Sunday, December 18, 2011

My favorite webcomic: Girls With Slingshots

I've been following Danielle Corsetto's Girl With Slingshots webcomic for... wow, 2 years. I first heard about it from an Afterellen article that covered GWS's then-new relationship between one of its leads, Jamie, and a side character named Erin. I started reading it from the beginning and quickly plowed through all four years' worth of strips. It's that addictive. But I should describe what it's actually about, shouldn't I?

Hazel and Jamie are best friends who have just graduated from college. Jamie works in a flower shop while Hazel flails with what to do with her English major. Hazel starts working for a newspaper, but it eventually shuts down and she ends up sharing an apartment with her old boss Thea.

Along with the question of employment, Hazel deals with some bumps in her quest to get laid, but ends up with a really great guy named Zach. Jamie thinks that she's only interested in men until she wakes up naked in bed with the lesbian bartender Angel. She decides to visit a lesbian bar called the Lickety Split, where she sees Thea. This is from when Thea is still Hazel's boss at the paper.
The results of Jamie's experiment are... complicated. Anyway, now Thea's out, and it's still a surprise to Jamie when she falls for Erin.

Jamie and Erin are super-cute together, but since Hazel doesn't know about Erin, she just feels like she's losing Jamie when she keeps making vague plans with "someone else." Even though Hazel isn't homophobic, Jamie has a hard time coming out to her about Erin.

Jamie has to finally come out when Hazel invites her to bring "Aaron" on a double date with her and Zach. So now everything's fine and dandy and Hazel's a supportive friend,
but Jamie still has a hard time figuring out what to label herself for... more complicated reasons.
And Erin has to study abroad for a year in London. At the point where the strip is now, she's returned and she and Jamie are back together after a rocky patch. As adorable as Jamie and Erin are together- and as funny as Jamie's coming out is- because of the aspect of their relationship that makes their love what even Danielle Corsetto calls "quasi-lesbian" (they aren't so big on doing anything beyond kissing), I wouldn't recommend GWS to people looking for a webcomic with a lesbian storyline solely for them. Which leads me to...

Angel and Thea! They have some nice chemistry after they meet,
but alas, don't actually have much in common.


They do break up, but I won't give away how. (*cough*Screw you Angel.*cough*) Now Thea has a new, really sweet girlfriend named Mimi, who will probably be the person Thea winds up with.

And what a small world- Mimi's Angel's ex too.

Yup, two cute couples of lesbian interest. But I like all of the couples: Hazel and Zach, Jameson and Maureen (I have a soft spot for them because they're such a nerdy couple), and Chris and Melody are all great. I was a little afraid that Clarice (another favorite of mine) was going to be paired up with Tucker, the Nice Guy who hangs out at the library where she works, but GWS went the realistic route by quickly making it clear that it's not going to happen. Girls With Slingshots has been running for seven years, but it hasn't lost its steam. If you're looking for a funny webcomic with prominent lesbian characters, you should give Girls With Slingshots a try.

Overall: A

New strips come out every weekday; and wouldn't you know, the latest one features Thea and Mimi.

2 comments:

Paula G V aka Yukimi said...

I've been reading about GWS for the longest time but at first I didn't even know it was a webcomic (I'm pretty newbie in the webcomic scene) and now that I actually now what it's about I plan on devouring it as soon as I'm on holidays break on the 22nd.

Thanks a lot for the rec, I hope you get to read the one I recommended you: Khaos Komix.

Katherine Hanson said...

@Yukimi- Cool; I hope you enjoy reading it.