Book Review

Fresh Romance, Ed. by Janelle Asselin

B

Genre: Comic

When people think of comic books today, they usually think of superheroes. But in the 1940’s through the 1970’s, romance comics were just as well known as superhero comics, if not more so. Most of the stories were told from the perspective of the heroine but were written and illustrated by men. The content of the stories fluctuated with social mores and with the rise of the Comics Code Authority, but the romances were always heterosexual in nature.

Now there’s a new romance comic magazine, Fresh Romance, from Rosy Press, edited by Janelle Asselin. Unlike the romance comics of yore, this anthology promises a focus on diverse romances. In the first issue, there’s a romance between two high school girls (one white, one black), a Regency romance, and a fantasy romance about a woman who works in a coffee shop who uses magic to bring people together. One more match and she gets to return to “the homeworld”. This was my favorite of the collection, because of the geeky elements (I also liked it that the heroin is Asian in appearance and not super skinny).

In keeping with tradition, there’s an advice column. In this case, it’s called “The Divorce(e) Club” and is staffed by two women and one man “who’ve been there.” Questions include: Should Person A, who has a crush on Person B, stay friends with Person B just in case Person B realizes that they actually love Person A? Also, if a guy puts off meeting you for a date for over a month, is he genuinely busy or just not that into you?

Consider this not so much a review as an advisory – this is a collection to keep an eye on, especially if you miss the old romance comics. The problem with reviewing this magazine issue is that each story is limited to a few pages, and ends in a cliffhanger. I don’t feel like I’ve had time to get invested in the characters or the stories. I do think that once a few more issues come out, this would be a fun series to binge, and I love the commitment to diverse stories (in terms of gender, ethnicity, and orientation, as well as setting and sub-genre).

All the stories have a ton of charm, lovely art, and stories that seem to hold a lot of promise. I’m looking forward to the next issue! I wish we had a “P for Potential” grade option but since we don’t I’m giving it a B with the caveat there’s not much to go on yet.


Fresh Romance #1 is available through Comixology for $4.99!
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Fresh Romance #1 by Janelle Asselin

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  1. Vasha says:

    I was planning to get this, but maybe I won’t, because it’s frustrating to hear that there’s so little to it. You’d expect a magazine costing $5 per issue to be a little meatier.

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