Book-A-Day 2014 #67: Menage a 3, Vol. 3 by Gisele Lagace & David Lumsdon

My original plan was to review the first three volumes I have on hand reprinting this webcomic -- each one represents roughly one year, summer to summer, since the strip started in 2008, plus some extras not available for free online -- in one post, since I don't think I have three posts' worth of commentary on the three books. But I threw the first volume in as Day 29, and then the second one as Day 65, so that plan is clearly no longer operative.

But that does leave me here, trying to post about the third year of a sex-farce webcomic -- which may partially explain why this book is being buried on a Sunday. (An addition reason for brevity: I've just spend half an hour fighting with two scanners to get a decent shot of this cover -- there doesn't seem to be a single image of the cover anywhere on the 'net, even on the Pixie Trix site.)

The dawn of year three of Menage a 3 launches the "everybody questions their sexuality" plotlines: Didi and her co-worker Sandra think they might be "bisexuelles," and so are going on a date. The phallophobic Yuki is obsessing on Gary, and so begins therapy with psychology grad student Kiley in order that she might someday be able to see a penis without going into a rage-filled fugue state. Happily-gay Dillon has a steamy encounter with former porn star Amber-Amber to further both their careers. Perpetual virgin Gary is worried that he might be gay, or bisexual, after the events at the end of volume 2, and runs to the very definitely bisexual Matt for advice. And Zii continues to use Sonya for sex -- despite Sonya's continued protestations that she is definitely not a lesbian -- while trying to set Sonya up with Gary.

(And, yes, that will make no sense if you don't know the characters. But I hope you'll see that the "funny sexual confusion" is shared among female and male characters, which is not common for sex farces -- Menage a 3 takes all of funny, happy sex as its material, whether that's straight, gay, strap-on, transgender, or even harder to define than that. This volume sees the introduction of Senna, a major transgender character, and the end launches the first of Menage a 3's spin-off strips, Sandra on the Rocks.)

Again, check out the webcomic and see if it's to your taste: Lagace has a lovely sensuous commercial style that mostly follows Dan DeCarlo in this series (she does other work, with other influences more clearly visible, for other kinds of stories), and she and co-writer Lumsdon know how to make a sex farce really pop. And then you can buy the books, if so inclined.

Book-A-Day 2014 Introduction and Index