Broken Frontier

Join in the fictional and semi-fictional exploits of Rachel Nabors as she navigates the waters of friendship, dating, fashion, and self-acceptance.

Semi-autobiographical comics can be insights into our shared human condition. They can also be train wrecks of self-indulgence and narcissism. Happily, writer/artist Rachel Nabors’ Subculture of One falls into the former category.

This slim, digest comic contains several stories culled from Nabors’ online web comic Rachel the Great. Here readers meet Rachel and her friends and laugh along with her at adventures in bikini waxes, attempts to date non-shallow men, the search for a soul mate, and finding the perfect pair of boots. Oh, and a whimsical, yet sarcastic, talking black cat.

Nabors’ subject matter revolves around things that have been issues for nearly any woman above the age of 15. Even those of us a little farther up the age ladder can find a lot to laugh about having been there, done that, and bought the T-shirt to show for it. Nabors’ humor and willingness to poke fun at her own image makes the stories contained in this volume charming, endearing, and refreshing. The tales are often married to gentle lessons as well. For example, a story about realizing that her nearly 6 ft. height might intimidate men out of dating her ends with Rachel’s happy acceptance of her body as well as a fierce display of pride – a lesson for any girl.

In illustrating these "slice-of-life" stories, Nabors uses a manga style of art but it never becomes overly saccharine or cutesy. In fact, the manga style serves as a nice counterpoint to the sass and sarcasm that infuses many of the pieces. Nabors’ art has a nice, polished, and really professional look, which displays talent and hard work at perfecting the style.

Subculture of One is the perfect comic to introduce girls to the world of comic books. Nabors has brought together the popular manga influences of art and digest comics but used them in service to stories that are no flights of fantasy or romances. These are stories full of humor about the trials and tribulations of getting through life. The subject matters are relatable, the dialogue is earthy, unpretentious, and realistic, and the star of the whole thing is a witty, strong, and smart female...with some Goth tendencies.

Copies of this book, along with Nabors’ online web comics are available at www.SubcultureOfOne.com