Tilly and Susan Bridges, a queer writing team who wrote for the animated TV series Monster High, insightfully explore teen celebrity life in the rollicking Just Another Summer, illustrated by artists AoiG. and Giulia Rinaldo.
Blonde, blue-eyed Hayley and purple-haired, freckled Becky Huxley are sisters and stars of a major TV hit, The Goodluckerhearts. Although they're adored by fans, they're disdained by their co-star for their higher salaries and neglected by their busy mother. Seeking a bit of adolescent freedom, they slip their security detail, "borrow" the Bentley, get drunk, crash someone's senior prom, and land in jail. The next morning, they're fired from Goodluckerhearts and their mom sends them to taciturn Uncle Moses's farm in Montana for the summer. Blond floppy-haired farmhand Jake warily greets the girls, then wakes them at 4 a.m. to milk cows and fix fences. Despite the grueling schedule--and letting go of reductive assumptions about "fancy L.A.-types" and "Montana farm hicks"--the teens have a fulfilling, fun, and flirty summer, Becky with the sassy, wheelchair-using diner waitress, and Hayley with transgender Jake.
The Bridgeses' comic may initially read as light entertainment--and certainly could be thoroughly enjoyed as such--but they also deftly integrate contemporary comments about kindness, parental neglect, rejection, and transphobia. AoiG. and Rinaldo's thinly lined illustrations suggest animation-ready panels that create dynamic characters and situations. Colorist Valentina Briški uses fully saturated hues for the detailed art, developing moments of tension with darker purples and moments of joy with candy-colored pinks and yellows. These kids (and cows) are undoubtedly ready for their close-ups. --Terry Hong