Moonstruck #1 is That Freshly Served QPOC Magic We’ve Been Craving

Editor’s note: This is an Advanced Review as Moonstruck #1 drops July 19! Writer: Grace Ellis / Art: Kate Leth, Shae Beagle/Image Comics I’ll be honest: as a comics fan I am always on the hunt for the next QWOC fix, and when I peeped just the description of Moonstruck #1 I damn near leapt at it. A plus-sized cup of magical queer cuteness with more than one shot of brownness? Order me the whole cafe! If you aren’t immediately sucked in by Leth and Beagle’s visually fun and colorfully snackable artwork then our sweetheart of a main character, Julie, and her extra but endearing best friend, Chet, will certainly do the trick. Julie is just your average hardworking barista trying to date the girl of her dreams and indulge her fandom (a Nancy Drew/Bobbsey Twins-esque mystery series called Pleasant Mountain Sisters). Oh yeah, and then there’s those werewolf microaggressions everyone keeps casually throwing around. How’s a girl supposed to get any reading done when everyone from the feuding neighbors to the local oracles with their incredibly vague and foreboding prophecies seem determined to get your hackles up? I can’t emphasize enough how important it is that these magical characters, in all of their intersections, still feel as real and relatable as someone you might meet off the street. I’m pretty sure this panel alone describes 99% of my QPOC friends:

One of my number one complaints in comics is how frustratingly simple it seems to bring black and brown folks from the periph…