Comics Review: Looking at the 2024 Lammy Award Finalists for Best LGBTQ+ Comics
Happy Pride Month, everyone! Thinking about Pride of course got me thinking about the Lambda Literary Awards, and more specifically its Best LGBTQ+ Comics category. One good thing to come out of the (cursed) (seemingly never-ending) (and yet here I go talking about it) (Stephen Geigen-Miller: part of the problem) SFFnal Awards Discourse is the reminder that there are many awards out there that are worthy of our attention – awards that, because of their mission, focus, and audience, can help bring works to our attention that we otherwise might have missed. For 35 years, the Lambda Literary Awards (the Lammys!) have honored excellence in LGBTQ+ writers and writing, as part of Lambda Literary’s overall mission. “Lambda Literary nurtures and advocates for LGBTQ writers, elevating the impact of their words to create community, preserve our legacies, and affirm the value of our stories and our lives.” ( – from the Lambda Literary website) It’s always a good time to lift up and center LGBTQ+ comics and LGBTQ+ creators, and this feels like an especially good time – and not, sadly, just because it’s Pride Month. But let’s not dwell on that, just now. Let’s celebrate works and creators that deserve to have their impact elevated, by taking a closer look at the 2024 Lammy Award finalists for Best LGBTQ+ Comics. A quick reminder that, as usual, these reviews contain spoilers. Also, I was shooting for capsule reviews, but there was so much to say about each of these graphic novels that they ended up being pretty big capsules. The books appear alphabetically by title, as they do on the Lambda Literary website, and aren’t ranked in any other way. A Guest in the House Emily Carroll Published by First Second A dark, genuinely unsettling small-town Canadian gothic – none of which describes my usual reading. Indeed, I’m still not sure if I exactly liked this new original graphic novel from acclaimed webcomic creator Emily Carroll – but I do know that I’m still thinking about it. Abby is a woman who’s drifting – not aimlessly, more like a detached observer – through life in a cottage-country Ontario town. Recently married to David, a dentist who just moved to town with his young daughter Crystal after the death of his first wife Sheila, Abby becomes convinced that their beautiful lakefront home is haunted by Sheila’s ghost – and that David may not be as innocent in her death as he says. But Abby’s grasp on reality is fluid at best and it’s unnervingly unclear whether she’s seeing ghosts and revelatory visions or the products of her own unquiet mind. One thing that is clear is that Abby is falling in obsessive love with her husband’s dead wife – or the person she imagines Sheila to have been. Increasingly unmoored, Abby and the story careen towards a bloody conclusion. Carroll contrasts Abby’s mundane, even banal everyday life, depicted in clear lines in black and white with light grey shading interspersed with pooled shadow, with sudden shocks of vivid color in Abby’s dreams, fantasies, and violent intrusive thoughts. It’s a brilliant use of the storytelling potential of color in comics, and it’s seductively appealing. It’s no wonder that Abby is drawn more and more to the pull of her internal life. This is, obviously, a deeply ambiguous story. Who is the guest in the house? Is it Sheila, haunting a home she never lived in? Is it Abby, who feels like a guest in Sheila’s life, and in her own life? Heck, I’m still only about 80% sure what happened at the end, given how consumed Abby is by either Sheila’s ghost or her own fractured relationship with reality. Genre readers (like me) will especially be primed to believe in Sheila’s ghost and David’s villainy, but the violent and obsessive intensity of Abby’s visions and dreams belie those comforting assumptions. This is an intense graphic novel, and an ambitious one. My ambivalence about it is entirely down to the ambiguous ending, which is a device that I usually dislike. But I can’t deny how apt, well-crafted, and effectively employed it is here. This is a powerful long-form debut for Emily Carroll, and I recommend it. Belle of the Ball Mari Costa Published by First Second Without a doubt the lightest work among the nominees, this YA high-school romance about a love triangle between a popular cheerleader, her jock girlfriend, and the nerdy girl with a crush, who the cheerleader manipulates into tutoring the jock in English to bring her grades up – only to have feelings between jock and nerd ensue – is sweet, frothy, and effervescent. Basically, it’s ginger ale as a graphic novel. But light doesn’t mean insubstantial. While it’s a confection, Belle of the Ball manages to avoid being slight by eschewing easy expectations. The cheerleader, Regina, is manipulative, yes – but she’s not a mean girl, she’s smart and sometimes kind, and mostly it’s just really important to her that everything in her life go to plan, including her girlfriend having good enough grades that they can both go to an Ivy League school. Chloe isn’t a dim jock; she excels at computer science but has trouble understanding the point of analyzing English literature on a deeper level – and just really wishes her girlfriend would relax. Hawkins, the shy, seemingly introverted nerd, has a crush on Regina, but she’s not creepy about it, and she has an expressive, exuberant, assertive, deeply femme side that she locked away to cope with high school (it’s not really a spoiler that she’s, in name and in role, the titular Belle). There are no direct SFFnal elements in the story, but it’s charmingly fandom-adjacent. Hawkins writes fan fiction, she and Chloe share a love of JRPGs, and there’s a very sweet – goofy, but adorable – scene between them at a Ren Faire with Hawkins dressed as an Elf Princess. It is, however, very strongly within the contemporary romance genre,
2022 Awards Season Eligibility: Our Things
It’s that time of year when everyone puts up their eligibility posts for stuff released in 2021. For our show, it’s pretty easy to identify where we’re eligible: Hugo Award for Best Fancast (finalists in 2014, 2019, 2020, and 2021) We may also be eligible in other award categories out there. If you think of any, put us up for it. Really, it comes down to this: if you liked what we did in 2021, nominate us for stuff in 2022! With that in mind, we’d also like to remind you that the people behind this show (and the friends we made along the way) are also eligible for things. Since podcasting isn’t just about “the show,” we’ve included as many of them as we could in the rest of this post. Go check out their things. There’s bound to be something interesting in there! Here goes!
Myke Cole Wins Compton Crook Award!
We’re told by the Internet that our friend, Myke Cole, has snatched up a Compton Crook Award from the Baltimore Science Fiction Society this year for his novel Control Point. We’d like to say an enormous congratulations to Myke. He definitely deserves the award. Jen and I (and I’m sure Paul and Julia, too) have enjoyed both of his novels, and we’ve enjoyed every second he’s given to us for podcasts. I imagine this is just the beginning for Myke’s career. Soon, we’ll see his name on other awards lists. So congratulations, Myke. You rock! If you’d like to check out some of our interviews or discussions with Myke, you can do so here, here, here, and here.
141. Final Hugo Thoughts + the Hugh Howey Fiasco w/ Justin Landon and Jonathan McCalmont
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode141FinalHugoThoughtsAndTheHughHoweyFiasco/SandF%20–%20Episode%20141%20–%20Final%20Hugo%20Thoughts%20and%20the%20Hugh%20Howey%20Fiasco.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSAwards, angry men, and the Internet, oh my! And our final discussion of the Hugos, featuring Justin Landon (who started it all) and Jonathan McCalmont (who offers his insight into the whole situation), has arrived. We talk Hugo history, the fan categories, the culture of the Hugos and more. Plus, we offer our thoughts on Hugh Howey’s controversial comments (and behavior) and the cultural responses found in the comments. In other words: this week is one heck of a monster… We hope you enjoy the episode! Note: If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show! Here’s the episode (show notes are below): Episode 141 — Download (MP3) Intro and Discussion (0:00 – 1:37:10) Justin’s Website Jonathan’s Website The SpecFic ’12 (SF/F criticism) Project Hugh Howey’s Post (hosted elsewhere, since the original was taken down) Howey’s New “Apology” You can also support this podcast by signing up for a one month free trial at Audible. Doing so helps us, gives you a change to try out Audible’s service, and brings joy to everyone. Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0). That’s all, folks! Thanks for listening. See you next week.
Episode 79 — Favoritism (Our 2011 Besties)
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/www.archive.org/download/TheSkiffyAndFantyShow6.6–Favoritismour2011Besties/Sandf–Episode6.6–Favoritismour2011Besties.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSOur last non-interview, non-torture episode of the year is all about our favorite books, movies, TV shows, interviews, etc. for the 2011 year. You can see our lists below, but you’ll want to listen to hear our reasons. Plus: we spend a little time saying thank you to everyone who listened and appeared on the show. Why? Because we love you. Obviously. Show us a little love back by leaving a response to the following questions: What books, movies, and TV shows were your favorites for 2011 (whether published this year or not)? Which interviews, roundtables, and Torture Media episodes did you most enjoy? We hope you enjoy the episode! Note: If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show! Here’s the episode (show notes are below): Episode 79 — Download (MP3) Intro and Our Favorites (0:00 – 36:43) Jen’s List: Favorite Book: Of Blood and Honey by Stina Leicht (Episode 4.5) Favorite Non-Fiction Book: The Death and Life of the Great American School System by Diane Ravitch Favorite TV Show: Eureka (Soft) and Fringe (Hard) Favorite Movie (2011 Releases): Super 8 Favorite Movie (Viewed in 2011): Ip Man Favorite SandF Guest: Jason Sanford (See Episodes 14, 4.0a, 4.0b, 5.6, and 6.2) Favorite Interview: Celine Kiernan (Episodes 28a and 28b) (Yes, Jen is a moron for selecting something from last year…) Favorite Roundtable Discussion: Eaton Editions (Part One and Part Two) Favorite Torture Media Episode: Modelland (Episode 6.3) Shaun’s List: Favorite Book: Osama by Lavie Tidhar (Episode 5.7) Favorite Non-Fiction Book: Walking with the Comrades by Arundhati Roy Favorite TV Show: Game of Thrones (see my reviews starting here) Favorite Movie (2011 Releases): Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part Two) Favorite Movie (Viewed in 2011): Never Let Me Go Favorite SandF Guest: Jason Sanford (See Episodes 14, 4.0a, 4.0b, 5.6, and 6.2) Favorite Interview: Lauren Beukes (Episode 2.3) Favorite Roundtable Discussion: The Eaton Editions (Part One and Part Two) Favorite Torture Media Episode: Modelland (Episode 6.3) Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0). That’s all, folks! Thanks for listening. See you next week.
Episode 50 — NebulaFail 2010
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/www.archive.org/download/TheSkiffyAndFantyShow3.8–NebulaAwardsFail2011/Sandf–Episode3.8–NebulaFail2011.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSThe Nebulas have been announced, and we’re not very happy. For this episode, Adam returns for a testosterone-filled rant about the nominees and the winners, our preferred candidates, and the things we actually enjoyed this time around. Our episode might be a tad on the controversial side, but that’s the way (uh huh, uh huh) we like it. (Episode 3.8 was originally schedules to be an episode of Torture Cinema, but we forgot about the Nebulas and decided we needed to talk about them. Torture Cinema will be next week.) Note: If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show! Here’s the episode (show notes are below): Episode 50 — Download (MP3) Intro and Discussion: NebulaFail 2010 (0:00 – 34:51) Publisher’s Weekly Coverage of the Nebulas Adam’s Editorial on the Nebulas Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0). That’s all, folks! Thanks for listening. See you next week.
