Scheherazade: Comics About Love Treachery Mothers and Monsters

Scheherazade: Comics About Love Treachery Mothers and Monsters, Edited by Megan Kelso. Soft Skull, 2004. 224p., purple on off-white, $19.95.

An anthology of women comic artists is a fine idea, but sadly, this one is not the place to go if you want to find more women comic artists to read. The stories here are almost completely dull. My fiancee noted that most of the artwork is really ugly too. I think it’s a purposeful ugliness in many cases, but… why bother?

There are names I am familiar with in the book and most of them provide examples of lesser works (Ariel Schrag, Megan Kelso, Allison Cole). The only two stories that stood out for me were Gabrielle Bell’s adaption of a Kate Chopin story and Sara Varon’s story. Bell’s adaption is very tight and concise. Her artwork is pared down stylistically yet detailed enough to encompass the people and the environment. One excellently layed-out page is just a montage of the young protagonist laying around her house, nothing extraordinary in itself, but the organization of the panel, the directions the character faces in each in relation to the location of the panel on the page is something special. Varon’s story is cartoony and bittersweet. Otherwise, I just couldn’t get interested.

Tags: anthologies

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