best friends with Bernie and invite her over for board games and frame all her lines of dialogue on my wall and shove them in annoying people's faces) are Jewish. Falcon is Falcon, and dealing with a failed election campaign. Steve's other other best friend is Dave, a Vietnam veteran who is now so devoted to pacifism that it literally withstands bad guy brainwashing. And then, AND THEN, readers would have to have the most heteronormative goggles ever to see Arnie as anything but gay. People with more sensitive slash goggles can see Steve as bi.

The only diversity point that didn't sit right involved a hero called Black Crow. It seemed like DeMatteis did some of his research on Native American issues: I was impressed with the depictions of economic struggles both on and off reservation, the changing of traditions, the multiplicity of tribes, and the possible Navajo-accurate costume. However, this was interspersed with literal "Indian magics," "Earth Spirits," and background drawings of "Navajo" teepees. You couldn't read just a couple more encyclopedia entries, dude? Come on, you did so awesome with the others.

But I haven't even gotten to the fight with Red Skull yet. The fight with Red Skull is hilarious because Red Skull is all dramatic, "I am a dark god, Captain! You are a beacon of light! We will now die together and battle for eternity!" and Steve is like "WOULD YOU SHUT UP: WE'RE JUST TWO CRANKY OLD MEN FEEBLY PUNCHING EACH OTHER. THIS IS EMBARRASSING." Beautiful stuff, right there.

In conclusion: read it. Read it and giggle.