'Transposes' by Dylan Edwards
Posted on 22. Jan, 2013 by Cathy Camper in Comics, Illustrated
http://www.lambdaliterary.org/reviews/comic/01/22/transposes-by-dylan-edwards/One of the many difficulties for transgender or gender non-conforming folk is to get an overview of what transgender life is like, and most importantly, what a typical transgender life can be. Until fairly recently, most transgender biographies have been hidden, whispered about, or recorded as oddities. And the CIS world has not been welcoming, treating trans* identity as a medical or psychological abnormality, instead of one of many normal progressions to finding one's self.
A major step to breaking down closet doors is to provide venues for trans* people to see themselves. Edward's graphic novel does just that; focusing on the stories of six queer transmen. Edwards explains in his introduction that these stories are based on interviews he conducted with the principal characters, sometimes combining or altering them slightly to dramatize them for comics. He also states that the book isn't about answering "those questions" strangers feel entitled to ask. It's about the individuals who used the mediums of their lives to define what it means to be a FTM transperson.
