Line Gamache achieved what she set out to do, in spades: she shows that women are instrumental in keeping Quebec’s thriving comics community alive. The large assortment of styles these eighteen women comic (or other) artists proves there is more variety in the women’s than in the men’s work in Montreal. Helène Brosseau, a well-known sculptor, plays with the form of comics in a wacky two-pager exclaiming “What color is my parachute?” Obom emerges as an incredible minimalist storyteller in “A room of my own, or The Green Monster,” whose entirely unpredictable ending, preceeded by break-neck storytelling, had me laughing out loud. Leanne Franson is in her usual top form, with what was, comparatively, the most conventional drawing style in the bunch (though highly competent and, as always, very entertaining). On first reading it, I thought maybe there was a lack of cohesion or flow, as the strips vary wildly from one to the other. Sophie Cossette’s raunchy one-panel gag strips could hardly have less in common with Sofie Fékété’s collage-art piece. This variety makes it good to pick up and read in short bits, though, and ends up making for a comics collection containing the most different forms of comics I’ve ever seen. As for the content and themes, they run the gamut from pensive to wild, profound to absurd, with cheap shock value and cliché underground comic gags pleasantly absent (proving that those kinds of comics are definitely a product of male artists who went through puberty a little late in life). (LR)
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