Synopsis:

Carolanne wanted a perfect wedding, a perfect husband, a perfect family. She carefully performs her own roles (gal pal, bestie, girlfriend, wife, and expectant mother) and manipulates those around her to try and get the results she wants. Her desire to control the uncontrollable ultimately becomes her undoing. When things don’t go her way, she exerts dominance over the one thing she does have total control over: her body; until that “betrays” her. After suffering a horrible loss, Carolanne spirals into a literal, all-consuming delusion causing her body to produce symptoms of a hysterical pregnancy as a result of her slicing off bits of her own flesh and eating them.Chicago cartoonist and educator Beth Hetlands graphic novel debut is a brilliant psychological thriller that tears down the wall of a genre body horror so often identified with male creators. Heady and visceral, Tender uses horrific tropes to confront womens societal expectations of self-sacrifice despite those traditional roles often coming at the expense of female sexuality and empowerment.

Artists & Writers:
(W/A/CA) Beth Hetland