Fresh Romance is a new romance anthology from Rosy Press, an imprint started thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign funding the series. Each month, readers get three 10-page stories (some self-contained, some ongoing) written by a variety of creators.
The first story is “School Spirit,” which follows four high school friends–three girls and one boy–whose relationship dynamics are even more confusing than normal teenagers’. While writer Kate Leth (of various Adventure Time titles and webcomic Kate or Die) is intentionally trying to mislead, the story is so full of misdirects that it’s initially difficult to tell which names belong to which characters, let alone who’s dating who. Though the cover (by the great Kevin Wada, who made a masterpiece of every She-Hulk cover) ruins the final twist and the magic/witch plot feels tacked on, Arielle Jovellanos’s art is the best of the group. Hopefully the story will seem more focused in the second issue.
“Ruined” tells the story of a Regency Era (think Jane Austen) girl who’s forced into a loveless marriage after a scandal with another man tarnishes her reputation. Despite the snatches of cruel gossip whispered about our heroine Catherine as she walks down the aisle, she’s perhaps the most likable character in the whole anthology. She seems unashamed of her ruinous love affair and faces her new fate bravely. Sarah Winifred Searle’s art is equally compelling with a somewhat doughy, sparse look that gives the story a classically romantic feel. This is the one story you wish were longer than its allotted ten pages. It ends just as Catherine says “I do” to her gloomy groom and if it follows the Austen model, things won’t remain icy between Catherine and Andrew for long.
However, the third story, “The Ruby Equation,” is probably the best of the group. There’s no meet-cute quite so familiar as two people locking eyes across a coffee shop and writer Sarah Kuhn has built a fantasy around it. The titular Ruby is a fairy disguised as a barista whose real job is to ignite a spark between customers and after her 10,043rd match, she’s decided chemistry is irrelevant. It’s just an equation based on shared interests and she’s ready to move onto something new. Though the story ends with Ruby finishing her mission, something tells me she’ll be back making coffee much sooner than she hopes. I can’t wait to see how and why.
Besides the stories, each issue will also feature concept art and a romantic advice column called “The Divorcé(e) Club.” While the section fits with the book’s theme (more than the fashion section that begins next issue), it’s perhaps a fool’s errand for any comic to bother when Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky offer hilarious and occasionally helpful advice in the back of every Sex Criminals.
The first issue of Fresh Romance is available on Comixology for $4.99 and on the Rosy Press website for anywhere from $4.99 for a single issue to a year subscription for $49.99. Each story will also be printed as a separate ebook upon completion. But don’t wait for those. The first issue of Fresh Romance is strong enough that it’s probably worth subscribing—and not just because future issues will contain adult content.
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By day, Marisa Carpico stresses over every detail of America’s election system. By night, she becomes a pop culture and celebrity obsessive. Whether it’s movies, TV or music, she watches and listens to it all so you don’t have to. You can find her risking her life by reading comic books while walking down the crowded streets of New York City, having inappropriate emotional reactions at her iPad screen while riding the subway or occasionally letting her love of a band convince her to stand for hours on end in one of the city’s many purgatorial concert spaces. You can follow her on Twitter to read her insightful social commentary or more likely complain about how cold it is at @MarisaCarpico.
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