Hello hello! It is a sunny day in San Francisco, mid-October of this interesting year 2021 and I am just trucking along getting things in order to open up shop and wanted to drop a line on how things look.
First of all: MANY MANY THANKS to those of you who donated to the gofundme! I am blown away by your generosity. And also for those who were unable to donate but offered assistance in others ways and words of encouragement, I appreciate that equally. I have had such helpful and enlightening conversations with many amazing people in the community and I have been able to strengthen my business plan and come up with even more ideas for the space. (Special shout out to Katey at Glam-a-Rama and Milk SF, Leef Smith at Mission Comics, Brian Hibbs of Comix Experience and Avi Ehrlich at Silver Sprocket.)
Special event update: Please join us on Nov. 6 (7PM) at Silver Sprocket for the first-ever Sour Cherry Comics hosted writer’s workshop!
(Thank you to Avi for offering to let us use the space!) Stop by at 7PM to get to know other local writers in a chill setting (absolutely no MFA or writing academic background required) where we will write a little, read a little (our own or work we admire by others) and come up with ideas for future workshops!
For example, some ideas I’d like to mention are: in addition to writer’s workshops that are genre specific and age group specific, I would love to host non-traditional workshops that may be more community based. Some ideas I had were: Bullet Journaling for beginners, Tarot readings, Letter Writing campaigns (writing letters to various political organizations/representatives for causes that are important to us as well as work with Black & Pink and send letters to incarcerated LGBTQ+ prisoners). I have been inspired by learning more about Epicenter Zone which was a radical space that used to exist on Valencia St a couple decades ago and want to design a similar type of vibe that does touch get political now and then. Another thought I had was book clubs – we would host graphic novel of the month book clubs, YA book clubs and more political leaning book clubs- for example a Democracy Now! reading list style book club as they often feature new political releases.
So those are some ideas that I had to build off of and if you’re reading this and get so inspired and have some ideas, please feel free to send me an email with your thoughts / ideas!
Now for some reviews of things I’ve read lately, just for fun…
This Junji Ito horror anthology is definitely worth checking out if you a.) love horror or b.) love Junji Ito or c.) all of the above. The stories are unique, intriguing and some just downright disgusting and creepy. I would add a Transmisogyny TW to one of the stories towards the end – the main villainess was coded as a trans woman but labelled as a cross dresser and some antiquated terms were used in reference to her as well as the predator villain trope (though she was not portrayed as a sexual predator so that’s better than the usual stereotyping, I guess?). Overall the stories are interesting but I would be remiss if I did not add a warning to that particular story, especially since it was quite jarring to me while reading it.
This series is sort of a love/hate for me. I love the idea of it (a world where girls turn into werepanthers), though it hinges on some bioessentialist notions of womanhood (they turn into werepanthers as soon as they menstruate) but it’s hard to say really because then is that not a product of society and is that not a comment on what society deems is “woman” anyway? Also it does tackle the taboo of menstruation which I feel is genuinely still needed. The first volume I think was more egregious to me (in terms of bioessentialism/trans-exclusivity) than the second volume but there still are zero actual trans people mentioned in the books by this point. There is a third volume so maybe they might tackle some of those issues. I think it would be interesting to say the least. I also noticed they started adding more inclusive language this time around, so I am hopeful that they got feedback and are working on it. What I really LOVE about this series is the little “extras” that they throw in for worldbuilding- advertisements, game descriptions, etc.
I’m a sucker for queer romance and specifically queer women, so obviously I picked this one up… But the story is just not grabbing me right now. I also have some… concerns, to say the least, about the inherent violence. A fight club that’s all fun and games? A fight club where you’re on the opposite team as your romantic partner and you beat the sh*t out of each other then are intimate with one another? Maybe I’m too vanilla for this but that didn’t do it for me…
Okay FINALLY on the Saga hype train. This series is LEGIT. It really takes you on a ride and you will be gripping the edge of your seat. NOT FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES! There is a graphic sex scene in the first few pages. Also major TW for implied child sexual abuse by the way. That was a bit much. This series gets a little dark… Our protag, presumably, is the baby of these two characters featured on the front page who are sort of a sci-fi dystopian Romeo & Juliet on the lam from the evil galaxy armies. The worldbuilding is fantastically detailed, and the pacing is superb. I think there’s a volume 2 out and I know they’re restarting in Jan. 2022 so I better catch up…
This was soo cute. I love sci-fi / dystopian (you can probably tell as much by my current reading list) and queer romance so this fit the bill. I had been looking forward to picking this one up for a while, and am a big fan of Magdalene Visaggio so I was excited to finally read it. Our protag is a military kid who discovers at the last minute that she doesn’t… really… want to be. Despite the security the military affords, she ends up falling in with a radical crowd who convinces her to throw it all away. In doing so, she also throws away her chance to (eventually) be with the woman she loves once they complete their military assignments. This plot was both painful and poignant, but a story worth reading. The worldbuilding wasn’t quite as extensive as Saga, but there is a lot of opportunity here and if they continue with this series, there are a lot of off-shoot stories they can go with that I would definitely read.
Okay, listen – if you’re not reading Snotgirl yet, you should be. This is easily one of the best series’ I’ve read in my entire life… I’m obsessed with the perfectly bizarre fashion influencer Lottie Person and all of her influencer friends, and after reading the series, you would be too. I’ve held off reading this volume for a while because I just know that it is going to be quite some time before Bryan O’Malley and Leslie Hung start releasing new Snotgirl, but I caved recently because I’ve simply been sitting on it for so long and IT DID NOT DISAPPOINT!!! Canon WLW romance, y’all! CANON!!! Ugh. I will be fangirling over coolgirl x snotgirl forever. Bye.
Next up…
Look forward to seeing me finally pick up the first volume of Paper Girls (yes I know I’m behind, sue me) and write my thoughts. Some other volumes will be rated and I’ll include an update on the store and business plan. (Hopefully by then I’ll be able to get a handle of the shopify online store and have some updates there as well.)
Until next time, feel free to DM the Sour Cherry Comics instagram or send me an email!
XOXO