It's a very slim collection of short works of very different styles, but a great way to encounter the work of some artists you haven't seen before. ( )

I thought this was a new book when I requested it from the library, but as I started reading I saw a notice in the fine print that this was originally released in 2006 under the title, Sexy Chix. The new title, Drawing Lines, was given to the 2020 second edition. As I started reading the stories, they did seem vaguely familiar, so I'm pretty sure I must have the Sexy Chix version stuffed into a comic book long box somewhere in my basement. I don't feel bad about not being positive I've read it before because the stories are on whole okay but very forgettable.

In researching the two editions, I see there are a couple differences between the two beyond the title and cover image. First, the story, "An Admission," by Meghan Kinder has been excluded from the second edition. Second, in the time between editions, Alexa Kitchen has changed her name to Violet Kitchen and the new edition reflects this change.

• Portrait of the Artist in Her Creative Process / Written, illustrated, and lettered by Chynna Clugston Flores

Did you know that artists procrastinate? Shocking,

• Love Triangle / Written and illustrated by Jill Thompson

An unwitting mermaid finds herself used in a love triangle between a sailor and a witch in this wordless story.

• Yellow Fever / Written, illustrated, and lettered by Colleen Doran

Doran describes a former acquaintance who had a fetish for Asian men. She uses Marilyn Monroe as an avatar for the creepy woman.

• True Tales From the Shampoo Bowl / Written by Gail Simone, illustrated by Rebecca Woods, lettered by Lois Buhalis

A touching tale about a woman's first and last haircuts.

• The Boogeyman / Written, illustrated, and lettered by Colleen Coover

A widow fixates on the legend of the Boogeyman as an outlet for her grief.

• Hands on / Written, illustrated, and lettered by Carla Speed McNeil

A guerrilla surgeon challenges a faith healer on their home field. Bloody good fun.

• Hurricane Eye for the Straight Grrl: Another Pudge, Girl Blimp, Tale / Written, illustrated, and lettered by Lee Marrs

A sex positive woman makes the most of being stranded in another storm in a New Orleans still recovering from Hurricane Katrina.

• Jeff Macey's Girls / Written by Diana Schutz, illustrated by Amanda Conner

The editor of the original edition self-indulgently decided her 12-page text story gets to be crammed into the middle of an anthology of comics. Bad choice. And all it is is a tedious description of a dinner party at the house of a man who has made a lot of money off internet porn.


• The Art of Letting Go / Written by Sarah Grace McCandless, illustrated by Joëlle Jones, lettered by Lois Buhalis

A woman tries to get over heartbreak with a one night stand. More depressing than the melancholy it is going for.

• Haseena Ross, Girl Detective / Written and lettered by Trina Robbins, illustrated by Anne Timmons

A teen detective solves a simplistic mystery. A key moment requires a room to be plunged into total blackness while still having an open window in the middle of the day. Insultingly dumb.

• Lucy at the Mall / Written, illustrated, and lettered by Violet Kitchen
• Boys Are So Annoying / Written, illustrated, and lettered by Violet Kitchen

Publisher Denis Kitchen started promoting his daughter, Alexa, as a cartoonist when she was just six years old. I think she would have been around 9 when she did these, so I'm just not going to comment.

• No Rites / Written, illustrated, and lettered by Madison Clell

The most brutal piece in the book has a missing children notice trigger a woman's remembrance of her own rape.

• Esther Meets Her Maker / Written, illustrated, and lettered by Leela Corman

In an undefined olden time, a little girl gets wrangled into making a delivery that results in her getting a makeover that has physical consequences when she gets home to mom.

• Camellia / Written, illustrated, and lettered by Roberta Gregory

A slightly confusing study in misogyny has a weird twist ending that is cathartic but out of place.

• Don't You Trust Me? / Written by Joyce Carol Oates, illustrated and lettered by Laurenn McCubbin

An adaptation of a prose short story of the same name that appears in Oates' Haunted: Tales of the Grotesque. And indeed, Oates gives a haunting aspect to this story of a woman seeking a back-alley abortion. It's awful that this story has become timely again.

FOR REFERENCE:

Contents [2006 First Edition: Sexy Chix]
• Portrait of the Artist in Her Creative Process / Written, illustrated, and lettered by Chynna Clugston Flores
• Love Triangle / Written and illustrated by Jill Thompson
• Yellow Fever / Written, illustrated, and lettered by Colleen Doran
• True Tales From the Shampoo Bowl / Written by Gail Simone, illustrated by Rebecca Woods, lettered by Lois Buhalis
• The Boogeyman / Written, illustrated, and lettered by Colleen Coover
• Hands on / Written, illustrated, and lettered by Carla Speed McNeil
• Hurricane Eye for the Straight Grrl: Another Pudge, Girl Blimp, Tale / Written, illustrated, and lettered by Lee Marrs
• Jeff Macey's Girls / Written by Diana Schutz, illustrated by Amanda Conner
• The Art of Letting Go / Written by Sarah Grace McCandless, illustrated by Joëlle Jones, lettered by Lois Buhalis
• An Admission / Written, illustrated, and lettered by Meghan Kinder
• Haseena Ross, Girl Detective / Written and lettered by Trina Robbins, illustrated by Anne Timmons
• Lucy at the Mall / Written, illustrated, and lettered by Alexa Kitchen
• Boys Are So Annoying / Written, illustrated, and lettered by Alexa Kitchen
• No Rites / Written, illustrated, and lettered by Madison Clell
• Esther Meets Her Maker / Written, illustrated, and lettered by Leela Corman
• Camellia / Written, illustrated, and lettered by Roberta Gregory
• Don't You Trust Me? / Written by Joyce Carol Oates, illustrated and lettered by Laurenn McCubbin
• Creator Bios

Contents [2020 Second Edition: Drawing Lines]:
• Portrait of the Artist in Her Creative Process / Written, illustrated, and lettered by Chynna Clugston Flores
• Love Triangle / Written and illustrated by Jill Thompson
• Yellow Fever / Written, illustrated, and lettered by Colleen Doran
• True Tales From the Shampoo Bowl / Written by Gail Simone, illustrated by Rebecca Woods, lettered by Lois Buhalis
• The Boogeyman / Written, illustrated, and lettered by Colleen Coover
• Hands on / Written, illustrated, and lettered by Carla Speed McNeil
• Hurricane Eye for the Straight Grrl / Written, illustrated, and lettered by Lee Marrs
• Jeff Macey's Girls / Written by Diana Schutz, illustrated by Amanda Conner
• The Art of Letting Go / Written by Sarah Grace McCandless, illustrated by Joëlle Jones, lettered by Lois Buhalis
• Haseena Ross, Girl Detective / Written and lettered by Trina Robbins, illustrated by Anne Timmons
• Lucy at the Mall / Written, illustrated, and lettered by Violet Kitchen
• Boys Are So Annoying / Written, illustrated, and lettered by Violet Kitchen
• No Rites / Written, illustrated, and lettered by Madison Clell
• Esther Meets Her Maker / Written, illustrated, and lettered by Leela Corman
• Camellia / Written, illustrated, and lettered by Roberta Gregory
• Don't You Trust Me? / Written by Joyce Carol Oates, illustrated and lettered by Laurenn McCubbin
• Creator Bios ( )

In 2006, this anthology was published under the title Sexy Chix. Whatever the title, there’s no theme or throughline. One reads anthos to find nifty new creators: I didn’t succeed here. ( )

Anthologies are notorious for having a wide range of quality; distressingly, that's true here more than usual. Some of the stories are okay, but others are mystifyingly bad - whether because the content is trivial (an otherwise acclaimed cartoonist gossiping up a tale of a friend who betrayed her), or because the craft of comic narrative isn't very polished, or because the "story" in question goes nowhere. One entry isn't even a comic at all, but rather a 12-page, 14-year-old text piece the author exhumed for the occasion!

And yet every once in a while, there's a piece that's a complete gem. The salon vignette, from Gail Simone & Rebecca Woods. The brief glimpse of a heart attempting to move on, from Sarah Grace McCandless & Joelle Jones. If more of the stories had been of this caliber, it would be a far more even collection - and far more enjoyable, too. ( )