I Thought YOU Hated ME

Published by Retrofit Comics

When MariNaomi first meets Mirabai in grade school, Mirabai seems to be more of a bully than a friend. But over the course of time, their relationship shifts from tense to friendly, to drifting apart, to reconnecting and finding something much deeper.

I Thought You Hated me is a comics memoir about female friendship, a story that doesn’t involve stale tropes like acrimonious competition or fighting over boys. It explores the complexity and depth of this particular friendship through snapshot-vignettes of relevant moments over thirty years, painting a portrait of something unique but relatable, common but extraordinary.

ISBN 978-1-940398-49-5
Published by Retrofit Comics, September 21, 2016
$9 retail
Buy it from Retrofit Comics.

Sample Pages

Praise for I Thought YOU Hated ME

“This cartoonist perfectly captures the highs and lows of friendship.”

~ Los Angeles Magazine

“I Thought YOU Hated ME is a fantastic portrait of how friendships are born, how they blossom and eventually wither.”

~ Phillippe LeBlanc, Comics Beat

“MariNaomi has a precise eye for small moments of big change. Fall in love with your best friend all over again with ‘I Thought YOU Hated ME.'”

~ Brooklyn Based

“The experience as a reader is intimate and ultimately fulfilling. Purchase it, read it, then read it again.”

~ Leonardo Faierman, Black Girl Nerds

“Like an incredibly sophisticated pastry, you could peel layers from this book for days and still have more layers to look at.”

~ Okazu

“MariNaomi’s I Thought You Hated Me is a pitch-perfect account of the ways in which girls, teens and women create bonds, fight feelings of jealousy and ultimately find ways to connect and reconnect over time. While her ear for dialogue has always been sharp, it’s the clarity and directness of her drawings that make this such a distinctive and moving story about the fragility and strength of friendship.”

~ Rob Clough, critic for The Comics Journal and High-Low Comics

“Make sure that MariNaomi’s I Thought You Hated Me is on your September comics radar. Amazing memoir of a friendship, and MariNaomi uses her changing style to amazing effect here, using the daily comic strip form to make each panel powerful.”

~ Rob McMonigal, Panel Patter

“MariNaomi’s I Thought You Hated Me is engaging, entertaining, well-written, tightly drawn and revealing. What more could you want?”

~ Noah Van Sciver, cartoonist

“This book is so good. It seems simple, but resonates with the subtle complexity of a long-term friendship.”

~ Tyler Cohen, cartoonist