Romance Challenge: Graphic Novel

   "Read a graphic novel or comic book romance."

Tropes and Trifles ordering link

 

    

    Over the years, I've read a small handful of paranormal romances (basically only when my favorite historical romance author happened to branch out), and when Twilight was big, I read that series because my kids were, and well ... it's really not my preferred subgenre, mostly because love stories between humans and vampires or werewolves have such unbelievably skewed power dynamics, and I find that hard to enjoy.

    A relationship between a human and a vampire is just too close to that of one between a human and a god, and you have to ask yourself what kind of god falls in love with a human, a being so far beneath them as to be inconsequential, a bug that can be squished beneath a godly stomp.  

    Seriously, a romance between a blow-up doll and her owner is about as far from romantic as you can get.

    And I know that people are sometimes turned on by powerful partners, but seriously, how romantic can sex be when a moment of inattention can actually kill your partner?  I can just imagine the conversation between the vampire and his partner's (victim's?) parents. "I'm so sorry - I sneezed when we were doing the dirty, and then she ... died."  Or maybe he'd just eat them and avoid the confrontation entirely.

    I loved the novel Dracula (well, until I realized what buffoons the good guys were), so I've nothing against the idea of vampires as villains, but I just prefer they stay in their monster lane and not try to be romantic heroes.

    But.

   

    A romance between a vampire and a werewolf has some decent romantic possibilities. Because I was trying to explore new kinds of romances when I picked a graphic novel, I deliberately went for something with monsters, and Fangs by Sarah Andersen was highly recommended.

    And it is absolutely darling. There's not much more story than "Vampire falls in love with a werewolf, and they resolve a series of funny conflicts."   It's not so much a story but a series of non-sequential vignettes about how they make it work (he insists that when they go for a walk, he will NOT wear a leash, even during the full moon). He has to be careful not to throw open the shades when he wakes up in the morning, stuff like that. Best of all, the relationship between Elsie the vampire and Jimmy the werewolf doesn't feel even slightly unbalanced. 

    The production quality of the book is wonderful - it's a hardback with a red cloth cover, and the page edges are actually black, something I've never seen before. The drawings are exclusively black and white.

    So highly recommended, but keep in mind that its value isn't the story itself.