Random Rave: Rachel Hartman's Belondweg Blossoming

[jesse_the_k]

Rachel Hartman's fabulous comic book Belondweg Blossoming is so wonderful you should rush right out and read it today. It is, sadly, out of print, but available at libraries and many used booksellers. It's set in the generic 13th century British fairy tale milieu, but the heroes do the sorts of things I find heroic — take care of each other; accept the more difficult path for the greater good; face up to lies told and return to straighten things out. One of the principal themes is what women's lives are like when they can't own property. A truly life-changing gift for a girl approaching menarche: I think it's important for all women to understand how far we've come.

This reviewer provides a much better description than I can. Hartman was drawing at GirlAMatic for a while, so you can admire her excellent drafting and elastic fiddling with narrative conventions in Return of the Mad Bun

Comments

[wrdnrd]

"Amy Unbounded" is wonderful!! I lucked into the ashcan series at one of my local comic stores, and then tracked down the rest bit by bit. I love how it depicts common acts of everyday heroism.

Similarly i also love "Castle Waiting" by Linda Medley. Have you ever encountered it?

[jesse_the_k]

I had read it earlier, and at that time I thought Medley's linework could not be topped. But there's a warmth and humility in Hartman's drafting that's as nourishing as a lovely cup of tea. Is there an art-world term for the sort of drawing style that's common to those two as well as Alison Bechdel, Barry Deutsch and Howard Cruse? (It makes me happy to be human to know that humans can make those sorts of marks on paper.)

[luzula]

Ooh, that sounds intriguing. *notes down on list of books to check out*