Strangers in Paradise Vol 6 by Terry Moore
I read this volume in an afternoon. I was eager to finish the story of Francine and Katchoo, because as much as I love them — and I do — I felt that it was time for their story to end. Their happy ending. Now I’ve heard that they don’t have a real happy ending when Moore reorganized the story to be linear and put it into omnibus format, but I’ll take it as published. Not only do I want the happy ending, I also feel they deserved it.
And to say that it’s a fully happy ending would be lying. There are non-happy parts. Certainly David’s and Griffin’s deaths are one of them. Same with Casey’s reveal of having worked for Tambi since the beginning. (Which I totally was spoiled for when I was doing fact checking for Casey’s queer character profile.)
However, this being the sixth volume, me reading it in an afternoon, and still loving it is really a tip-of-the-hat to Moore’s writing and art. I was completely drawn into this world.
I love David resigning to the fact that while he married Katchoo, to find the type of love he really wanted, he went to Casey. Because, yes, she takes care of people in a way that really no other character in this book does.
And I adored when the two of them locked Francine and Katchoo in the same room and handcuffed them together. Brilliant and so them. You really realize how much the four characters go through together in that Katchoo doesn’t kill David or Casey like she might’ve years ago.
I also loved Francine as the outsider. She’s been gone. She doesn’t know what the others do in their daily lives. She’s been removed. And in a way, she’s a stranger in her own life. Francine really was strong in that she still left Brad, because it was the right thing to do, even if it wasn’t the “right” timing after Griffen’s death. And I adored the surprise that Griffen had bought the Francine painting. Nikki got to shine for a moment when she showed it to Francine and told her to go after Katchoo.
Tambi showing up to force David to tell everyone about his cancer also felt true to everything. David always tried to help, and I can see how he would hide his dying from them. Of course, Katchoo, Tambi, and Casey team up to find a cure of David.
The layered character history makes it just perfect that Katchoo would be the one to have David’s baby.
David’s letters to Tambi, Casey, Francine, and Katchoo are impossibly sad. I may have cried. And I think Moore was really smart here to have Freddie read them given how shocked he was by what they revealed and how he’s a comic relief.
Francine going after Katchoo was perfect. I loved her telling the guy — who in earlier issues she would’ve tried to date — that she’s a lesbian and in love. I loved her stalking Katchoo. I even liked Tambi and Casey hooking up, because Tambi’s another character who does need someone to take care of her and force her to do so. And who else could really do that for Tambi, who’s arguably the comic’s scariest character.
Katchoo and Francine finding the house was a little too perfect. But Francine stripping off her clothing, demanding sex, was pretty good. And while the happy ending was a little bit too cutesy, I thought it was deserved and I liked it.
Finish reading Strangers in Paradise because ending is worth it. Buy Strangers In Paradise Pocket Book 6 by Terry Moore