COMICS REVIEW: Primary Relationship, Secondary World – Hien Pham’s ‘It Will Be Hard’
Welcome to the latest instalment of my comics review column here at Skiffy & Fanty! Every month, I use this space to shine a spotlight on SF&F comics (print comics, graphic novels, and webcomics) that I believe deserve more attention from SF&F readers. This month, I’m going to explore a new graphic novel with an innovative format that uses its speculative lens to look at two characters in a secondary fantasy world who aren’t trying to save the universe or the kingdom – they’re just trying to make their relationship work: Hien Pham’s It Will Be Hard. (This review contains spoilers!)
SF SF SF Review: March/April
My favorite stories this month were either relationship dramas or haunted house stories, broadly construed. For a story about a trans witch falling in love, check out “Graveyard Girls on Paper Phoenix Wings” by Andrea Tang, which appears in Glittership Episode 51 (March 5, 2018). It’s a story with marvelous worldbuilding and really cute and likable characters. In “Assistance” by Kathryn DeFazio, which appears in Escape Pod Episode 621 (March 29, 2018), a nonbinary person with anxiety is emotionally supported by an assistive android. It’s a simple and mundane story that’s also incredibly gentle and moving. “All Profound and Logical Minds” by Bennett North, which appears in Escape Pod Episode 618 (March 8, 2018), is a relationship drama between two sisters that’s also a haunted space station adventure. It’s fun, gripping, and inventive. Finally, I was seriously spooked by “Red as Water, White as Ruin” by Benjanun Sriduangkaew, which appears in Mythic Delirium 4.4 (April—June 2018). In this story, a shipful of exiles and outcasts investigate a planet that has suffered an inexplicable apocalypse.
