Review by Booklist Review
Despite the vague tone of the book's title, Kirby's unmistakably committed dedication promises quite the love story: "For John / I'd still marry you a lot." On October 3, 2013, Kirby legally wed his longtime partner--they'd been together by then for over a decade. They were in their 50s when their home state of Minnesota decided "same-sex couples could get (gay) married." While Kirby confesses he doesn't "even remember when exactly how or when we decided to 'do it,'" the happy couple did indeed don "business casual with a touch of retro flair," gather a few closest friends and family for the courthouse event, then celebrate at a favorite restaurant with more friends and family, complete with complementary playlist and wine pairings. Adroitly interwoven into the couple's meet-cute, stay-cute love story is an affecting history of the (non)legality of LBGTQIA+ unions. "Looks like we got a happy ending," Kirby writes--that is, until the 2016 election brings public and personal gloom and even doom. Yet life--and blessings--continue on. Drawn in black-and-white with artfully enhancing overlaid washes in one or multiple colors, Kirby's layouts vary--paneled and not; text inside and outside the lines; single-page images both boxed and floating--as if emphasizing life's unpredictability: "Who knows what this could turn into," Kirby's final text bubble muses.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Ignatz winner Kirby (Curbside Boys) explores his decision to marry his husband in this touching and timely graphic memoir. In 2013, shortly after Minnesota legalized gay marriage, 51-year-old Kirby wed his partner of 10 years, 54-year-old John. He wrestles with how much of a production to make the event, confessing with Midwestern modesty that he didn't consider the trappings of marriage much before it was a possibility--and hedges about embracing such a conventional norm. After their moving, low-key ceremony, Kirby skips forward to 2016, when Trump's election reignites threats to LGBTQ rights. Combining his personal story with historical moments such as the 1971 marriage of gay couple Jack Baker and Michael McConnell in Minneapolis, pop culture depictions of coupledom (with a charming illustrated wedding playlist), and the angst of contemporary politics, Kirby effectively conveys the quiet power in recognizing same-sex marriage and everyday love. Kirby's cartoonish, crisp, and affable character drawings glimmer with personality in panels speckled in blue and red color pencil smudges. Readers may struggle in sections to parse what the colors are coding, and they occasionally morph into symbols, but more often they simply suffuse the artwork with buzzing emotions. Emotions, even complicated ambivalent ones, are the pulse of this meditative work. It's also a refreshing celebration of partnership thriving in midlife. This intimate and urgent exploration of what marriage means perfectly argues how the personal is profoundly political. (Feb.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A personal look at same-sex marriage from an award-winning comics creator. Like his colleague Alison Bechdel, Kirby had a long-running series syndicated in the gay and alternative press; this is his debut memoir. In 2013, not long after same-sex marriage was legalized in their home state of Minnesota, Kirby and his partner of 10 years, John, tied the knot at the "very romantic" Hennepin County courthouse. However, "being white, middle class, & male afford[ed] John & me the privilege to ramble on about being 'of two minds' and 'ambivalent' about this marriage process," he notes, and puckishly details all the phases of the wedding, from issuing email announcements ("remember Earthlink?") to suit selection ("business casual with a touch of retro flair") to choosing the wine for the reception. Alongside their story, the text includes a recap of same-sex marriage politics, including California's Proposition 8 and the 2015 Supreme Court decision to affirm the right to same-sex marriage; a guide to wedding-related pop songs and big- and small-screen nuptials; and, quite endearingly, a subplot concerning the couple's beloved dog. The narrative continues through several dark recent turns of events, including the tumult of the Trump years and the pandemic as well as the currently simmering threat to marriage equality. The author supports the easygoing tone of the political content with an interesting graphic choice: The text and drawings are black-and-white with accents of red and blue; hazy red and blue spots float through the panels in a way that seems to suggest the increasingly divided partisan ambience of the country. Near the end, the author sums up the narrative: "Our life together: a mix of little stuff and big stuff, arguments and heart-to-hearts, personal quirks and private jokes, doubts and commitments, work and play, joy and grief…day-to-day life stacking up into years gone by." Panel by panel, this graphic memoir is wry, intelligent, compelling, and adorable. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
