Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Sep 2023
212 pages
Genre: Graphic Novels
Paperback Original.
Publication Information
Black, weird, awkward and proud of it. Welcome to the club!
Tired of feeling like you don't belong? Join the club. It's called the Section. You'd think a spot to chill, chat, and find community would be much easier to come by for nerdy, queer punks. But when four longtime, bookish BFFs—Lika, Amor, Lala, and Tony—can't find what they need, they take matters into their own hands and create a space where they can be a hundred percent who they are: Black, queer, and weird.
The group puts a call out for all awkward Black folks to come on down to the community center to connect. But low attendance and IRL run-ins with trolls of all kinds only rock everybody with anxiety. As our protagonists start to question the merits of their vision, a lifetime of insecurities—about not being good enough or Black enough—bubbles to the surface. Will they find a way to turn it around in time for their radical brainchild, the Blackward Zine Fest?
Lawrence Lindell's characters pop from the page in playful Technicolor. From mental health to romance, micro—and macro—aggressions to joy, our crew tackles everything life throws at them in this heartwarming tale about building a place to belong and the power of community.
"The realities of anxiety, discrimination, dating, haters, friendship, and building a collective of belonging are awash in exuberant Technicolor with the whimsy dialed up to 11...A paean to the radical joy of being every part of yourself." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"[C]harmingly sincere...Lindell's loose, expressionistic drawings burst with energy, humor, and bright colors. His fast-talking, fun-loving protagonists make for good company, and their guileless yearning for connection and community is appealing and poignant. This winning mix of tough and tender will enchant misfits of all stripes." —Publishers Weekly
This information about Blackward was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Lawrence Lindell is an artist, musician, and educator from California who works in many artistic disciplines, including comics, music, illustration, and mixed media. He is the cofounder of Laneha House.
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