Lizzy Stewart

A really sweet set of short stories about friendship and the weirdness of growing up.

I loved how it started with a story of childhood and rough, monochrome lines and colours. The tone is set by that first story; a little melancholy and awkward but slightly hopeful as well. As our main character, Meera, ages so does the art, maturing in style and colouring. The material used changes as well, rough pencils and grey or sepia watercolours to bright coloured pencils to firm digital lines and bold colours.

I found it really touching and beautiful. And I felt the teenage scenes in my chest because I remember those clothes and the Romeo Juliet movie/soundtrack and jumping on the top of portables with the same sepia-tinted nostalgia.… (mer)

graphic fiction - young women, falling out of touch with friends + figuring out who they are/what they want/how to adult in London/UK suburbs.

this was ok to read, but I had trouble identifying the characters at the various ages (if in fact they were the same characters--they may have just looked different enough because the segments were originally published as separate standalone comics). As such, I couldn't really follow their connecting story arc, and rather saw just snapshots of different women and what they are thinking/feeling at various points in their lives, each relatable in some way, with somewhat overlapping themes--on which level it sort of worked, but working out their identities and relationships was distracting and made the collection more confusing than compelling.… (mer)