In June 2016, a tragedy occurred in Orlando: the Pulse Nightclub shooting. Not long after, comicbook writer Marc Andreyko reached out to writers and artists and anyone who wanted to participate about putting together an anthology as commentary on the tragedy and to show support for the LGBT community. (All proceeds from sales of the book go to support victims of the shooting and their families.) The result was Love Is Love, published by IDW and DC. 

At more than 140 pages, this collection is filled with fantastic writers and artists from across the comic world – if you are a comicbook fan, you will definitely recognize a lot of the names. Every one of them donated their work to this collection. And it’s amazing work. Every piece is only one to two pages long, so there is a lot to absorb.

One thing every reader should know going into this, though, is that this is not an easy read. Sure, it’s comics, it’s art, it’s straightforward short stories. But even though there are pieces that celebrate diversity and life and love, there are a lot of deeply emotional and often sad stories in this collection. It’s amazing what an artist can represent on a single page here and most readers will not make it through this book without some tissues.

But even then, even though there are difficult experiences being shared, there is also an incredible amount of hope in this collection. The way communities come together to support victims and families, even people who are not members of the community directly affected – this collection reflects that love, that diversity, that determination to not let a tragic event tear communities apart. And as difficult as some of these stories are to read, this is not simply a must read, it’s a NEED to read.

As they say many times in this collection: Just keep dancing.