Strangers In Paradise

TERRY MOORE/ABSTRACT STUDIOS

    “SIP” is the definitive example of how comics have gone far beyond the superhero medium with flying colors.  In chronicling the relationship of best friends Francine and Katchoo, Terry Moore provides the discriminating reader with one of the best comicbooks in the world today.  In glorious black and white, Moore, through deft use of flashbacks and flashforwards (the main characters have been pals since high school), snares the reader with the very first arc and never lets go.  These characters become friends we know well, their defining personality traits captured expertly in just a few short panels (saying much through little and saying it well is the mark of a great writer).  These are characters who have passed through our real lives:  bumbling, good-hearted, loyal Francine, insecure about her weight, her looks, her chance at real love; brilliant, beautiful Katchoo, the definitive exemplar of those “damaged goods” every decent, well meaning man falls for at least once in his life.  She buries her scarred past and fear of intimacy beneath a tough, worldly exterior laced with often blistering sarcasm.  David, that decent, well-meaning man (with a few secrets of his own), who attempts to pierce Katchoo’s façade.  Insecurity, jealousy, miscommunication, devotion, hilarious antics, intrigue; Moore rewards every reader whose taken a moment to really study the dynamics of the relationships in their lives.  He reminds us that we are not alone in our need to love and be loved unconditionally, and how scary, silly, exhilarating, and hard it is to fulfill that need.  STRANGERS IN PARADISE is everything comics can and should be.

Accept no substitutes.  An ULTRA PIG PICK.  

For more Terry Moore and SiP info, check out: