Review by Bethany Mannon, PhD Good Eggs narrates Phoebe Potts’ work to conceive in her mid-thirties, after years of expecting that she could become pregnant “the natural way.” “Each month I get my hopes up,” she writes, alongside an image of herself sitting on the toilet and reaching for a tampon. “Each month I count nine months out to see when I might have a baby. And each month, despite charting and timing & peeing & trying – I’m still not pregnant” (xiv). Good Eggs joins Paula Knight’s comic Spooky Womb, Emily Steinberg’s graphic memoir Broken Eggs. and many prose… Read More
Oh Joy, Sex Toy
Guest Review by: PF Anderson Well, we all know who to call when we see a ghost (Ghostbusters!), but who are you going to call to review a comic book on sex toys? Of course, your local little old lady librarian, right? Well, maybe not, but that’s what happened here. I’m a medical librarian and creeping up on retirement age faster than I’d like. I am probably the last person on earth I’d expect to find writing a book review for a book on … sex toys? So think of it this way: If I say buy it (which is… Read More
Knocked Up, Knocked Down: Postcards from the Brink of Parenthood
Pins + Needles
Brighton conference presenter Rachel Abrams sends news: “I’m delighted to share news with you that my long-gestated project, Pins and Needles, about Gen X women navigating fertility, is finally up online and out in the world.” You can check out her new project site here: http://www.gotpinsandneedles.com
Spooky Womb
Paula Knight’s Spooky Womb is an excerpt from her graphic memoir in progress The Facts of Life, which was shortlisted for the Myriad Editions First Fictions Graphic Novel competition. In this excerpt, she very creatively (and nearly wordlessly) recounts her “interactions” with fertility, pregnancy, and loss via an anthropomorphized female reproductive tract. The three panel horizontal layout serves her narrative quite well, while varied background shading seems to reflect the diurnal and menstrual cycles. A skilled illustrator, Knight is able to convey a wide range of gesture and emotion from her visceral character, making one wonder which is the protagonist – uterus… Read More