Noe’s Comics Nook: Strangers in Paradise: Volume One

Review

Strangers in Paradise is Terry Moore’s classic masterpiece that centers around the love triangle between two women (Katchoo and Francine) and one man (David), though that feels like a vast oversimplification of the drama contained in these pages. This is my first time ever reading the series, 30 years after it first appeared, and all I kept finding myself thinking was “this is what a soap opera in comics form looks like.” I can understand how off-the-mainstream the gender politics of this comic would have been in the early 90’s, though today readers are more likely than not to simply accept the characters as they are.

This collected edition, the first of four, introduces readers to the characters and is filled with wild adventures featuring everything from office drama, cheating partners, and crime syndicates. First, codependent and oft lacking in self-confidence is Francine, who struggles with her weight but fails to understand how beautiful the rest of the world finds her (the character literally made it onto a “sexiest women in comics” list). Katchoo is an artist with an erratic and at times violent temperament, with a past as a sex worker and member of the aforementioned crime syndicate (among other traumas). The two are best friends, though Katchoo has long been in love with Francine. David enters the scene as the sometimes love interest, other times punching bag, often times both for Katchoo. The two share a past with Darcy Parker’s crime syndicate and this is the source of much of this first volume’s tensions.

There are a dozen additional characters, some with large roles, some with small, but they all aid in painting a complex web of human relationships that is truly masterfully done. Moore presents the drama in a distinctive black-and-white style that captures well the range of human bodies and emotions – something that is all-too-often missing in comics of any genre, and had to have been even more unusual in the 1990s (the age of ever-increasing male gaze in superheroes at the least).

Strangers will appeal to fans of romantic reads, as well as fans of human drama, with the most direct parallel, to my mind, being soap opera stories. I note the age here as most appropriate for college due to the high volume of sex (inexplicitly drawn) and adult relationships at play. I can see appeal for high schoolers; however, I do not think it would be easy to teach in that environment.

Elements of Story

Plot: What happens when two roommates (who may or may not be a couple) face imploding relationships, a new suitor (who may or may not be wanted), and a past that won’t die? A lot of chaos, comedy, and drama is what!

Characters: Katchoo (Katina Choovanski), Francine Helena Peters, David Qin, Freddie Femur, Darcy Parker, Mary Beth Baker

Major Settings: Katchoo and Francie’s house; various Houston locations; Hawaii; Canada

Themes: Love, trauma, family, sex and gender identity

Lesson Plan Idea

Since I am suggesting this title for college-level, I am forgoing any suggested Common Core Standards here. While it is certainly possible to do thematic analysis and other essay/paper-oriented assignments for Strangers in Paradise, I want to suggest a different route here that plays directly to the web of relationships in the story.

For this assignment, students are tasked with creating a flowchart that maps out the relationships among all of the characters presented in volume one. Each character should be provided a biography and headshot (students may draw their own or use a clipped photo from the comic). Then, lines between each character in relation with another should be drawn. Along with these connecting lines, the nature of the relationship should be identified. Are these lovers? Friends? Enemies? All of the above at once or at different times? Make explicit how each relates to another. In some cases, the web may become complicated by shared or conflicting relationships (our love triangle being the obvious example). Each direction of the relationship should be considered (is it one-sided?) and color-coding is suggested.

Students are free to generate this flowchart, or web, really, by hand or using any number of digital tools available to them.