These comics prove that everyone has a place in the world
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Whenever I turn around, there is a new study that speaks how lonely everyone is and how bad loneliness is for health and lifespan. These days, however, between the rise of technology, the fall in safe public spaces and the politicization of people’s identities, it can be difficult to find people with whom you connect and in whom you trust.
The only good news is that finding “the connection to the insulating age” (to fly To rent out) It is not as impossible as it may sometimes seem, because the community can be found in many different places.
This April gave us two new comics approaching this subject: Low orbit by Kazimir Lee and Hey, Mary! by Andrew Wheeler and Rye Hickman. The two start with a similar premise – a closed teenager finds it difficult to go out with their parents and ends up finding the support they need to be themselves – and take it in very different but just as important directions.
In Low orbitThe main character is Azar, an American Malaysian lesbian dealing with conjugal conflicts of his parents, a move in a new city and the refusal of his mother to let her out (too bad it accepts it as she is). The relief comes from his best non-binary friend Tristan and from the owner of their father / Azar, a watered science fiction writer whose work becomes a touchstone for Azar.
Hey, Mary! Speaks of a Catholic boy named Mark who cherishes the sense of the community he obtains to participate in his church, but, at the same time, he feels suffocated and shameful by the homophobic teachings of the Church. Mark, like Azar, pushes through his isolation by finding support both stories and people – in this case, real people with whom he is friends and Queer’s historical and religious figures whose life complicates the simplistic vision promoted by the Catholic Church.
In the two comics, institutions which are often venerated as the ultimate in structures of societal support – the nuclear family and organized religion – have failed the main characters. They are drifting and searching for substitutes. For Azar, a pivotal moment occurs when she trips on an old Mitty copy of the novel by its owner, who brings her closer to him while threatening his relationship with Tristan. For Mark, there is no epiphany moment. Instead, a series of conversations, real and imagined, with the people who count for him help him better understand his faith and his identity.
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Their trips, although radically different, show that there is no single path towards self -acceptance or the construction of a family. You can seek solidarity in your favorite media, in the people you have known for years, in new knowledge and in the stories of pioneers who have overcome obstacles similar to what you are confronted at the moment. Even these traditional organizations can be more flexible and accepting than you have made, which leads to greater appreciation and the understanding of them.
Whether you already have a solid support structure or you are always looking for something or someone to lean on, these comics assure us that there is a community waiting to love and take care of each of us … even if it takes a little time to find or do it. It is a shame that these comics come from different publishers because I think Mark and Azar would have a lot to say.
