Love Letters to Jane’s World // a wordy lesbian slice-of-life comic

First off, do not read this digitally. It’s a nightmare. If you want to read it, buy the physical copy. Do. not. get. it. in. digital. form.

Second, Love Letters to Jane’s World had me at “She took your smiley mug!”

Third, I think it’s about time for my smiley mug to make a cameo on my blog.

Sunglasses emoji mug on top of books on a shelf, next to a white teddy bear dressed in a bee costume
When the mug is hot, the glasses disappear and it’s just a smiling emoji 😎😄 Bit creepy, actually.

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Love Letters to Jane's WorldLove Letters to Jane's World by Paige Braddock
Published by Oni Press on 21 August, 2018
Genre: Fantasy, Fiction, Graphic novels, Lesbian fiction, LGBTQ+
# pages: 304
Source: NetGalley
Goodreads
Rating: ★★★

This essential Jane's World collection debuts twenty years after Jane Wyatt first appeared in Paige Braddock's trailblazing comics strip about a young lesbian woman making her clumsy way in the world and the friends who help (or hinder) her along the journey. The Eisner-nominated Jane's World was the first syndicated comic strip with a lesbian main character to appear in many major newspaper markets. This new volume collects the most quintessentially "Jane" storylines from the strip's early, middle, and later years, and pairs them with "love letters" and notes of appreciation from notable fans.

It’s relatable.

I mean, from my perspective. I found the anthology funny and liked that I was able to laugh at the many jokes because I understood them. There are several jokes you mightn’t understand if you don’t hang around a lot of people from the LGBTQ+ community or consume related media, or aren’t part of it yourself, so it might not be so fun. However, there is a hard lean towards romantic relationships and friendships, and trying to sort all that out in adulthood like an adulthood (or not like an adulthood); this is something I admired loads.

But it’s wordy.

Sunday newspaper comics were fun and dandy if they didn’t have a ton of words. I always skipped over the comics with lots of words, unless it was Garfield.

Love Letters to Jane’s World has a lot of words. Like, a lot of words. I read books, yes, but if I’m reading a comic, I really like for the comic to do a lot of the talking, too. The comics included in this anthology were too much for me. If the comics were in color, similar to manga sometimes having a few pages in color, I think it wouldn’t be so bad. But black-and-white text with tiny drawings and hard-to-read fonts affect me fast.

Overall

I like that Love Letters to Jane’s World is relatable, but all the words are too much. If I’d had a physical copy for review, I think my experience reading it would have been less of an issue. I can see myself taking this along to wait at a doctor’s office or something and reading then. The anthology gives a good overview of Jane’s life without needing to get the other comics. I’ve never read Jane’s World, of course, so…I don’t know if this is the whole of them! 🤷

I rated it 3/5 stars because of the words—wordiness might be a turnoff for peeps, and I know I’d want to be warned about it, given my eyesight. Comics have come a long way since 20 years ago. I’m not expecting them to be redrawn or anything—this just seems to be something before my comics-reading time. I’m fine with Jane and her friends being chatty and all that—but I really feel like, if the medium is comic form, there should be less words and more visuals.

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