Sayers, Joey Alison. Just So You Know. Autobiographical Comics Ser. #1. Oakland, 2009. softcover. [36] pages. $5.00.

Cartoonist Joey Alison Sayers has the talent—critical in comic art—for getting to a point quickly and making a sharply perceptive observation.

Just So You Know #1 gathers together two years of strips about Sayers' transition from male to female. Hormones, social acceptance, getting a new ID, and coming out to herself and her parents are all dissected on Sayers' drawing pad. The most poignant strip may be "Freaking Out the Parents." At a particularly illuminating point in a conversation with her parents, Sayers explains, "I've been horribly depressed for as long as I can remember and for a bunch of years I was getting drunk and using drugs as a coping mechanism." Her parents listen to everything in silence, wearing twin expressions of concern. Their response comes in the last panel: "Wait?! You did drugs?!!" It's a bittersweet moment.

They aren't hurling invective, which is good, but they can't acknowledge what their child is really sharing, and only react to a side issue. Additionally, Sayers slips in some basic facts about the MTF transition process, which is helpful for any library collection. The final page even includes a small glossary to help readers understand, for example, the difference between transgender and transsexual.

Just So You Know #1 is recommended for public and high school libraries. It's available online through Sayers' website. Payment is through PayPal.

Reviewed by Ruth Ann Jones
Special Collections Cataloger
Michigan State University Libraries

Park, Judith. YSquarePlus. New York: Yen Press, 2007 [2008 English language edition]. paperback. 200p. $10.99. ISBN: 9780759529274.

YSquarePlus, a sequel to Judith Park's 1997 YSquare manga, continues the story of best friends Yagate, a gay student, and Yoshitaka, who is straight. Though tagged OT for "older teen," this book is not sexually explicit, and Yagate's sexuality is accepted matter-of-factly by all of the characters.

Originally published in German, the story dialogue is translated into English, but traces of German remain in the graphics, usually with explanatory notes. The story's conclusion brings to mind older, dated, gay YA fiction, in that the boy gets the girl, but the boy does
not get the boy.

YSquarePlus is recommended for public libraries with patrons interested in manga.

Reviewed by Dave Combe
EP Foster Library
Ventura, CA

The Book of Boy Trouble: Gay Boy Comics with a New Attitude. Edited by Robert Kirby & David Kelly. [San Francisco]: Green Candy Press, 2006. paperback. 132p. $15.00 ISBN: 9781931160452.

The Book of Boy Trouble. Volume 2, Born to Trouble. Edited by Robert Kirby & David Kelly. [San Francisco]: Green Candy Press, 2008. paperback. 100p. $15.00 ISBN: 9781931160650.

Robert Kirby started Boy Trouble: Gay Boy Comics with a New Attitude in 1994 as a thirty-page photocopied alternative zine, showcasing work from mostly twenty-something gay male comic artists. In 1995, David Kelley joined Kirby to put out issues in 1995, 1997, and 2000. They released the fifth issue, an eighty-page trade paperback, at the tenth anniversary in 2004 – and the positive gay and alternative press this generated convinced the editors to publish a volume of Boy Trouble's greatest hits.

The Book of Boy Trouble presented the best work previously published in the zine, and it gathered in new comics by both established and new contributors – as the editors put it, "taking a long sideways glance into the past as we continue into the future." Mostly illustrated in black and white, there are 24 pages of color comics.

Punk rock, bad dates, porn arcades, chance meetings, coming out, staying in – all are fair game to the seventeen artists included. These stories are all personal, provocative, and powerful - I can only pick out the best of the best. I was immediately hooked by the first story, "Instruction," by D. Travers Scott and Robert Kirby, of a twenty-year-old on his first visit to one of Chicago's porn arcades. David Kelley does a touching "Queer Tribute to Kurt [Cobain]" and enthusiastically illustrates a Spoilsport song, "Boys on the Beach." Michael Fahy made me laugh out loud at "Self Portrait."

The Book of Boy Trouble. Volume 2, Born to Trouble, expands color comics to the entire book. Artists from the 1970's and 1980's – Howard Cruse, Jenifer Camper, Robert Triptow – join the 1990's boys and their successors. Sexual preference and gender lines are broken, reflecting changes in the artists who contributed to later zine issues.

Again, the best of the best: Anonymous Boy's "Wayne Gets Groped" is a great tale of a closeted punk rock fan at a concert. Ed Luce's "Wuvable Oaf in 'Chat Attack'" takes a humorous look at on-line hookups (with the assistance of Wuvable Oaf's adorable cats). "Evil Bear Man" by Justin Hall details an episode in the life of a fetish escort. And Tim Fish's "The Voodoo That You Do So Well" is a sweet story of how a voodoo doll pulls two lonely men together.

Both books are recommended for public and academic libraries with comics/graphic novel collections. Be aware, though, that nudity is used to tell some stories in both volumes.

Reviewed by Louis Lang
Leather Archives & Museum

Baim, Tracy. Gay Games VII: Where the World Meets: Chicago 2006. Chicago: Windy City Media Group, 2007. paperback. 206p.

Beam, Jeffrey. The Beautiful Tendons: Uncollected Queer Poems, 1969-2007. Brooklyn: White Crane Books, 2008. paperback. 132p. ISBN: 9781590211021.

Brannen, Sarah S. Uncle Bobby's Wedding. New York: G. P. Putnams' Sons, 2008. paperback. $15.99. ISBN: 9780399247125.

Brooks, Adrian. Flights of Angels: My Life with the Angels of Light. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2008. hardcover. 224p. ISBN: 978-1551522319.

Buchanan, James. The Good Thief. Albion: MLR Press, 2008. paperback. 229p. $14.99. ISBN: 9781934531440.

Davidson, James. The Greeks and Greek Love: A Radical Reappraisal of Homosexuality in Ancient Greece. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2007. hardcover. 656p. ISBN: 9780297819974.

DeSimone, Lewis. Chemistry. Maple Shade, NJ: Lethe Press, 2008. paperback. 256p. $18.00. ISBN: 9781590211571.

For the Bible Tells Me So. Dir. Daniel G. Karslake. Atticus Group/VisionQuest Productions, 2007.

In Good Conscience: Sister Jeannine Gramick’s Journey of Faith. Dir. Barbara Rick. Out of the Blue Films, Inc., 2006.

Johnson, Troy. Family Outing: What Happened When I Found Out My Mother Was Gay. New York: Arcade Publishing, 2008. hardcover. 256p. ISBN: 9781559708715.

Kelly, Christopher. A Push and a Shove. New York: Alyson Books, 2007. paperback. 312p. $14.95. ISBN: 9781593500481.

Kundtz, David J. and Bernard S. Schlager. Ministry Among God’s Queer Folk: LGBT Pastoral Care. Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry Ser. Cleveland: Pilgrim Press, 2007. paperback. 242p. ISBN: 9780829817065.

Lynch, Lee, Nel Ward, and Sue Hardesty, eds. the butch cook book. Newport, OR: TRP Cookbooks, 2008. paperback. 216p. $18.95. ISBN: 9780979270109.

Maguire, Daniel C., and Sa’diyya Shaikh, eds. Violence Against Women in Contemporary World Religion: Roots And Cures. Cleveland: The Pilgrim Press, 2007. hardcover. 248p. $60.00. ISBN: 9780829817676.

Maltese, William, and Wayne Gunn. Ardennian Boy. Albion, NY: MLR Press, 2007. hardcover. 236p. ISBN: 9780979311031.

Michaelson, Jay. Another Word for Sky: Poems. Maple Shade, NJ: Lethe Press, 2007. paperback. 104p. ISBN: 9781590210611.

Owensby, J. Jackson. Deliberate Indifference: A Gay Man’s Maltreatment by the U.S. Department of Justice: The story of Chris Wehner: As told to: J. Jackson Owensby. 2nd ed. Kernersville, N.C.: A-Argus Better Book Publishers, 2008. hardcover. 293p. ISBN: 9780980155518.

Philips, A. A. If You Believe in Mermaids… Don’t Tell. Indianapolis: Dog Ear Publishing, 2007. paperback. 150p. $12.95. ISBN: 9781598583595.

Pomfret, Scott. Since My Last Confession: A Gay Catholic Memoir. New York: Arcade Publishing, 2008. hardcover. 312p. ISBN: 9781559708692.

Prism Comics: Your LGBT Guide to Comics #5. 2008 ed. Atlanta: Prism Comics, 2008. paperback. 160p. ISBN: 9780975916438.

Revoyr, Nina. The Age of Dreaming. New York: Akashic Books, 2008. paperback. 320p. ISBN: 9781933354460.

Stevenson, Richard. Death Vows. A Donald Strachey Mystery Ser. Albion, NY: MLR Press, 2008. paperback. 198p. ISBN: 9784934531334.

Wallace, Kim. Senior Year at Foresthill High. Erik & Isabelle Ser. 4. Sacramento: Foglight Press, 2007. paperback. 220p. $12.00. ISBN: 9780975584835.

Young, Bo, and Dan Vera, eds. A Prophet in His Own Land: A Malcolm Boyd Reader: Selected Writings 1950-2007. White Crane Wisdom Ser. Brooklyn: White Crane Books, 2008. library binding. 330p. ISBN: 9781590211922.