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Queer Fantasy :: Sci-Fi Romance
The Cosmic Color
T.T. Madden
Science Fiction (2025, Recent Release!)
From Storygraph:
Eric Fisher, a Black recruit finishing up his training, has always felt strange in his own skin. Now that he’s finally a mecha pilot, ready to join the fight against the monstrous Imago, he gets to be in a body that feels more right. But this new sense of self and gender must be navigated while uncovering revelations about the machineries of flesh and steel he’s now a part of.
This is the the book for the average mech fighter fan. It basically looks at mechs, goes “we all know this is a trans allegory, right?” and decides to face down those demons head on. It’s short and punchy with an almost neurotic undertone. Instead of being about the mech and tech and the fights, it’s about the people underneath and the way it twists and turns their perception of reality and self.
Alongside that is an examination of vectors of privilege and the commodification of marginalized bodies. It takes white femininity and black masculinity, places them on the scale, then acknowledges the way the former so often betrays the latter while being under the same oppressive system.
An overall excellent high-concept sci-fi novella.
Eight Billion Genies
Charles Soule 
and Ryan Browne (I)
Fantasy, Graphic Novel (2022)
From Storygraph:
If you had one wish… what would you wish for?What if everyone else on the planet had one wish too? That’s Eight Billion Genies. Eight seconds after magical genies grant every person on earth onewish, the world is transformed forever…and that’s just the beginning!
This was a partial re-read when I realized….I had never read the last issue of this and I would be meeting the author at an event! Ah! (Soule was a gem, btw). I bought a signed hardcover to get my husband to read.
What I love about this short series/graphic novel is that it never tries to world-build beyond a very narrow alley of what we actually need. It just says, “these are the circumstances, just go with it.” At the same time the temporal scope of the story is absolutely phenomenal. It sort of understands that the nature of humanity is to live. And as long as they have the magic to do so, that’s what humans, collectively, are going to do.
And the wordless storytelling in the splash pages is just so good. The juxtaposition of human vs genie population as those numbers change tells a narrative in and of itself of the other elements of the nature of humanity.
The whole thing is such an unapologetic look at who and what people are good, bad, and otherwise is such a small package. It’s the kind of story I would recommend to literally anyone ever.
I started another book this month, as well, a fantasy romance (that I’ll keep anonymous, for now). It’s a straight romance which I’ve generally grown bored with. I had heard it was really good, though, and I was intrigued by the premise it was sold on.
Only fifty pages in, though, and I started losing interest. One part is that I felt like the book moved on from that interesting premise pretty quickly. I assume it’ll come back, but the story is already starting to transition into the “court intrigue” storyline. But I think I just also don’t care enough about the characters, yet. Again, I’m really only barely into the story, but I think that speaks to my relationship with this kind of fantasy story, to start.
I plan to come back to it, eventually, but I wanted to sort of grab that first impression and sort of establish that sometimes you pick up a book and it’s just not the one.
Comic Roundup
Cable: Love and Chrome
This mini by Pepose and Henderson ended this month and it’s so so so good. I’m a long time Cable fan, so this was a mini I was extremely excited about. It was very much worth that excitement.
It’s sort of the perfect action romance. Two very strong-willed characters coming together over a common enemy and then love blooms in the battlefield. Avery’s design (the female love interest) is rugged and tough and just so good. And even in such a short story I find myself so attached to this relationship. That just makes the time-travel twist that much more excruciating.
It presents me with a problem. All five weeks of posting about this comic on Bluesky, Pepose has responded. I’m also reading his Captain Planet comic almost by accident. I got it for Captain Planet, then realized who was writing it afterward. When I posted about that, he also responded. I love this about him, and I find in very endearing.
I’ve also realized, however, he wrote Savage Avengers Vol. 2 which is sitting on my Venom shelf. It’s one of the few Venom team-ups I’ve never read. I didn’t even click he was the writer. I also picked up another one of his books recently because it seemed interesting (Scout’s Honor) and learned about his Punisher run. All of these are things I intend to read at some point this year.
If I post about all of them and he sees them, this man is going to get so tired of me.
Venom Chronological Reread
I buckled down a little bit to get through this section of the Venom chronology, and this was the first time reading the Venom appearance in the Superior Spider-Man storyline. That really filled in a gap I had felt when reading Flash’s tenure the first time.
There’re a few parts during the Flash era where I went “wait, how did he get back into space again?” The first time Flash is with the Guardians of the Galaxy, the run ends with Secret Wars. So that all gets reset, and that’s whatever. But Bendis’s next run on the Guardians with Flash ends with Civil War II, and Flash stays on Earth. Then he’s back in space again in Space Knight just to come back to Earth at the end of that, too. In terms of publication order, Guardians vol 4, Space Knight, Carnage vol 2, Civil War II, and even the first few issues of Venom vol 3 (Costa) all kind of came out on top of each other. I’ve seen a few “canonical timelines” for the era that intersperse Space Knight and Guardians, but even those don’t really feel right from my reading.
I’m willing to call it continuity fuckery and move on, especially since I know there are a few other little bits coming up that are weird.
I mentioned this a few months ago, but the Flash era in particular is kinda odd in terms of a story about Venom. The mainline title (Remender and Bunn), Secret Avengers, and Thunderbolts, has the symbiote lobotomized for the vast majority of the story. Right at the beginning of the 2000’s the symbiote had started picking up more personality of its own. Venom vol 2 shuts that all down. Flash doesn’t have the same relationship that even Gargan had with the symbiote for the first half of his hosting.
Then Superior Spider-Man comes along and says “I think I’m going to make these guys buddies. Gonna give ‘em a little something something. That’s how symbiotes work, right?” Then from there through Guardians we start to see that personality re-emerge. So that by Space Knight, they have something that looks a little more like the Eddie partnership.
What strikes me, though, is how much of the ongoing Venom and Flash lore stuff happens outside the big, main book compared to what carries over from vol. 2 itself. Going to Klyntar and being “cleansed” is a huge change to the symbiote backstory and lore, and that happens in Guardians of the Galaxy. While at the same time, a lot of the stuff from the actual Venom comics kinda fizzled off.
Next I’m going to read Carnage vol. 2 as a sort of interstitial, then move into my favorite era which is the Costa/Return of Eddie/Venomverse era. It’s been a solid few years since I’ve read it last, so I’m super excited to get there. But I’m also going to keep in mind my thoughts on the Flash era to see if I can prove myself wrong.
The Punisher
This month, I also wanted to watch Daredevil: Born Again. Before that, I felt like I needed to rewatch Daredevil (and actually finish season 3, which I never had). Then I thought, “DAMN, I love that Bernthal as Frank. I don’t even care it it’s comic accurate.” That turned into a rabbit hole of watching the Netflix The Punisher show and the three main movies. I came away with some interesting comparing and contrasting opinions.
When I sort of sat with myself, I realized, however, the only Punisher I’ve really read is the 90s and team-ups. I hadn’t really read a “modern” solo Punisher comic. (I’ve already got the one in September on my pull list).
So I was like cool, Garth Ennis time. Because good, bad, or otherwise, I know that it’s his work that establishes the modern Punisher ethos. I don’t have access to the MAX line on Marvel Unlimited, so I started with the 2001 Marvel Knights run.
I’m having an excellent time, honestly. It swings so far between ridiculous and then deadly serious it gives you physical whiplash. Like it opens with Big Tits Russian, serves this really gut punch of a comic about a family annihilator and ex-vet mental health, then the entire cabbie death battle storyline, then The Troubles, then Wolverine squished by a steamroller, and I’m not even twenty issues in. I’m genuinely having the time of my life. It’s the literal exact thing I love comics to be.
Space: Punisher
While sorting through Punisher titles, I came across this mini by Tieri. Now I am very aware of how Tieri wrote Punisher in what’s otherwise and excellent Wolverine run. It might be one of my favorite comic book back and forths for simply how stupid it is. Very peak homophobia nostalgia. So I was a bit surprised he had a couple of Punisher minis.
Space: Punisher is the kind of comic that you explain outloud to someone else. And as you’re explaining it, you realize just how ridiculous you sound. I have no idea if I can actually recommend this or not purely because of the level of kitsch. Frank with a ponytail feels like a metaphor, I’m just not sure for what.
Pixels and Pins Studio 