Shout Out

Written by Joamette Gil, CJ Walker, Day Irwin, Kieron Gillen, Marie Anello, Andrew Wheeler, Elodie Chen, Nichole Robinson, Sunny Ôchumuk, Nicholai Farber, Anthony Oliveira, Angela Cole, Crystal Frasier, Derrick Chow, H. Pueyo, B.C. Holmes, Lindsay Smith and Ashley Gallagher

Illustrated by Kelly & Nichole Matthews, CJ Walker, Vivian Ng, V. Gagnon, Liz Parlett, Michelle Dix, Elodie Chen, Anika Granillo, Shaina Lu, Nicholai Farber, Josh McKenzie, Cheryl Young, Molly James, Derrick Chow, Dante Luiz, Alex Moore, Adrienne Valdes, Helen Robinson, Amara Sherm, Hien Pham, Maia Kobabe, Pez Moreno and Kristina Luu

Colors and Letters by Joamette Gil and Nichole Matthews

Edited by Andrew Wheeler

TO Comix Press

978-0-994937476

198 pp.

Ages 13+

May 2019

I love a good anthology.  It offers an opportunity to provide a medley of stories with different settings and characters and plots. Shout Out may be founded on a theme of diverse queer stories, but it roars beyond that, telling stories of Vikings, fairies, virtual reality, superheroes and humans whose stories need to be shared. They are fantasy and legend, reality and historical. And, with a diverse list of contributors, from Canada to the US, Chile to Northern Island, Shout Out becomes a global compilation of stories, providing readers with a little something for everyone.

From Sunlight (in Shout Out), written by Anthony Oliveira, illus. by Josh McKenzie, color by Nichole Matthews

Many of the eighteen graphic short stories in Shout Out include an element of the supernatural.  Some include spirits or fair folk like Amaranthine which tells of a fairy protecting a garden of flowers that can restore life. The Name of the Forest by Toronto-based Day Irwin and Vivian Ng has a character seeking their heart's desire from a forest spirit only to be impeded by not know their own true name.

I guess I don't know who I am either, though. Sorry, I only know who I'm not. (pg. 23)

In Curio by Andrew Wheeler and Michelle Dix, a young man picking gooseberries makes the acquaintance of Curio, the warden of the beasts, with whom he shares a kiss that is both surprising and scary.

From Love in the Cloud (in Shout Out) by Derrick Chow

Technology comes into play in several stories including Glitches Get it Done, a sci-fi story in which a space traveller learns from a hologram of a sociologist about past supports to help those in transition, and Love in the Cloud, the story by Torontonian Derrick Chow, in which two different teens in the virtual world of Polyberg become separated on the cusp of its dissolution.

Warriors, both historical and supernatural, stay true to themselves in three different stories. In Ergi, Aric is desperate to reunite with his love Eldan who has reached Valhalla, whereas there is a secret crush happening between Louis and superhero Vigil who is adept at rescuing everyone from evil villains in Sunlight written by Anthony Oliveira.  Sidekicks and Allies written by Toronto's B. C. Holmes reveals the quandary for Liv who identifies as female but for whom entry through a portal prohibited to males could thwart her plans to enter the Under Realm to stop the destruction of the world.

I'm feeling..like the universe keeps finding new ways to ask me to prove my gender, and the stakes are completely over the top. (pg. 164)

From Sidekicks and Allies (in Shout Out) written by B.C. Holmes, illus. by Alex Moore

There are so many stories, including of finding love at a speakeasy (Shine So Bright), a young man learning How to Summon a Demon to see if he really likes boys, and two Indigenous girls who are drawn to each other in The Fisher and the Jeweler.

From Torontovka (in Shout Out) by Nicholai Farber

In addition to the eighteen stories, there are five single-page illustrations that support Shout Out's mandate of inviting young readers to see themselves–gay, trans, non-binary, asexual and more–as individuals with their own stories.  Even with supernatural elements, these characters are real. They have questions, show integrity, and feel anger, compassion, and love. Their connections with others make them heroes, as they should be, battling conventions, discrimination, villains and ignorance.