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Book Review: The Out Side
Kao, The, and Julia Kaye, Editors. The Out Side. Andrews McMeel Publishing: 2023.
Thank you, Andrews McMeel and Publishers Weekly for this ebook galley.
The Out Side is a diverse anthology of trans and nonbinary comics. They’re all memoirs, mostly bright, full color. Right before each comic strip is a biography of the writer/artist (and in many cases, some mention their cats!).
The cover is so cute, whimsical, and colorful! It draws me in.
Because of the subject matter, the comics tend not to be so whimsical — they’re personal accounts of the artists’ journey as a trans or nonbinary person. No matter how difficult the journey, they all have hopeful and positive endings. There is of course a wide variety of artistic styles — including some reminiscent of anime — and a variety of perspectives.
I appreciate that in “The Adventures of Veronica” there’s a moment when the artist only vaguely refers to their bad experience outing themselves to their parents, and the image is Veronica with arms crossing basically saying No, you don’t get to see that. As someone who writes fiction more than memoir, I know memoir requires a type of bravery I’m not sure I have.
The back of the book includes a list of resources.