Love Letters to Jane's World

by PAIGE BRADDOCK

Paige Braddock (Artist)

This essential Jane's World collection debuts twenty
years after Jane Wyatt first appeared in Paige Braddock's trailblazing comics
strip about a young lesbian woman making her clumsy way in the world and the
friends who help (or hinder) her along the journey. The Eisner-nominated Jane's
World was the first syndicated comic strip with a lesbian main character to
appear in many major newspaper markets. This new volume collects the most
quintessentially "Jane" storylines from the strip's early, middle, and later
years, and pairs them with "love letters" and notes of appreciation from notable
fans.

• ISBN10: 1549302752
• ISBN13: 9781549302756
• Publish Date: 21 August 2018
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Oni Press,US
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[Jane]

**I received a review copy via NetGalley in exchange for my opinions.**

I like that "Love Letters to Jane’s World" is relatable, but all the words are too much. If I’d had a physical copy for review, I think my experience reading it would have been less of an issue. I can see myself taking this along to wait at a doctor’s office or something and reading then. The anthology gives a good overview of Jane’s life without needing to get the other comics. I’ve never read Jane’s World, of course, so…I don’t know if this is the whole of them! 🤷

I rated it 3/5 stars because of the words—wordiness might be a turnoff for peeps, and I know I’d want to be warned about it, given my eyesight. Comics have come a long way since 20 years ago. I’m not expecting them to be redrawn or anything—this just seems to be something before my comics-reading time. I’m fine with Jane and her friends being chatty and all that—but I really feel like, if the medium is comic form, there should be less words and more visuals.

Full review on Janepedia, 8/27.

[annieb123]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Love Letters to Jane's World is an anthology collection by Paige Braddock with an anticipated release date 21st August, 2018. Published by Lion Forge, it's 304 pages of previously released material with new background info and commentary. It's available in paperback and ebook formats.

I love the ensemble cast in Jane's World because they highlight the innate random absurdity of the universe (talking dogs, aliens, bigfoot (bigfeet?) glasses wearing crabs), whilst still remaining firmly human in their day-to-day travails (crap job, relationship problems, money issues). I love the escapism and humor (and there's lots of both to be found here). The book doesn't spend any page content getting new readers up to speed, so it's good to have a little background familiarity going in.

Underneath the random weird stuff, the cast seem to be (mostly) decent and kind. There's no hidden agenda, they're just folks living their (slightly weird) lives. Jane's something of an everyperson dork and she's really easy to like, even when she's being clueless and annoying.

I would strongly recommend not trying to compare this series to anything else. I think a lot of reviewers have such strong preconceived ideas of What It Means To Be A Gay Comic that they sort of miss the point. Jane & co. are people going about their lives, buying wine and groceries and going to work and don't HAVE (and shouldn't need to have) an agenda. It's a mostly humorous comic book about life whose titular character happens to be gay. Don't read it just for the gay.

I really enjoyed the book a lot.

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes