A beautiful collection of comics about love, friendship, representation and respect for the other.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

As a young adult (I guess now it would be called new adult) I discovered Jane, a lesbian who was as awkward as I felt I was. Throughout the years I saw her love and lose as I loved and lost. I saw her settle down as I settled down. I cannot express what a relief it was to see a character who reflected who I was.

It was a pleasure to revisit this beloved series and read what other fans (including some famous ones) thought of it.

I was already slightly aware of Jane's World, but this 20-year-spanning collection was a delight to read, even with some slightly dated strips here and there.

This is a collection of the comics Jane’s World.

Jane is an ordinary girl. She goes through life experiencing every day things, that I think most people can relate to. I don’t think I’ve ever read a graphic novel where the main character steps in gum, but Jane does.

I loved the way the comics broke the fourth wall, and talked about creating the comics. The artists made an appearance in some of the stories. I love this technique because it brings the reader right into the story, by commenting on how it is created.

Another thing I loved about these stories was that being gay was the norm. The majority of the characters were gay. It was a world where being gay was the norm rather than being straight. This was a refreshingly modern take on a romantic story, where the female lead could date any of the women who walked into her life because they were also gay.

I really enjoyed this collection!

This is THE definitive collection of the Jane's World serial strip. It's LGBTQ with a distinctive West Coast twang. Straight or not, we've all been in Jane's trainers at least once.

I didn't expect to fall in love with this story, but I think it's impossible to not relate to Jane and her friends.

They are extremely relatable, adorable with their distinct personalities, entertaining in their own ways and Jane is a layered protagonist, while she is energetic and impetuous, she has a dreamy side that leads her to live the most insane and impossible situations inside your head.

Developments in relationships are believable and at times, I found myself fighting with the characters for little attitudes that bothered me.

The representativeness is one of the highlights and I loved meeting the first lesbian character in a comic strip.

I missed reading comics in black and white. The traits of art are very cool. My only complaint is the font size in some chapters, too small. It disrupted the reading, but I believe that in a physical edition this wouldn't be a problem.

I was provided an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'm sad to say that I have never read Jane's World before, but when I seen this beautiful cover I knew I wanted to read it. I am always up for a good graphic novel, and boy this one did not disappoint. The artwork was stunning, and I found the characters to be likable and easy to relate to. The one thing I would say is that I suggest reading this in the physical copy. The digital copy wasn't the easiest to follow.

A huge thank you to NetGalley for sending me a digital copy of these book previews in exchange for an honest review. I truly appreciate it!

I'm not familiar with Jane or the comic strip but the beautiful cover was enough to make me want to read it. The graphics are absolutely gorgeous and I just loved the the main character!

I'm not familiar with Jane's World, and I feel a bit disappointed in myself for that, as I know I would have enjoyed it over the years. I've rated it 5 stars because it deserves it, and I feel that Jane's World fans will love it, as well.

I bought a second-hand copy of Jane’s World Collection, Vol. 1 after hearing about the strip’s novelization, The Case of the Mail Order Bride, a couple years back. The collection is a delicious, thick steak of a book, with the first fifteen issues leading readers through the adventures of Jane, Chelle, Ethan, and their friends and family. For readers new to the humorous adventures of Braddock’s quirky cast, "Love Letters to Jane’s World" offers a condensed introduction to the strip’s early, middle, and later story lines. Alien abductions, Amazon fantasies, undercover agents, and in the midst of it all, a woman trying to navigate friendship, romance, and career. Interspersed throughout are affectionate, candid quotes from folks who found a home with the series. While I had anticipated short essay, the brief quotes, few and far between, still add warmth to the collection. Maybe after reading this fun sampler, you’ll add reflections of your own.

Jane's World was something I would read occasionally in one of San Francisco's free weekly newspapers. Sometimes it was funny, sometimes it was, well, kind of boring. I have to confess - I read through the first 100 pages or so of "Love Letters to Jane's World" and was reminded of why I quit dating: SO. MUCH. DRAMA. Seriously.

There are some funny bits - like where a chick fight turns into a hot tub and that turns out to be Jane's roommate altering the comic she's writing. Aside from a few crazy/wacky twists here and there - it's a lot of quotidian lesbian relationship drama. I read this in Kindle format and it was not so easy to flip pages to browse as a paper copy. If you are a fan of "Jane's World" - get the paper version and flip and browse to find the funny bits - and let me know!

Jane is still good for me to read in small doses - not all the way through like a book!

I enjoyed this graphic novel. It's quirky and sweet and right in the genre I enjoy. I have already recommended this to several graphic novel loving friends. I look forward to more books from Paige Braddock. Thank you for the opportunity for an advance reader copy.

Jane’s World by Paige Braddock is a slice-of-life comic about a woman and her circle of friends and girlfriends that’s marking its 20th anniversary this year. For the milestone, Lion Forge has released an anthology collection, Love Letters to Jane’s World, that makes for both a starting point and a celebration of its run.

Over the years, Jane’s World has been a comic strip — the publisher says “the first syndicated comic strip with a lesbian main character to appear in many major newspaper markets” — a comic book series, and a webcomic, moving with the market and the times. That’s what makes it so fun to go back over the years and see the many crazy events Jane has lived through.

Braddock has a loose, comfortable style that makes her characters’ exaggerated reactions read clearly on the page. The introduction is a drawn scene of interruptions that sets out the basic premise: Jane’s ex, Chelle, is hot, but her friends Ethan and Dorothy try to keep her balanced in spite of her love life going back and forth. Although a trailblazer as a lesbian character, Jane is very much a realistic, everyday person anyone can relate to in just trying to get through every day (in spite of the occasional aliens or zombies). Although spending much of its life as a strip, the comics have been reformatted into pages here for easier reading and more effective use of space.

This collection selects various runs of the strip from its life, which makes events a little jumpy. There are short introduction pages between major sections, but I would have appreciated a character rundown, particularly as the cast expands near the end.

We start, as one might expect, with Jane first meeting Chelle, way back as part of her newsroom job. Jane’s World can be a talky strip, with dialogue taking up a good portion of the panels, since it’s based around the relationships between the characters. But to liven things up from the slice-of-life moments, and provide exciting things to look at, there are some bizarre elements as well, such as when Jane and Chelle wash up on an island of Amazon natives.

That calms down over the history of the strip, somewhat, but the possibility of a ridiculous plot turn always remains around the corner, with spies entering late in the run. Major events include road trips, camping trips, taking care of a niece, adopting a dog, a runaway house trailer, and going to therapy.

A lot has happened over the two decades of Jane’s World, much too much to sum up in one 300-page book. At times, I did wonder who various characters were or what had happened that they were referring to, but that’s going to happen when checking in with someone after so long, much like hearing someone else’s stories at a school reunion. With so much time covered, as well, it’s best to dip in and out instead of reading all the way through at once. Jane’s back-and-forth with Chelle, for instance, can get redundant over the span, and the book lags in the middle.

Still, this is a good summary of a strip that’s historically significant; fans of Dykes to Watch Out For looking for another read will particularly want to check it out.

<i>Love Letters to Jane's World</i> by Paige Braddock, who created the first syndicated comic to feature a lesbian main character, is a funny, goofy book with a ridiculously likeable cast of characters that I found myself enjoying more and more as I read about them. While not a progressive series of stories from the comic, this is more of a "greatest hits" collection of Jane & Co's shenanigans, paired with "love letters" from fans. I'm going to have to find <i>Jane's World</i> either online or in print and read this in order. It's a gem of a fun story.

I really should read the newspapers more, if only because I might have discovered Jane's World sooner. (Granted, I was just a kid when Paige Braddock's iconic LGBTQA comic became popular). Love Letters to Jane's World is a compilation of the "best" of the comic series and it also features letters from Braddock's fans. While I may have been too young to be a fan in the early days, I certainly am now!

Quirky Jane

Jane's storylines are fun to read, because her character has such a wild imagination. While there is the tension/love-connection between Chelle and Jane, I also appreciated her wackier storylines, where Jane gets abducted by aliens or dreams that she is on an island of Amazons. The dialogue is witty and the storylines were quick-paced enough to keep me flipping pages.
The "Best" of Jane's World

While this compilation won't give you an all-access pass to all of the moments from Jane's World, it does sample a lot of great moments from the beginning, middle and later parts of the series. It was interesting to watch Jane and the world that she lives in change across the panels, and it made me want to read more. Some of the transitions between panels were a bit abrupt, which for an uninitiated Jane's World first-time reader was confusing, but the actual stories were excellent.


Give this collection a try if you're looking for a quick read with some lovable characters.

I genuinely loved this. I honestly never knew this comic existed until I saw it on Net Galley but I am forever thankful I picked it up. So the history surrounding this is amazing in itself. A lot of queer characters and story line focusing on their relationships with each other as a whole and not just “he’s gay, she’s gay. The end.” This comic had to have been absolutely revolutionary when it was released. Even reading it now, around 30 years later, I’m refreshed and in love. And I’m it even disappointed that I’m becoming a fan as this collection gets released. On the contrary, I loved the letters from other artists and fans talking about how Jane’s World affected them over the years. It seriously has me wondering how I have never heard of this before! So maybe I’m giving it full five stars because to me, this is New, refreshing and beautiful. I hope fans, New and Old can appreciate this collection of amazing comics and stories along with letters from others who love it as well!

This is a collection of the “Jane’s World” syndicated comic strips. It is about a lesbian “out” at work and her relationships plus more. It suggests that there can be a world where it’s okay to be a lesbian — it considers it normal. When this came out, it wasn’t okay or normal to be a lesbian. It show how her friends help her and sometime got a n her way as she learn to be herself. It show how confusing life can be.

The collection of the comic strips shows the beginning, the middle and the later of “Jane’s World.” There are letters from fans in between the strips. It’s an excellent look at a different world than the one we live in now. Hopefully you will read this and enjoy! I know I did.

Love Letters to Jane’s World is a mix between comic strips and letters about the comic, mostly from friends.
The comic is apparently well-known as the first daily comic with mainly LGBT+ characters.
I had never heard of it before picking it up on Netgalley.
The first strips were drawn in 1998.

This book was an interesting insight into the comics, and I get how this was a pioneer.
However, the world has changed since and I found it had several issues.
Also, I didn’t really like Jane. These extracts made her seem a bit stupid and careless and I just didn’t fall for her. The side characters were interesting but I also didn’t really love them.
The plots were a bit all over the place and the humor in them wasn’t really my kind of humor.
Also, i had trouble with the love letters from friends of the author when they were in the middle of a story.

All in all, an intriguing glimpse into a classic but aged comic.

This is a wonderful collection of some of the best of the Jane's World strip. Paige Braddock is a very gifted artist. This collection would appeal to anyone who appreciates well drawn cartoons that are a terrific mix of comedy and sentiment. Her attention to little details and her sense of humor are well represented on the page. This is a comic collection I am happy to have on my bookshelf in a place of honor between Alison Bechdel and Roz Chast. If you enjoy those two, you'll love Paige Braddock.

Note: I received a copy of Love Letters to Jane's World by Paige Braddock via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Love Letters to Jane's World is a collection of strips that Paige Braddock started twenty years ago. Jane Wyatt, a young lesbian woman, is making her way through the world alongside friends who help her along the journey. Jane's World was the first comic strip published in many major newspaper markers that featured a lesbian main character. Love Letters to Jane's World collects some of the main storylines in Jane's life, and pairs them with love letters and notes of appreciation from fans.

Having a physical copy of Love Letters to Jane's World to pick up whenever you needed a little laugh would be absolutely wonderful. The dialogue & communication in the strips are warm and laugh-out-loud funny. And, each story flows into each other, but they all can definitely stand up on their own.

I absolutely loved how real the relationships got, even when placed in the most outrageous circumstances. I mean, come on, one strip Jane finds herself on an island filled with Amazons, and the next? She's being abducted by aliens. Sounds ridiculous, but it was still so much fun to read. There are even references to nerdy pop culture like Superman, Star Trek, and Star Wars; anyone that knows me, knows I love a good pop culture reference.

One of my favorite aspects of Love Letters to Jane's World is the simple fact that the leading character is a lesbian. Sexual orientation clearly plays a role for the characters, but it doesn't define them. I think this is very important, especially as Jane's World was the first strip to be published in major newspapers.

There's a collection of supporting characters in Jane's World, that pop out throughout the comic strips, and it's just as easy to fall in love with them, as it is to fall in love with Jane. All of them are out there helping her through her many obstacles (or, in some cases, hindering her).

Following the collection of comic strips in Love Letters to Jane's World is a collection of rave reviews & fan mail. I truly believe that these reviews are well-deserved. As I didn't read Jane's World in the past, I wouldn't say that Love Letters to Jane's World is something I would pick up. For me, there's no nostalgic factor and I rarely read comic strips in the newspapers to begin with. However, It was an enjoyable read, and it's something that I believe others could find enjoyment in.

Love Letters to Jane's World will be released on August 21st!