cover image Project: Romantic

Project: Romantic

, . . Adhouse, $19.95 (255pp) ISBN 978-0-9770304-2-2

The third in Adhouse's Project anthology series finds several dozen indie cartoonists taking on the idea of romance comics. Of course, modernity—and being indie—means that very few contributors offer boy-meets-girl/happily-ever-after scenarios, instead addressing the chaos and angst of love with tongue in cheek. In MK Reed's "Mrs. Jeremy Dellorso," for instance, a young woman tells her parents she's gotten engaged to a bear (who has terrible table manners). There's a wide range of styles and competencies on display here. Some pieces are design-based, like Brian Flynn's existential dialogue "The World of Ghosts and Robots" and Rian Hughes's "iGirl"; others are hand-scribbled, like Austin English's "Valentine." The prettiest artwork doesn't always go hand-in-hand with the most coherent stories, although Scott Morse's bold, kinetic wordless piece "Over Yonder" leaps out as a visual tour de force. Other highlights include "When I Was a Slut," an evocative anecdote about gossip and instant-messaging by Hope Larson; Kaz Strzepek's tale of flesh-eating zombie love, "Sewer Girls"; and Josh Cotter's one-page jokes about animals in love (tortoise to hare: "I feel like maybe we're moving too fast"). (Sept.)