Oni Press has announced a romantic comedy of a different breed — My Boyfriend is a Bear, by Pamela Ribon and Cat Farris. Fed up with the dating scene, Nora starts dating a 500-pound American black bear. Comedy ensues.
“The comics market right now has a lot of very dark, serious stories,” Farris said in a press release. “I’m really excited to help put a story out there that is silly and sweet. Something that hopefully makes people smile. It’s not every day you get to sell people a book about a girl dating a literal bear, and I hope folks are as charmed by this story as I have been while working on it.”
I think what I like most about the preview pages is that the bear can’t talk, which just makes the situation funnier. Also the Arcade Fire shirt. The release says this is Ribon’s first graphic novel, but it isn’t her first comic, as she wrote SLAM! for BOOM!. She’s also a screenwriter, having worked on Moana and Smurfs: The Lost Village. Farris is the creator of The Last Diplomat webcomic and worked on Dark Horse’s Emily and the Strangers.
“I love how comics can shift from big moments to small,” Ribon said in the release “There’s a wonderful intimacy with the reader that allows for sweetness, surprise and depth of honesty at an immediate, visceral level.”
The publisher’s description and some preview pages can be found below. It won’t be out until April of next year.
(W) Pamela Ribon
(A/C/CA) Cat Farris
ISBN: 978-1-62010-487-3
In Stores: April 2018
Age Rating: Teen, 16+
Genre: Romantic comedy
Price: $19.99
Page Count: 176Nora has bad luck with men. When she meets an (actual) bear on a hike in the Los Angeles hills, he turns out to be the best romantic partner she’s ever had! He’s considerate, he’s sweet, he takes care of her. But he’s a bear, and winning over her friends and family is difficult. Not to mention he has to hibernate all winter. Can true love conquer all?
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