The Slow and the Relentless zine

56 pages of Soviet truck racing action in the Siberian winter!

Alex is crazy about cars and racing. But this winter her stunt driver mom has dragged her along to the snowy depths of the Russian province, and tells Alex she’s too young to drive in Russia, so she is to stay the hell away from cars. Alex soon discovers that the big thing in Urgunovo is truck racing, and for her new classmates, not having a valid licence is not an issue. However, the races, as well as Karim, the total babe sharing a desk with Alex in school, are ruthlessly dominated by Irka, the mayor’s daughter … Does Alex have what it takes to beat her?!

I finished the comic just in time to print a zine for Stockholm International Comics Festival this weekend. (I don’t have time and also I’m evil, so I won’t post the rest of it online until after the festival. Mua hah haa …)

The theme of this year’s SIS is “representation”, and I guess The Slow and the Relentless fits the theme quite nicely. It’s (obviously) inspired by the Fast and Furious films. While Paul Walker as Brian O’Conner is probably the least annoying “obligatory white male lead in a mostly non-white cast” ever, the trope was more obvious and annoying in Tokyo Drift, with Lucas Black as the boring lead and Bow Wow’s much more interesting character inexplicably relegated to the role of “the funny sidekick”. So I wanted to subvert that trope and write a Fast and Furious type story with a black girl as the main character and a funny white girl as a sidekick/comic relief. Yay! V^(oo)^V

So come get it in Stockholm! My table (shared with my awesomepants sister Ainur) is here:

P.S. I’ve got something else that’s brand new and will be for sale at SIS – piggy postcards! Yay!