Romeo + Julien
Romeo + Julien created by author Mary Dumas and artist Bettina Kurkoski is an upbeat, irreverant Queer interpretation of the Shakespearean classic. Here, the star-crossed lovers are a young male couple, with the setting transplanted from 16th-century Italy to contemporary San Francisco.
Romeo Montague is a strapping young hunk, son of a wealthy businessman, studying for an MBA at Stanford and somewhat listless when it come to matters of the heart. He has no shortage of potential girlfriends all around him, but feels that "there is something missing"... Cue a coming of age / coming out of the closet journey of self discovery just waiting to unfold.
Julien is the glamorous, flamboyant and somewhat gender-fluid son of the Capulet family, which owns and runs the popular and profitable Lake Verona Renaissance Faire. Romeo's father wants to buy it, but Julien's dad is reluctant to sell - to the Montagues, in any case (he and Montague Senior having a complicated history). Julien is destined to inherit the business, and his parents are keen for him to find a partner to share the load. Julien has yet to find a match, however: "No-one gets me ... I'm too much for them to deal with."
At a party at the Capulet's Hacienda Romeo sees Julien - dolled up in full-on opulent Ren Faire drag - and is captivated at the vision of such a beautiful young maiden. From here on in the tone is set; the Bard's most famous tragedy has been reimagined as a sexually ambiguous comedy of errors...
The dramatis personae here are rendered as manga-style paragons of beauty; radiant, chiseled visions, and not just the young characters. Even the parents are Milan catwalk material; DILFs, MILFs and hot uncles aplenty. This is a technicolor fever dream of Romanticist poetry set against the exquisitely antiquated backdrop of a fairytale wonderland (with the addition of some very up-to-date swearing and gratuitous sex).
Making an effort to get into the spirit of things, Romeo greets Julien in courtly fashion and they share an impromptu kiss which electrifies them both. Our hero then promptly discovers that his maiden fair is not that which 'she' appears to be... dude looks like a lady... and yet he is still haunted by that kiss.
Will this rose by any other name be as sweet?
ROMEO + JULIEN on Globalcomix
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