I'm Alexis Sara, and if you don't know me then you should know I am an Eisner [among several other award] winning comics writer and I eventually kinda left behind comics because of a massive feeling of burn out and a lack of hope for the industry. However, I utterly adore the medium and I do enjoy comics still even if mostly in indie form or Manga. Manga of the year is a separate post since I just read more Manga and I wanted to talk about more comics overall so this section is all non manga stuff from Webcomics to graphic novels to single issue type deals, everything I read is up for consideration.
Extreme Venomverse #4 Necroko story
This story makes me even more mad than I am every day about the state of the public domain. Stan Lee is dead, he doesn't need Spider-man money but Marvel will for many many many more years hoard the amazing ideas made by so many other people that relate to spider-man and even when Spider-man enters the public domain Disney will sue people for using any part of spider-man that doesn't come from the debut time and is still with in their copyright. So an amazing character like Nercroko is stuck at the whims of some editor to see if the creators can bring her back, for how long they can bring her back, they get to decide how gay she is allowed to be, how violent, if the story fits their brand image and if a random event has her erased from the timeline or something to fuel a mans pain or something. Which is to say fuck Marvel comics, don't buy their stuff but I read this story and it's really fucking good, 12/10 it's not really worth buying Extreme Venomverse cuz the other stories are mid but as fuck but this little short story if you could find it at retail value for a single issue of Venomverse #4 pick it up for sure. It's a venom magical girl who is gay, just great, perfect, brilliant, inspirational.
IDW Sonic
You expect to see the sapphics from me and there here, for real, but I really enjoy this series in general. Whisper and Tangle are my main draw but I did enjoy Sonic video games a lot when I was younger so the characters, designs, etc are always something I just like seeing. The IDW comics bring a great consistent art style that makes the world of sonic feel very alive, stylish an cool. The new characters are all people I want to show up as playable in new sonic games and the story lines all feel like they would be exciting to see in a video game. These comics are really well done and while it could be more explicit in allowing it's original characters to be queer [I understand main game characters not being able to have romance to give the game devs space] it's still a good time.
Ladykillers
I love when the lesbians are on an adventure, when they are poly, when they are silly, and we got it all here. Ladykillers is a silly D&D inspired webcomic that has these cute little dumbasses go on quests and get into trouble. It starts pretty one shotty and eventually gets into a continuous narrative. If you loved Bauldr's Gate but wished it was just about like three homoerotic girls getting into silly trouble, this one is for you.
My Dragon Girlfriend
My Dragon Girlfriend every year is a top series for me. The release format of release makes each update a very small dose of a larger narrative but these little romances are all compelling and sweet and fun filled with silly little sapphics. While the newest couple added in is the one I am least compelled by I still enjoyed them. The art is really cute and sweet, the way emotion is portrayed is handled really well, Country really knows how to capture emotion within the medium and masters making good use out of all the little details.
Grand Slam Romance
I don't like sports but if lesbian magical girls played soft ball I would have to convert to being the number ones sports girly. The messy lesbian drama here is so good and the jokes are really great, when I grabbed this I kinda worried it be YA toned which typically doesn't sit well with me but luckily this is in fact adult fiction for adults that just has a strong sense of whimsy. It's a really great read and I hope a lot more people check it out because it's super good and even has a follow up book coming out.
SpellAstra
These lesbians have issues and I am so fucking here for it. We got a trio of queer witches casting spells, fighting monsters, etc who are all also teachers for a school of other witches. One of the party turns into a demon if her seal is broken which causes her to get all violent and feral, one has a magical artifact tied to a bigger play happening across the universes of the world and the final is holding secrets she doesn't want to share. From there their issues run into each other, they deal with new problems they cause, their love lives get complicated and we find out the truth of all the messy lesbian fun that is unleashed between them. The translation is sometimes a little wonky but if you can forgive a self published self translation to English for sometimes saying words a little wrong but still understandably then damn there just isn't really a story like SpellAstra I've read.
Mage & Demon Queen
After following this series for so many years it finally finished. This action comedy yuri series is fucking amazing from start to finish a fun time with some of the best jokes across all of comics for nerdy little sapphics like me. I do think near the end of the series we spend too much time with the men of the cast who simply were not the draw for me at all but they got a lot of panel time but outside of that small preference so much of this series is so perfect it's hard to even fault the parts that are a little less great.
Pink Sugar
What a fucking book, what a queer gift that this exists, that we live in a world where this is being released on webtoon [and a ton of other places] gives me hope for queer art and art in general. This story is lesbian in the deepest ways, with the diversity of lesbians that I want to see. Masc Non Binary Lesbians, bigger fem lesbians, trans lesbians, all falling in love with each other in these gloriously sweet ways. This series is truly queer in the most real sense. The presentation of the afterlife is innovative and fun. the comedy is great, the chemistry between all four of this polycule is great, the romantic moments are super sweet, the art's fantastic, the pacing is great and all of that lends to some really fucking heart breaking moments to as we get into the deep feelings of these dead women. This is one of the best stories being told right now and maybe ever. I love Pink Sugar, I beg of you to check it out.
It's currently kickstarting a physical version if your reading this near release of this post then you should go back it. You can read it for free, if you like it, back it.
If you want to help me enjoy more art then consider checking out my Patreon or Ko-fi and giving me a little bit of cash so I can do more of this kind of writing but also like make lots of my own art, art is hard to make and costs money and like maintain my chronically ill and trans body also takes money so anything helps, thank you. If you want more details on any of these I do have reviews for many of the pieces of art above but you can also let me know you want more and maybe I'll write more.
Marlon Wayans as Gawain MacSam and Jason Weaver as Weemack Funthes in The Ladykillers (2004). Marlon was born in New York City and has 49 acting credits from 1988 to Air (2023).
His other notable credits include Mo Money, 17 episodes of In Living Color, Requiem for a Dream, Scary Movie, Scary Movie 2, 20 episodes of Marlon, and Respect.
