I cannot express how excited I am to finally have a copy of Bingo Love. This comic is one I’ve been looking forward to for a long time after a successful kickstarter campaign. If you recall, The Pop Break staff wrote a piece on our most anticipated 2018 comic releases and I chose this title. Bingo Love is published by Image Comics, written by Tee Franklin, and features artwork by Jenn St-Onge.
The story begins with two ladies talking in a home for senior citizens.
It looks like Elle is helping a friend out that has been kicked out of her home because of who she loves. This prompts Elle to tell the woman about her past experiences in love. The story flashes back to 1963 and Elle is playing Bingo with her grandmother after church.
Before long Elle notices a beautiful young woman she’s never seen before that is around the same age.
Elle askes her grams if she knows who the new girl is, and her grams tells her it looks like Jackie’s grand-daughter. The next day Elle has a class with the new girl, Mari. Mari just moved from California to New Jersey to live with her grandmother. The girls end up sitting beside each other and talking. Elle can’t help but imagine her and Mari being best friends.
Elle spends the rest of the day thinking about Mari and hoping that they’ll have another class together. Unfortunately, Elle only seems to have one class with Mari. So, at the end of the day she waits around a little longer in hopes of catching Mari so they can walk home together. Just as Elle loses hope Mari sneaks up behind her, and they make their way home together. The girls stop for hot cocoa and bond, then once they arrive to their homes Mari kisses Elle on the cheek. That’s when Elle first realizes her feelings for Mari.
From here the girls become the very best of friends. They spend a ton of time with each other through middle school and into high school.
While at bingo one evening their grandmothers pick up on how inseparable they are and make fun of them for this. This prompts Mari to call out her Grandmother and results in her storming off and Elle going after her to make sure she’s ok. Elle comforts Mari and they spend the rest of the day together.
After the girls eventful day Elle walks Mari back to her house. Mari asks Elle if she can stay with her after the confrontation with her grandmother. Elle of course says yes then without even thinking the girls kiss. The bad thing is Mari’s grandma sees and drags Mari away from Elle. Later while Elle is lying in bed her mother calls her downstairs. Jackie told her about the girls’ kiss earlier. Elle’s mom smacks her and tells her to beg God for forgiveness.
When Elle goes to school the next day Mari isn’t there. Days pass, and no sign of Mari. Elle breaks down crying in the middle of gym class because she misses Mari so much. She’s sent to the nurse’s office, but instead she goes by Mari’s house. This is the last time Elle and Mari will see each other for a long time as Mari tells Elle she is being sent away to be married off to a preacher’s son down south.
The story then focuses on Elle and her finding her husband, having kids, and her kids having grand-kids. She never loses her love for Mari. She even named her daughter Marian. Then on Mother’s Day in 2015 Elle decides to go to Bingo with her daughter Marian. Just as Marian is picking on her mom because she never wins, she hits bingo, and so does another player. That other player just so happens to be Mari. The women are so overcome with emotion they greet each other in a loving embrace and kiss. This shocks Marian and she storms out.
I don’t want to divulge too much of the story, so I feel like this is a safe stopping point to keep this review spoiler free. But, I can tell you that this book is a complete story from beginning to end. You will not be left wondering what happens. And, even better news there will be 2 digital stories to even further detail small story gaps that the reader may be wondering about.
This book tackles so many different emotions. Our heroes are two strong African-American women that are part of the LGBTQ community that hide their feelings for a long time. Once they meet again in 2015 they have to tackle coming out to their families and husbands. Coming out isn’t easy at any stage of life and this book tackles that head-on. There is foreshadowing for the end of this tale early on in the book if you’re paying attention. Even though that’s the case I was still fully invested in this story, and had a desire to learn more about these inspiring women.
Elle getting smacked by her mother for kissing Mari made me physically hurt. And, I must admit reading through this made me cry more than once. That’s how much this story spoke to me. I found this love story to be flawless. Bingo Love gets a perfect score.
Rating: 10/10
