I could not pass up the opportunity to read this book of lolita fashion-centric comics and essays when I learned that my public library had a copy! ♥ So Pretty / Very Rotten by Jane Mai and An Nguyen was published by Koyama Press in May 2017, so at the time I was able to read it the book was still quite recent!
I’m not sure exactly what I expected when I picked this up. I didn’t do much research on it prior to placing my hold with the library. I knew based on the description of the book that it would contain both essays and artwork. That was really it.
The book is arranged with comics drawn and written by both parties, supplemented with essays. The essays are based on research performed as part of An Nguyen’s thesis project. The comics are independent stories rather than illustrations of the research, although clearly the various interviews performed and other information gathered throughout the research period played a role in the comics as well.