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This is a little lengthy. Please skip to the end and check out some of the amazing story selections I included in here. I just want more people to read this or at least look at the stories I include at the end of my review.

Wow. I loved this so much. Words can't really describe it. I sent pictures of a few stories in here to my other queer friends and even some to my straight sister and mother. They were just so powerful that I had to share it with people who would appreciate it. And something that genuinely surprised me about this was how deeply it affected me. Most of the stories were only one page long but they packed a brutal punch. I cry so rarely that I don't remember the last thing I cried over or when, but almost all of these pieces made me tear up so badly in public that I had to take half a minute to regain composure. I have seen reviews where people say that they didn't understand why this comic had to be so sad. It's sad because the Pulse shooting is absolutely devastating. To honor the victims, people have to be made to feel some of the pain of this tragedy, made to realize everything that is wrong about what happened. And any books about queer people that live in an accepting environment with limited to no homophobia, their characters are ridiculously (perhaps unbelievably...?) lucky. But there are also some very uplifting stories here too. I'm glad it included both sides.

On a more technical note, most of these pieces don't have to do with the superheroes. Just because it is a DC/IDW comic, their characters are not the point of the book. The purpose is to highlight and honor the Pulse shooting victims and support the gay rights movement. But there were some stories that had superheroes in them, mostly just being shattered and confused at the hatred that drives people to commit acts of violence and hate like this. And of course there's a brief Harley/Ivy piece. There were a few pieces in here that were just artwork and a few that were prose or poetry pieces with some art. Overall, I found that most of the stories made sense and were great. Some of the stories were just alright and a few made little sense to me. But I got over that easily because of the sheer number of brief but powerful pieces in this anthology.

This comic was amazing not just because of its support of queer issues but also its inclusiveness. There were people from all different economic, racial, sexual, gender, ability, and even a few religious backgrounds. It really shows how invested in equality something or someone is when they make the effort to be inclusive and representative. And as a queer comic reader, I just want to say thank you to everyone who worked on this book and everyone who enjoyed reading it. Being reminded that there are people out there who support us and stand with us in times of trouble makes me feel like there is some hope. And having this representation, especially from such big companies like DC and IDW, means so much. Reading stuff like this helps me gain strength and courage. This book is helping build me up to come out to the rest of my family.

I just wanted to include some of the stories from the beginning of the book that I shared with my friends and family. I apologize for the blurriness, so I'll include the hyperlinks too. Hopefully this piques someone's interest. The first one shows the darker side of this comic and the second shows the uplifting side. The second, uplifting story changed me.




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