This Must be Just Like Living in Paradise
Writer: Terry Moore
Artist: Terry Moore
My experience with Terry Moore’s STRANGERS IN PARADISE goes back nearly two decades to when my friend Brian brought me an issue of the comic. Looking through the covers on MyComicShop.com, I feel pretty certain it was issue #1 of the 1994 run and if so, I hope and pray that issue is still around here somewhere because it’s going for some major bucks online. But I honestly can’t say if I do still have it, and I won’t be surprised if I don’t because, while I would have read it, of course, at the time STRANGERS IN PARADISE wasn’t my usual thing. It was a black and white comic with nary a cape nor pair of tights to be found and I don’t recall a single character ever putting on a mask. So the book would have gone into a box with a bunch of other random books I never looked at again, but that added to my general fund of knowledge and took my overall comic book count up another number.
Cut to several years later when I heard mention of STRANGERS IN PARADISE on some random comic book podcast or other and it made me think of that long ago issue Brian gave me. I vaguely recall the hosts speaking highly of the series and its creator.
Still, though, I remembered reading the issue—not the details, but the act—and I remembered not being too terribly interested in whatever it was about. So once again, the memory of that book went into the file in my head and I didn’t think about it again for a long time.
Then one day while perusing the offerings on Comixology Unlimited, I saw THE COLLECTED STRANGERS IN PARADISE VOLUME 1. Okay, I thought, it’s a free borrow, I’ll grab it and see what it’s all about. Two years later, I finally read that borrowed volume.
THE COLLECTED STRANGERS IN PARADISE VOLUME 1 collects only the initial three-issue series, originally published between November 1993 and February 1994 by Antarctic Press, Moore’s own imprint. The story introduces our main characters Francine and her best friend Katchoo and it centers around Francine’s relationship troubles with her longtime boyfriend Freddie as they come upon their one-year anniversary.
In that time, Francine has refused to sleep with Freddie, fearing once they consummate the relationship, he’ll do what all the other guys she’s been with have done, and leave her. Freddie, having taken all he can take, leaves Francine (almost proving her right, even though he makes his exit before she’s even had a chance to give in and say yes), leaving her to seek comfort in the familiar with her best friend. This is also a sticky situation, however, as Katchoo is also in love with Francine, despite Francine’s insistence that she, Francine, is not gay.
Francine goes back to talk to Freddie, hopefully to win him back, but things don’t go her way, leading Francine to have a nervous breakdown and leading Katchoo to seek revenge for her best friend.
That’s a lot to take in in only three issues, but Terry Moore chugs along at a decent pace here and no panels seem extraneous or included just to pad the page count. And I was impressed by Moore’s ability to carry the story along in a way I was always curious to see what happened next, but at the end of the day he’s telling a very real world story.
Moore’s art is also very impressive, especially considering this was published at a time when the artist was king, in the heyday of flashy creators like McFarlane and Liefeld and Larson. Moore’s lines are clean and crisp, without a lot of those other guys’ unnecessary crosshatching and accent lines. Instead, he’s drawing a maybe SLIGHTLY exaggerated figure, but not so much it makes the characters into contortionists or body freaks. And that’s the nature of this book, possibly the thing that DIDN’T grab my attention when Brian handed me that issue long ago.
This isn’t a super hero world, it could be your next door neighbor, if your next door neighbor got taken away in handcuffs for aggravated assault with intent to cause bodily harm.
Having finally read the series (or at least the first three issues of what would go on to become a much longer story) and not some random standalone issue, I’m intrigued enough to continue and see what happens next.
I’ll definitely continue with this series, at least as far as the Comixology Unlimited borrows will take me and then, if the story still has my attention, I’m sure I’ll cross over to the physical copies, most likely collected editions to fill my bookshelves.
For now, THE COLLECTED STRANGERS IN PARADISE VOLUME 1 is highly recommended, especially to someone who is interested in comics, but wants nothing to do with masks or capes.
[AMAZONPRODUCTS asin=”1892597004“]
