MariNaomi avoids going the “woe is me” route while telling stories of her romantic life experiences. Instead, she looks at the humorous and absurd side of love and relationships all the way from kindergarten to present day. The innocence of first kisses, awkward teenage sexual experiences and post 9-11 hippy boyfriends are all covered in the 20 pages that make up the first half of this issue. While she focuses more on the let downs she’s had to endure, you get the feeling that she’s laughing at most of these experiences with you. The second part of the issue focuses on the Diane Whipple dog-mauling story from 2001. To wit, in January of that year a young woman was mauled in the hallway of her building in a high income San Francisco neighbourhood by two out of control Presa Canario dogs owned by a lawyer couple who lived there as well. The story, as written by Shannon O’Leary, tells of the truly bizarre goings on that led to this couple owning the dogs and what a pair of screwed up individuals they were. As the adage goes, sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. All said, Estrus comics is a fun, well told comic. The art is simple and childlike, similar to what Fly or Aline Crumb have done in the past. It’s a bit rough around the edges, but it works with the stories it tells. (Matthew Daley)
42 B&W pgs Marinomi: P.O Box 640811, San Francisco, CA 94164-0811 marinaomi.com