NOTE: Here, there be hyperlinks!
In honor of Banned Books Week, which will conclude tomorrow, I am posting my Best of 2017 books that have simply blown my mind (and that's not an easy thing to do, though I feel my tastes are wide-spread enough that I'm often more satisfied than disappointed) and wish to share my findings with my readers and visitors...
Next up is Chain Mail Bikini- a comic anthology about female or femme-affirming gamers!
Any Robert E. Howard fan would know the title is a nod to one of his most famous characters, Red Sonja, the butt-kicking shero/heroine of his Conan the Barbarian series as well as her own series.
I spoke about this anthology many posts before and I will provide that hyperlink when this post goes live. In the meantime, I feel this title deserves a second post review!
Chain Mail Bikini is a trail mix of delightful ruminations and musings on a little-media-attention topic: girls and women who like to game (video games/board games/role-playing card games, etc) and how it sculpts one's identity, defines an individual, as well as the overall affect on that broader gaming community.
Now, this may sound lofty and I don't know if that's a good or bad thing. All I know is that as many people as possible need to read this gem of comic "essays" about gamers and the lives they lead - whether offline or online. Whether the favored game is made of paper, in pixels, or penned by a 'circle', the emotions are nevertheless real, the social commentary biting, sexism crackles, and feminism shines.
As I said before, the comics are a mixed bag: some of the comic art is adorable, some are quite polished, even professional, some are quite rough, while others are drawn somewhat amateurish. But, however the aesthetic might be, this anthology carries a lot of heart. There is no BS. What you see is what you get and the authors aren't here to waste their time or the readers. They are just here to tell you their stories. No Ifs, Ands, or Buts about it. And no spoilers from this reviewer.
Chain Mail Bikini is guest edited by Hazel Newlevant and the intriguing front cover (for which I am now a fan of!) by Hellen Jo !
Please pick up Chain Mail Bikini directly from its website (available in PDF, hardcopy) or where ever books are sold.
Info on Banned Books Week here: Banned and Challenged Books
