Strangers in Paradise, Volume 2: I Dream of You

Strangers in Paradise Trade Paperbacks #2

by Terry Moore

Collects Volume 2 issues #1-9.

Strangers in Paradise (SIP) is the story of three friends, Francine, Katchoo, and David and the people they fall in and out of love with. It's a tale of dark pasts and hopeful futures, double-crosses and true friendship, love, and hate. In other words, it's a story of real life, kicked up a notch, a sometimes-heartwarming, sometimes-heartbreaking look at life and the relationships that we stumble through.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Romance, Crime, LGBT

208 pages, Paperback

First published March 19, 1996

About the author

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]

Reviews

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Art. Poetry. Love. Deception. Life. Death. All the feels . . .



Strangers In Paradise is perfect!

Thank you for following along with me on my journey to reaquaint myself with the early issues of this series and finally finish it all the way through to the end. Volume 2 covers issues 1 through 9 of series 2.



This series is about as raw and real as it gets. I would be surprised if you could make it through this without both laughing your ass off and using up all your tissues as you weep uncontrollably. Here you will find deep relationships, secrets from the past, and hope for the future.

Also, it's not your typical graphic novel. Despite the pictures I have posted here, all the art in the book is black and white. Also, Moore intersperses pages of art with pages of prose to tell a more complete story than you would get with just the art.

I am not even going to say "if you like this" or "if you like that" you should read this. I am just going to say "Read this series! Do it!"

[Jan Philipzig · Rating 2 out of 5]

Back in the 1990s, Strangers in Paradise served a purpose: it functioned as a much-needed antidote to all those awful grim 'n' gritty superhero comics that were flooding the market. From today’s perspective, though, I'm afraid the series does not have a whole lot to offer beyond stereotypical characters, predictable plotlines, teenage poetry, and cute pictures. Which is not the worst thing in the world, mind you, just... well - a little boring, I guess. In this second volume, Terry Moore tries to give the title a bit of an edge by throwing some crime and violence into the mix, but the attempt feels rather forced and does not add up to much.

[Scarlett Readz and Runz....Through Novel Time & Distance · Rating 5 out of 5]

YES....it is possible!

You CAN get lost in a graphic novel...and I did! Going about my day, I did not want to put this down. Every moment I could, I picked it back up.

Volume II delivered! The story took off, the characters grew on me and were relatable and likeable, there were many plot twists around and the poetry was lovely.

I am so in for continuing the adventure. Loved it!

[Art the Turtle of Amazing Girth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was #85 of the top 100 graphic novels of all time list.

Brilliant is the word that describes this.
The artwork, the writing, the storyline, loved it.

Only thing that keeps it from being a 5 star is the ending is a little too easy to figure out is coming, although, there is 1 or 2 pretty good twists you don't see until they hit you.

I keep getting drawn back to the artwork (see what I did there?), it was really excellent.

[ScottIsANerd (GrilledCheeseSamurai) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the first volume and this 2nd one just sealed the deal for me.

I am now a Francine and Katchoo fan for life.

[Trinity9bi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Por fin nos alejamos de comportamientos anticuados y nos metemos en faena con una historia de secretos, intrigas, algo de violencia y menos comedia que el anterior volumen. No me gusta que si no te fijas bien los personajes femeninos se pueden confundir, y sólo tedas cuenta por el contexto de la viñeta.

[Kiki · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one even more than the first! Its biggest draw remains the poignant, intimate, messy, ordinary human histories and relationships interwoven into the larger than life, over the top crime mystery type plots. (That plot twist!) The love between Katchoo and Emma, a fellow former sex worker dying from AIDS was a highlight.

Fair warning that Francine has to weather a lot of fat shaming comments. The frequency seems almost excessive until I remember how a friend couldn't shop in the supermarket or buy a slice of cake at a fundraising bake sale without hearing some damaging comment. I'm not the best person to judge, either way. At least the people who love her most tell her and show she's beautiful. Unfortunately, I think the next volume will include a plotline involving her abusive ex.

These stories are intense! It's not a comic series I can rush through.

[Hannah Garden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do you know what part of the confusion is, part of the confusion is Terry Moore draws really cute girls. Like these girls are cuhh-yoooot. But wtf is this storyline? I guess he read a bunch of Frank Miller? And was all hubba-whaa' that's my shit! But it's not, Terry Moore, it's not. That's part of the confusion.

[Kilgore Trout · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art is incredible, and I really like the constant changes in style. the story was pretty engaging (especially that one twist)

Where all the hot angry women at

[OmniBen · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Zero spoiler review for the series as a whole) 4.75/5
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


OmniBen.

[Paul Spence · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the jacket blurb does a decent job of describing the general gist of Strangers in Paradise: Volume 2, I don't know that it covers a lot of the tone of the book. There is a lot of material covered in this book, which makes sense, since it compiles nine comics into a single volume: Volume 2, Issue 1: I Dream of You; Volume 2, Issue 2: Someone to Watch Over Me; Volume 2, Issue 3: Echoes of Home; Volume 2, Issue 4: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?; Volume 2, Issue 5: Something I Can't Hear; Volume 2, Issue 6: Tic Toc; Volume 2, Issue 7: I Talk to the Wind; Volume 2, Issue 8: Do You Remember Yesterdays?; and Volume 2, Issue 9: A Good Night's Sleep.

For those who have not read Strangers in Paradise, Volume 1, I recommend that you do so before reading this.

The book starts with Katchoo returning from a mysterious prolonged trip about which she will not speak to find that Francine has been coping with the rather explosive breakup with her ex-boyfriend Freddie by eating. And eating. And eating some more. And it seems that, as far as David is concerned, absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder, and his unrequited love for Katchoo has not abated.

But Francine's ballooning weight and David's infatuation are the least of Katchoo's problems. The world seems to be conspiring to make sure she never forgets her past, and that she - and her friends - will pay for her sins. First, the mysterious trip to Canada. Then, she appears to have acquired a follower, one who doesn't have her best interests in mind. But even more frightening than Katchoo's follower is the mysterious dark woman for whom he works: Mrs. Darcy Parker and her minions, Bambi and Samantha. They will stop at nothing to bring Katchoo back into the fold, including using her friends as bait.

But before that, a whole slew of other problems pop up. For instance, if you think Francine is neurotic, you should meet her mother! And running into Freddie and his new fiancee doesn't help her state of mind much, either. And who says that Katchoo can be the only one with secrets? There may be more to David than meets the eye. And do you remember our friend Detective Walsh from Volume 1? Well, if you're a fan, never fear! You get to see more of the mustachioed investigator as he tries to track down the trackers. And what's with Emma and this house in Hana, anyway?

All in all, this volume is much more action- and emotion-packed than Volume 1, and also has a much higher allocation of violence. You get to know the primary characters in this tale (Francine, Katchoo, and David) much better this time around, and begin to feel their pains. If you enjoyed the first volume (you did read the first volume first, right?), I suspect you'll be completely hooked by the time you're done with Volume 2.

[Nestor B. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Revisiting some comic books I bought and enjoyed 20-30 years ago, and not all have aged well. This is one of them. The review covers vol. 2, #1-13.

To start with the positive; "Strangers in Paradise" is quite well-drawn. The characters come across as real people, and Terry Moore strikes a fine balance between realism and near-caricature, between tender scenes and more action-driven sequences. It’s a pity, then, that on a couple of occasions, he chooses to depict episodes purely in prose. This is completely unnecessary, seems unmotivated, and borders on sheer laziness. He could easily have depicted the same scenes through drawings, on just as many pages. His prose isn’t that good, only his poems are worse, banal and cliched.

The main problem with this series is that the plot is fundamentally uninteresting. There’s a lot of melodrama, but little that advances the story. None of the characters develop significantly, and most of them are quite shallow. Katchoo and Francine are the only ones with somewhat believable personalities, but they are surrounded by empty caricatures. Freddie is the worst, but Mrs. Parker is just as flat, the former is very boring and uninteresting, the latter is not very believable. It's perfectly fine to have a series where women take the lead and men are hopeless fools, but in a series that aims for realism like this one, it all comes off as a bit too simplistic. It may have been refreshing in the 90s, it kind of still is, but the writing has to better.

[Askaso · Rating 3 out of 5]

Continúa la saga de Katchoo. Buena evolución visual.
La portada lo dice todo. El flequillo de Katchoo. Una constante visual un leitmotiv que nos arrastra por la historia. La evolución en la narrativa de Moore es sobresaliente. Ya no se restringe a la página para dotar de continuidad visual a la historia. La exploración de las emociones de los héroes es grandiosa y los efectos sonoros y la construcción de las escenas es genial.
Problema: que de guión sigue estando bajo. En el V1 iba con mucho hype y me encontré un culebronaco con escenas y personajes que a día de hoy no sonrojarían a nadie. Otro gallo cantó cuando se publicó. En esta entrega nos explican la rocambólica (gran personaje Rocambolio) vida de Katchoo y nos enredan la madeja de la sitcom en nuestra cara para forjar unas tramas de las que ir tirando historias. No todo va a ser apartamento para tres.
Con respecto a las relaciones entre los tres héroes... Ni oculta ni muestra protagónicamente los asuntos de género. Quizás en el primer volumen me pareció mal por el hype feminista que arrastraba. En este, sin expectativas, me lo he pasado bastante bien.
Si te has leído el anterior este deberías leerlo. Recomendable. Si el guión es algo más entretenido...

[James Hamill · Rating 4 out of 5]

WOW. This was a good time and a "goodread". The women are messy and complex as any REAL woman is. "Wow! Real complex women? In comics!? Written by a MAN!?!?" As far as men go, Terry Moore sets the bar for writing characters who are women. It's disappointing that it took men until Neil Gaiman and Terry Moore to do a decent job at writing female characters. Which isn't true the other way around. Women, seemingly have always been good, if not great, at writing male characters. It just goes to show how far men still have to go in our understanding of the opposite sex, something Terry Moore hits on in his afterword.

If you stumble across any Strangers in Paradise, I highly recommend picking it up, especially if you are a man. Who knows! You may learn something about women.

[Rick Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a solid follow up to Vol. 1. The second volume spends most of its time developing Katchoo's character and delving into her tragic backstory. Simultaneously, we get a further exploration of the Katchoo-Francine-David love triangle, which makes up the more slice-of-life beats of the story. However, we are also introduced to the Parker Girls, a criminal element that adds another layer to Strangers in Paradise. The storytelling isn't as neat as it was in Vol. 1, but I think that's part of the growing pains necessary to develop a multi-arc long epic. Looking forward to reading more.

[Matt Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s been a long time since I read this volume of SiP and it has lost none of its brilliance.

The broad humour of the first volume is dialled right back to make place for a much darker, more intricate story that somehow still keeps the relationships between the characters at the fore - honestly the pace and plotting here is pretty much perfect.

This was probably one of the first books I read that wasn’t of the superhero genre, and with the combination of prose, poetry, and wonderfully expressive art - I can’t begin to say how much this affected and influenced me back in the day.

A worthy read that I would always recommend to anyone looking for an entry point into reading comic books.

[Frank · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice and slickly attractive art work, but the story just gets stupid. From the days when authors seemed to know no other way of imagining a "strong woman" than picturing her as someone with a past as a high class hooker cum assassin. (Sadly, those days haven't quite past yet.) Really, who cares. And what's with the drawing out of scenes, and the obsession with cliff hangers.
Really, American comics...

[Greg Kerestan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first three-issue volume of "Strangers in Paradise" was charming. The second nine-issue volume is AMAZING. Terry Moore moves beyond the semi-satirical dramedy of the first incarnation of the series, wrapping in the crime, psychological and magic-realist elements that will define the rest of the series. This feels like the best first season of an HBO show that was never made.

[Joseph Spuckler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know why but I do
Dream of you
losing you
I still dream of you

Is it the same way for you ?
Doesn't hi and goodbye
sound so cruel?
How can I take my heart
from you
Even tho' I'm losing you

I still dream of you

I don't know why but I do
Dream of you
losing you
I still dream of you

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s good to know that in a pandemic wreaking all manner of havoc on my mental health, all it really takes to cheer me up is rereading SIP. It’s been so many years since I picked this up but apparently I’m never getting over it. This is the volume where the book really comes into its own and I find few things more comforting than Katchoo, Francine and David together!

[Howell Murray · Rating 3 out of 5]

A character-driven tale about a love triangle with two women and a man that it is hard to believe was written by a man. A little outside my comfort zone, but the art is good and there is a suspense and danger part that makes it even more interesting and complex.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dark pasts. Secrets untold. Unbreakable bonds. The three D's, Drama, Death and Deceit. And I might add that Tambi terrifies me. I read this graphic novel before reading the first so I will have to look into finding a copy so I can play catch up.

[Sandra Lopez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Something’s bothering Katchoo, but we don’t know what. I wish I could’ve understood more of what was going on. What was with all the violence? I mean, the girl’s a real a-kicker, but geez! Nice art work with good angles. A pretty nice read.

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really drawn to these characters, and you learn so much about them here, and their abilities, and the depths of their friendships, which are severely tested.

[La Biblio Geek · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5 *

[Zec · Rating 4 out of 5]

An absorbing combination of drama and comedy. The story is a little more over the top than I expected from a slice of life comic but it was entertaining and gripping.

[Esha Nas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like a movie.

[Chris Simerly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great stuff by Terry Moore!!! Leaves you on a cliff hanger! A must read!

[MusokaSakebi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rispetto al primo mi ha lasciato meno colpita, per questo ho tolto 1 stella... non c'è un evento "wow" che ti colpisce in modo positivo

[Will Fenton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gets a bit fantastical, but really still just tremendous!