Scan barcode
A review by mediaevalmuse
InSEXts, Vol. 1: Chrysalis by Ariela Kristantina, Marguerite Bennett
3.0
Lesbians! Body Horror! Victorian setting! What more could anyone ask for? I love the premise of this comic, and the art alone is enough to keep me staring at the pages for hours. Ultimately, these things made up for the parts of the comic that were lacking - namely, the absence of characterization and a well-paced, coherent narrative.
Things I Liked
1. Art: Ariela Kristantina’s art is stunning. It’s intricate and elegant, regardless if the scene is “normal” Victorian life or depicting monstrosity and horror. I also love the colorists’ work and how they used a lot of vibrant hues rather than dull grays and browns (which I typically associate with the period).
2. Premise: I love the idea of following a lesbian romance through a horror narrative set in the Victorian era. It hits all the things on my list of “Things I Want.” The book is also very erotic, which breaks the stiff, sexless norms of Victorian-era fiction, and I love mashing up genres and defying expectations when I read.
3. Feminism: The comic opens with a brilliant lament from Lady Bertram about the sexism in her patriarchal society - about her husband marrying her for money, treating her badly, etc. It allows the characters to work against social expectations and act against the sexism of Victorian England, which I very much enjoyed. I also like that the arc in general was working against internalized misogyny.
Things I Didn’t Like
1. Pace: Things moved way too fast in this comic - so fast that I had trouble becoming invested in the characters. Lady Bertram and Mariah seem to get together right away, which is fine, but without some kind of background or buildup, I couldn’t quite see why they were together in the first place. What do they love about one another enough to have a child together? I wanted more time devoted to investing the reader in this relationship.
2. Gaps: There were a lot of times throughout the comic where I was unsure what was happening, and the gaps in storytelling were sometimes so apparent that I almost put down the comic altogether. It was hard to follow and hard to understand what was going on or why characters were acting in a certain way.
3. Confusion: I also had a hard time differentiating between characters because there were a lot of names and a lot of characters looked similar.
Recommendations: I would recommend this comic if you’re interested in lgbt+ romance, lesbian romance, lgbt+ erotica, horror, body horror, insect horror, Victorian settings, and Gothic stories.
Things I Liked
1. Art: Ariela Kristantina’s art is stunning. It’s intricate and elegant, regardless if the scene is “normal” Victorian life or depicting monstrosity and horror. I also love the colorists’ work and how they used a lot of vibrant hues rather than dull grays and browns (which I typically associate with the period).
2. Premise: I love the idea of following a lesbian romance through a horror narrative set in the Victorian era. It hits all the things on my list of “Things I Want.” The book is also very erotic, which breaks the stiff, sexless norms of Victorian-era fiction, and I love mashing up genres and defying expectations when I read.
3. Feminism: The comic opens with a brilliant lament from Lady Bertram about the sexism in her patriarchal society - about her husband marrying her for money, treating her badly, etc. It allows the characters to work against social expectations and act against the sexism of Victorian England, which I very much enjoyed. I also like that the arc in general was working against internalized misogyny.
Things I Didn’t Like
1. Pace: Things moved way too fast in this comic - so fast that I had trouble becoming invested in the characters. Lady Bertram and Mariah seem to get together right away, which is fine, but without some kind of background or buildup, I couldn’t quite see why they were together in the first place. What do they love about one another enough to have a child together? I wanted more time devoted to investing the reader in this relationship.
2. Gaps: There were a lot of times throughout the comic where I was unsure what was happening, and the gaps in storytelling were sometimes so apparent that I almost put down the comic altogether. It was hard to follow and hard to understand what was going on or why characters were acting in a certain way.
3. Confusion: I also had a hard time differentiating between characters because there were a lot of names and a lot of characters looked similar.
Recommendations: I would recommend this comic if you’re interested in lgbt+ romance, lesbian romance, lgbt+ erotica, horror, body horror, insect horror, Victorian settings, and Gothic stories.