Brainchild opens with Allison, a neuroscience major at a fictional Greene University, moving in with Carrie, her friend, and right away you can tell there’s an extra aspect to their relationship as they do the cute “I don’t know what to do with my hands, or whether or not to make eye contact, or maybe we should hug?” thing that two girls with feelings for each sometimes do while talking to each other before they’re actually a thing. However, the two aren’t even settled in when their neighbor accidentally knocks some boxes off a shelf and right onto Allison’s head.
When she comes to, she’s no longer in the apartment building with her friend and neighbor — she’s instead on a train that stops and opens its doors to reveal her twelve year old brother Patrick, who died 13 years earlier. After some momentary excitement over seeing his sister, he tells her that he needs her to save his life. At the same time, they realize that a ridiculous creepy spider lady (who looks a little like Allison) is totally being a creeper and creeping on them. But, as quickly as Allison started having this weird vision, it ends and she sees Derek (the neighbor) apologizing and Carrie checking to see if she’s okay. Apparently this isn’t the first time “Allison’s ghost” has made an appearance. The prologue wraps up with Allison and Carrie sitting on the couch, watching An American Werewolf in London and talking about what happened.
Art by Suzanne Geary
In Chapter One, “The Party,” Derek is still trying to make amends and invites the two to a small housewarming party he’s throwing with his roommate Moaz. Carrie is dead set against the idea, but Allison accepts anyway. When they get there they realize Derek’s idea of “small” is a bit different from theirs, and a bit different from everyone else’s too. Still, things are going alright until Carrie sees Lydia, her ex. She bolts and Allison is left talking to Derek and Moaz, until she too has to bolt, but for a very different reason. She seems to be having another one of the weird vision things that we saw her having earlier.
The art does a great balancing act between capturing the youthful essence of college life and the bizarre mysteries of the ghosts and visions that Allison keeps having. The saturation of colors and different shades of the same color on one page . Geary also nails lighting better than almost all of the other webcomics I read. The character designs are amazing, they have captivating faces, gestures and expressions, plus, Carrie has a sweet alternative lifestyle haircut and Allison has some floral tights that I’m dying to own.
Look at adorable little teenage Carrie
Geary also does that one thing that’s so important for the writer of a serial to do: she keeps you wanting more. There are little (and sometimes not so little) hints about all sorts of stories that I just can’t wait to learn more about. Of course there’s Allison’s visions about her dead brother and her “ghost.” Then Allison and Carrie’s relationship, which Geary said was Facebook status: It’s Complicated and
called it the comic’s “worst kept ‘spoiler'” on her tumblr. There’s even Carrie’s relationship with her ex (although I’m sure she doesn’t need an interesting reason to want to avoid an ex). Also, in the comments Geary has said that there will be a “100% canonically trans” character, which is something I can’t wait to see.
This comic really is so wonderful for anyone who likes to see stories about queer young women, but also enjoys stories about ghosts, demons or other supernatural things. So far, we’ve seen a good tease of the supernatural element, and I’m really enjoying the way they’ve been added into the story. They’re peppered in heavily enough that you know that this is going to get weird, but the world still seems very grounded in reality. It also seems like we’ll get to see some more of Allison and Carrie’s relationship build as they hide together in the bathroom, which I’m pretty excited for.
#Comic Releases (May 28)
Bravest Warriors #20 (Boom Studios)
Tomb Raider #4 (Dark Horse)
X-Files Season 10 #12 (IDW)
Captain Marvel #2 (2nd printing) (Marvel)
Ms. Marvel #4 (Marvel)
She-Hulk #3 (Marvel)
Welcome to Drawn to Comics! From diary comics to superheroes, from webcomics to graphic novels – this is where we’ll be taking a look at comics by, featuring and for queer ladies. So whether you love to look at detailed personal accounts of other people’s lives, explore new and creative worlds, or you just love to see hot ladies in spandex, we’ve got something for you.
If you have a comic that you’d like to see me review, you can email me at mey [at] autostraddle [dot] com.
Oh dear, not another comic – I have an exam in well under 24 hours and yes I just read the whole comic to date and added it to my rss feed…… – In regular people speak that translates to “Thanks very much for introducing this fantastic thing to my life, I really appreciate it” – just fyi.
Thank you for these webcomic recommendations, Mey! They’re always so interesting, and this one came at the perfect time, as I was trying to figure out what to do with myself now that “TJ and Amal” has finished.
Wow, this comic actually describes my life in many ways…I’m SO excited for the release! The cool comics just keep coming…
I would totally hide in a bathroom all night to avoid my ex too. I feel you, Carrie.
Everything wrote was actually very reasonable. But, what about this?
what if you were to write a killer title? I am not suggesting your information is not good, however suppose you added a title that makes people want more?
I mean Suzanne Geary