gullybogan

Flickr photo by 2achel.

Dear Reader,

I’ve added yet another webcomic to my morning tea reading list.

In fact, i’ve spent the last three days’ worth of morning teas and lunchtimes going through the archive, right from the first episode.

Anders Loves Maria has everything you could want from a webcomic, assuming that everything you want from a webcomic is to see Swedes having some pretty explicit sexual intercourse in between trying to sort out their increasingly complex relationships.

It’s a bit of a soap opera (but in a good way), and it’s educational, too, on account of how there’s lots of words here and there in Swedish.

Like, did you know that the Swedish word for ‘kiss’ is ‘puss’?

But it is in English, let me stress that. Most of the time, anyway.

Drawn by Rene Engstrom, a Swedish mum who just recently cut the top of her thumb off with a cheese slicer (by accident, not as some sort of statement), the series sports not only the eponymous central characters – the contact-celebrity Anders and the pregnant-with-his-child Maria – but also the complex Tina (Maria’s sort-of-step sister, and a girl who can, after a few wines and a few goes, learn to enjoy anal) and Johan (Maria’s attitude-ridden big brother who has a penchant for vandalising his sort-of-step sister’s house).

But, seriously, if the sight of illustrated penises (some aroused), vaginas, nipples and boobies (not to mention illustrated depictions of intercourse) make you reach for the off button on your computer, you’ll have to give this one a wide berth.

Apparently Ms Engstrom has had trouble with some webcomiceers linking to her, on account of the… open and healthy Scandinavian attitude to rooting that flavours her storyline.

Here at Gullybogan Media Enterprises, we aren’t as squeamish as those uptight webcomiceers.

The thing i liked so much about this strip (and there’s lots to like) was the fact that the female antagonist is pregnant. One of the novels i’m writing in my head has a female antagonist who’s pregnant, and i had all these moments when reading the Anders Loves Maria archive when i thought to myself, ‘Now, i’d do that this way…’

I like things that make me think.

Plus, with the Juno DVD coming out in less than a week’s time, pregnancy is fully in fashion right now.

If you try out Anders Loves Maria, i hope you enjoy it.

Yours,
Gullybogan