Crossplay

by Niki Smith

Overview

Close friends and new acquaintances at an anime convention confront their crushes, challenge their hang-ups, and question their once-comfortable identities in this erotic graphic novel about discovering who you’re meant to truly be and who you’re meant to love. The debut graphic novel of creator Niki Smith, cartoonist and Smut Peddler contributor.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781945820144
Publisher:	Iron Circus Comics
Publication date:	05/01/2018
Pages:	144
Sales rank:	952,374
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.12(h) x (d)

About the Author

Niki Smith is a creator of fine comics (and some pretty trashy ones too). Since 2010, her erotic comics have been published through FilthyFigments.com, a collective of women and non-binary cartoonists dedicated to making naughty comics that everyone can see themselves in. An American artist who now calls Germany home, Niki lives in Munich with her wife. Her work can be found at http://niki-smith.com.

Editorial Reviews

★ 03/05/2018
Smut Peddler anthology alumna Smith presents an erotic graphic novel that’s touching in every sense of the word. A group of old friends reunite at a comics and anime convention for a weekend of cosplay and geeking out, but fate has more in store for some of them. Smith displays an impressive economy of storytelling as she flits around each plot thread, allowing brief but enticing glimpses of a wide array of characters. In one luscious scene in particular, a quiet almost-threesome is punctuated by the sharp clicking of a camera. But what makes this collection of hot encounters exceptional is the book’s honest emotional core: Smith explores the pain of growing into a new identity: while cosplayer Emi struggles with a crush on her presumed straight best friend Priya, Jillian grapples with both a broken arm and gender dysphoria. “What else is fandom for, if not to turn everyone totally gay?” smirks one character, speaking plainly on Smith’s behalf—nothing and nobody in the book can be definitely identified as “straight,” and therein lies its label-defying beauty. Smith has crafted a love letter not merely to cosplay, but to healing, self-love, and acceptance. (May)

Publishers Weekly

★ 04/01/2018
"Crossplay" refers to cosplayers dressing as the other gender and here includes romantic possibilities. At Megacon, a group of cosplayer friends enlarge on their costumed roles to explore whom they might love and who they might be. When photographer Priya becomes attracted to Alexis, a young woman cosplaying a hot guy, Priya comes to recognize her same-sex attraction to Emi, who's had a crush on her. The engaged heterosexuals Tommy and Sierra—who also cosplays as a male—incorporate the gender switch into amatory games. Another M/F couple cosplaying lesbian lovers pursues intimacy while costumed. Lee, transitioning to male in real life, gets teased genially about their (Lee's preferred pronoun) deepening voice and gives a helping hand to Jillian in using a chest binder to appear male and in experimenting with her sexuality. Smith (contributor, Smut Peddler anthologies) works in a lovely manga-like style using black plus tones of rose: hot pink to the palest blush. VERDICT While appealing as sexually explicit romance, the rather spare story also models kindness and candidness in talking about love and sex. For adult manga fans welcoming erotic elements.—MC

Library Journal