#I haven’t drawn fan art for literally anything since like 2016

[lethalinthecompany]

Bracken so sillay

[vonkarma2]

5 + 11 + 20‼️

5. Anything you haven’t drawn yet but want to?

Ugh yes like 800000 things Im literally dying. A lot of them are like more elaborate ideas that I want to wait until I have more skill to try to execute them, even though trying to do things you don’t yet have the skill for is literally how you improve but whatever. other than wips Im working on rn I wanted to do all the og crows bc I have some design ideas for all of them but I wanted to check first on some things I’ll do that later. The pipe dream I have is to one day do like an animatic to a song or whatever. Cringe I know but it’s ok. Not even like a full song maybe 30-60 seconds? I might attempt it this summer I’ll have time then.

11. Favorite comment you’ve ever recieved on your work?

this is not only the nicest thing anyone has ever said abt my work, but also possibly the nicest compliment anyone has ever paid to someone else’s art, in history. nicer than what that guy said in the dr who vincent van gogh episode. it was a while ago and over some drawings I didn’t even like that much but it was so nice :,)

but ofc every nice comment people leave I really like and appreciate it and thank you sm and et cetera 

20. What works have you drawn fanart of?

Im going to answer this for since I started doing digital art regularly in 2021 because before then I was exclusively into incredibly embarrassing things. Not counting the OCs of people I personally know as fan art Ive done wolf 359, witch hat atelier, jason bourne franchise I guess (drew him literally 1 time lol), ace attorney, star trek ds9, wings of fire (I drew a generic icewing once because I had art block), the owl house, teppu, our fair city (these drawings will never see the light of day lol), the new albion radio hour, monster high, moon knight (2016 comics not the show), revolutionary girl utena, the movie encanto, tf2, nichijou, mob psycho 100, and paranatural. which is way way way more things than I thought there would be. this is over the course of 2.5 years to be fair and most of these have only 1 or 2 drawings to their name. The vast majority of what I draw these days is OCs for sure.

[simonjadis]

I've always felt divided on shaming others for shipping "problematic ships." Don't get me wrong. I get the icky implications of Reylo but at the same time, well, I don't want to be that "No Fun Allowed" guy to teens and young adults who are just chilling. Sure, plenty of those shippers can be problematic (see how Finn is villainized unlike Kylo) but they don't speak for everyone.

That is super fair!

To be honest, I don’t really see Reylo as falling under the major “problematic” umbrellas. Imo, most Reylo shippers are thirsting after one or both parties, which is fine. My Star Wars OTP is Sheev/Vader. I don’t ship Reylo but it’s not a NOTP for me by any means. (I find Kylo and Snek disappointing as characters and as the only Dark Side representation in the series, but Kylo has nice hair and nicer tatas)

I remember seeing arguments after TFA came out where people equated Kylo’s (attempted!) mind-reading to sexual assault or to abuse. While it’s very fair to not want to ship someone with their abuser, I think that an enemy from the opposing faction is a very different concept, and that fantasy violence between enemies should not be misconstrued (remember the hubub about Mystique vs Apocalypse in 2016? That kind of sentiment is what made female superheroes relegated to having long-range energy powers and then passing out for decades. Let’s not go back to that).

I absolutely agree that it’s horrifying to see Finn, who has literally done nothing wrong, be villainized. It’s always a mistake to pretend that a rival ship is awful so that you can feel more secure about your own, but it’s extra bad when it’s the series’ first leading black character. That said, from my perception, I don’t think that those condemning Finn represent the majority of Reylos.

More generally, I think that what someone ships, in their imagination, only rarely reflects who they are as a person or their real-life values. It’s pretend.

While we’re right to judge books, films, shows, and games on things like representation, those pieces of media are not the same as fanfic, let alone smutfic. Fanworks are distinct in multiple ways.

Gonna get into this: cw for a reference to incest

For example, when Supernatural first launched, I watched the pilot live in 2005 (I am 1000 years old) and immediately shipped the only two actual characters, who both happened to be hot guys: Sam and Dean.

(Note: I don’t actually ship them anymore, but tbh I haven’t watched the show since Season 8 and even before that, I had grown to despise them both – one of the perils of writing a very long-running show with lots of personal drama is that characters do things that cannot be forgiven by some viewers. But that’s irrelevant.)

Only later would I learn that they were largely inspired and even named after Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty, two bisexual main characters from On The Road who were lovers, and who were based upon real men who were also lovers. (Which goes into part of why Supernatural is fucked up – notably, Castiel was also inspired by Constantine; another case of a straight character based upon a bi character, and that’s without getting into the issues with race, gender, and worldbuilding)

At that point, fandom culture (in my experience at the time) only treated incest as a squick – something that some people personally disliked, as one might be turned off by mpreg or watersports, etc.

Why wasn’t it a squick for me? Who knows tbh. I have zero brothers and I’m gay, so I never had to develop a feeling of aversion like that.That’s my best guess. I didn’t exactly fetishize those ships, but if there were only two hot dudes in a story, I didn’t think anything of it.

(Note: I think that incest ships may be specifically appealing to some fans because the bond between the characters is already secure? A similar appeal to the “found family” trope but the opposite thing. That’s just a theory)

However, upon coming to Tumblr, once I got over my culture shock of seeing people treat imaginary pairings as not squicks but moral indictments, I did come to understand where a lot of people are coming from with this!

For some people, it’s not just a personal squick, it’s an extra-strong aversion because they’re leery of incest being fetishized (for example, most real-life twins do not find twincest jokes funny!). More often, it’s people who were abused in real-world incest and cannot fathom why it would be someone’s kink or even factor into someone’s ship.

The solution to any sort of ship that’s going to remind someone of the worst moments of their lives is to do what I did in bold, above: use a content warning. If your fic contains sex abuse or incest or whatever, please tag your work. The same is true with fanart. If you want to share your other media with friends or the fandom at large but worry that your kinks may be off-putting, literally just make a second art/writing account or a separate blog to share those.

Don’t deliberately take people bag to the worst moments of their lives.

HOWEVER

We’ve seen a lot of people write about how they don’t want to see fandom treated like Catholicism (or, alternatively, as Protestantism; the word that they’re looking for is orthodoxy).

People have every right to ship whatever vile things they like. That goes for things that personally horrify or squick me. All that they need to do is be respectful in public spaces and to upload their work/commentary in the appropriate places with the appropriate tags, warnings, and readmores.

I think that people who don’t feel especially powerful or in control in life are the ones who get the biggest kick out of things like gatekeeping, exclusionist rhetoric, and being fandom police. Others are simply well-intentioned but became carried away. Not all antis are bad people, but it’s not a healthy thing about which to frame your personality and your online brand.

Your personal dislike of something doesn’t make you a morally superior person. As someone who hates mushrooms, I know that it’s tempting to believe otherwise, but it’s true.

And wielding social justice language as a cudgel, especially one that just happens to validate your opinions on a piece of fiction, is disingenuous and harmful in so many ways.

Ships (or kinks, etc) don’t equate to someone’s real-life values.

(Side note: anyone else notice that people who wouldn’t bat an eye at someone writing Age-Appropriate Wolf fanfic, when the characters are highschoolers but played by adults, are quick to condemn people who ship cartoon teens together, even though those teens are literally ink on paper and are absolutely voiced by and drawn like adults? I’m not sure what that’s all about, but it needs to stop. It’s literally just pretend!)

(Other side note: I understand that a lot of people are uncomfortable with shipping real people, even though said shipping has been a part of culture for millennia. My thoughts on that is: literally just act like an adult about it! Don’t tweet them fic or fanart, and don’t show it to them at conventions or whatever. The same thing goes for actors who play fictional characters. Talk show hosts should also maybe stop showing fanart for shock value but that’s a whole other conversation)

If you’ve gotten carried away with fandom-policing or something else, hey, that’s part of being a person. I’ve done it too! What matters is to be a better person. Making mistakes and becoming a better person are part of what it means to exist.

[inknerd]

Reading Wrap-Up: Summer 2018 (June to August)

The books I read and finished from June to August 2018! I feel like it’s been a good summer for me and books, despite that I haven’t read all the books I’d hoped to (mainly because there was A LOT), but these are all the books I read during the summer, 23 in total; perhaps you read some of them too?

WARCROSS by MARIE LU ★★★★☆ | 353 pages | 1 day to read | Published 2017 |

I was pleasantly surprised how little time it took for me to read this. I’m looking forward to the sequel! + It was very engaging and I liked the world that Lu painted up for the reader. - You could sort of see the plot twist coming (not that it was a bad one) and the supposed “friendships” fell flat for me.

CROOKED KINGDOM by LEIGH BARDUGO ★★★★★ | 536 pages | 6 days to read | Published 2016 |

Whatever hesistance I had reading Six of Crows (which was very little, by the end of it) completely evaporated reading Crooked Kingdom. It’s great! + The characters were what really hooked me on this story in the first place, and I really liked how we got to know more about them. Especially Wylan, who became my favourite. - I wouldn’t like to spoil anything, but there’s certain parts of the ending that I might have wanted to change. Might.

VICIOUS by V.E. SCHWAB ★★★★★ | 368 pages | 2 days to read | Published 2013 |

Started out sort of-maybe liking it but then I really got going. I’m SO down to buy the sequel as soon as it gets out. + The characters, their motivations, stories, and powers were all so intruiging! - I can’t really come up with something to complain about? It took some time to get into, I guess.

THE PENELOPIAD by MARGARET ATWOOD ★★★★☆ | 198 pages | 2 days to read | Published 2005 |

I’d looked for another greek myth retelling ever since I read The Song of Achilles, and this was a great one! It’s also the first Margaret Atwood book I ever read, and I absolutely want to read more books by her. + It was very beautifully written and explored characters I’d never seen explored and in a way that felt very original, even for more known characters as Odysseus and Helena. - It could get a little boring, at times.

CALL ME BY YOUR NAME by ANDRÉ ACIMAN ★★★☆☆ | 248 pages | 3 days to read | Published 2007 |

I wanted to read the book before I saw the movie. I still haven’t seen the movie, but I will...someday. + It was a very beautiful book, in certain ways. The language and the overall feeling of just everything was dripping of the pages and made it hard to stop reading while the book also felt way longer than it actually was. - But I also felt strangely...underwhelmed by the whole thing? Like I get why people like it but at the same time it was a somewhat strange book were not much happened. I also don’t get why everyone makes such a big fuss about the peach scene when there’s a literal scene where they watch each other take a shit. Like. I’m serious.

ELIZA AND HER MONSTERS by FRANCESCA ZAPPIA ★★★☆☆ | 385 pages | 2 days to read | Published 2017 | 

When there’s a book about fandom experience in some form I usually want to read it. Sadly, for me this didn’t quite live up to, let’s say Fangirl (which I love), but was still an enjoying read. + I liked the whole thing with Monstrous Sea and how it included other parts of fandom from fanart, fanfiction, cosplay, but also how it can be hard to make people from the outside understand. - Not all of it simply clicked for me.

MEMORIES OF EMANON by SHINJI KAJIO & KENJI TSURUTA ★★★★☆ | 175 pages | 1 day to read | Published 2008 |

Man, I can’t believe I hadn’t read this manga before!  + The art was beautiful, Kenji Tsuruta just made Emanon so pretty as well as the background and it all fit so well with the story. The story itself was very intruiging, I’d like to know more about Emanon and all her lives. - There was this one thing that bothered me about Emanon and how her memories sort of transfered to her offspring, and it could get a little confusing at times but at the same time it was part of the charm of this little story.

JIM HENSON’S LABYRINTH: THE NOVELIZATION by A.C.H SMITH, JIM HENSON & BRIAN FROUD ★★★★☆ | 288 pages | 7 days to read | Published 2014 (1986) |

When I found out this existed I was mindblown. You mean to say there’s a novelisation of one of my favourite movies and I haven’t read it yet!? There seems to be no physical copies left, but lucky for me there was a e-book version available! + It was so much fun to revisit the story and dive deeper into the characters. I feel like I got a deeper appreciation of some and more frustration from others, despite the book almost following the movie to a T. - Like...okay. The story wasn’t that great - if you weren’t a fan of Labyrinth before this book or haven’t seen the movie this book probably won’t give you much, to be honest. Sadly, the pictures of Henson’s written notes in the end wasn’t really readable either. At least not for me, who can’t read cursive for shit, especially when it’s sloppy.

ELLA ENCHANTED by GAIL CARSON LEVINE ★★★☆☆ | 232 pages | 2 days to read | Published 1998 |

Another book that I read because I love the movie so much! This one came before the movie, though. + It was very witty and gave new perspective to characters I already love. The world of Ella Enchanted was somewhat different from the movie (actually, a lot of things was, especially the main plot changed tremendously) and I felt like the book more than the movie focused on Ella and her curse and how she felt about it and how it affected her entire life even after it was broken. The romance was also very cute. - Perhaps it’s because I saw the movie first and it’s so funny and one of my favourites, but I missed some of its elements when reading the book. I wished I’d read the book when I was younger, I think I’d liked it even more then.

AN ASSEMBLY SUCH AS THIS ★★★☆☆, DUTY AND DESIRE ★☆☆☆☆ & THESE THREE REMAIN ★★☆☆☆ by PAMELA AIDAN | 1073 pages | 12 days to read | Published 2006-2007 |

These are all part of the Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman series - which is a Pride and Prejudice story from Darcy’s perspective. + When I read the first book I really thought I’d found the P&P retelling from Darcy’s perspective I’d been looking for. It was very promising and funny to see through his eyes and how he and Elizabeth misunderstood each other. - The rest of the series didn’t go as well. Duty and Desire was plain boring and had no feeling from the original work by Austen. These Three Remain was slightly better simply because it returned to the original setting of P&P, but by then I was already too bored to enjoy the story any longer.

LET’S TALK ABOUT LOVE by CLAIRE KANN ★★★☆☆ | 288 pages | 1 day to read | Published 2018 |

I was so excited for this book. Asexuality! In YA! Just what I needed and craved. Still crave, actually. + The story was very cute, and I could connect with a lot of what was talked about. The supporting characters were also very funny and well-developed. The friendship of this story were more interesting to read than the romance, in certain ways. - As cute as the story was and how refreshing it was with an ace main character, there isn’t much more to say about this book. It was good. It was nice. Not much else. The overall plot was pretty standard beneath it all.

GOBLIN MARKET AND OTHER POEMS by CHRISTINA ROSSETTI ★★★★☆ | 135 pages | 6 weeks | Published 2017 (1862) |

I heard about this for the first time in my Literature class at uni, and was immideatly interested in reading it. And let’s just say this is among my favourite poetry collections of all time now. + The poem Goblin Market was a clear favourite, but the whole first section of the book was so pretty and a fantastic read. I underlined a lot of lines that stood out to me. - The later parts of the book was to me not enjoyable as the first one. I definitely felt more drawn to the poems of Rossetti that took inspiration from nature and folklore rather than the ones who talked a lot about Christianity and Jesus.

UNNATURAL CREATURES by NEIL GAIMAN (editor) ★★★☆☆ | 462 pages | 32 days to read | Published 2013 |

This was a collection of short stories selected by Neil Gaiman (one of them written by him). And as always, as soon as I see the man’s name I feel compelled to read whatever it is he’s written or edited. + I really liked reading the first part of this collection! All the stories are very cool and the book has a very wide range of unnatural creatures. From dictator wasps to griffins to werewolves.  - As it should be, some stories appealed to me more than others. Some were pretty boring.

THE DARKEST MINDS by ALEXANDRA BRACKEN ★★★☆☆ | 488 pages | 5 days to read | Published 2012 |

When I saw the trailer of the movie it looked very interesting, so I quickly got myself an e-book copy and read it before the movie came out. + Overall it was a good book. The setting and the powers within the universe were good and the book was well-written. - At the same time I feel like I’ve fallen out of the YA dystopian genre a bit. It didn’t feel like The Darkest Minds gave me anything and I’d seen the characters before in a lot of different YA literature. I don’t feel super eager to continue on with this series, but maybe I will anyway.

FURYBORN by CLAIRE LEGRAND ★★★★☆ | 512 pages | 14 days to read | Published 2018 |

This book was so hyped on booktube, the cover was amazing and the premise sounded exciting. I’m glad to say that it wasn’t disappointing! + What I loved the most was how everything revealed itself over the chapters. I constantly tried to figure out how everything fit together and the suspense was thrilling. The characters are also very well-written. - I was good, but I can’t say the plot really took a hold of me and forced me to continue on reading. It took a while to read, and by the end of it my thoughts were “well, this was good! I’m looking forward to the sequel” and not much else.

HER BODY AND OTHER PARTIES by CARMEN MARIA MACHADO ★★☆☆☆ | 248 pages | 11 days to read | Published 2017 |

I heard about this book somewhere online saying it was a very interesting and worthy read. Luckily I found it at a library and read the collection of short stories during a period of time. + As it normally is with short story collections, some you like and some you like less. I think my favourite in Her Body and Other Parties was the first one, then I sort of lost more and more interest. It was very beautifully written and poetic, though. - I just didn’t have enough energy to completely understand all the stories and what they were trying to say. It just wasn’t my cup of tea.

HOUSE OF LEAVES by MARK Z. DANIELEWSKI ★★★★☆ | 709 pages | 2 days to read | Published 2000 |

Jeez, this was a weird book. But I liked it. I thought for sure it would take me ages to read this - especially once I started and almost fell asleep after 20 pages - but then it took hold of me and I just couldn’t stop. + What’s definitely the most interesting about this book is it’s weird style. It’s like a medium inside a medium inside a medium; with footnotes stretching over entire pages, text being upside down or just blank pages with only one or two words written. It helped the story being even more creepy. - Though the medium sort of makes the story, it’s also why this book is so hard and frustrating to read. There could be lists of names that one just didn’t care enough to skim through or sudden breaks in the main story for page-long articles about greek myths, history, or other things that just made me want to return to the actual horror story that I was reading.

THE TEA DRAGON SOCIETY by KATIE O’NEILL ★★★★☆ | 72 pages | 1 day to read | Published 2017 |

Aww, this is one of the cutest, warmest graphic novels I’ve ever read! + The art was so cute and fit the story perfectly. The characters were so colourful and funny, I almost wish it was longer! The information about tea dragons at the end was also very enjoying to read. - I don’t really have any actual complaints.

MY SOLO EXCHANGE DIARY by NAGATA KABI ★★★☆☆ | 168 pages | 1 day to read | Published 2018 |

The awaited sequel to My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness! + I love the art of this manga so damn much. You have no idea. It’s just so cute even when it deals with so serious issues. And it’s PINK! - I felt like I didn’t understand or connect to this one as much as I did with the first one. Her ideas and descriptions of humans and human relationships are very interesting and thought-provoking, but more than once I had some issues with understanding.

THE WEIGHT OF FEATHERS by ANNE-MARIE MCLEMORE ★★★☆☆ | 308 pages | 2 days to read | Published 2015 |

This is Mclemore’s debut novel, and I’m absolutely thinking about checking out some of her other books. + The magic realism and scenery are amazing. The two shows - one with “mermaids” and the other with tree-climbing “fairies” - are amazing and so imaginative. - The story didn’t really catch a hold of me and I wasn’t overly invested in the romance either.

OF FIRE AND STARS by AUDREY COULTHURST ★★★☆☆ | 389 pages | 4 days to read | Published 2016 |

A fantasy novel featuring two princesses in love? Sign me up. + I quite liked the universe and character Coulthurst made, they all felt very real and human. - I felt disconnected from the magic system and the plot. I didn’t really care much for what happened outside of Mare and Denna’s relationship - the political intrigue wasn’t interesting for me.

THE ASTONISHING COLOR OF AFTER by EMILY X.R. PAN ★★★☆☆ | 462 pages | 1 day to read | Published 2018 |

Another debut novel filled with feelings, colours and magical realism - I’d looked forward to reading this so much! + The topic of colours that is brought up chapter after chapter and the significance of the feathers and the bird - it all makes this book seem more magical. - As interesting and beautiful this book was, I can’t say it really stood out to me. While being a good book, it didn’t make me feel anything special, you know?

EVERY HEART A DOORWAY by SEANAN MCGUIRE ★★★★★ | 169 pages | 1 day to read | Published 2016 |

Like, I knew I was going to love this book, so I’m still confused why it took me so long until I picked it up? + Just, god, the worldbuilding!? The characters!? I loved how peculiar they all were and how they sort of incarnated the worlds they’d been to. Also, asexual main character? You got me hooked. - Honestly just the fact that it felt a bit too short? I would’ve liked more! More about the characters and worlds they’d lived in (though I think that’s shown more in the sequels to this?)

[renaramblesaboutcomics]

Wednesday Roundup 1.11.2017

Late with a review? Me? Never! Maybe a little.

In my defense there are ten of them. 

Regardless, we have another Roundup with quite a diverse ensemble that I hope you all enjoy! I sure did. 

Marvel’s Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows, DC’s Batman, Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Dark Horse’s Overwatch, Marvel’s Power Pack, DC’s Super Hero Girls, IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters II, Marvel’s Thanos - Marvel Legacy Primer Pages, Dark Horse’s Usagi Yojimbo, Lion Forge’s Voltron Legendary Defender Vol. 2

Marvel’s Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows - Marvel Legacy Primer Pages (2017) Robbie Thompson, Nathan Stockman

As people can no doubt tell from a glance over my blog as well as the rest of these Roundups, I’m actually quite the fan of this title, and have enjoyed this comic’s take on Spider-Man and, in truth, the entire Spider-Family more than almost any Spidey title in a decade now. At the very least of those that feature Peter. 

So this is a cute overview and relieves my stress over worrying that the title could be wrapping up soon since they’re promoting the next arc. I’m so glad to have this story of family and love~

DC’s Batman Halloween Comic Fest Special Edition (2017) #1 Steve Orlando, Tom King, Riley Rosso, Ivan Plascencia

I actually really enjoyed the Night of the Monster Men crossover comic from earlier this year, even if I think people would be best off if they waited like me until the whole trade collected everything and then bought it so they didn’t miss anything or read out of order. It was a good family crossover, used most of the characters to their benefit, and gave us some team ups we haven’t really seen used that much before, or at all.

So I really support the fact that this first issue of the arc came out to tease people for the Halloween Comic Fest because it’s the right amount of creepy and it exposes lots of new readers to members of the Bat family they may have not otherwise been exposed to. 

It’s a fun little free comic, and I recommend checking it out if you haven’t read the full storyline and would be curious about checking it out for yourself. 

Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur - Marvel Legacy Primer Pages (2017) Robbie Thompson, Marco Failla

Being the huge fan of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur that I am, the hardest thing about the recent storyline has been that Devil hasn’t been in it and Lunella’s little broken heart breaks my heart every issue. So I was curious if that was going to be in the roundup and.... well, it wasn’t!

That means that, as could probably be predicted, the reunion between the two title characters is sure to be upon us, but it also kind of feels like these particular Primer Pages are.... really out of touch with what’s been going on in the comic recently, which kind of sets it apart from at least the comic primers I’ve read myself. I don’t know what to put this on, since Robbie Thompson has been the writer for all of these Primers and has done an amazing job thus far. It’s just a strange blip, I suppose. 

Dark Horse’s Overwatch (2016-present) #12 Michael Chu, Gray Shuko

Since I’m not really someone who’s played the video game for myself (I’m much more of a Let’s Play watcher), I view the world building pretty much entirely through the eyes of these comics we get. And that makes things... routinely difficult to decipher. Mostly because these are not coming out in a linear fashion to walk me through the worldbuilding. 

Heck, they’re not even coming out in order of issue number for us poor souls on the comixology train! 

So this is really one of my first exposures to how Overwatch functioned before it broke up, how the hierarchy worked, how the characters interacted. How... goofy everyone looks all wearing the same costumes and colors. 

It’s interesting stuff for sure and I feel like if I was more plugged in to the metatextuality of the Overwatch universe I’d not have the difficulties following that I’m describing, but there are only so many hours in a day.

The art is good but sometimes feels a little stilted, especially when it concerns fully portraying Tracer’s movements and time displacement. I’ve seen it used better but that’s more of a personal nitpick.

Why isn’t Overwatch trusted in England. Why isn’t Jack completely on board with sending a team in at first. No clue. Especially if this is Overwatch in its prime. But I suppose we’ll see. 

Or not. I don’t know if these comics actually fulfill any narrative structure since there are different writers and artists every other issue. 

Marvel’s Power Pack (2017) #63 Devin Grayson, Marika Cresta, Chris O’Halloran

So this one-shot was a blast from the past in multiple ways for me. First off, a Power Pack comic!!! Legitimately some of the first Marvel superheroes I read about outside of Spider-Man when I was growing up specifically because reprints of some of their issues were in the back of Spider-Man Magazine back when.... I was a kid and... subscribed to Spider-Man Magazine through a school fundraiser. Anyway. 

It’s also a play on my nostalgia for both having Devin Grayson as a writer and also having shoutouts to the fact that the Fantastic Four are still around and, by the logic of their last series, Alex Power is still with them. 

Devin Grayson is a writer I’ve had a complicated relationship with for years now, which her tag on this very blog can tell you in and of itself, but for all the reasons I’m incredibly critical of her writing, there is also the undeniable fact for me that some of her character work is genuine some of my favorite writing in comics when it’s restrained and kept to series and characters she clearly loves and understands a lot. For instance, I much prefer Grayson’s writing of familial relationships over her writing of romantic ones. And it’s quite obvious here that she at least understands enough about Power Pack to predict where Katie -- who is a character that unlike Julie and Alex we have not seen much of in recent years -- would be like as a growing teenager. Given, most of the issue is Grayson retelling an old story from the original Power Pack series.

While the framing and general premise is hokey, you really get the idea that Marvel is testing the waters of what properties they can really bring back in the new comic book landscape, especially with the note at the end of the issue compelling people who want more Power Pack to contact Marvel themselves. Which, personally, I will. Because I love my kids and I do think there’s a genuinely interesting place for them to inhabit in Marvel right now. Especially since we know Julie is pansexual in canon and I just really, really love Julie. 

The art also elevates a somewhat hokey concept to something really beautiful and modern, the breakdowns on every page are just gorgeous and I really have to give props here to Marika Cresta for that. 

And in general, I want more women to be involved with comics so this team would be one I’d really like to see more of, whether it’s a future Power Pack comic (fingers crossed) or not. 

DC’s DC Super Hero Girls 2017 Halloween Comic Fest Special Editions (2017) #1 Shea Fontana, Yancey Labat, Agnes Garbowska

Why this was chosen as a Halloween freebie is honestly kind of beyond me?The storyline of “Past Times at Super Hero High” literally has nothing to do with hauntings, curses, Halloween, or magic. It’s just the hang of kids from Super Hero High getting stranded in the Jurassic period and having to save their teacher. I guess... girls don’t like getting scared? Which by my estimation is an assumption which could only truly be made by either someone who never went to a sleepover party as a kid or doesn’t remember sneaking horror movies between friends without parental supervision. Kids eat up being scared. Kids also eat up anything with dinosaurs, but these things are fairly mutually exclusive when not a Don Bluth movie. 

Beyond my hilarious, if I do say myself, skepticism involving the choice of this particular comic being used as the Halloween comic of choice for DC to distribute from the series, it is a well written and well drawn addition to what has been an incredibly popular series for kids, especially young girls, who want to get more interested in reading superhero comics. And as I’ve made known before, that is something that is very important to me, personally. Comics for kids and comics especially interested in young girls, that doesn’t talk down or overly exaggerate gender differences are so important in nurturing the next generation of comic fans. I know, because that’s how I became a comic fan. 

It also is further proof that Shea Fontana’s run on Wonder Woman was criminally underrated and cut short as she really does understand how to write to the superhero genre tropes in a loving fashion and especially in exemplifying how strong and important the female characters are. 

I just wish the general lineup of the main cast wasn’t so white. Like, Bumblebee is one of the main Super Hero girls and she got entirely left behind within the first few pages. We do have Katana, at least, but representation for race is just as if not sometimes more important than just representation for women. I hope that’s something that becomes more prominent as the series continues. 

IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters II (2017) #1 (of 5) Erik Burnham, Tom Waltz, Dan Schoening, Luis Antonio Delgado

So I really adore Ninja Turtles crossovers to an extent that’s probably not healthy, and the previous Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters crossover is by no means an exception to that, but one of the things that I could not have expected, even with as excited as I was for this comic to come out, was how much it tied into the ongoing storylines in both Ghostbusters and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

No. Really! Seriously!

This is taking place between the last issue of TMNT that I reviewed and the next issue that will come out this month, which is why all five issues of this mini is coming out week by week this month. 

It’s honestly really amazing. 

The moment it opened up I knew that it was going to be Burnham and Waltz’ usual high standards of writing as well as Dan Schoening’s art (which also explains why his art has been missed on some of the recent Ghostbusters stories), but the moment we got to the “Ghost Realm” and saw not just Darius Dun from the IDW TMNT comics, but also references to his not-so-past murder I was like “holy crap I can’t believe that the consequences of storylines I’ve been curious about are finally coming to fruition here!

Of course that comes to its own difficulties -- as I mentioned in my review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Universe, we’re increasingly getting to a point where the Ninja Turtles’ ongoing narrative just... isn’t self-contained anymore. And while that’s worldbuilding and expanding, but also makes it increasingly difficult to follow what’s happening in the main book unless you’re plugged into everything that’s going on in IDW. Which, if you’re not an immersive fan, can suck. A lot. I mean, for nerds like me who intersect with Ninja Turtles and Ghostbusters and Transformers and X-Files and so on, that’s kind of cool and enjoyable. But for people who aren’t... Well, there’s a reason that comics have been pushed as more and more niche even as the superhero genre and comic-sourced media are growing into multimillion dollar properties. 

The art’s fantastic, the writing’s top notch. If you want to eep up with either properties’ storylines or if you just enjoyed the last crossover, I would absolutely recommend picking this up. 

Marvel’s Thanos - Marvel Legacy Primer Pages (2017) Robbie Thompson, Ron Lim

As someone with not exactly the most cares in the world that Marvel has given a series to Thanos of all characters, I was kind of hoping this primer would, more than any of the others, sort of give me an insight to the appeal of the comic as a whole. And... really it didn’t that much. At least not by my estimates. 

I did enjoy the art quite a bit, and I love that the impact of the Guardians of the Galaxy has just been growing larger and larger thanks to the movies, but other than that this Primer really didn’t offer anything that really stuck with me personally. 

Dark Horse’s Usagi Yojimbo (1984-present) #163 Stan Sakai

So I did something with this issue that I rarely ever do, and that was that I looked around at other reviews online to see what other people were thinking as long time Usagi fans because... Well, to say the least the comics are always excellent but this time around I felt like I had read the comic before. Or, at least, that the storyline was similar enough that I was growing suspicious that somehow I had read the storyline before. 

It turns out, I hadn’t. I had just been confused because the spy character you can see in the bottom right panel has been around in other stories (and yes I know that’s a weird detail for me to get hung up on but that’s my brain for ya). And instead of confirming or deterring my suspicions I became exposed to a completely different trend in comic reviews right now. 

A.... strangely almost.... red-scare esque read of Usagi Yojimbo as pro-socialist???

We live in weird times, my friends. Where Usagi Yojimbo, a comic mostly about and making commentary on the history and culture of Feudal Japan, is being read now as..... socialist propaganda because the thief that Usagi and Ishida are after for most of the issue, Nezumi, is known for being a Robin Hood like character who steals from the rich and distributes part of his gains to the rest of the poor in the city, thus making him beloved and protected by the people who are more wary and unimpressed by the ruling class and police. Even though the eventual murder victim shown in the same issue is shown as having fallen on hard times and had his life ruined by Nezumi stealing from his business several times. 

But. Everything’s political now. And while I get that, I guess it doesn’t sit right with me because yes, that is a reading you can take away from this issue, but personally what always strikes me about Usagi Yojimbo as a fan is how depth and nuance are hidden by the seemingly simple. That has always been my compliment of the art -- which is simple, B&W, and toned, but full of deep details and very insightful use of environment and dedication to building spaces -- from this issue alone you can almost build a map of the city just from how Sakai lays out the art and how the chase moves through it -- but works just as well with the writing.

There is a commentary here on how opinion and loyalty is built by redistribution and how the class system as it was in Feudal Japan leaves injustice to be answered by outcasts like Nezumi and gangs like the Black Goblins, or how punishment in a justice system which is imbalanced discourages citizens from assisting law enforcement -- but none of those things are shown as without judgment or repercussions either. Nezumi’s own lawlessness is leaving him exposed to being hunted down by the gangs as well as the police, and to be framed for murder. There’s definitely repercussions shown for his victims, how they are left damaged by his actions and the injustice of their society to the point that they are desperate and get involved with crime themselves. 

There are no simple answers or simple interpretations from this issue. Just like there isn’t for Usagi Yojimbo as a whole. Our main character is not a benefactor of the system, but he is also involved in this case because of his friendship and loyalty to Inspector Ishida. Not to mention that Usagi’s associates are usually not the honorable sort like Ishida himself. And he has been involved with some questionable morality himself at times. 

At any rate, it’s usually against my style to read other reviews before I write my own but I’m glad I did this time around, because the common interpretation I’m seeing is.... oddly disconnected from the comic I read myself. So it was fun to do a bit of a deep dive. 

Lion Forge’s Voltron Legendary Defender Vol. 2 (2017-present) #3 Tim Hedrick, Mitch Iverson, Rubine, Beni Lobel

So. This was quite an unexpected addition to my pull list this week. They’re really cranking these comics out. I mean, it’s only been two weeks since the previous issue, it’s like they’re trying to be the comic version of the show in every possible way -- there’s not even breathing room between updates!

In all seriousness, this issue continues the honestly pretty solid quality that the last issue made standard, which again is just a complete shock to me because I didn’t enjoy the first issue. That being said, it still maintains the weaknesses that were proven last issue, too, especially in the alien designs and the general storyline we’re currently on. 

While I could definitely see this across-space amnesty mission as something that would happen in the actual show, there is a lack of urgency or even connection to Zarkon or the Galra Empire that is incredibly noticeable. For better or worse, the show keeps very close to its baseline of tension by having even mostly filler episodes have an impression and general outreach of the Galra Empire felt. Without that present in the current storyline and without anyone on Team Voltron even bringing up the possibility of the ongoing conflict with the Galra coming up, we feel a certain amount of disconnect and weightlessness to everything happening. And I’d argue that nowhere is that clearer than when Voltron is formed to fight the Big Bad of the issue but.... the Big Bad is defeated by.... Coran’s cold.... Which Coran gave it by.... breathing/sneezing on it in space. 

The art is a lot of give and take. I’ve said all I can on the fact that the alien designs aren’t feeling particularly original, but at the same time I have to credit the adherence to the style of the television series as well as the effort put into the backgrounds, really making even the scenes within the ship actually feel like the artist and writer had an actual location in mind for everything that was going on. 

At the same time, that adherence could also arguably be a hinderance. After all, we do see a lot of times where the characters look... strangely off model, or their expressions and poses don’t match the tone of what is happening or even what they’re saying (the panels I included above are a particularly egregious example of this). 

This all said, if you’re a fan of Voltron there really is a lot of reason for you to pick up the comics yourself. It’s not a supplement or introduction for the show, and in truth it’s not really making an effort to place itself in the show’s known timeline (somewhere between Seasons 1 and 3??? who knows). 

And those are the comics for this week! Did you happen to agree with me? Disagree? Think I missed out on picking up a comic that was good? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

But before I let you go, I have to (yes have to) plug once more:

I have exactly a month to pack up everything I own and move halfway across the country again which is not helping those financial crunches I mentioned before either.

As such, I really would appreciate if you enjoy my content or are interested in helping me out, please check out either my Patreon or PayPal. Every bit helps and I couldn’t thank you enough for enjoying and supporting my content.

You could also support me by going to my main blog, @renaroo, where I’ll soon be listing prices and more for art and writing commissions.

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