IMAGE COMICS/Inclusive Press – @ImageComics
[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]
STORY: Tee Franklin
ART: Jenn St-Onge
COLORS: Joy San
LETTERS: Cardinal Rae
EDITOR: Erica Schultz
COVER: Genevieve Eft
ISNB: 978-1-53430750-6; paperback (February 2018)
88pp, Color, $9.99 U.S.
Rated “T / Teen”
Bingo Love created by Tee Franklin
Bingo Love is an full-color original graphic novel written and created by Tee Franklin and drawn by Jenn St-Onge. It is the story of two women who meet as school girls and fall in love, but are forced apart by the obligations of family and society. Bingo Love's creative team includes colorist Joy San and letterer Cardinal Rae.
On February 10th, 1963, at a church bingo game, Hazel Marie Johnson meets the new girl in town. To Hazel, Mari Annabelle McCray smells like cocoa butter and is a “honey glazed goddess.” Mari also turns out to be the new student at the high school Hazel attends, and Hazel is immediately smitten with her. It turns out that Mari is also attracted to Hazel and indicates this by delivering a kiss on Hazel's cheek. Soon, the two are inseparable.
In the 1960s, however, society does not tolerate same-sex couples, nor do families. Hazel and Mari are forced apart, and Hazel settles for marriage to a young air force pilot, James Aloysius Downing. Fate, on the other hand, is not willing to let family and society have the last say in Hazel and Mari's tale of young love.
Bingo Love is both sweet and relentless. The art by Jenn St-Onge is composed in large, puffy circles that result in characters with big heads and large facial features. This is both sweet and cute, but St-Onge is able to convey emotions large and small and expressive and intimate. St-Onge gives the story so much emotional resonance with her joyful compositions. Joy San's joyful coloring makes St-Onge's illustrations leap off the page, turning this story into a dance and celebration of love. The lettering by Cardinal Rae carries the story forward as if it were a wave determined to transport a love story across the world.
Tee Franklin's story and script is the relentless part of the creation. Love is love. Those meant to be will be, whether the whole damn world likes it or not. Tee Franklin delivers a LGBTQ manifesto as a candy shoppe milkshake that is a stubborn, unstoppable taste sensation. Hazel and Mari's love is not normal or abnormal; it simply is. Normal and abnormal are just labels. Love is love; beyond labels, this is Bingo Love.
9 out of 10
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
The text is copyright © 2018 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
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