Honestly I can't believe we're still getting BL series this bad in 2026. This mini series runs about 7 to 8 episodes with a total runtime of just about an hour and it is so boring that I genuinely struggle to find the words. The actors are awkward, the story is as basic as it gets and there is almost nothing about this show worth saving. The makers do try to stir up some drama here and there but even that falls completely flat. Ho Won is a 23 year old university student who spots a man sitting alone at a gay bar and gets attracted to him. The man is Min U, a 33 year old who brushes Ho Won off immediately saying he's too young. Ho Won lies about his age and since he's made a bet with the bartender that he'll get this man home before the night is over, he switches tactics and eventually the two end up at Min U's place and sleep together. Despite being complete opposites in every way there's some kind of pull between them and they go on a couple of dates. But t...
No Straight Lines details how people like Come Out Comix creator Mary Wings and Rupert Kinnard — the cartoonist who created the first Black, openly gay superhero — were some of the first people to recognize how underground comix presented a unique opportunity for queer people to create their own stories. Built around a series of interviews, the film paints a picture of how restrictive cultural forces like the Comics Code Authority inspired a generation of rebellious artists to independently make books of their own featuring subject matter that couldn’t be printed anywhere else. Though No Straight Lines is very much a celebratory tribute to each of the trailblazing artists it features, it is very careful to frame their individual stories and the genesis of underground comix as important pieces of a larger queer history. The documentary illustrates how, through their art, creators of queer comics have been able to help countless people feel a sense of community at times when it was all but impossible to be openly queer.
As mentioned above, even though the topic was not really of interest to me, I did learn a few things from it. It was interesting to see how diverse and varied the characters and stories of some of these comic books were. Although I do have to admit that constant movements between the 5 main artists and their work, prevented me from being able to focus on ny one of them specifically and I found myself getting distracted and losing interest, especially since I came in the film with a blank slate having absolutely no prior knowledge. Bringing multitudes of queer experience to life in a changing world, No Straight Lines works best when letting its interview subjects tell their personal stories alongside these comics showcasing everyday pursuits of love, sex and community. But mostly it was just nice to see a celebratory portrait of this community finding their voice, and then generations later helping a new youth discover that they were not alone. The object of the film is to offer a colorful and intriguing buffet of artists and stories that will inspire you to keep looking for more to find and enjoy, but only if you a fan of comic books and specifically queer ones at that. For rest of us like me, it was mostly a meh!! (3/10)
Comments