Geraniums and Bacon #5

From the random stack of unread comics.

Title: Geraniums & Bacon
Issue: 5
Date: 2008
Publisher: Bella Razor Press
Writer: Cathy Leamy
Artist: Cathy Leamy

I love a good geeky autobiographical comic, and Cathy Leamy always delivers great stuff in hers (see here for my review of #6 in this series).

This issue opens with wedding dress shopping, well, observing it for fun, anyway, and it closes with bra shopping. In between, we get a suit of "War of the Roses Mecha", a rotted, deflated pumpkin named Senor Calabaza, freelancing, and the local gang of bike-modders. The opening bit is hilarious and awesome as the artist attends the annual Filene's Basement bridal gown sale AKA the "Running of the Brides". She's not planning on getting married; she just wants to be part of the chaos.

The roommate story of the rotten pumpkin is sentimental and fun, and the tale of the suit of armor is wonderfully surreal.

Cathy Leamy picks out great details to bring her stories to life, and they are always amusing. Also, that Charlies Angels tribute cover is awesome!

Rating: 8/10

Greenblooded: An Introduction To Eco-Friendly Feminine Hygiene

Something tells me I am not the target audience.

Okay, and with that, I am now done with all joking around about the fact that I am a guy and I am reading and reviewing this book. If you are disappointed with that, then probably there is some getting over of yourself that needs to happen.

Title: Green Blooded: An Introduction To Eco-Friendly Feminine Hygiene
Publisher: Bella Razor Press
Date: 2009
Writer: Cathy Leamy
Artist: Cath Leamy

Cathy Leamy takes on the ecology of feminine hygiene products, a manufactured and disposable item used by half of the population for decades of their lives.Most guides to living a greener or more sustainable life barely touch this topic. Fortunately, this comic his here to help.

Includes a convenient illustrate review of the biology of the menstrual cycle, which was basic, but helpful to me. This is followed by a discussion of the environmental issues surrounding the common products currently in use (in the US, at least), followed by an exploration of the alternatives. She finishes up with a discussion of what the options are for minimizing environmental impact when still using disposable products.

 As always with her books, Cathy Leamy has a wonderful positive tone to her writing. I also loved the variety of women that were used in the illustrations. There were some great touches of humor here, and the information was delivered in a concise and easy-to-understand form. The book was a bit text-heavy and a lot of the illustrations were small, but this was mostly a function of the amount of information to be covered.

Rating: 7.5/10