Stray

by Molly Mendoza

Stray follows Jack, a chaotic romantic spiraling into disaster desperately seeking comfort in others while ignoring their own destructive tendencies. While thoroughly hung up on the past, Jack meets Stray and their whole world changes. Tender and sensual, lush and palpable, Stray ushers in a new era of cartoonist Molly Mendoza’s wholehearted approach to making comics and telling stories. For readers 16+.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Queer, Sequential Art, LGBT, Graphic Novels Comics

52 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2022

About the author

Molly Mendoza explores the complexities of interpersonal relationships and strives to portray those feelings that we just can't shake through their work. From fiery anger to the roar of joy, they depict emotions through mark and color. Her practice over time has expanded into comics, editorial work, painting, and murals.
Shas a BFA from the Pacific Northwest College of Art and is a recipient of the RockStar Games Award from the 2015 Society of Illustrators Student Competition. Her first graphic novel, Skip, was published in 2019.
When Molly isn't telling stories or drawing big tears, she is probably hanging out with her cat, Doodle. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

Reviews

[Maia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful, mysterious, fluid in a way that makes a story summary difficult.

[Loria · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful albeit all too brief graphic novel - I initially picked it up last year with several small such books but thought it might be a good way to spring into 2023. The art is beautiful and warm, the characters relatable in ways I can’t really elaborate here. I found it touching and as stated by the author - “if you stray away, know someone is always waiting for you, waiting for when you’re ready to try again.”

[Maya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a sweet if very short story that I read through on a slow day at work. Jack is a character going through a lot of self-hatred and emotional turmoil over getting older that manifests as unstable relationships and lack of commitment because they feel incapable of offering those things to others despite wanting to be close with them. The character didn’t particularly grab me and there wasn’t much in the way of plot, but I do like their emotional arc and how taking in a stray cat is used as a symbol for finding unconditional love right when you need it most.

As for the art, I have a lot to say! First, I am SEETHINGLY jealous of Molly Mendoza’s fluid line work and use of light and color. I am always a fan of the choice to color code both text and art to indicate a POV change. I am even more of a fan of of abstract uses of color to show emotional intensity and quality. Everything feels so rich and sensual, very tangible despite the abstract quality. I am a big fan of Mendoza as an artist and would definitely be interested in reading more of her comics.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous. have u ever SEEN a color??? not till youve read THIS u havent

[Leo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked Mendoza's art style and heavy reliance on illustration to push the story along. I think I took in the surrealist aspect of the character Stray too literally, though I don't know what else to make of them. I understood the general plot, Jack really needs to seek therapy or at the very least a reality check. However, Stray, their make believe(?) partner really confused me for some reason. Still I liked the story, and maybe if I read it again I'll understand Stray better.

[drown_like_its_1999 · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting abstract comic about a person dwelling over previous relationships, or possibly different versions of themself. It's a wistful mourning of those intoxicating and exciting early stages of falling for someone that linger in your mind long after the relationship is over. Moreover, it's about how easy it is to give up and move on when things get complicated and how you often feel like different people trapped in one body who all want different, conflicting things.

Some surprisingly unconventional storytelling here, especially in contrast to how straightforward and widely appealing Skip was. The characterization especially so, as many of the characters morph into each other and appear to both be parts of the same person and romantic interests of each other. I wasn't as grabbed by the narrative as much while reading as I'm now while ruminating over it, so hard to tell exactly how much I like it but its more complex and adult sensibility was a nice change of pace from Skip.

Artistically, the book is also quite different from that other aforementioned Mendoza book yet still gorgeous. Line work is much thinner, coloration is more washed out, and the layouts are *slightly* less fluid but all of these things serve to make the book stand out even more from Skip. The way this book plays with light in particular is really eye catching, any scenes with light peeking through blinds is just a feast visually.

[Chloe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mendoza's compositions and use of color are incredible as always.

[Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reminiscent of K Wroten's Everyone Sux But You or Nate Powell's solo work. Fluid artwork, deeply felt queer relationship drama, character designs and elements of magical realism that can make it hard to tell who's who. In Mendoza's defense, that's clearly one of the intentional themes of the story — abandoning gender binaries and merging with a partner, trying to find in others what one needs in oneself, treating a new partner like a replica of an old one, recognizing the commonalities between oneself and another as a path toward compassion for self and others.

And here Mendoza uses a simple, clever lettering technique that I'm not sure I've seen before, color-coding everyone's word balloons and dialogue. Just when we've gotten used to the protagonist Jack being black-on-orange while other characters are red-on-red or pink-on-pink, we meet Stray, who is black-on-blue. What does that imply? Is this the first person Jack's met who is fundamentally the same kind of person as them? Or Stray another manifestation of Jack's self? These formalist questions combine with the symbolic use of hair coloring and the black-cat motif into an allegorical stew that clearly holds deep meaning for the author — how much of it lands will vary from reader to reader. Still, just as in Mendoza's prior book Skip, some of the images here are absolute knockouts that should take anyone's breath away.

[spoon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is whatever -- kinda takes me back to figuring out how to read RAW comics and that era. The graphics are great, amazing. I was, however, really annoyed by the glossy comic book paper. The cover paper is beautiful but the paper for the stories -- idk I wanted some flat (not glossy), ink-really-soaks-in paper for some reason. I don't get (I mean I do but) why they/them = certain aesthetic = certain plots = certain character emotions. Not a problem in a single instance (like in this book), but I see it so often it feels cliche. Perhaps there are other stories to be told? Other characters under this moniker?

I feel like I should flip back through this and just look at images and not look at dialogue and I would like it more.

[dragonriderjinx · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️

Insanely good art omg and the story was p good as well! I wish we got just a little bit more bc the ended is so open ended, will Jack learn to love themself or will the pattern repeat? Learning to love yourself before somebody else is ideal, but not always realistic and am hoping for the best for Jack :,)

[Jake Nap · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful sort of abstract tale about being damaged and in love. It’s about the insecurity and anxiety of not knowing if you’re good enough. Emotionally potent, but since it’s so short I read it then reread it immediately. Really clicked on the second read.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frenetic, urgent, passionate art of messy young love (?) affairs. Sexy and tragic, just the way Jack wants to be seen. Addicted to the drama and the sorrow. Loved how the creation of the comic (storyboards, notes in margins) was baked into the story itself.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a gorgeous short comic. It's sad but hopeful, I could relate to the feelings of self-loathing and being a bit of a disaster 😅 But the art is the star here, the fluidity, the use of colour, it's stellar.

[Grace Romana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am awestruck and wish to stare lovingly at every panel until i fade away. Mendoza captures some sort of otherworldly ache in every moment of this story. Gorgeous

[KT]

ohhhhhh lovely lovely art

[✥ Simy · Rating 5 out of 5]

So so so beautiful, the art, the story. I loved this so much!

[mads · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 - ripped me open!!!! loved this way more than i thought i would.

illustrations were incredible and overall it was such an atmospheric, dreamy, heart-ache-y lil journey

[Cass · Rating 5 out of 5]

So beautiful and wonderfully intimate and the way the artist captures emotions is so ahhhhh. I adore this short story.

[King]

Of course it's absolutely beautiful and the story has all the right elements there but something was missing for me.

[Maurel G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely beautiful in every ways

[Alyssa Rogers-Garcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Visually stunning read that is a fleeting look at navigating connection while not comfortable in your own skin. Extremely tender, painfully relatable.

[catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

satosugu coded

[Edanur Kuntman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most beautiful art, every page looks gorgeous

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautiful!!!!

[Jenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

slow down ✋ give me a moment

[Bianca · Rating 5 out of 5]

can never get enough of molly's work in their unique way of combining color, shapes and storytelling! and this short graphic novel also includes a lot of cats! lovely and so uniquely molly mendoza

[M Aghazarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really beautiful art

[Lacrimosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stunning art with a beautiful story about heartache and learning to be kinder to yourself. Could get a little confusing at points but overall coherent and lovely.