REVIEW: Fangs (graphic novel) by Sarah Andersen

This is basically a slice-of-life graphic novel about the developing relationship between a werewolf (Jimmy) and a vampire (Elsie). He likes her goth looks, cuddling with her cold body when it's hot out, and the fact that she has zero issues with his ability to turn into a wolf. She likes that she can talk about having killed people without making him flinch (although most of her blood comes from blood banks these days) and that he occasionally lets her bite his neck. They're both not human, so they "get" each other in ways a human partner might not, but they also each have to make some adjustments. For example, she can't wear silver unless she's sure it won't touch him, and he has to remember that she'll burst into flames in direct sunlight, so no opening the curtains in the morning without warning.

I think I first heard about this via Sarah Andersen's tweets of some of the individual comics. I noted it down as something I was interested in seeing more of and then forgot about it until my recent graphic novel binge.

The physical volume is really nice looking - red cover, black-edged pages. I love the artwork. It's very different from her style in "Sarah's Scribbles," more detailed and realistic. Elsie and Jimmy make a good-looking couple.

While it's nice to read through the volume and watch them progress from strangers who are into each other to a cute couple who've decided to live together, I feel like this series was probably best (for me) in the short bursts that Twitter gave me. Reading this all in one go left me with werewolf and vampire questions this wasn't designed to answer. Also, some jokes worked better for me than others. Jimmy displaying dog behavior like running to the door when Elsie mentioned going for a walk was just odd, for example. I did really enjoy the comic in which Jimmy talked to a Chihuahua, though.