MOSSDASH

by Apila Pepita Miettinen

MOSSDASH tells the story of Moss, a homeless non-binary transperson who is collecting money for a mysterious Space Rocket by selling sex to people they meet on online dating sites. MOSSDASH was created as part of Lilies of the Streets project which is an international art project aiming to tell the stories of people involved in prostitution. Made possible by grants from Nordic Culture Point and Lithuanian Council for Culture.

Genres: Comics, Queer, Finnish Literature, Fiction, LGBT, Graphic Novels Comics, Young Adult

128 pages, Paperback

First published September 3, 2016

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tää oli hieno. Pituuttaan syvempi, kiitos upean ja runsaan kuvituksen.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nopealukuinen kahdesta transprostituoidusta kertova sarjakuva, joka käsittelee tärkeitä aiheita ja destigmatisoi seksityötä.

[Spidermonkey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting comic about sex work but it also dealt with other important themes such as gender minorities, homeless youth and substance abuse. I also liked the art style, it was suitable to the story.

[Pinja · Rating 3 out of 5]

rankkoja aiheita, herätti tunteita

[Siina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mossdash is a solid 3.5 stars, but sadly so here half stars don't work - this is surely more than three by far. The comic tells tells the story of Moss, who's homeless and without a job until prostitution comes into the picture. Moss doesn't identify with female or male, but is somewhere in between, and the contrast between how Moss normally looks and the outfit on is surely a interesting play with gender. Moss' friend Petra then wishes to be a woman, but is still on their way from Petri to Petra - the same thing with Moss actually in a sense. Money is needed if you want to look how you feel. The story is heartbreaking and at the same time a fight for things you believe in and making ends meet to get those things. Mossdash is an important comic about difficulties and people taking advantage or not understanding them, because they've never felt anything alike. The plot works well and is coherent. My only concern is that there's a bit too much in the comic, which even Apila admits. It's not necessarily that some of it would need to be cut out, but more or so I wish there had been more pages to give all these happenings more space they surely deserve.

The art is interesting too and there's a hint of Robert Crumb in it, which I enjoyed. The noir-like art fit with the story line well and the black areas made it even more suffocating and grave, which was awesome. One page is a panel mostly and that was a good call. This breathes air into the story and makes it possible to have detailed pictures and backgrounds instead of just talking heads. I liked that Apila decided to use not too many words, but instead moves the story with their art. Since the comic is a part of collection, I can understand why the language is English, but somehow Finnish would've been more efficient, since our language has more nuances and depth for a story like this. Also, the English here is a bit stiff. It's not grammatically incorrect, but feels slightly off as in native people wouldn't use expressions and style like this when speaking. The language is bare and very objective, which eats the feeling of the story. I'm very happy we have comics like Mossdash in Finland, since important topics such as this shouldn't be hidden and what could be better than comics, when you can put all these in pictures and words - the magnificent combination of everything that is comics? I will surely present this to readers!

[Mima · Rating 4 out of 5]

Olen ihaillut Apila Pepitan taidetta jo jonkin aikaa, erityisesti hänen fantasiakuvitustaan sekä hienoja tatuointikuvia. "Mossdash" on hänen ensimmäinen täyspitkä sarkakuva-albuminsa ja upea sellainen! Tarina on rosoinen ja ahdistava tarina jossa kaksi ystävystä kohtaavat seksityön vaaralliset ja ahdistavat puolet. Päähenkilö Moss on muunsukupuolinen joka seksityöllään säästää rahaa "Avaruusraketti"-projektiinsa. Hän on ollut koditon jo jonkin aikaa ja satunnainen yöpaikka päättyy katastrofiin. Onneksi hän löytää turvallisen paikan ja vie sinne mukanaan ystävänsä joka on joutunut pahoinpidellyksi vuokraisäntänsä toimesta.
Kirjan hahmot tulevat lukijan iholle suruineen ja murheineen mutta kirjailija ei osoittele vaan näyttää ja antaa lukijan pohdittavaksi vaikeitakin asioita. Seksityötä ei kauhistella eikä näitä kahta niputeta "vain seksityöläisiksi" vaan heillä on omat persoonansa ja elämänsä työn ulkopuolella. Olisin toivonut että tämä olisi ollut hieman pidempi mutta nyt oli näin. Kirja on osa kansainvälistä "Lilies of the street"-projektia jossa ääneen pääsevät henkilöt joita seksityö jollain tavalla koskettaa.

[Mega Capybara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nicely executed punk-style illustrations. Sentiment of book is nice, but the story and especially the dialogue is REALLY cliche and wooden.

When talking about her transphobic mother misgendering them on a phone call, a character says "It's okay, She just doesn't accept it yet. Maybe one day she will... I don't like being misgendered by her all the time." This is a textbook example of comic writing redundancy- having the text state something the reader obviously already knows. The expressions of the characters and the situation itself would lead any intelligent person to know what the text says. Plus, it's just very wooden and too on the nose.

The whole book is written like this. Just very bereft of affectation and stiff. English might not be the writers first language, but even then this book is wordy and basic.

[Samu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tämä herätti monenlaisia tunteita. En tiedä oikein, miten tällaista teosta, joka tulee näin iholle, oikein edes arvioisi. Todella hyvä sarjakuva transihmisyydestä, kodittomuudesta, toivosta ja sen puutteesta. Ja ystävyydestä, ja siitä miten ihmeellisistä paikoista sitä aina joskus löytää. Spontaani nauru, kun tajusin, mistä avaruusraketissa on kyse, lähinnä koska duh, miten en tajunnut aiemmin. Tämä on tavallaan todella karu ja kamala kirja, mutta siitä tuli jotenkin todella hyvä mieli myös.

[Kalle Id · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goodness, what to say about this. I liked it, it made me think. The story is good, touching and it made me think (also about my own reactions). The author's art style suits the story perfectly; there is something slightly off in the way they draw their characters – in another setting, I might find this annoying, but here it just work perfectly.

[Anna Reta Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nopealukuinen mutta aiheeltaan rankka sarjakuva.

[Frida · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powerful and evocative.

[iltatee · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars