PRIDE MONTH 2024! Bringing together the work of 29 trans and non-binary creators The Out Side is an often celebratory collection of stories focussing on themes of gender and identity. Its first incarnation was the result of a successful crowdfunding campaign, with this edition being an expanded one published by Andrews McMeel. In the words of editor The Kao its mission is to “inspire anyone who may be struggling with their own identity and educate those who seek greater understanding.” A double-edged approach which pays dividends.
Each short strip in The Out Side opens with a brief creator bio that acts as both an artist introduction and, in some cases, to give greater context to what the audience are about to read. Each reader will no doubt find stories herein that, for various reasons, resonate with them more strongly than others. As a cis man the strips that stood out for me may well reflect my own perspectives but a few of those follow.
Zhen’s ‘Undefined’, for example, is an excellent visual essay on the limitations of binary delineation which plays with traditional gender colour coding to explore their interactions with a narrowly defined world. Vixtopher’s ‘Gender Fluid’ also uses colour as a narrative tool with the vibrancy and fluidity of their artwork reflecting the strip’s subject matter.
It hardly needs saying that there’s a raw honesty to much of the work herein; personal stories that are undeniably candid in their depiction of events to necessitate our connection to their authors. Julie Fiveash’s account of masking themselves and their identity in their cartooning in the guise of cute anthropomorphic animals is a memorable short herein. In ‘How I Got These Sweet Nips!’ Lucas – The Nifty Fox uses a jaunty pacing and diary comics-style approach to recount his experience of having top surgery. Dana Simpson’s ‘June 25, 2005’ is also a notable strip with Simpson meeting her pre-transitional self in a quietly joyous tale of self-acceptance.
If being given just a handful of pages to portray such intensely personal experiences could be perceived as a challenge it’s one that the artists in The Out Side rise up to. In ‘Ten More Seconds’, for example, Sage Coffey use visual metaphor to perfectly communicate their relationship with the spectrum of gender while Kyla Aiko uses cycling as a symbol for their own acceptance of their identity in a beautiful five-pager that acts as a coda for the anthology.
The Out Side: Trans & Nonbinary Comics succeeds in both of its major objectives – reminding those looking for their own gender truths that they are not alone while educating other demographics about the realities of trans and non-binary lived experiences. One for library collections everywhere.
Kaz Fantone, Coco Ouwerkerk, Julie Fiveash, Cyrus, Min Christensen, Ashi, DaToonie, Vixtopher, Wren Chavers, Matteo Montero-Murillo, Mel Valentine Vargas, Kyla Aiko, Nasr Bin Safwan, Dana Simpson, Lae Louie Schäfer, Veronica Jane, Dashi, Aidyn Huynh, Al Acevedo, Wey Song, Sam, Liam Coballes, Lake Fama, Lucas James, Sage Coffey, Zhen, Maddie Tacobus, Jam Aden, Tara Madison Avery & Mike Sullivan, Julia Kaye Andrews McMeel, $16.99
Review by Andy Oliver
Read our Pride 2024 articles all in one place here
Check out our LGBTQIA and Trans and Non-Binary Resource Lists here
