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A thick read, I picked up this urban fantasy title as part of trying to read more books from the middle east for reasons I hope are pretty obvious. My goal is to post in the comments a list of my reviews so far in this TBR.

Content notes for loss of limbs, smoking, imprisonment, harm to children/death of children, spousal abuse, and needles.

Leaning into the fact that it was originally written in Arabic, much like most manga these days Shubeik Lubeik is read (even in this English edition) from right to left.

Keywords that came to mind reading this volume: speculative, urban fantasy, alternative presents, philosophy, family, and education.

Looking at their website's about page, Mohamed was inspired to write this comic by their undergraduate thesis that involved them researching the history of Egyptian comics. They've also been working for a while on a superhero webcomic titled Qahera that definitely sounded very interesting.

Flipping through the artwork, I was really impressed with the carefully curated variety of color selection and styles. Every choice building up the story more and more until it basically jumped off the page. Another one of those comics that is a bit of a master class on visual communication honestly. Mohamed also integrates a large selection of infographs that build up the story in some very creative ways.

The writing was also super interesting and unlike anything else I had really read before (as far as my poor muddled brain can remember anyway lol). Practically an undergraduate thesis on wishes honestly. aka a deeply thought out speculative look at what the world might look like if wishes were real. Taking into consideration the implications of class, disability, gender, sexuality and race. We watch as international treaties and local laws develop around wishes and we follow a number of characters who end up being criminalized in relation to wishes. A very philosophical comic, Mohamed also seamlessly integrates characters speaking a number of different languages; religion of the Islamic and Christian variety were highlighted in ways I don't usually expect in my comics consumption and must grapple with the implications of wishes; Shubeik Lubeik features a wide variety of grumpy but endearing elder characters. Which was also nice.

Wrapping things up, I would rate this book five out of five stars and generally highly recommend. Despite how grimly the story gets at point I will say I was pretty amused by how things wrapped up at the end.

A largely wordless comic, it was almost to the point where I wasn't sure if this could count as a translated work, but there are a few more word heavy sections in this originally French comic so we are good.The art is certainly an incredibly strong part of the book. Colourful and dynamic, a lot is communicated through very few words. There's vintage feel that I can't quite outline. Gender was something that bothered me a bit for the first half of the book. Spoiler alert, this plot involves Betty being persecuted for not having two breasts before transitioning to how Betty discovers a better life in a new crowd. The first part just dragged on much longer then I thought was necessary and it was honestly a bit hard to follow everyone's obsession with breasts = women not knowing what would happen next. Of course once things turn around and the creators let Betty find acceptance and celebration for her less then "perfect" body I was a lot more comfortable, although I could see it still not being super fun for many. The book also includes a lot of playful and often none-sexual nudity, which is a huge plus. In the later part of the book we pass through a metaphorical vale and things become much more diverse when it comes to gender expression and sexuality. There was a bit more race diversity, but in the crowds of extras there was only a dash so I feel like there could have been more pretty easily. The one note I would say about the apparent queerness at the end of the book, is that since Betty appears to remain pretty cis and straight otherwise, it could be seen as kind of the gay best friend sort of dealio. Queerness to the service of making straight and CIS white women feel good. I felt like the very strong contrast between before and after, combined with the total celebration of queerness two thirds of the way in, left me feeling pretty positive about the representation. It being a wordless comic, we don't get much traditional character development of anyone, except maybe Betty herself. But I would be interested in how y'all feel. It's not going into my next A to Z of queer lit video for sure. Class was erased in this book and money never comes up. People are just magically able to live fairly comfortable middle class lives. As far as ability vs disability, while my understanding of the term doesn't seem to indicate that Betty is disabled, the book is exploring what happens when certain bodies are less then perfect. Ability and sexuality are often tied together in ways that are pretty toxic and I would say this is a nice push back against that. Reading this book digitally probably also made the first part feel longer, as I had no idea how far I was through the book at any given time. But it ended up being pretty fun and something I could see many people enjoying. The way the story is communicated mostly sans word was beautiful and so very playful. Four out of five stars.

2017 review: A really surprising reread, most of the most unique and edifying aspects of this volume 1 flew right over my head the first time around. That is not to say that I don't think this story could be enjoyed by none SJW's like myself, but rather that at that particular moment I was feeling incredibly anti-romance because of some friends telling me that this was intellectually a better relationship then Twilight. Unfortunately, while I was mostly over any interest I had ever had in Twilight, I had not yet developed the vocabulary and maturity to see what they were talking about. So I was feeling kind of stupid and defensive as a result.

At least that is what I seem to recall happening, but it is all rather fuzzy.

Otherwise, I think the relationship in this volume is a good example of one of the ways in which a romance can eliminate a lot of problems around consent, manipulation, and having romantic interest save the damsel from her own boringness, without necessarily sacrificing all titillation as a result.

While Kazehaya certainly helps draw Sawako out of her shell, he seems to be doing so purely out of the fact that he genuinely likes her and wants her to be more appreciated by their classmates. Unlike in my very guilty pleasure, Paradise Kiss, Kazehaya is not spending a lot of time using Sawako's attraction to him against her. The two are very equal and have a lot of mutual admiration for one another. Not only that, but Kazehaya does not seem particularly bent on having Sawako all to himself, in a lot of highly manipulative romance novels the main romantic interest is highly jealous and possessive of the heroin (because we readers have low self-esteem) which feels like it steps beyond harmless fantasy into perpetuating toxic masculinity.

The only real issue I had with the story is that the text was pretty hard to follow at different points. Despite this relatively small, if persistent, flaw, I have put in a request for the next few volumes and look forward to getting through them as soon as possible.