Circles, Volume 1: It Seems Like I've Been Here Before

Circles #1

by Steve Domanski, Andrew French, Scott Fabianek (Illustrator)

6 Kinsey Circle has a very unusual family... Join patriarch Paulie, his husband Douglas, college kid Marty, actor Taye, gigalo Ken, and artist Arthur for a look at life... slightly bent.

Based in Boston, Massachusetts from Winter 2000 to Winter 2001, the Circles house has its own special slice of life. Watch Marty and Taye fall in love, Ken learn a bit about relationships, and Doug learn to deal with the ghosts of his past which he's imagined up for himself.

Issue #1 sold out in record time, and issues 2-4 are getting rare. Volume One covers issues 0 through 4 and includes the color covers of each on the back cover.

174 pages. By Scott Fabianek, Andrew French, and Steve Domanski with additional work by Chris Goodwin, Margaret Petrie, and 'T.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics

174 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Blake · Rating 4 out of 5]

A slice of life comic created out of the furry subculture with a cast of resonant characters and a very distinct visual style. There doesn't seem to be much of a premise on Amazon, so I'll summarize:

The series is centered around a group of gay men renting a rather large house together. Three of them are younger: Marty (a college student and the newest resident) is a bit introverted, Taye (Marty's love interest in the series) is an up-and-coming theater performer, Ken is a professional male model and unrepentant sexual adventurer. Also in the house are the tenants of an older generation: Paulie is a brisk fatherly type and owner of the house whose journal entries bookend each installment as he tries to come to terms with a life living with AIDS, while his lover, Douglas (a CPA), and their old friend Arthur (a painter) are both tormented by their own sense of guilt at Paulie's condition.

This collected anthology combines the first four issues, along with a "trailer issue" that was originally released online to drum up some interest before the comics' release. (There are currently eight issues available through Rabbit Valley comics, but the latter four have not yet been collected in an anthology and the series has not seen another new issue in quite some time.) One of the most striking things I found about this comic was that the characters were so heartfelt and fleshed out. With a harsh, critical eye, I can say that the comic does occasionally stray into the realms of wish fulfillment and romantic drama, but the characters always seem to ring true throughout the series.

I highly recommend this comic as a fine piece of storytelling with some compelling characters that still manage to find those last warm embers within the cockles of my heart of coal.

[Joaquín Baldwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A not really furry furry comic, it's a human story, simple, touching, and well told. The art and style evolves through the issues, it improves through it and so improves the writing. Worth reading as a whole (including the last issue which is in an illustrated novel form), it's a short and strong series.

[Doc Kinne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't say enough about this story. Many of us now older folks came out to "Tales of the City." This, wonderfully, is that for this century.

[Altivo Overo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actually a second reading, but apparently I never reviewed it the first time. As I've said in the past, I'm not much of a comic aficionado. However, this title is well worth a visit. Furry fans will enjoy the art for its own sake. LGBTQ folk and their friends will enjoy the coming out stories and the characters (who are quite diverse but all realistic in my experience.) The story lines are coherent and interlinked, with this volume containing but the first four issues of the comic. The entire saga is complete in 12 issues now, and the other two collection volumes are also available.

Some of the themes are mature, but nothing graphic is shown or discussed so this is suitable for high school age readers in my opinion.

[Mykell Bluesetone · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading this graphic novel, I understand why it's a furry classic. While some moments do date the story a bit, the major themes are timeless. Immerse yourself in the lives of this found-family cohort, and I promise at least one of their diverse stories and struggles will speak to you.

[Ruby Mae · Rating 4 out of 5]

read this graphic novel for class and was pleasantly surprised with how engaging and empathetic the character were going in with no prior knowledge, my only critique would be at times the character designs would blend together, especially without guiding hints like coloration.

[Ruby · Rating 4 out of 5]

read this graphic novel for class and was pleasantly surprised with how engaging and empathetic the character were going in with no prior knowledge, my only critique would be at times the character designs would blend together, especially without guiding hints like coloration.

[Michael Miele · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely heartfelt emotional arcs and relatable characters make this a really great introduction to the series. Eagerly awaiting my copies of the next few volumes to come in.

[Kaoru · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually this shouldn't work at all. The six main characters are a collection of gay archetypes which are so "archetypy" that they're downright cliches. You've got the sexual adventurer, the shy cute guy, the one who has AIDS... and so on. Once you see them being introduced you can pretty much guess in which direction everyone's storyline is going, they're really that obvious. I mean, they're honestly living in a place that has the address "6 Kinsey Circle". For real. This is the level of subtlety you're dealing with here! And then there's the issue of "Characters that just happen to have an animal head", which is a bit of a pet peeve of mine. Never is there any reference found in the dialogue that they're all anthropomorphic animals, and you never find a reason for why they all are (Well, apart from "Because it was the writer's decision!"). The story still would have been the very same had they all been humans. Or Martians, for that matter. Or even talking trashcans.

And yet.

As cliched and "tropy" the characters and stories are, they're actually written quite well. It's the endearing dialogue that prevents the whole thing from ever descending into soap opera level and keeping it unexpectedly naturalistic and even a little true. So instead of thinking "Isn't this a bit trite?" you're going "Now, isn't this sweet?", and you're absorbed into the whole thing before you even know, turning one page after another.

The key moment that really won me over however was when Ken, the one night stand surfer, checked his answerphone and casually going through all the messages by people who took the shared night for more than it was to him, barely even registering what they're saying. Technically this should make him unlikeable, but somehow the writing makes sure that this isn't happening. You get the impression that you're being presented with his major flaw, not with a reason to hate him. Especially with an issue like this it's an effect that is quite hard to pull off.

If there's one thing I would hold against "Circles" then it's the visual presentation. Backgrounds are scarcely few and most of the time the characters just stand around in white voids. And I would have preferred full speech bubbles than just tiny fields of text with a line attached to it that point toward a character's head.

And the "They're animals for no other reason than Because!"-thing? Well, I let it slide, just for this once.

[Andres Halden · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's weird re-reading a comic you first bought in 2006 and realizing it feels even MORE like a period piece than it did then. Which I suppose is a good thing, since the world has changed for the better.