Aysen Gerlach harnesses several levels of queer experience from her own and others’ lives in her Just Lookin’ publications. Strategically designed to celebrate alternative and queer-leaning subtexts in popular culture, Just Lookin’ humorously engages with media archetypes that are overlooked by some and heralded as icons by others.

The third issue of Just Lookin’ develops its thesis through a presentation of several nontraditional cartoon femmes, each one subverting heteronormative themes through an entertaining and accessible mixture of style and behavioral cues. In the Editor’s Note, Gerlach expressed her frustration at the lack of blatant LGBTQ representation throughout the characters in the cartoons of the early 2000’s. She credits this absence for positioning viewers at various levels of queer awakening to project theories and compatibilities unto the characters for which we had developed a vested interest.