The world of the single woman is one of great hardship and pain. Society expects so much from you that the only thing that helps is a nice glass of wine. Another great way is to make fun of it in a creative way. Pénélope Bagieu decided to have fun with that lifestyle in her newest comic “Josephine,†translated by Christina Cox-De Rave and it is fun.
Josephine is the typical French single woman: A small social circle, hectic job and men trouble. Not to mention she’s “not that good looking†and seen as overweight which in any country can harm relationships.
For many this comic bears a striking resemblance to the comic strip “Cathy.†In many ways, it is if “Cathy†was funny, better written and had better art. Each page in this comic features certain events of Josephine’s daily life. These range from (disastrous) dating, work, parties and deciding what to wear. This being a comedy comic, the humor hits the rights spots. The reason for that is not because Josephine is a funny person, but because the situations she gets herself in are relatable. How many times have you blurted out the wrong thing to a date because of how much alcohol you drank?
The art style is, if anything, colorful. What this does is it helps brings out the humorous side of a bad situation. On top of that, the cartoony nature the characters are drawn also fits. Yes, Josephine is having plenty of “one of those days,†but going with a more serious art style will not work as well.
“Josephine†takes a familiar concept and makes it rememberable. The situations are funny and relatable, the art style is a perfect fit and Josephine herself is pretty likable. If there is one modern French comic to read, this is one of the best out there available on Comixology.com.
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