Strangers in Paradise Pocket Edition 1 Review

This is the first collected volume of Terry Moore's love/crime story about two women living in Houston who become involved in mafia intrigue even as they are dealing with their feeling for each other and for a young man with a mysterious past.

Terry Moore ratchets up the melodrama to some pretty extreme levels here. The characters and situations are way over the top, but the result is a fun, funny, and in places intensely tragic story of love, lust, and revenge.

The two main characters are Katina "Katchoo" Choovanski, a man-hating former call girl, and Francine Peters, a quiet brunette who is dealing with her own insecurities with food and poor choices in boyfriends. The third side of the love triangle is David, a quiet art student who hides some sinister secrets.

The book has a great intensity and Moore's stark b/w art style captures the variety of characters nicely. Bits of songs and poetry complement the story, along with two extended prose segments (one of which is a nice noir bit featuring Detective Walsh, who was my favorite supporting character).

The plot is convoluted and (intentionally) improbable, and some of the characters degenerate into caricature for the sake of humor, but when Moore goes for the serious stuff he can really tug at the heartstrings.

If you're looking for a comic book that is not kids stuff, superhero fantasy, or manga, this is a pretty good one to check out.