Twisted Sisters Counter Display

This volume, which borrows its name from the classic underground woman's comic book produced in the mid-1970s by Noomin and Aline Kominsky Crumb, offers an excellent but small sample of the current generation of ``bad girl'' cartoonists. Like the original comic book, this collection features a preponderance of confessional vignettes and an apparently cathartic emphasis on male/female relationships and the retelling of childhood incidents. The work of Carol Lay stands out for its relaxed drawing facility and, in ``Face the Facts of Love,'' a weirdly transformed soap opera-like story line. Phoebe Gloeckner's ``Quaker School Q-ties'' presents a determined gang of little girls who show the boys a thing or two. M. K. Brown displays a strangely hilarious sense of humor and an impressive talent for comedic facial expression. Julie Doucet demonstrates a tremendous gift for simple, affecting stories that draw on the funky, down-and-out manner in which she lives, captured by a studiously cluttered and surprisingly poetic illustrational style. Also included are Mary Fleener, Carol Tyler and the late Dori Seda. (Nov.)