PRIDE MONTH 2025! Kazimir Lee Iskander is a 2008 graduate of the Minnesota College of Art and Design (BFA, Animation), as well as a 2016 graduate of the Center For Cartoon Studies (MA, Cartooning) which is where Low Orbit saw its origins. Kazimir was born in Malaysia, attended boarding school in the UK, and currently resides in cartoonist-rich Brooklyn, NY. Previous coverage of Kazimir Lee on Broken Frontier includes work in the anthologies Cartoonists For Palestine and Be Gay, Do Comics! and as colorist on Wash Day Diaries.
The story centers around the lives of Azar, a queer teen with a crush on a girl at school who is reluctant to come out to her strict mother; and, best friend and safe place Tristan who is trans and has not necessarily come to terms with that, while still being open about it with their father.
The two live in the same house – split into two units – Azar with her controlling mother and Tristan with his father, who he calls Shannon, though Tristan is more the parental figure in that relationship. After an argument with her parents she discovers a copy of a science fiction novel Shannon wrote many years earlier, which leads to a clever parallel narrative as Azar reads the book as her own life unfolds. Following an accident and breaking her arm at an old abandoned mall (followed by another fight with her mother), Azar moves upstairs with Tristan and Shannon while she recovers. As Tristan and Azir grow closer, she can’t help herself from overstepping her bounds with Shannon in regards to his book The Exiles Of Overworld. This leads to a chain of events that explore the difficulties of coming of age and coming to terms with your true self.
We would not be surprised if Kazimir Lee has been working on Low Orbit since 2016. This may not be the most transgressive or experimental graphic novel, however it’s perfectly constructed in every way that matters in terms of sequential narrative. The first thing that stands out is the monochromatic color scheme that, while being remarkably consistent, evokes the feeling of memories, while distancing the overall story from blatant autobiography.
It’s important for a 300-plus page graphic novel to keep the story moving. Lee makes many subtle, rather than splashy, storytelling choices to accomplish this feat: the establishing shot is utilized throughout to contrast the narrative and the setting. An excellent example of this is pages 37 and 38 when Azar first discovers The Exiles Of Overworld – the focus pulls back from her reading on the previous two pages and the next two pages feature night scenes from the town as she gets totally absorbed in reading the book. Another clever device is using the information on Azar’s phone screen as chapter breaks; Kazimir packs a lot of information into these images. Finally, mention should be made of the precise character design throughout, everyone has a unique shape and set of facial expressions (even the background characters are given personality with just a few lines). A lot of love was put into this book and the characters!
The most satisfying part of the book is the growth of not only Azar and Tristan’s confidence in their sexual and gender identities, but also the very complicated relationship between the two that slowly unfolds throughout the book that could ultimately bring them together or separate them.
Kazimir Lee (W/A) • Top Shelf Productions, $24.99
Review by Gary Usher
