How Beautiful the Ordinary is a prose anthology focusing on LGBT teenagers1, and it includes two short comics, one by Eric Shanower, the other by Ariel Shrag.
From Shanower's story
Ariel Shrag’s Dyke March is the four-page diary of the evening of a young dyke. Funny and concise, but a bit pointless for me. Thought that might have been the point.
Eric Shanower’s Happily Ever After is a riff on the genie-in-a-bottle classic story. In eleven pages, Shanower gives us a moving picture of two high school guys who have to face the consequences of having been granted a wish: one wished to be “happy ever after” with his closeted boyfriend, while the conflicted boy wished his gayness away. That’s a real stalemate. What I really liked about this set-up is the way Shanower uses a clichéd fantasy element to bring to the fore real-life problems, in a way that felt natural. The two guys spend a long time trying to make sense of what’s happened to them, regarding both the wishes and their failed relationship, and Shanower never makes it maudlin, only realistically heart-breaking. Of course, his clean, dense art is as usual a pleasure to look at, though I wish the book had been printed at a larger size. Or maybe I’m just getting old.
The prose stories are all very good, well worth your time and money. It’s a great idea to combine text and comics in one book, as it can bring together varied readerships. It certainly brings together all the things I like, if that’s enough recommendation for you.
Notes:
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