Motherlover

Video game writer and web cartoonist Ishihiro (How Baby) debuts with this vibrant slow-burn sapphic romance. Imogen is living the life she always dreamed of: she’s a stay-at-home mom with four kids and a ponytail-sporting husband, Jonathan, who handles the family’s finances (“It’s OK babe... because I’m the one who makes the money”). But when edgy queer cellist and single mom Alex moves in next door, Imogen catches an unexpected crush. Then she catches her husband mismanaging their bills, and decides to dig deeper—only to find his sultry texts with a coworker. But heartbreak quickly turns into a new beginning—Imogen and the kids move in with Alex, she goes back to college (with a fresh short haircut), divorces Jonathan, and slowly falls in love with Alex. As the two women each grapple with their own baggage, they realize that life is better together with their boisterous blended family. Ishihiro’s colorful, animated style is at once cute and cleanly rendered, with dynamic movement from panel to panel, and welcome representation of LGBTQ+ characters and diverse body types. It’s a refreshing, inviting, and much-needed take on remaking traditional ideas of family. Readers will fall for Imogen and Alex just as they fall for each other. (May)