Do the town with gender outlaw Catherine Gore and her disreputable friends. It’s Friday night and Catherine is dragged to an S&M play party to see what passes for sex these days. There, the beautiful, enigmatic fem fatale Chloe takes Catherine by surprise. Chloe is a girl with a secret. Catherine is intrigued, and the two form a tight bond. But is it love, or desperate obsession?

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'With each scene, there are also bound to be different people moving amidst it trying to find that certain someone that both shares a common interest and is compatible in other ways. With a book named How Loathsome, though, you know that sort of search is going to be anything but easy.'


----Greg McElhatton


-see the full review at icomics.com
 
'Crane and Naifeh deliver a queer tour de force with the first issue. Catherine's fascinating character immediately drew me to her. She's strong in her own right, curious, and willing to forego what she sees as the typical lesbian persona, and chart her own course in life. Chloe's powerful charisma stems from her intense personal journey of gender identification and transformation. And Nick is simply the hyper sexualized, self serving prick we've all known at one time or another. None of the outward circumstances of these characters' lives are anything like mine currently are. However, inside they are all the same as you and me. We've all been shut out in some way, considered freaks who are outside the socially acceptable societal norms regardless of how hard we may try to fit in. We've all been frustrated with love, and confused about our sexualities and identities. The important theme is how we decide to travel on our personal and unique journeys through life. HOW LOATHSOME is one of the best stories, in comics or prose, I've read in some time'


--Joe Palmer


-see the full review at gayleague.com
 
I didn't expect such profound and intriguing ambiguity. It's easy to recognize Naifeh's style from my exposure to Courtney Crumrin, but that doesn't mean he offers the same sort of visuals here as he does on that other title. There's a much more realistic level of detail at play here. There's something that's both enticing and disquieting about the "deviant" lifestyle that Catherine embraces here.

-The 4th Rail.com