My Other Life contains the powerful and moving story of a horrendous plane crash that rips the lives of Francine, Katchoo and David apart. And, to make matters worse, Katchoo discovers the plane crash was no accident, as the demons from her other life come back to claim her for good. A heartbreaking story that launched the SIP books in a new direction.
Following the examples of independent comic creators such as Dave Sim and Jeff Smith, he decided to publish Strangers in Paradise himself through his own Houston-based "Abstract Studios" imprint, and has frequently mentioned a desire to do a syndicated cartoon strip in the authors notes at the back of the Strangers in Paradise collection books. He has also mentioned his greatest career influence is Peanuts' Charles Schulz.[1] Some of Moore's strip work can additionally be found in his Paradise, Too! publications.
His work has won him recognition in the comics industry, including receiving the Eisner Award for Best Serialized Story in 1996 for Strangers in Paradise #1-8, which was collected in the trade paperback "I Dream of You".
It was announced on June 15th, 2007 that Moore would be taking over for Sean McKeever as writer of Marvel Comics's Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane series starting with a new issue #1. On July 27th, Marvel announced that Moore would also take over for Joss Whedon as writer of Marvel's Runaways.[2]
On November 19th, 2007 Terry Moore announced in his blog that his new self-published series would be named Echo and its first issue would appear on March 5th, 2008.[3]
An interesting volume. Seems to be more of a transition than a complete story in itself. Lot's of new information taking us back to the earlier storylines. Also, some side stories that give us more of a view of our main characters during less harrowing times. Seeing them enjoying life is especially poignant considering the shocking nature of the other events that occur.
I will say that I enjoyed this, but it is so different than the other recent issues in this series that it is almost incomparable on the same level. Terry Moore definitely likes to combine tales of real life relationships with action and conspiracy. Just when you think there is nowhere left to go, he will take you on a wild ride in a totally different direction.
Everything seems to come around full circle. I really like the characters strong friendship albeit their differences. Francine is like the diamond in the rough, and Katchoo carries a heavy burden by being so intuitive and skilled. My favorite scenes in this volume were the beach banter, and the football memory. But BEWARE! That shocker in the middle hurt! My advice: ice cream or cookie dough and tissues!!!
(Zero spoiler review for the series as a whole and the score for the individual volume) So I am writing this literally a few minutes after finishing this story, and it all feels a little bit raw and unexpected. Unexpected for the fact that I thought a had a couple of hundred pages to go. I had been powering through the second book for the last two days, and I stopped after a binge read this morning. When I came back to it just now, I read a page, turned another one, and found the story abruptly ended. A few days before, I had carefully flipped through to the last few pages to see how long it was, so I knew how much I had to read and look forward to. It seemed like there was no added content at the end, and the story went to the final page. Good I thought, and returned to my reading. To say the end of the story hit me like a tone of bricks would be an understatement. Its true the story had sort of reached a natural conclusion, although going off the little twist in the middle of the book, I kind of thought there was one more arc to come, although maybe I need to go back and read it again. I kind of feel like I was robbed of something. I read 200 pages today, and then somehow stopped two pages before the end without realising it. I settled in for another 200 pages, to find I only had 2 left. I don't really feel like reading the additional content. Most of it isn't the story itself, and I don't want to add those memories to what is something pretty close and personal right now. I think I'll sit with it and let it gestate before I delve into it, if I ever do. Let the grieving process commence. So what's the story like? It's certainly not perfect, although I just can't imagine finding another graphic novel that will ever come close to doing what this one did. In a medium that is overflowing with easily digestible content and two bit superheroes, Strangers in Paradise stands apart as something pretty damn special. Francine and Katchoo, and the small but memorable cast of side characters will stay with me for a considerable time to come. Yes, the conspiratorial/crime aspects of the story were a little far fetched and weak at times (especially in the first half of the story where it was most prominent). Pretty much every male character played second fiddle to the female cast. Very one dimensional, with the slight exception of David, who was obviously more fleshed out, although always came across as subservient to the women around him. You can tell Terry Moore leans very much to the left, although I could have done without much of the modern day identitarianism that reared its head throughout. Whilst the females characters were flawed, they were never portrayed as the sexist Neanderthals most of the men were. It was at times, grossly stereotypical. Moore might have been going for humour, although it just soured a wonderful story somewhat. In fact, if I wasn't so invested in the story, you would be looking at lesser marks, and a much more critical review from me. Not to mention that every female character seems to be a lesbian. I guess I'm still a big softie at heart, that this rather lovely tale about love shone through, despite the flaws. Moore's artwork was near to faultless throughout. Some of his panels I just lingered on, feeling the emotions dripping off of the page. True, he occasionally over reached, like the excessive poetry and lyrics, although when he nailed it, it was pretty damn memorable. I've read Echo, which was written after this, as far as I know, and the art just didn't resonate the same way as it did here. Though Echo will never be as adored or heralded as SiP is. Even the title is one of the most poignant and evocative titles a work of fiction has ever had. I really miss that this is over. You absolutely need to read this, now! 4.75/5
There is probably a valid complaint that "Strangers in Paradise" is getting too convoluted and soapy, the plot twists too outlandishly contrived, but I don't care. The genre-bending, sometimes outrageous nature of the plot has always been a big part of the appeal for me, and the wild blending of tragedy, satire and magic realism here just works. It's possible that the plane-crash news coverage sequence isn't quite as funny in a post 9/11 world, but this is Terry Moore. The macabre and the camp have to go hand in hand.
Katchoo, Francine, and David reach an impasse. Their relationship is changing and I'm sad. Terry Moore is still golden. I'm on this ride for the long haul. I don't care if it destroys me, but I continue to be hooked.
At this point, I‘m invested in the characters. I am hooked. It feels suspenseful, exciting, and yet there are every day life scenes woven in. There are complex emotions and imperfect characters. This one tugged my heart strings!
There’s a lot of confusion and tears in this one. The plane crash scene was pretty cool. Things are more complicated than ever for Francine and Katchool. An okay read.
My Other Life begins with a short, humorous interlude, in which Francine, Katchoo, and David rent out a beach house for a weekend. Then the three of them prepare to fly to New York, where David will sign the papers that grants him his inheritance. But before they can leave Francine and Katchoo have another fight, this time about the triangle they've created with David, because with Katchoo and David becoming closer, Francine doesn't understand her part in it anymore. As a result Francine decides to stay behind in Houston while Katchoo and David fly to New York without her. What happens next is not only completely unexpected but also as nervewracking as anything you might see in a big-budget Hollywood thriller. But just when you think things can't get any worse, Moore delivers a heartbreaking scene that sets off the chain of events leading to the ten-year rupture in Francine and Katchoo's relationship.
I would argue that this is the most emotionally draining volume in the entire series, and also one of the most powerful sequences in all of comics. Moore's storytelling abilities are in full force in this volume, and if you read the preceding volumes just to reach this point I guarantee you it's worth it.
Paste from my review of Volume 1. I've read most of the series and feel the same review overall applies to everything:
The series has beautiful black and white line art throughout. It's the main reason I ever started it. Terry Moore is a masterly graphic artist and a riveting storyteller. I suspect I'll read anything he puts out. That said, I prefer Rachel Rising (horror) and Echo (science fiction), personally. SiP (as fans tend to call it) is a work focused almost entirely on how people relate to each other.
What an odd duck. This thing is described in quite a wide variety of ways, and mostly accurately. It's resemblance to a soap opera, happily, is all in the title. For that, it's a bit too realistic, too low in character count, too well-written, too laden with mafia intrigue/action, and too often taught in college literature classes. I'm curious as to why though. I wouldn't teach it in mine. It's not *that* good. It might be particularly relevant to a fem lit class, however, which might elevate the collegiate value of the book because of what it says and how it says it from a sociocultural standpoint rather than from a literary one.
Never EVER read a sequence in a graphic novel about a plane crash a month before you're going to get on a plane to the other side of the world. There's a one page sequence that focuses on a character we will only see once in the course of the series, a four-year old girl whose mother is killed in a crash. It describes the next few years of her life, a life of therapy, drug addiction and jail time and summarizes that life as "the little girl who took twelve years to die." That's the kind of writing that hits you HARD. This arc of the series covers Katchoo's reinvolvement with elements of her past. As with much of the series, quite an affecting few issues. Very highly recommended.
2012 Reread: I got lost in this for a month. My very first full reread since the series hit its ending. Since I knew where it would start and go and end up. It was just as terrible, wonderful, painful, heartbreaking, heart healing, amazing as every other read. I never stop knowing my heart belongs to this.
Strangers in Paradise was the first comic title I was obsessed with, not counting The Crow, which was a different thing all together. SIP was consistently astounding.
This volume finally brings the story back. I'm not sure I particularly love the whole underground Parker girls storyline to begin with as it kind of distracts from the main Katchoo-Francine relationship storyline, but I suppose they gotsta keep things interesting. Sad about David though.