Alone Forever: A Review of the Liz Prince Comic Book

Angst and Dark Humor in Pictures

There are so many things I loved about Liz Prince’s collection of her web comic Alone Forever: The Singles Collection.

Prince’s seemingly simple line drawings make her sometimes cracky and foul mouthed narrator come to life and she capture a world full of angst, dark humor, and a seemingly endless search for love.  

Steadfastly Remaining Herself

I'm also into how Prince’s quest for boyfriend doesn’t involve her changing or molding herself into any one idea of what would actually attract the mythical bearded, music loving guy she seeks.


For example, at one point, she looks around at the crowd watching a favorite band and says, “There sure are a lot of cute boys at this show, and I’m dressed like all of them.” But she shows no interest in dressing in any other way.

Indeed, as in her great comic Tomboy, Prince’s portrayal of herself as a straight woman, who loves cats, and music, and comic books, and just isn’t into the typical trappings of femininity is such an affirmation for anyone else out there who doesn’t feel the need to conform to a lot of typical gender expectations.

But Then There Are Those Comments...

But while Prince does a solid job of honestly capturing the struggles of the lovelorn in a way a lot of people will relate to, there were a number of times that her honest portray of these struggles stopped me.  For example, at one point she refers to “dyking out.”  At another, she is mistaken for a lesbian and is upset that she doesn’t get to “defend her sexuality,” before the other person walks away.

And while I know a lot of straight people casually use terms like that or bristle when they are mistaken for gay, for a comic artist so cool about her androgynous look, such comments seem at best a little clueless.

  And yes, I get that the character we meet is a warts and all portrayal of Prince's comic self, and not a sanitized version, but as a reader, I found such asides off putting.

Bad Dates and the Drama of the Dating Scene

That being said, there are still so many highlights of the book. I loved Prince's rundown of bad dates. For example, there is the guy who makes Prince do all the work – including initiating every date, picking what they do, making the first move, and never allowing her to see where he lives because it is “too punk” for her to handle.  Then there is the one who can’t make conversation, another who is dating someone else, and they guy she just isn’t attracted to. 

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Prince solidly portrays someone who is single and searching, and in ways both good and bad, isn't going to alter who she is in service of this, or any other, mission.