Bingo Love Volume 1: Jackpot Edition by Tee Franklin

Series: Bingo Love, Vol. 1
# of Pages: 160
Publication: November 20, 2018
Source: Library Copy
Genre: LGBTQIA+ Comic
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When Hazel Johnson and Mari McCray met at church bingo in 1963, it was love at first sight. Forced apart by their families and society, Hazel and Mari both married young men and had families. Decades later, now in their mid-'60s, Hazel and Mari reunite again at a church bingo hall. Realizing their love for each other is still alive, what these grandmothers do next takes absolute strength and courage. This Jackpot Edition contains over SIXTY PAGES of bonus material, including the talents of MARGUERITE BENNETT (Batwoman) and newcomer BEVERLY JOHNSON, SHAWN PRYOR (Cash and Carrie) and PAULINA GANUCHEAU (Zodiac Starforce), award-winning historical romance author ALYSSA COLE's comics writing debut with SHAE BEAGLE (MOONSTRUCK), GAIL SIMONE (CROSSWIND) and MARGAUX SALTEL (Superfreaks), and AMANDA DEIBERT (Wonder Woman '77) and CAT STAGGS (CROSSWIND), with illustrations from MEGAN HUTCHINSON (ROCKSTARS) and ARIELA KRISTANTINA (InSeXts). Plus a sneak peek of BINGO LOVE, VOL. 2: DEAR DIARY, with an afterword from GABBY RIVERA (America).

This was such an amazing graphic novel. I’ve heard amazing things about it but I didn’t get the chance to read it until now during the PanelAThon. The story itself focuses on two black women who meet as teens at a church bingo event and quickly fall in love. They are separated by family and society when they are discovered kissing. They then spend the rest of their lives creating new families with husbands and children not truly ever feeling happy. This comic really resonated with me because I know that this happens to people all the time and it’s sad that people can’t be themselves so they spend their lives living up to peoples and society’s expectations and never truly get the chance to be happy. Ari and Hazel spend almost 50 years apart not being able to be together. When they do get that opportunity there’s a struggle of getting their families on board. The kids, naturally, don’t understand and they’re upset to discover that their mother is bisexual. I found this part of the comic to be extremely important because while it’s nice that our two leading ladies got the opportunity to be together, it’s natural to realize that the family would be affected by their decisions. It was such a well-written comic and super diverse, not only in terms of sexual orientation but also in terms of racial and ethnic background. And the ending literally ripped my heart out. I thought the artwork was phenomenal (see photos below). If you decide to read this book I would recommend going for the Jackpot edition because it includes insight to what happens when the main characters get together and some more insight to what happens in volume number two. If you haven’t read this comic book definitely give it a try. 

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