Questionable Content (as part of LGBT History Month)

a webcomic by Jeph Jacques

What’s It About?
QC is a slice-of-life relationship comedy. Principally it follows the lives of two roommates, Marten Reed and Faye Whitaker in a world slightly weirder than our own. Marten owns a small, self-aware robot (an AnthroPC) by the name of Pintsize who is probably more trouble than he’s worth and never more so than when he installs a laser in his CD tray. The strip is about their relationships with each other, their friends, their employers, families, even more psychotic robots and a superheroine who delivers pizza.

The reason I’m including this strip as my LGBT History Month review is the varied collection of sexualities in the cast including characters who are bisexual, gay, lesbian and even one character whose orientation is towards polyamory rather than monogamy.

The Moon and Sandals (as part of LGBT history month)

It's LGBT history month in the UK.  To celebrate, we thought we'd recommend some books featuring positive portrayals of Lesbian. Gay, Bisexual, Trans people.  To see books we've featured in the past, go here and scroll through the entries.
On with the review...

 

Writer and Artist: Fumi Yoshinaga

What's it about?
This is a Yaoi title.  Yaoi means boys love and is the name given to manga about male couples.  Yaoi can be explicitly about sex, or can be more about the relationship side of things.  Some of it can be a coming out narrative, some of it can just be two men getting it on.  A lot of it is written by women, for women.  The female equivalent is called Yuri.

As for this particular Yaoi book, this is a classic romance story of first love and first relationships.  Kobayashi is a student with a crush on newly graduated teacher Mr Ida.  Kobayashi finally plucks up the courage to confess his feelings to Ida, and ends this proclamation with a kiss.  Unfortunately, things do not run smoothly as Ida's ex arrives back on the scene.  All is not lost for Kobayashi as he gets to know student Narumi.  Narumi is cute but a loner, he reluctantly agrees to tutor Kobayashi in return for lunch.  Feelings develop but bring back painful memories and the budding relationship could go either way.

This title does contain some sex, but it's not particularly explicit and a lot is left to the imagination.  However, I have labelled the post mature readers because I don't think it's particularly suitable for young teens or children. 

Paris

As part of our Valentine's season, please read on and discover a tale set in 1950s Paris

 

Writer: Andi Watson

Art: Simon Gane

Publisher: SLG publishing

What's it about?

Set in 1950s Paris, American art student Juliet is broke, living in a shared flat with bohemian Parisians, and studying at a prestigious art school.  One day she is commissioned to paint a portrait of a young English woman named Deborah.  Deborah is residing in Paris with her overbearing Aunt, who is also acting as Chaperone.  They meet and a soft and gentle romance develops between the art lovers, unfortunately events conspire to keep them apart.

Catwoman- Crooked Little Town

Writer: Ed Brubaker
Main Story Pencils: Brad Rader
Main Story Inks: Cameron Stewart
Additional Art: Michael Avon Oeming, Rick Burchett,
Mike Manley, Eric Shanover and Michael Lark
Colourists: Matt Hollingsworth, Lee Loughridge and Tom McCraw
Letters: Sean Konot and Willie Schubert
Publisher: DC Comics

What’s It About?
Selina Kyle, Catwoman: sometime villain, sometime hero, she came from the gutter, stole a fortune and bought herself into high society. Now she’s back where she started: Gotham City’s rough east end, acting as its guardian angel with a little help from private eye Slam Bradley and former streetkid Holly Robinson. Its comic book noir complete with dirty cops, honest cops, gangsters, backstreet doctors, “respectable” figures playing the system and a few good-hearted people trying to make a difference. One of those good-hearted people just happens to be a costumed career criminal, that’s all…

Azumanga Daioh volumes 1 to 4

All books are available in English but actual covers may vary dependent on the publisher.

Writer and artist: Kiyohiko Azuma

What's it about?

A group of Japanese schoolgirls plus two of their teachers journey through three years of upper secondary school in Japan.  Meet the girls:

Sakaki: Quiet, tall and prone to constant attack from the various cats and kittens which she finds so adorable.

Chiyo-chan: Child prodigy.  Aged 10.  Chan is an honorific used to express cuteness.  It is often used for babies, young children and teenage girls.  To address an elder or teacher using 'chan' would be quite rude.

Osaka: Not too bright, and spends the majority of her time spacing out (and obsessing with Chiyo's pigtails).

Promethea Volume 1

Writer: Alan Moore
Penciller: J.H.Williams III
Colourist: Wildstorm FX, Jeromy Cox, Alex Sinclair, Nick Bell, Digital Chameleon
Inker: Mick Gray
Letterer: Todd Klein
Additional art by Charles Vess 
Publisher: DC Comics

What's it about?
Set in an alternate, near future world, college student Sophie Bangs is researching Promethea stories for a school project - Promethea is a recurring character in many different pieces of literature over the centuries.  Sophie tracks down and meets with the widow of the last writer to focus on Promethea.

At this meeting Sophie discovers that there once was an Egyptian girl named Promethea, and furthermore, when Sophie writes poetry about Promethea, that is when she uses her imagination to connect with the idea of Promethea, she becomes her.  Moreso, there have been Prometheas created like this, before her.  Sophie as Promethea gains mystical powers and can travel to a realm called the Immateria, a world of myth and fiction where ideas have reality.  Within the Immateria Sophie learns about the history of Promethea and is trained for battle with the demons who are out to destroy Promethea and all her vessels.

Penny and Aggie

Penny and Aggie

Writer and co-creator: T. Campbell
Original artist and co-creator: Gisele Lagace
Current artist: Jason Waltrip

“She’ll go far in this world. And she’ll get whatever she wants… by making dozens, hundreds, of people feel like you feel right now. And we gave her the power. So it will be our fault.”
- Penny

What’s It About?
Penny And Aggie follows the relationships of a large and varied group of American teenagers. Aggie is a budding activist, socially conscious and outwardly quite emotionally mature. Penny, meanwhile, is Aggie’s chosen arch-enemy: a rich, spoilt and outwardly selfish popular girl. If that all sounds stereotypical (and it does, I admit it) then rest assured that over the years the two characters grow and change: Penny is not the monster Aggie initially believes her to be and neither is Aggie as perfect as she believes herself to be.

Runaways: Pride and Joy (Vol 1)

Writer: Brian K Vaughan
Pencils: Adrian Alphona
Colours: Brian Reber
Inks: David Newbold and Craig Yeung
Letters: Virtual Calligraphy
Publisher: Marvel

What’s it about?
Runaways is set in the Marvel Universe and is about a group of 6 teenaged kids who find out that their parents are supervillains.  The kids range in age from 11 year old Molly Hayes to 17 year old Chase Stein.  Upon finding out the truth about their parents they decide to run away and try and make up for their parents mistakes.

Along the way the kids discover if they powers, learn to work together and are forced to mature and become independent far quicker than they’d anticipated.