Virile: Part One (sneak preview), from @brainboogerindustries
A few months ago a friend lent me her copy of Sam Szabo's Enlightened Transsexual Comix. It came at the perfect point in my transition -- I was getting comfortable living as an out trans woman, had started to feel the outer edges of my "community", and enough of the original euphoria rush was gone that there were parts of the experience I was ready to roll my eyes at a little. Enlightened Transsexual Comix seemed to perceive those same things and then threw gallons of unhinged comedy at it. Perfect tone, would recommend.
Virile is a preview of a larger in-progress work that has the same sharp observations but turned on Sam's childhood and hometown, and instead of unhinged humor actually attempt to understand those memories as a coherent emotional narrative. (projecting)
I can't turn a serious critical eye to earnest trans memoir -- it still means too much to me. The ways our stories are all different, but how the same milestones seem to crop up. That first "people can do that?!" moment, the weirdness of trans time and age, the need to recontextualize our pasts, etc.
Reading about a 28-year-old envying the younger transes and yearning for more trans elders is a mood when you're 48 years old ,a year into hormones, with 30 years of gay/queer baggage, and doing the same.
I enjoyed the preview, and I really hope a final version can make it through The Creative Process.
I'm reviewing every zine I picked up at the Portland Zine Symposium (@pdx_zines) on Saturday, October 28th, 2023. This is the fourth review. #pdxzinereview