New From Fanbase Press: “The Margins”

Writer: David Accampo, Paul Montgomery / Artist: Amanda Donahue / Fanbase Press meta (adj.) (of a creative work) referring to itself or to conventions of its genres; self-referential. To call The Margins a story about the creative process would be to disregard the various fantastical elements that are littered throughout the story. But to call The Margins a fantasy would disregard its honest depiction of a struggling artist. Naturally, The Margins find itself in the interspace between these two genres and navigates this complicated in between with a deft hand.

Charley Keo is a freelance artist whose current job involves illustrating a comic for a local recluse. Charley Keo is a fascinating character because she is a queer woman of color whose healthiest relationship is with another woman of color and whose most toxic relationships is with white dudes. Props to Accampo and Montgomery for tackling those dynamics head on. The first act of the story starts of strong, giving us background into Gordy Lamb, aforementioned recluse, and Charley and Rita. The former is a very familiar depiction of white nerdity, and the later is a queer couple that moved to Portland to be together. The first conversation that Charley and Rita have sounds like something you could overhear at any coffee shop. It’s a natural back and forth between two partners who are struggling to adapt to a new environment and there’s no extraordinary conflict. It’s one of the best example of queer characters whose qu…