GUMBALLS #2 Review: Refreshingly Authentic – ComicsVerse

GUMBALLS #2 BY ERIN NATIONS Art Story Characterization

Summary

90 %

REFRESHINGLY AUTHENTIC

GUMBALLS is a collection of comicsboth writtenand drawnby Erin Nations. The comic strips within GUMBALLS #2 range from purely fictional to non-fictional accounts from Nations life. The majority of the non-fictionportions deal with Nations experiences as a trans man.

Without a doubt, the visibility of transgender people in the media has increased overthe last few years.Transgender has becomea political and pop culture buzzword. Sadly, this coverage has done very little to expose the publicto the lives of average transgender people.

Many people outside the LGBTQIA+ community cannot tell you what the proper pronouns are to use for a transgender man or woman. Members of the media still dont understand that its degradingto refer tosomeone as a transgender. Despite the non-stop talk about Caitlyn Jenner and bathroom bills, the bulkof Americans still do not understand the very basics of who transgender people are. Furthermore, theydo not know what their lives are like or how they wantsociety totreat them.This lingering ignorancemakes works like Erin Nations GUMBALLS so important.

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Nations is a wittywriter with a really great grasp on what humor looks like in 2017. He uses the Personal Ads to poke fun of the ironic arroganceof some millennials. Additionally, Miscellanea and Twins-Triplets contain personal experiences and anecdotes from Nations childhood. Nations art, in general, is also brilliant in how stylized it is and in its playfulness. Not only does theart give GUMBALLS #2 its humorous tone, it could have only been created by Erin Nations.

Thatbeing said, the most powerful parts of GUMBALLS #2 are Nations Tales of Being Trans. I dont intend to be dismissive of the fictional portions of GUMBALLS #2. I also dont intend to define Nations and his work by his trans identity. But, asa queer person, I cannot resist pointingout why these accounts are so outstandingin particular.

In GUMBALLS #2, Nations begins to describe his transition. He starts hormone replacement therapy, a process he a likens to going through menopause and puberty at the same time. Nations goes into detail about the changes he begins to observe in his body, and how these changes help to easesome of his gender dysphoria.

Nations recordingthe startof his transition in GUMBALLS #2 is so important because very rarely are the bodies oftransgender people discussed on their terms. Society oscillates between sexualfascination and repulsion for the bodies of transgender people. There is a fixationon theelement of transformation, of someone emerging from their transition and suddenly being able to pass as cisgender (non-transgender).

Despite how the media has portrayedtransitioning, its not like you get a makeover and suddenly feelamazing and super confident. Not only is it a deeply private process for some people, but it is also an emotional and subtle journey. Nations account of his transition celebrates even the most subtle changes in his body as progress. In GUMBALLS #2 heinvitesus readers to come along on thisjourney. As readers, wewitnessthe dailystruggles and victories that he encounters along the way.

GUMBALLS #2 shares Nationsongoing struggle to be his authentic self in a world not quite ready to accept transgender people. In onestrip, Nations triesto figure out whether or not a bartender hasmisgendered him by calling him honey. In a more out-rightly transphobic exchange, a coworker scoffs with disgust at a magazine cover of Caitlyn Jenner. Afterward, weget to see Nations internal dialogue as he decides whether or not to speak up.

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GUMBALLS #2 continues to explore the experiences of a transgender person without being exploitative. The powerof this account highlights the need for more transgender creators in comics and beyond. The comicsin Erin Nations GUMBALLS #2 aregenuine, funny, andpoignant. These narratives in conjunctionwith Nations art manageto capture the lunacyof living in a world that refuses to respect you from the get-go, in addition to the regular dose of lunacywe all face.

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GUMBALLS #2 Review: Refreshingly Authentic - ComicsVerse