BLACKWARD

Four friends refuse to give up on creating a space of joy and celebration for Black, queer weirdness in Lindell’s latest graphic novel.

Lika, Amor, Tony, and LaLa are four friends in search of community. Not as easy as it sounds when you’re somehow always too Black, too queer, too gender-DGAF, or just too weird. That’s why Lika started The Section for all Black folks (emphasis on the “all”), but mouthy trolls, micro- and macroaggressions at every turn, and now a ban from their community center have the quartet at a serious low. But a show of support, of meaningful connection in the midst of struggle, is the core of community, and when The Section’s latest genius idea—Blackward: The Black Zine Fest—is threatened with a queerphobic protest, the Blackward (“Black + awkward”) community truly shows up and shows out. Vibrant is the word, and it hardly does this lively, animated, panel-breaking art justice. The realities of anxiety, discrimination, dating, haters, friendship, and building a collective of belonging are awash in exuberant Technicolor with the whimsy dialed up to 11. For many readers, this is the Blackest, queerest, and sweetest thing they’ll see since looking in the mirror.

A paean to the radical joy of being every part of yourself.