the spider's longing (a poem about us)

"When does a person learn love? When does one awake to love?"
is supposedly the question Moto Hagio asked herself when working on her highly influential manga Heart of Thomas. this comic is a homage to that manga, but it's also its own thing and can be read independently of that reference.

originally self-published in 2018 as a four-color risograph zine, now out of print. german text on the pages, but includes color-coded english subtitles. this digital version doesn't try to emulate risograph printing, it contains montaged color-pencil and ink drawings (see screenshots).

i hope you enjoy reading this, please let me know what you thought of it!

content note: implied underage sending of nudes, teenagers

original description follows.

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this is a comic about a girl and her two best friends and about longing and loss. how do you deal with the everyday mystery and despair of being a queer girl? what futures can you create in this confusing emotional mess of love, play and death?

inspired by moto hagio’s heart of thomas, and high school AUs. with stills from summer vacation 1999 and filmed material by stephen hayes.

work in progress and notes

20 pages, 4 color risograph yuri comic, german text with english subtitles

2018