Comic: Fangirl by Tom Stillwell

My house has a bad Kickstarter habit that sort of have under control. Although sometimes we still go a little crazy on smaller projects, especially from repeat creators. This isn't that, this is a graphic novel I backed a WHILE ago. I'm not even sure how long ago, but I received all the fun stuff in the mail a few weeks ago and finally finished reading the comic this week.

I'm bad about keeping up on comics, both physical and digital versions. These days I tend to prefer a graphic novel (in either physical or digital variety) because I like having a lot of story in my hands. And as much as I like superheroes, I'm not much for following the never-ending parade of storylines with recons and new beginnings and all the sort of things that come with it. I know some people do, but I prefer a nice tight story arc that's more reminiscent of novellas than a television series.

Fangirl written by Tom Stillwell [Pencils & Ink by Jessica Lynn, Colors by Zac Atkinson, Letters by Crank!] is just that. Fangirl is the story of a young woman who has a close group of friends from an online game that is finally meeting in person at a big fan convention. When two of them witness a murder you see them using the convention to their advantage to escape the murderer.

One of the great things about the story in Fangirl is that this group of online friends come together and there's not much awkwardness about being new to each other. They pick up conversations they were having online, they reference the game they play together and the other media they like just as you'd expect friends to do. It evident of the progression people have made since the early days of online gaming where you might not know what someone looked like, or what their real name was...

They're just friends. And they're doing their best to get through the weekend. 

As someone that's met friends through video games and online fan communities, of course I resonated with the group that meets up in this story. But I also just really appreciated the portrayal of enthusiastic fandom culture in a positive way. There's maybe a few holes in the plot but given that this isn't a novel, it's a graphic novel, I'm not mad about it. I think it's worth the read if you've got a few minutes -- the art is cute and there's plenty of fun stuff to enjoy in the convention backgrounds.

If you'd like to check it out you can find the digital version on comixology here. 

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