Girl Town by Carolyn Nowak

Girl Town is well-named: these are stories about women, centered on women, taking place in spaces mostly populated by women. Men are not absent - the longest story is about a "boyfriend," in a way - but these are not stories about men. And those women are all young, still at that age where they might uncomplicatedly call themselves, or each other, "girls," and not mean it dismissively.

I know some readers find that appalling - the focus on people who are not them, and not like them - so I might as well say it up front. If you're that kind of guy, this is not about you, and probably not for you. Maybe you can grow up and come back in a few years; I live in hope.

But for the rest of us, Girl Town is a deeply specific collection of stories, realistic in their core while being fantastic in their details, and a great introduction to the comics of Carolyn Nowak. (Other than this, she's worked mostly in other people's universes - Lumberjanes, Buffy the Vampire Slayer - and has, I think, put out a few more stories since this book was published in 2018.)

There are five stories here, one of which was original to this collection, and they're arranged in the traditional chronological order. I didn't notice any changes in quality; my sense is that Nowak was "mature" by the first story here, or that they're all from the same phase of her career.

The title story is first and oldest: it sets the tone well, with three female roommates feuding and interacting with three other female roommates living next door, in a subtly unusual world entirely centered on women and told in a quirky narrative tone.

The other stories continue, ringing changes but keeping to the same general territory: modern worlds, though not quite our own. Fantastic elements, techy or seemingly magical, that are just there. Women with strong relationship with each other. Discursive stories that wander rather than driving, stories about people and emotions rather than events.

Good stories. Strong stories. Stories, I think, that only Carolyn Nowak could tell, which are the kind of stories every creator should be aiming for.

Her art is supple and changing depending on the story; I think this is more changing to suit the needs of the story than artistic maturation, but who knows? You can only see the shape of something in retrospect; we'll only know a phase of Nowak's career clearly once it's over.

I hope this isn't over for a while: this is really good stuff, heady and rich and with subtle depths, stories that imply rather than tell and explore rather than define. We could use a lot more of this; I hope Nowak can keep doing it for as long as she wants to.