Of all the questions people ask me about I Kissed Alice, the number one has to be, “Where did you get the idea for the comic panels?” Truthfully, the fan comic in Alice was a carefully made strategic choice. I knew I wanted Iliana and Rhodes to connect via fandom, but I was also acutely aware of how embedding a long-form, serial-style story within a story could slow down the pacing. I was in the shower when it hit me: I could pump a lot of story into a small amount of space with a script. Plus, the difference in format would break up the tension without having to ease up on the conflict too early in the story!

I never imagined they’d bring in an illustrator—or that the illustrator in question would be the incredible Victoria Ying—and as a result we have five unbelievable fan comic updates that allow us to step into the world Iliana and Rhodes have created together.

Join me as I share my top five favorite panels!

#5: The one right before their first kiss. (comic 1, panel 5)
Okay, I love this so much. A lot of fans believe there’s nothing worse in fandom than a self-insert, but that’s exactly what we’ve got here: Idealized versions of Iliana and Rhodes are playing dress-up as the Red Queen and Alice, respectively, and we’re being thrown right into the pulpy, over-the-top camp the girls are cooking up together. It tells us a lot about what Iliana and Rhodes want—and who doesn’t want the push and pull of enemies-to-lovers romantic tension?

#4: “Cold is the absence of heat.” (comic 2, panel 4)
Rhodes is writing and sketching this out following a particularly stressful therapy appointment. Personally, I’ve never been able to describe my depression as a pervasive sadness. Rather, when I’m depressed, it’s more like an absence of feeling . . . anything. Rhodes’s relationship with her mental health runs close to mine, and it was important to me to be able to literally see this on the page.

#3: “You thought it would be this easy . . .” (comic 3, panel 3)
Without going too much into spoiler-y detail, we’ve returned to Rhodes’s propensity for processing her wants and needs through art. Things have hit a wall in Iliana and Rhodes’s anonymous online relationship, and Rhodes doesn’t see a way out of it—so she’s trying to create one here. 

#2: “The Intergalactic Underland is nowhere to be seen . . .” (comic 4, panel 3)
Ah, here it is: We’ve finally reached the point in the story when Rhodes shifts from reactivity to proactivity. She’s made some big decisions IRL. It’s easy to be so caught up in our difficult relationships that we forget setting boundaries is an option. Boundaries are hard for Rhodes, but she’s learning.

#1: “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” (comic 5, panel 5) 
I don’t want to spoil anything, so all I’m going to say is this: Yay!!!

I Kissed Alice by Anna Birch

For fans of Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda and Fangirl, Anna Birch's I Kissed Alice is a romantic comedy about enemies, lovers, and everything in between.

Rhodes and Iliana couldn't be more different, but that's not why they hate each other.

Hyper-gifted artist Rhodes has always excelled at Alabama’s Conservatory of the Arts despite a secret bout of creator's block, while transfer student Iliana tries to outshine everyone with her intense, competitive work ethic. Since only one of them can get the coveted Capstone scholarship, the competition between them is fierce.

They both escape the pressure on a fanfic site where they are unknowingly collaborating on a graphic novel. And despite being worst enemies in real life, their anonymous online identities I-Kissed-Alice and Curious-in-Cheshire are starting to like each other... a lot. When the truth comes out, will they destroy each other's future?