Strangers in Paradise Vol. 1 - Featured Reviews 

“Strangers in Paradise” Vol. 1

By | June 18th, 2019
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

“Strangers in Paradise” is one of those few Black and White indie comics to have survived the boom and bust of the nineties, bringing with it a complex story and gorgeous artwork. It recently celebrated its 25th anniversary and is getting a shiny new re-release of the hardcover omnibi. What better way to celebrate than by looking back at the volume that started it all and seeing just how much one series can change over the course of two decades and a little more than a 100 issues.

Cover by Terry Moore

Written, Illustrated and Lettered by Terry Moore

This new SiP collection collects the entire first volume of SiP into one continuous story! David loves Katchoo, but Katchoo loves Francine who loves Katchoo back, but not that way, because Francine loves Freddie, who doesn’t love anybody but himself! There’s no other book like Strangers in Paradise, the #1 romance comic in America!

The first volume of “SiP,” while certainly retaining the core of the series, could not be more different than the rest. For starters, it’s a self-contained, three issue mini-series, meaning the first volume clocks in at around 70-80 pages long. It has barely a hint of what the future of the series holds and has this frenetic tone, which frames the narrative like a screw-ball comedy with hints of drama rather than the more even take it, well, takes in subsequent volumes. Reading it now, after having completed the whole of the series before, it’s easy to see where this first volume falls short but it’s also easy to see why it is the perfect start.

By keeping the narrative small and focused, Moore is able to bring out the personalities of Katchoo and Francine and, to a lesser extent, David and Freddie, without having to bog the comic down with exposition or additional backstory. This, in turn, allows him to seed the developments of the future but not have them be integral to the narrative being told, thereby freeing the ending up to be both definitive and open ended. Clearly, there is a sense that this is just the beginning, despite the self-contained nature of these three issues. It is the opening chapter, the introduction to the major players, and the hook to keep us on the line.

And what a hook it is. The comic opens on, perhaps, the worst day in Francine’s life; a moment that has graced the collective nightmares of many a teenager, especially those with deep, deep stage fright. Cut to years later, and we follow Francine and Katchoo, now roommates, as Francine’s relationship with the worst man, Freddie Femur, come crashing down in catastrophic, hilarious, and terrifying ways. All the while, Katchoo is there, in love with Francine but too abrasive and insensitive to be a good lover for her or to be the friend she needs emotionally, the two desires conflicting and causing tension that, while only being a small portion here, makes up a large part of the rest.

Which brings us to the thorniest part of this volume, which is the way the comic addresses and portrays Katchoo’s sexuality. It also glosses over the possibility that Katchoo may be bisexual, which I think is due to the general media of the time’s binary approach to sexuality and gender, which then opens up the reading that the character’s themselves are not aware of that as a term and then we’re in a whole different conversation of which I don’t feel nearly qualified enough to talk about, and which could easily be the subject of an academic paper. That said, on the whole, especially for 1993, it’s portrayed with nuance and is reflective of the world of that time. She speaks in euphemisms, having to circle the idea, and often speaks about how much she hates men, which is rather lazy shorthand rather than a true characterization.

While the gag lands, this is one of those moments that reads as off for me.

In fact, that’s where many of my complaints lie because it’s clear that Moore has the capability to convey deeper and more complex expressions of their personalities instead of caricatures. The first issue has this the worst, as Francine is the ultimate doormat and Katchoo is the man hating lesbian, but even there, we get moments that exhibit something more, peeling back the simple descriptions I gave above to reveal the greater layers that lay beneath.

Continued below

This is most apparent in the moment where Katchoo tries to comfort Francine after Freddie storms out of the house. Francine’s extreme reaction to Katchoo’s advances are partially due to her own internalized homophobia and partially due to the comic’s exaggerated tone but, more so, it’s a result of her life experiences with intimacy and the very raw emotions she’s dealing with, as evidenced by her saying “Why does everybody keep trying to. . .” And so, Katchoo tries to walk it back in the only way she knows how, by playing it as a joke.

But then we get the final panel of the page, where Katchoo faces the ground, chastising herself because she hurt Francine. Because she didn’t think her actions through. She doesn’t want to lose her best friend and the woman she loves because she failed to listen or read the situation. Both characters clearly have a lot more motivating them and influencing their decisions, as any real person would, and while it’s clear Moore is not adept in this volume at bringing that out without relying on other tropes as shorthand, it’s apparent he has thought those shorthands through and built in reasons for them beyond the stereotypical. That and the heightened, cartoonish nature of the narrative and presentation helps with the verisimilitude.

As a quick aside, Francine’s line “You’re my best friend!” gets at the other romantic struggle that is, for me, the more interesting one, the one that’s closer to the core of the tension between Katchoo and Francine going forwards, but this volume does not approach that issue much as it is mostly concerned with watching Freddie Femur get his comeuppance in as many different ways as possible.

I cackle every time I see this panel

All of this is conveyed through Moore’s fluid and expressive artwork. I love the way he makes every motion count, every line matter to the composition of the panel and uses the details of the art to inform the characters and the situation, rather than just having them be there. Objects, clothing, and hair all react based on the motions and actions of the world and it all comes across as natural rather than forced. All that said, there is an element of cheesecake to the art, partially due to the centrality of sex, romance, and relationships as a topic, but rarely in a way that feels exploitative.

Finally, Terry Moore’s lettering. It’s so pretty. I love reading these letters and seeing all the different ways in which they meld and merge with the art and the story, taking on a life of their own but in tandem with the comic rather than against it. His word balloons have these thick borders and short, fat tails but when he wants, he turns the smoke into a caption box or sharpens the edges, changing the mood of the panel.

What then, do we make of this first volume? It has its problems, some due to age, some due to Moore’s storytelling abilities early in his career, and it’s scope is quite limited, thereby feeling more like a short story rather than a full novel, where characters never quite get the full development and exploration they deserve. On the other hand, the story is tight, the pacing is spot on, the art and lettering are evocative, and the world invites us to return and stay, to read and reread, to see what’s just beginning.

To find the love we so often overlook, in friends, in family, and in lovers, so that we may be more than strangers in paradise.


//TAGS | evergreen

Elias Rosner

Elias is a lover of stories who, when he isn't writing reviews for Mulitversity, is hiding in the stacks of his library. Co-host of Make Mine Multiversity, a Marvel podcast, after winning the no-prize from the former hosts, co-editor of The Webcomics Weekly, and writer of the Worthy column, he can be found on Twitter (for mostly comics stuff) here and has finally updated his profile photo again.

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