Sexy Chix: Anthology of Women Cartoonists by Joyce Carol Oates

Sexy Chix: Anthology of Women Cartoonists Reviews

• 
  Chad

  This was originally published as Sexy Chix in 2006. It's an anthology of short stories by female comix creators. Some of these stories were completely incoherent or marred by bad lettering that made them difficult to read. The best story was by Gail Simone and Rebecca Woods. The story by Diana Schutz is actually a 12 page prose story with a few accompanying illustrations by Amanda Conner. That one I skipped because I hate reading prose in my comics.
• 
  Phrodrick

  I rather suspect that editor Diana Schutz was given the task of collecting female comic artists and package them under a title likely to draw attention. Her answer was to use the word “sex” and add to the tease the slang word “Chix” These women deserve better. Many were established cartoonists without the anthology and all rate a more elevated term than “Sexy Chix”
  
  Too much about the title.
  
  In 101 pages a reader gets a sample of 16 women practicing in a field not then (2006) nor now (2021) known for its female leaders. That said the book has a thrown together feel to it. Several have great emotional punch. The closing Manga, Don’t You Trust Me is a collaboration between novelist Joyce Carol Oats and illustrator Laureen McCubbin and is very powerful. I had to re-read it several times to fully appreciate its combination of overwrought dramatics and very simple conclusion.
  
  Many pieces were about love and loss, making the themes seem predictable women’s topics. But these women are talented. Each has their own twist and take. A first-time client helps to give a hair dresser voice to her sense of having a mission. A believed widow carries her loss with her, but…. In Love Triangle, a jealous girlfriend places her fisherman, man in peril of his life so she can save him. Ok a reverse of the mirror for this kind of plot, but still creepy.
  
  For all of the merits of the women sampled in Sexy Chex, I cannot say I feel motivated to seek out more of their work. I have bought some in the past. Leela Corman’s graphic Novel, Unterzakhn for example, is recommend. Sexy Chix, is also recommended, just not as highly. Better still is to be aware of that in the world of comic arts, it is no surprise that high quality work is originated by women.
• 
  Don

  Anthologies are notorious for having a wide range of quality; distressingly, that's true here more than usual. Some of the stories are okay, but others are mystifyingly bad - whether because the content is trivial (an otherwise acclaimed cartoonist gossiping up a tale of a friend who betrayed her), or because the craft of comic narrative isn't very polished, or because the "story" in question goes nowhere. One entry isn't even a comic at all, but rather a 12-page, 14-year-old text piece the author exhumed for the occasion!
  
  And yet every once in a while, there's a piece that's a complete gem. The salon vignette, from Gail Simone & Rebecca Woods. The brief glimpse of a heart attempting to move on, from Sarah Grace McCandless & Joelle Jones. If more of the stories had been of this caliber, it would be a far more even collection - and far more enjoyable, too.
• 
  Bandit

  Ironically (or not, thanks Alanis Morrissette for forever making this confusing) this book was actually meant to offset the bleakness of Oates’ latest short story collection.
  It didn’t work.
  Both books were what you’d consider feminist works, featuring female authors, female protagonists and female perspectives. I figured this one might be lighter, it is cartoons, after all, but it wasn’t, not by much. And sometimes it just wasn’t good enough for the tone to matter.
  The other reason I was interested in checking this out was because I noticed that most of my favorite graphic artists are male. This book hasn’t changed that fact. Granted, I’m more of a graphic novel person than cartoon person, but able to appreciate both. The few, maybe five at most, best entries here were the ones featuring a more traditional comic book art, the cartoons were either too crude or too plain to stand out, mostly with stories to match. And then there was randomly enough a nonfiction story with a few drawings that really didn’t seem to belong. Oftentimes barely even stories told, more like sketches of some. Not a glimpse of color either, just black and white art.
  So yeah, overall didn’t really work for me. Not as an introduction to new talent, not as a pleasant diversion. It was a quick read and ,being a library loan, cost nothing but time and not that much of it, but not really worth it. The quest to find female comic book artists I like continues.
  
• 
  Amber

  A messy anthology that “showcased” women cartoonist, but was pretty unremarkable.
  
  The title is, I don’t know, supposed to be a reclaiming of female characters in comic books, or a nod to the sexy chicks that write comics, but this collection didn’t work.... or I just don’t get what they were trying to do here. I think it was an “anything goes” kind of collection that showed female characters being everything but sexy... an interesting concept is still needed though!
  
  I really liked Colleen Coover’s “The Boogeyman” and Trina Robbins contribution was playful and I did like the different styles of art (some were really good!) but I still gotta give this only 2 stars.
• 
  Fugo Feedback

  Si no me equivoco, hice un poco de trampa y me salté el relato en prosa que metieron a mitad de esta antología de historietas. Aunque supongo que ese cuentito lo terminaré leyendo tarde o temprano, no creo que eso cambie mi idea global de este libro: una muy buena e interesante recopilación de comics cuyo único punto en común es haber sido realizados por mujeres. Según recuerdo, el que más me gustó fue el de Jill Thompson y el que menos me gustó fue uno que dije "Esto parece hecho por una nena de ocho años", hasta que me di cuenta de que verdaderamente era de una nena de ocho años, por lo que lo comprendí bastante mejor.
• 
  Bill Coffin

  Featuring 16 stories over 90 pages, Drawing Lines: An Anthology of Women Cartoonists is a very quick read. And as often happens with anthologies, the quality of the content varies considerably. The pieces that don't work, really don't work, either because of sloppy art, slapdash writing, or both. (Also, who likes every story in an anthology, anyway?) But enough of that, because the stories here that work well, really work well, and even if the anthology consisted only of those stories, this would feel complete. The stories range widely in tone, from whimsical to heartbreaking, always with honesty and clarity. There might be those who grate at the very idea of a women-only comix anthology, but in a world where Marvel creators can't get together for a milkshake without there being a firestorm of harrassment over it, seeing books like this mke me happy to see that the creative talent in graphic storytelling will not, does not, should not seek anyone's permission to tell their tales.
• 
  Michael

  One of the best anthologies around. Some stories were a bit maudlin, but there was a terrific range of styles (artistic and writing) and more than enough winners to easily make the book worthwhile.
  
  Joyce Carol Oates/Laurenn McCubbin's collaboration was moving and intelligent, while Jill Thompson's hilarious yarn made me smile. Gail Simone reminded me that she can tell moving stories in addition to the fun ones; Meghan Kinder's career looks very promising (this being her first published work); and stalwarts Colleen Doran and Carla Speed McNeil never let me down.
  
  Although the stories weren't home runs, Joelle Jones and Colleen Coover also get serious props for great, powerful, amazing artwork.
• 
  Romano

  El mejor relato es el de Collen Coover. Hay otro par de historias de calidad y profundidad.
  
  
  La calidad de el resto de las historias es muy desigual, con algunas siendo directamente malas. Me resulta extraña e innecesaria la historia de Diana Schutz, no es ni remotamente una novela gráfica o un cómic; soy consciente de que esa afirmación puede ser superficial, pero ese extenso espacio que dedicaron a su prosa se pudo emplear en otra artista.
• 
  Mohan Vemulapalli

  "Drawing Lines: An Anthology of Women Artists" is a recently reissued version of "Sexy Chix" from 2006. The volume showcases a number of talented female creatives such as Amanda Connor, Joyce Carol Oates and Gail Simone. The volume contains a diverse and eclectic collection of short comics. However the quality is uneven and a few of the stories are difficult to follow or seem unfinished.
• 
  Rachel

  This is an excellent collection, very feminist, and I didn't think any of the pieces were dated. I would have given it four stars, but added the fifth to balance out the bad reviews, at least a few of which were from men who were unable to "get it."
• 
  StrictlySequential

  MOST of them were great but 2-3 weren't worth the time to read.
• 
  Fried Potato

  An anthology of stories written by women where most of them don't pass the Bechdel Test. The irony would be funny if it wasn't so sad
• 
  Andréa

  Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.
• 
  Eric

  I really only liked one of the stories by Gaile Simone, a very touching story about a woman getting her haircut, the rest didn't really appeal to me.
• 
  Seymour Glass

  I’m unsure how this got published tbh. A couple of good stories here but mostly rubbish!
• 
  Melissa

  Eh, it was fine.
  
  It was far too short and some of the pieces felt dated now in 2020.
• 
  Raina

  Great compilation of many female graphic novelists' work. I was only familiar with a few of these creators, so I appreciated the exposure to new artists. I love the variety, and enjoyed nearly all of the stories. The book is a nice package, well designed. The only really strange thing about the book was that the editor included a short story that she wrote and got someone to illustrate for her. But it's really just prose with two illustrations (that don't even jive with the narrative). Misplaced and inappropriate use of her editorial power, as far as I can tell. But other than that, totally cool.
• 
  Margaret

  This is an anthology of short, feminist cartoons. Honestly, I didn't like a single one of them, though a few were okay. Most of the stories lacked a critical engagement with feminism and the stories they were telling, but this could be because the stories are easily recognizable, and thus when I'm reading about them I want to go deeper. These are the horror stories every girl grows up hearing--rape, incest, sexual manipulation, abortion, etc. I wanted to see more about the stories and the women in them, not a quick cartoon about women's suffering. But younger women might find the anthology empowering.
• 
  Maggie Gordon

  Actual rating: 2.5
  
  This was a pretty mixed bag in terms of content. Some of the stories are quite poignant and well-illustrated. Others make me question how they got published. There isn't much in the way of an overarching theme other than gender, but several of the stories are quite evocative and emotional. Overall, I don't regret picking Sexy Chix (and what is with that name?!?!) up at my local used book store, but I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it to anyone.
• 
  Trevor

  Provocative collection edited by Diana Schutz with interesting pieces by Jill Thompson, Sarah Grace, Joelle Jones, Joyce Carol Oates, Roberta Gregory and Lauren McCubbin. And that's just for starters.
• 
  Rolando José Rodríguez De León

  I thought this will be like an academic book, instead it's the work of 21 artists. I like 90% of what I saw and read. Is a good compilation of stories and I will look for mor works of some of the authors.
  I also made an Spanish review here:
  
  
  https://pananime.com/LeAn/index.html