Juicy Mother

"Where are the comix for me, a Lebanese-American dyke?" This question motivated Camper to edit an anthology of comics by and for people other than the straight white men who dominate the medium. Like many anthologies, this one is wildly uneven. It contains some strong pieces: Alison Bechdel's "Oppressed Minority Cartoonist" sends up the paradox of trying to rise above being an oppressed minority cartoonist when that very status is getting you a chance to be published. Joan Hilty's "You Must Not Read Gabriel García Márquez After the Breakup" combines literate jokes with a shadowy, sketchy style to create a trenchantly funny slice of life. Howard Cruse's "Auntie Moo's Typewriters" perfectly matches earthy, Terry Gilliam–influenced art with a story about his immigrant aunt. And Leanne Franson's "Chicken Head Love" uses beautifully pared-down lines to show why you should never woo someone using leftover animal parts. Other pieces don't fare quite as well: Camper's "Ramadan," for example, looks a lot like Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis , but matches its accomplished art with a painfully earnest lecture about the hardships of being a Lebanese lesbian. One wishes Camper had read Bechdel's piece more closely: like her piece, this anthology works best when it stops worrying about how it's going to fit in and just focuses on making good art. (Feb.)