Cyclopedia Exotica

It makes sense that Cyclopedia Exotica got its start as a serialized Instagram comic. Every so often you get a quick four panel set-up and punchline, but it's at its best when it gets to stretch its legs and tell a story. Across a large ensemble it speaks to microaggressions, tokenization, self-loathing, and marginalization with cyclops as a clear stand-in for the other. But there's also stuff here about finding love, as well as worries about selling out, growing up and settling down. I'm not sure I need to know that male cyclops have two-pronged penises and that female cyclops have 3 vaginas which leads to (naturally) a second womb where a not-twin baby will grow simultaneously in embryonic diapause. I get it, they're different - they're cyclops! And yes, many a set-up and punchline fall flat and feel obvious, but on the whole the work is still a light distraction that never takes itself too seriously while poking at often serious topics.

Sharp and silly and sweet and wholesome and funny. As with Woman World, author/illustrator seems to enjoy straddling that line between pointing out how harmful generalizations are when discussing minorities as a monolith, and then turning around and playing into stereotypes for the joke. Pointing out how ridiculous prejudice is? Does also show clear, direct examples of racism experienced, amidst full lives of characters.  Love bonus insight into characters' development included at the back.