Last week I posted a strip poking fun at the critically acclaimed series Strangers in Paradise. I made this criticism without reading this book and it occurred to me that I was being unfair. So this past week I decided to pick up Strangers in Paradise: Vol.1 and give it a fair shot.
This first book was written and penciled/inked by creator Terry Moore. To give you idea of what we are dealing with, this is a black and white book written in 1995. In the foreword it mentions that this is Moore’s first attempt at producing a comic. The art actually isn't bad at all. Moore draws very cute, cartoony girls. It makes me wonder what this book looks like today. The male characters are kind of generic and I had to laugh at David, who is clearly David from Rosanne. I read the character as if Johnny Galecki was playing him.
But not all is well in Paradise. The depiction of the women in this book is exactly the opposite of what I thought I’d find. Wasn't this suppose to be a realistic view of women and their relationships? The book reads like a parody. I've seen a lot of heartbroken girls. Never have I seen them storming into their ex’s house carrying a firearm. Or wrecking their car in the front lawn because they were SO devastated over a breakup. Or strip in the middle of the park to try and win back an old flame. I've read stories that take place on Oa that are more grounded in reality.
Once again, this story is over twenty years old so perhaps SiP is leaps and bounds better today. But if this is truly the gold standard of today’s romance books maybe I should write one. I might be a slightly sexist pig, but I’m fairly certain I can write more believable stories about women than this. -$
No comments:
Post a Comment