#IDW FCBD 2024

[taybatwo2]

Monster High IDW Comics Review: Part 1 of ?: Free Comic Book Day 2024 Issue 

A late review, but I wanted to review this and the Pride Comic together.

Part 2:

https://www.tumblr.com/taybatwo2/754406053729452032/monster-high-idw-comics-review-part-2-of?source=share

Part 3:

https://www.tumblr.com/taybatwo2/754555603918127104/monster-high-idw-comics-review-part-3-of?source=share

Part 4:

https://www.tumblr.com/taybatwo2/754946130507333632/monster-high-idw-comics-review-part-4-of?source=share

Part 5:

https://www.tumblr.com/taybatwo2/755042011333132288/monster-high-idw-comics-review-part-5-of?source=share

Comic Overview: The Free Comic Book Day MH IDW preview has an almost completely different staff to the Pride Issue; the writer is Jacque Aye (she/her, writer who has her own series of novels and likes to “spin tales about woeful women with a surrealist, magical touch.” I don’t feel like that necessarily fits with MH, but her novels look good).

She is interviewed in the back of this preview and it sounds like she has about 40 dolls from various toy lines, and loves her Skullector Series Beetlejuice and Lydia (she used to be afraid of them).

She says that the comic “is YA and inspired by the darkness Wednesday and the drama of Gossip Girl.” Aaaaaand the only thing people need to know about the comic beforehand is to watch the G1 animated webisodes, read the new Once Bitten, Twice Dead novel (it comes out in mid-July) and “to buy a few dolls for your collection ;)”  The artist is Siobhan Keenan (she/her, also did “Summer Fangout” in the MH Pride Comic and has a ton of GORGEOUS art on -Twitter- “x” and Instagram: @ siobhanchiffon).

The colorist is Rebecca Nalty (she/her, also worked on “Summer Fangout,” and has beautiful artwork on her own website and Instagram: @ sharkberri). The cover artist (and the MonsterNet artist) is Luciannys Camacho (she/her, again, BEAUTIFUL artwork -including some G3 Venus- on Instagram: @ opal_lines).

Lettered and design is Kielamel Sibal (she/her, another artist on Instagram @ labis_lemaleik). The editor is Riley Farmer (she/her, I think, I can’t access her LinkedIn profile), with the production done by Johanna Nattalie (she/her and has worked on a lot of IDW Sonic titles). They are the same team that also worked on the Pride Comic Issue).

The full series will be rated “T” for teen.

In the back of the preview, it lists a “schedule” for the upcoming releases in the IDW New Scaremester” G1 comic series (I assume they didn’t want to call it Boo Scaremester due to the G1 doll line of the same name).

The floppies will be releasing every month starting in August-May and all 10 copies will probably be collected in the listed “Monster High Fearbook 2024-2025” also in May. ….I assume.

There are three more One Offs: Halloween 2024 (in “Fangtober”), Snow Ball (in December 2024…only October gets a pun), and Spring Break (in April 2025). I don’t know if these will be collected in the Fearbook too, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were. 

The “2025-2026 Scaremester” will start its new set of floppies in August of 2025. If this schedule is followed to the “t.” 

Some information on the G1 canon to date, because G1’s canon is kinda a mess that contradicts itself EVERWHERE (unlike the EAH books, which all kinda mesh pretty well with another and a pretty good read) and can be broken down into several categories:

The Doll’s Diaries 2010-2022 (I consider these to be the most important as they delve into the characters internal feelings and we get a deeper look at them and their relationships with one another. I wish they continued making them, but not everyone has read them). You can lump UK’s MH Figurine Collection Mini-Diaries, and Nessi Monstrata’s MH Diary Series in with these as they follow the same premise.

The Monster High G1 Animated Webisodes (175 webisodes, 2010-15)/Commercials/New Ghoul at School (these seem to be what most people still imagine the G1 characters acting and sounding like. It’s kinda a mixed bag of episodes -especially the first and ending seasons- and I feel like the diaries do a better job at characterization, but I have a nostalgic soft spot for these webisodes. It does sometimes contradict itself and the diaries). 

Monster High Supplemental Books/Web Stuff: Books that mostly just repeated facts/pictures from the Webisodes and Diaries (such as the MH Annuals 2014-2016, 2013’s MH Fearbook, 2013’s MH My Monster Life, 2013’s MH Meet the Monsters, and the 2014’s MH Collection) or LIGHTLY built-off the canon that was mostly explored in the webisodes and diaries. (For some reason the movies were not mentioned quite as often). These include 2015’s Scare-ific Secrets (this one was a great read for a G1 fan), the Monster High website’s 2012 Boo Year’s Eve Countdown, 2012’s-2013’s Freaky Fab 13, and the 2014 Dance the Night Away: A Night in Scare-adise Prom. 

The 13 G1 CGI Monster High Movies (these would contradict themselves. Like MH’s Ghoul’s Rule involving a lot of more of New Salem/Salem’s normies, or the Great Scarrier Reef forgetting a lot of Lagoona’s characterization. They do have some of my favorite MH moments in them).

Could MOSTLY fit into the lore. These are stories that can technically fit into the main timeline, but may not be mentioned again by other characters (the Ghoulfriend’s Book series -has a whole new villain, some new side characters, and MH dorms, and the two Graphic Novels: “I Only Have Eye for You” -it is mentioned off handedly in Kieran’s Diary, but doesn’t fit in chronologically- and “Hopes and Screams” -basically a collection of original webisodes in comic form, and Shannon Hale’s EAH/MH crossover: “The Legend of Shadow High,” EAH is hinted at in “13 Wishes” and “Boo York, Boo York”). Or they are just slightly off from the main canon (2011’s MH Ghoul Spirit and New Ghoul in School games have in-game only main characters). 

Information given by the creators (such as Garrett Sander’s Q and A’s and Instagram doll breakdowns). They’re really fun and interesting but teeeechnically not canon.

Their own thing (the Lisi Harrison novels were MH in name only and the Monster High Anime: Scary Cool Ghouls, a fun watch, but their own continuity). I’m also going to guess that the just announced Universal Live Action G1 movie will hang out here too.

I’m going to assume (after my breakdown of the FCBD IDW preview that the main IDW comics and Once Bitten will be in the last category…oh…joy���)

Okay, that was a lot of information. Time for my personal thoughts/review and more pictures under the cut!!!!

First off …I don’t have much confidence that I will like it due to:

1. Being out of the age range of “YA” (I still like some of it, but it’s not guaranteed).

2. The writer comparing it to two shows I didn’t personally care for.

3. It sounds like it will be in the same G1 continuity as the Once Bitten, Twice Dead novel and that novel screams NOT FOR ME (it honestly sounds like my least favorite YA fiction tropes: overly angsty and dark…and in a cringy way to try and make it sound more adult. Like CW shows! Or that cancer live action Power Puffs reboot/ continuation). It’s not continuing the G1 MH canon I was personally connected to.

4. Despite all the artists having great looking artwork in their instas, I personally do not care for the artwork….or maybe the layout…both…(?) in the comic. I think it looks a bit generic looking (where is Frankie’s boxier head, Clawdeen’s larger nose, Cleo’s sharp angles?!). Like, it’s not necessarily bad, but the art style just doesn’t grab my attention in this comic (maybe it was rushed…?).

I will probably check out the first full floppy volume for this run, but otherwise I don’t collect floppies (single issue released comics) because they’re so fragile and it’s more affordable for me to get their collected versions. 

5. I am not the biggest western-comics fan and generally prefer independent graphic novels or manga/manhwa due to their stories feeling more cohesive (I generally don’t have to worry about different runs being picked up or dropped by different artists and writers) and I like knowing the inside/panel art will look very similar to the quality of the cover art (generally different artists will work on ongoing western comic series and I find it disappointing to pick up a comic with a beautiful cover to only be met with a different art style inside -like this comic-). 

Soooo taking that all into consideration, let’s delve in:

The opening letter is from Headmistress Bloodgood (using her original G1 signature, what a fun detail). Remember how Bloodgood would fight for her students and was a fair, but lightly strict Headmaster? Maybe the school board gave her absolutely no choice.

Speaking of Bloodgood, is she a reanimated normie? Or does she come from a long line of headless monsters….ghosts?? I’m pretty sure Hexiciah is mostly human (besides the little bit of fairy blood in him), and Victor Frankstein is most definitely human….

I would be surprised if Jackson/Holt are going to be in this continuity. Their mom definitely broke the “no romance with normies claws” to have made them and Jackson is often considered a normie. I’m guessing the Ghouls Rule movie didn’t happen in this continuity either…

This letter is alluding to a bunch of fuuuuuun (aka dark angsty shit with normies) that went down in Once Bitten and that this comic series is going to be dealing with the blowback from that.

Geeze, for being the most “inclusive and accepting school for monsters” it is hardcore against the real monsters….THE normies. DUN! Dun! DUUNN!

I feel like these “no normie rules” are influenced by G3’s NO NORMIE policy; or the Lisi Harrison books. I’m getting a whole lot of vibes reminiscent of the Lisi Harrison books. Woof…

“”The School Board has voted to more stringently uphold these claws moving forward.”” I do find it funny that the Monster High Universe seems to be run by Monster High’s school board.

If the artwork in the corner is anything to go by, it looks like the G1 CGI movie version of the school will be used for this iteration. 

I might have to re-upload the comic pages without the speech bubbles for copyright reasons, but since this one was a free issue, I thought it would slide:

Page 1:

The actual comic starts off with a very distraught Frankie wanting to spend time with her dad this summer, but he declines. He’s too busy with his research into trying to make a perfect reanimating process….?

Whoaaa buddy I’ve got some bad news for you. I think you are a bit late to the party.

G1’s Victor Frankenstein reanimated you and your wife, I believe you guys both made Watzie for Frankie, Frankie created Hoodude and the gingerbread boy and that’s just the Steins. Hexiciah Steam created Robecca, and I’m sure some of Monster High’s Zombies were reanimated and not born naturally!! Another change in this comic, they decided to call Viktor Stein (Frankie’s dad) just Frankenstein. Aaaand make him both conventionally attractive and constantly in partial shadow (is he going to be super broody in this??). I remember him being a lot more playful towards Frankie in the diaries and liking dumb puns.

And, I mean, I’m not against more dilfs in MH (Hexiciah *cough cough* and G2’s Dracula *cough cough*), but I was kinda hoping for a more interesting/fun-take on the monster-y design.

MH already has these designs kicking around!

A small nitpick: they used a distractingly large/thick brush to ink-in the black parts of his hair, and I don’t like how it messily covers the finer lines of hair.

““The day I sewed your parts together and zapped you to life was the best day of MY life.””

From this line, it sounds like G1’s Viveka Stein is going to be MIA in this series as he doesn’t mention her at all in creating Frankie. This man is either taking all the credit here or Viveka was taking a snooze or something…

Pros: Frankie looks very cute in the second panel (except for the fingers which look a bit off) and Siobhan can draw hot older men VERY well.

Page 2:

“Frankenstein” explains to Frankie that he’s too busy trying to get his (redundant) research ready for the “World’s Scare Science Exhibition.” Frankie interrupts and sees that her ghouls need her. Frankenstein once again alludes to this version of G1 being a melodrama “let me know how they’re faring.”

I find Frankenstein’s: “I could never create another you my dear. You’re one of a kind.” Kinda silly.

Alivia has entered the chat (shhh I know she’s G2).

“What I am doing here is something different. Something that’s never been done before.” Again -Vik- Frankenstein, you’re a bit late to the party there.

Personal Nitpick: Why use “Scare Science Exhibition,” when you’ve been using the “Mad Science” pun in G1 already. IMO, I think it also sounds better.

Pro: Frankenstein’s face looks well drawn (especially in the fourth panel-ignoring his blotchy, black hair streaked- look at his cute little bolt eye-glasses).

so does his armchair in the first panel,

and Frankie’s face in the first and second panel.

Con: I think all of their hands look off (especially the fingers). I don’t know if it’s the line work or the coloring, but they all read as awkward and oddly sharp (Frankie’s thumb in the first panel, and whole left hand in the third panel).

Page 3:

Sounds like the ghouls are fighting again, Frankie is caught in the middle, and Draculaura is dealing with the brunt of the shit show from the “Once Bitten” book.

Personal Nitpick: Draculaura is drawn REALLY tall in this photo (in the webisodes and CGI movies, she is teeny).

Pro: Frankie looks great in the first panel, I like her and Clawdeen’s smile in the photo, and her expression in the fourth panel. Con: Frankie’s hands look janky in the first panel.

Page 4:

Apparently Frankenstein remembered electricity being vital to reanimation, and rushes to find his notes (that were apparently not on his desk). But his notes are missing. Dun! Dun!! I wonder who the brains in the jar belong to?? Perhaps Vivika and Victor Frankenstein are in this version of G1 after all…

Pro: I liked his exclamation: “by Mary Shelly’s ghost.”

I really liked how Frankenstein is drawn in the third panel and how he breaks out of the frame of the panel too. It just feels a lot more “alive” and energetic.

The lightning bolt is drawn well and the toppled mug of coffee in the background of the fourth panel is a nice addition. Page 5 (the last of the paneled comic in this preview):

A super eeeevillll person suddenly sprouts up from nowhere (was this guy squatting down in the corner of the room; waiting for Frankenstein to figure out the key to reanimating life) and grabs Frankenstein’s “life’s work;” threatening to destroy it, unless he agrees to work with him. Frankie-boy agrees. Meanwhile, Frankie is still talking to her boos, while flipping through her photo album.

I also wonder if the ghouls are not allowed to fang out during summer break and can only see each other during the school season?? Otherwise, why can’t they all fang out. :/ Personal Nitpick: how did that burglar get into that room?? Was he there the whole time (pretending to be a table) or did he sneak in after Frankie left?

Frankenstein’s “life’s work” is entirely made up of a two whole envelopes(?) and two spiral notebook pages. That’s it Frank?!? That’s all?!? And is Lagoona not part of the main squad in this version of G1 (maybe she WAS actually boiled alive in the previous book)?

Pro: Frankenstein’s hand (once again breaking the panel’s outline) looks very well drawn. Frankie mostly looks great in the last two panels (I love her pose in the fourth panel

and her cute smile in the last one). Con: Cleo’s face doesn’t look like herself in the last panel (where did all of her sharp facial angles go)??

They gave Frankie yaoi-sized hands in the fourth panel. Haha! They’re huge!

This is the last “comic page” in this FCBD preview. There are four Monster Net profiles of the main ghoul, a Schedule (I covered this earlier), an interview with the author (also covered earlier), and another picture of the cover art. The Monster Net is a clever G1 upgrade, I like these and the details that went into them (even if I don’t like the implication of what written here). The artwork is done by the cover artist: Luciannys Camacho, and looks great.

In Frankie’s her dad is confirmed to be her only parent… :/ Boooo!!!

Draculaura’s profile is just…very sad. The poor ghoul apparently has had a bad year with her dad (who may or may not be dead) making her drink blood (to save her life…? Was it a ritual..? He was begrudgingly okay with her vegan life style beforehand) and going to meetings (is she taking over a business, is she being called in to testify what happened the last year at MH)? I am so not looking forward to what’s going down in “Once Bitten”….

I guess that her new step mom from the Diaries Series (Ramoanah) is also not a thing in this either (none of these ghouls get moms). Draculaura also looks super cute in this artwork!!

Clawdeen’s bio really plays up her being a fashion influencer and I think that perfectly works for her. Her bio is also hinting at everyone being sad, distant, and off. It confirms she has a girlfriend: Toralei….which I have mixed feelings on. I really like G3 Clawdeen and Toralei and I have seen REALLY cute artwork for G1 Clawdeen and Toralei. But that’s about it. Besides their dog/cat theme, I haven’t been swayed to ship them just yet (Toralei did some horrendous things to the ghouls and while I’m a sucker for enemies-to-lovers they haven’t done enough flirting with each other for me to hop on board yet). I assume they will have their relationship built up in “Once Bitten” and not just “Summer Fangout” (because that still just felt like it was skimming the surface).

Her artwork also looks great (her outfit especially looks well drawn).

Cleo’s profile is also fine. But WHY did the newest Monster High Diaries (from the Haunt Couture line) and THIS comic want to break up G1 Cleo and Deuce?!? They are a great power couple and have already gone through so many ups and downs in G1 to prove that they love each other. Since when does Cleo care about who Nefera has dated (apparently Nefera has dated someone in another dimension….is she dipping into the fairy tales and dating someone at Ever After High or the Barbie verse? Is this what happened to Blaine after Barbie dumped him to be with Ken again?!?).

Final Thoughts:

Well, that was certainly a preview of what’s to come and I’m super wary of it. :/ Again, I might’ve just aged out of G1’s YA melodrama that they’re leaning into. But I was hoping for a semi-proper continuation of the MH G1 continuity. Maybe see the ghouls graduate (after following them around their senior year) and head to college…? See some of their family members start MH…? G1 Monster High has some good bones and ideas to play around with (it’s far from perfect-I already mentioned how confusing the lore is). Plus, writers now can be inspired (or know what to avoid) by what’s happened in G2 and G3.

I already stated that this fits into the last category of MH G1 Lore “It’s Own Thing,” and this IS just a peak into it, and MAYBE I’ll be swayed, but so far, I’m just not super impressed. I give this preview a 5.8/10. The artwork is mostly pretty good, the paneling is not groundbreaking, but also not bad, it flows well. The story is what’s holding me back (but it is a free issue and it got me to finally go into our local comic book shop for Free Comic Book day).

Anyways, those are just my thoughts. What do you think of the story so far? Are you excited about “Once Bitten”/IDW MH comics living their best alternate G1 lives? Are all of my takes awful? Let me know!

Part 2 of this series of reviews will be part one of (hopefully four posts of) MH’s Pride Issue’s Comic: “Summer Fangout.”

[tinkerbitch69]

Free Comic Book Day 2024: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 by Juni Ba with art by Fero Peniche

BASED BASED BASED BASED BASED BASED BASED BASED BASED

If you’re a turtles fan, check out the new nightwatcher series, this is gonna be a good one! All aboard the hype train!

[thecomicsnexus]

TMNT: FCBD 2024

May 2024

By Juni Ba, Paul Allor, Fero Pe, Luis Antonio Delgado, Nathan Widick, Andy Kuhn, and Ronda Pattison.

We get a first glimpse at the Nightwatcher, and a short story from the Turtles' past about Splinter having fun.

SCORE: 7

So... who is the Nightwatcher?

Well... the most obvious answer would be Raphael. But I suspect that could be a misdirection.

It is implied that this vigilante is turtle-shaped and has three fingers no each hand. And red color seems to be one of his characteristics.

My guess is kind of pointless at this time, because very little was revealed so far... But there was a Raphael from the future in the last TMNT annual, and I wouldn't be surprised if this was him.

As for the second story, it's just a goody tale of Splinter having fun while the turtles were away. If you miss the Andy Kuhn era of volume 5, then this story could be for you.

I don't think it's a particularly good story.

[smashpages]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IDW Publishing 

Free Comic Book Day 2024 marks the beginning of a new era for the heroes in a half shell! Fans will be treated to two all-new short stories as well as an exclusive preview of what’s next for TMNT! 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a gold sponsor title and one of almost 50 Free Comic Book Day titles for 2024.

[dispatchdcu]

FCBD 2024: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Review

FCBD 2024: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Review #FCBD #FCBDteenagemutantninjaturtles #footclan #TMNT #ninjaturtles #teenagemutantninjaturtles #IDW #IDWcomics #comics #comicbooks #news #mcu #art #info #NCBD #comicbooknews #previews #reviews #Amazon

Writers: Juni Ba, Paul Allor Artists: Fero Pe, Andy Kuhn Colorist: Luis Antonio Delgado, Ronda Pattison Letterer: Nathan Widick Cover Artist: Juni Ba Publisher: IDW Price: Free Release Date: May 4, 2024 A masked and armored figure stalks the night. Who will fall prey to his fury? And what does Splinter get up to when the Turtles are away? Let’s order a pizza, leap into the FCBD 2024: Teenage…

[dailynicknews]

The monsters may bite, but the comics shouldn't...

[paullovescomics]

FCBD 2024, Part 5 of 5

Spider-man Ultimate Universe - This is not the same Ultimate Universe we saw years ago, but an entirely different one. Some powerful time-traveller has manipulated history to remove superheroes, and install a secret ruling elite of supervillains. Except he missed a bunch of superheroes, both in recent times and in the past, because here we have Spidey, Iron Man, Cap, and Doctor Doom. They're trying to find one of Cap's buddies from WWII. So that's another hero that this hero-erasing big bad failed to erase. This hero is held in a bunker that's filled with costumes and corpses of other heroes and villains. Where did these come from if they were prevented from arising? Clearly the blurb at the front of the comic left out a lot. When there are already so many alternate versions of superheroes running around, and status quos changing frequently, it's honestly hard to get excited about another alternate group of characters.

Blood Hunt - I like vampires, so we're off to a good start. The vampires have a plan that involves exploiting some Marvel lore and some characters who aren't seen too often. That's cool. The last page suggests it's not afraid of embracing a little camp, which suggests fun. Blood Hunt seems promising. The second half is about Jubilee dealing with the new status quo for mutants after the fall of Krakoa. I have to admit I can't be objective about this because I have seen the X-comics change their worlds and go to new interesting places only to come back to the same old thing over and over again. And here we have Jubilee watching the Xavier school get rebuilt for the 947,000th time. And mutants are again a persecuted minority who have to stay hidden. Of course they can make good stories out of this. I would prefer to have sense of progress or the X comics (and superheroes in general) that lasts more than a few years.

Marvel Voices - The first couple of stories here feel new. They are short vignettes that serve as introductions to Pavitr Prabhakar, the Spider-Man of Earth 50101, and Ghost Spider, aka Spider-Gwen. They're light, fun stories. The other three seem to be samples from upcoming issues. There's one about a character called Muzzle who I'm not familiar with. They're part of a gang of principled criminals, and get into a scrap with an unidentified version of Spider-Man. (I'm not up to date on Spidey comics.) Is this another alternate Earth? I can't tell. Then there's a few pages of Gambit fighting people. The sample is too short to convey anything meaningful about the story it's taken from. That's also true of the last sample, in which a literally nameless, mythological-looking guy is pounding on the shield around Wakanda, and Shuri is preparing to fight him. It's two pages. There are ads for other Marvel Voices series that look cool, but I hope there is more to them than what we see here.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Now for an entirely different kind of mutant. "Who Is…Nightwatcher?" Based on their general shape, I'm betting Nightwatcher is one of the turtles. But who knows. This one pulls a neat trick, where the narrative boxes don't match what we're seeing in the panels until a reveal at the end which puts them in a very different context. I get tired of characters narrating and commenting on their own stories through narrative boxes (just plain narration is often more efficient and more clear), but this put it to good use. Nicely done. This does make me curious about what has been going on over in IDW's version of the turtles' world. The second story is a fun one with the old school turtles and Master Splinter called "Splinter's Day Off".

Sorry if I was picky or generally a downer about the Marvel ones. It's still early as I write this, and maybe I am too uncaffinated or grumpy for some as yet undetermined cause. Feel free to take those reviews with a grain of salt, and as always, your mileage may vary.

[comicbookclub]

Heavy Metal Relaunches On Kickstarter, Transformers Worst Bot Ever Heads To FCBD, IDW Revamps App | Comic Book Club News For November 27, 2024

Heavy Metal has relaunched on Kickstarter. Skybound's Transformers: Worst Bot Ever debuts on Free Comic Book Day. IDW has revamped its app.

Heavy Metal has relaunched on Kickstarter. Skybound’s Transformers: Worst Bot Ever debuts on Free Comic Book Day. IDW has revamped its app. SUBSCRIBE ON RSS, APPLE, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, INSTAGRAM, TIKTOK, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON. Powered by RedCircle Episode Transcript: Transformers: Worst Bot Ever gets Free Comic Book Day…

[comicbookclublive]

Heavy Metal Relaunches On Kickstarter, Transformers Worst Bot Ever Heads To FCBD, IDW Revamps App | Comic Book Club News For November 27, 2024

Heavy Metal has relaunched on Kickstarter. Skybound's Transformers: Worst Bot Ever debuts on Free Comic Book Day. IDW has revamped its app.

Heavy Metal has relaunched on Kickstarter. Skybound’s Transformers: Worst Bot Ever debuts on Free Comic Book Day. IDW has revamped its app. SUBSCRIBE ON RSS, APPLE, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, INSTAGRAM, TIKTOK, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON. Powered by RedCircle Episode Transcript: Transformers: Worst Bot Ever gets Free Comic Book Day…

[wonkypete]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: 2024 Monster High Comic Books, Convention Exclusive, Cover A & Cover B & FCBD.

[shadowwingtronix]

"Today's" Comic> Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles FCBD 2024

BW's "Today's" Comic> Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles FCBD 2024

I’m still working out who Darkman is. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Free Comic Book Day 2024 IDW Publishing (May, 2024) LETTERER: Nathan Widick “Nightwatcher” WRITER: Juni Ba ARTIST: Fero Pe COLORIST: Luis Antonio Delgado EDITOR: Thea Cheuk “Splinter’s Day Off” WRITER: Paul Allor ARTIST: Andy Kuhn COLORIST: Ronda Pattison EDITOR: Nicholas Niño Continue reading “Today’s” Comic> Teenage Mutant Ninja…

[taybatwo2]

Monster High IDW Comics Review: Part 5 of ?: Monster High Pride 2024 Issue (“I Put a Spell on You”)

Okay, now we can actually look at the comic. Bring it in boys!!!

Beautiful! Thank you boys.

Part 1:

https://www.tumblr.com/taybatwo2/754406016295321600/monster-high-idw-comics-review-part-13-the-fcbd?source=share

Part 2:

https://www.tumblr.com/taybatwo2/754406053729452032/monster-high-idw-comics-review-part-2-of?source=share

Part 3:

https://www.tumblr.com/taybatwo2/754555603918127104/monster-high-idw-comics-review-part-3-of?source=share

Part 4:

https://www.tumblr.com/taybatwo2/754946130507333632/monster-high-idw-comics-review-part-4-of?source=share

First off, the info:

“I Put a Spell on You” is written by Megan Brown (she/her, has her own website and is on “x” @ megan_mb. She has done a lot of other writing on IDW comics). The art is done by Bowen McCurdy (she/her, her BEAUTIFUL artwork can be seen on her Instagram @ bonesbunns).

The fantastic coloring was by Bex Glendining (she/they, they have their own website, and you can see their artwork on Instagram @ Igions). The front cover’s art was done by Céli Godfried (they/she, they have their own website, are on tumblr @ pianta)

None of these people worked on the previous IDW Monster High comics.

Both this and Summer Fangout and the IDW Free Comic Book Day comics had Kielamel Sibal as the letterer (she/her, another artist on Instagram @ labis_lemaleik), Riley Farmer as the editor (she/her, I think, I can’t access her LinkedIn profile), and production and design done by Johanna Nattalie (she/her and has worked on a lot of IDW Sonic titles). All three had worked previously on the FCBD issue.

It is 10 pages long Vs the twice as long “Summer Fangout.” Which is a shame.

Synopsis (spoilers below).

“I Put a Spell on You” has Spelldon try to become friends with Draculaura on his road to bettering himself. He is so upset by her not wanting to fang out with him that he asks Spelldon to remove all of his love emotions through a potion. They track down the three ingredients, Valentine catches feels for Spelldon (who already had them for Valentine) and last minute decides he doesn’t need the potion. Spelldon drinks it and tells him it was just a “murktail” (“mocktail”), and they begin dating (YESSS).

My personal thoughts/feelings/breakdown and more photos under the cut:

Like the previous comic, I will be whiting out the speech bubbles to try and circumvent the copyright on these pages I’m uploading.

On with the comic!

page 1:

It starts off with Valentine talking with Whisp (whom he’d become friends with in his SDCC doll diary) about how he wants to turn his life around. The first step is asking Draculaura if she’d be friends with him and he’s SO NERVOUS (Look how is hand is shaking! Fangtastic detail). So nervous that he walks head first into a locker (can relate - that hurts). Whisp sees this as a perfect opportunity to duck out (I love her so much).

Pros:

(Most of these are just going to be me gushing over the artwork. I absolutely adore it and REALLY wish the other IDW comics had her as their artist and kept the same colorist).

I like how his voice’s accent shows through the writing and “turning over a new grave” is a great pun.  The reactions are pretty good too (the RIP sound effect, mwah). 

And the angle on his face while in the floor is beautiful! He even has a little nose scrunch.

Call backs:

They mention him getting knocked into the pit of “eternal body odor” again (I believe he also dealt with those ramifications in his diary). 

I already mentioned it, but I like how he is friends with Whisp in this (like in his SDCC release/diary).

Other:

They did lightly alter Valentine’s outfit (I assume so it was easier to draw -it had a lot of detail on it in his 3D model and SDCC doll), his sleeves are a bit shorter, he is missing cravat, they gave him black nails and more maroon colored hair instead with some reddish streaks instead of pure black with red streaks. :)

page 2:

After being knocked on the floor, Valentine rights himself and quickly asks Draculaura (first in his normal accent and then in his southern swagger) if she’d like to be friends/see a show together “to rekindle our- er-our friendship.” She says she can’t (it sounds like she’s not necessarily against it), she has a full schedule. I saw someone mention that they took at as her trying to blow him off by mentioning all these things, but I read it as she was actually that busy *shrugs.* And Valentine takes this really hard, because he’s replaying that conversation back in his head in class. 

Pros:

Again, I love all the facial expressions!  Also, look at those hands! Look at the use of shadow and they even painted both of their nails. FANTASTIC!

Also, good use of paneling to show that was a flashback.

Call Backs:

The inside of the school looks like the webisodes’ school interior (so maybe these are not following the IDW comics? They used the CGI model of the school).

But, Draculaura being overwhelmed with duties/work does sound like it’s keeping in line with this G1 “Once Bitten” canon.

Nitpick…kinda:

Valentine is REALLY taking it hard that Draculaura is not wanting to hang out with him right that second. Is he just overthinking it? Does he think she’s blowing him off? He probably feels like he keeps failing and can’t make up for his past misdeeds.

Not that the comic has any room for this, but what if the first scene stayed the same, she tentatively says, “yeah, I think we could try being friends.” Then it’s a montage of him trying to fang out/help her and he has just the worst luck (he interrupts her in the middle of fear practice and it topples their human pyramid, he knocks over a vase of flowers he brought her all over her creative writing assignment, maybe he’s forgot how she reacts to blood and gets her some chocolate covered blooded jelly truffles)??? After a week of mess ups, and Draculaura not answering his texts anymore (because she feels overwhelmed-but he doesn’t know), then he can feel like he majorly blew it (but maybe that is too much of a retread on what happened in “Only Have Eye for You”).

Maybe he is overthinking it because his emotional vampire side is hangry (his SDCC diary mentions that he gets energy off of people’s love -more so if it is freely given - so maybe he’s running on low. I know I get a bit dramatic and paranoid when I’m low on fuel).

Valentine is drawn a bit too short/Draculaura is too tall(Draculaura’s head shouldn’t reach above his shoulders and her lipstick and fangs are missing). 

page 3:

He is snapped out of it by Spelldon. After Spelldon takes one of the roses, Valentine laments to Spelldon about his lack of emotional intelligence and how his love for others have only brought him “pain and suffering.” AND he tells Spelldon he no longer “like likes” girls. Which is really sweet, but again, I would love it if in the PRIDE ISSUE we could get a full on: “I am GAY Spelldon.” Instead of a “You know what I mean!!”

Pros: Valentines’ face in the sixth panel is well drawn.

Valentine being over dramatic is a nice touch. Kid is spiraling. Maybe he’s hangry…?  The background continues to be great. I like the background posters of the fanged mouth.

We get the long awaited appearance of SPELLDON. I really like his design (how he has black features, his pointed ears, his outfit, his sparkly shirt). I would love to break down his appearance in another review, and compare it to how fanon (and Garrett Sander) had designed him (and how it’s evolved over the years).

Call Back:

Spelldon apparently likes black roses. :) Which is great because those seem to be Valentine’s specialty (besides in the movie, those were pink).

They name drop “lap dragons,” which are one of the pets that Valentine took care of in his SDCC diary for Mrs. Goblin (which ties back to him wanting to take an interest in Biteology to be a vet).

page 4:

Spelldon (begrudgingly) is talked into making a potion to make Valentine stop feeling all the feels. 

Pros:

Spelldon is so much taller than Valentine (“he sure is big,” isn’t he Valentine?).

The passing of time is well done in the paneling (and the zoom-in to the book is also great).

More great facial expressions and HANDS!!

There is some great foreshadowing with the book. See how Spelldon’s right hand is covering most of the page (like he doesn’t want Valentine to see what it says), and Valentine is not paying attention to the title of the tome? Well, the tome says: “Party Potions,” which doesn’t sound like a title heavy enough to contain an emotion erasing potion.

It also implies that this comic takes the span of about a week.

Nitpicks: Valentine calls Spelldon a magician? Hahaha, sounds like he does stage magic. Just call him a witch Valentine. :)

page 5:

Valentine and Spelldon go to the store to get a “Hydra Heart Scale.” Apparently they are both Elissabat stans and go to see her movie off screen-err page (I would have LOVED to have seen this).

Pros:

I love the look of the background of the store. It’s nicely faded out, the casual inclusion of rib cages (symbolizing where the heart lays and the other new character that had appeared in “Why do Ghouls fall in Love:” Cupid), bat wings, and even some hockey masks like a certain mama’s boy, camp serial killer might be known for wearing. 

This conversation on how much they should get is done SO MUCH better here than in Clawdeen’s/Toralei’s previous short story (in my opinion).

Spelldon looks really cute in the third and forth panel, and Valentine looks really good in the fifth and last panel. I like the hatching they add to Spelldon’s hair shade. I like that they have a little lore drop in here as well about what Spelldon is good at (top of the class in Potion-Crafting) and what Valentine is (really) good at (Biteology).

Call Backs:

The goblin lady he helped during the summer is from SDCC diary and the “unfortunate birthday party incident (is from “Why Do Ghouls Fall in Love?”). Honey, you almost made Draculaura an empty, unfeeling husk FOREVER, I think that would be a bit more than unfortunate.

Nitpicks: Apparently Elissabat the Vampire Queen and movie star is taking up sponsorships for Fake Blood Murktails (I’m not really feeing that pun….?).

And while Elissabat is a fun cameo, it feels a bit off here, but I know they already wanted to hint at Murktails being a thing.

But, why murktails? Are mock-tails popular with today’s youth?? Why not smoothies…boo-thies? I know flavored/carbonated waters and energy drinks are popular…

Maybe have Elissabat in a new costume in a promotional outfit for the “Cracking Dusk” movie mentioned here

(I would have loved to see a new design on her, like they did for her Vampire Heart movie poster in “Frights, Camera, Action,” and the Draculaura Maul Monsteristas dress).

Also, I wish that the last speech bubble in the second panel was moved over and down a bit more, so you could see Valentine’s hand counting down “two” (I saw their line art on the artist’s page -serious check out their Instagram and I think it’s a shame to cover up such lovely hand artwork, also, you can see how the background line art doesn’t touch the character’s line art, helping them not get lost in the panel).

page 6:

The next thing they have to get is “Himalayan Ice Malt from the Lair or a Yeti.” Valentine and Spelldon….well I actually don’t know what happens. I originally flipped back and forth several times to see if I skipped a page because it just didn’t seem to flow as well, and what happens to cause a distraction for the yeti to leave his office -and his malt- is a bit unclear (to me).

Spelldon mentions that having skates would ruin the plan, Valentine trips stepping forward, but then looks like he’s falling back and the next (BEAUTIFUL PANEL) he’s kneeled down,

gripping his shoulder in pain, leaning over Spelldon, while Spelldon is laying under him (I LOVE his pose), and an explosion is going off. Did Spelldon sneak over to the fishing hole and summon the sea monsters/put an explosive potion in the hole?? Unknown. Then the panel jumps back up and see a bunch of monster fish trying to come out of the fishing hole. 

Am I missing something??? Anyways, the Dreddy the Yeti is distracted and both boys run into his unprotected office and steal the malt.

Pros:

Dreddy running out to fix the problem has some funny dialogue and I love Spelldon’s and Valentine’s conspiratorial look they give one another. 

Again, lovely shading (on the neck, cheeks, and hands especially), even the way the clothes lay on them is great (look at those clothing folds). 

I like the Yeti’s design (the horns, furry arms and legs, the tail is cute, but I’m not sure if it fits….maybe he has some Norwegian Troll blood in his veins). His cardboard cut out is really fun.

Nitpicks: The colorist forgot to color in Spelldon’s jacket’s studs.

page 7:

“And a grave chalice to drink it from,” is the last ingredient. Before they do, Spelldon slips into his Southern twanged accent and Spelldon questions him on why he does that, he doesn’t do it around him. Valentine shrugs and says he doesn’t know but maybe it’s because he feels more comfortable around Spelldon. Spelldon and Valentine go to a mausoleum to get the chalice and instead of Scarah coming in clutch to scare Valentine into Spelldon’s arms, Spelldon somehow trips and bonks his head. 

Pros:

I love the Chibi art for them! It’s so cute!!

Scarah shows up!! I wonder if she could hear Spelldon’s feelings for Valentine and wanted to help?

I love the opening panel. It’s very lovely, and I love the coffin lights and the soft glow they emit (it’s handled here much better than the coffin lights I the previous short).

The part where Spelldon questions Valentine’s accent is a nice addition and fun to see. I like the idea that Valentine puts on the southern gentlemanly air because he thinks it makes him cooler, is funny and the fact that he feels so at ease with Spelldon, he doesn’t bother with it, is also sweet.

I had headcanoned that when going to school in Transylvania, Valentine was getting crap for being a new world American vampire -so uncool and uncivilized for the Transylvanian pure breed Vampires. He was (literally) starving for love/friendship, so he adopted the “perfect” romantic, southern gentleman person. Roughly akin to southern gentleman trope maker: Rhett Butler from “Gone with The Wind,” (it doesn’t really fit with that time period of Valentine living Transylvania being Edwardian/Victorian -the movie came out in 1939- but was one of the highest grossing movies ever and really catapulted the southern gentlemen into public conscious and Monster High timelines are a mess anyways). And it worked great in giving him all the emotions he could feast on.

Nitpicks:

This one I like better than the previous page, but I still feel like it’s a bit out of order. I feel like the panels where Spelldon is asking Valentine about his “bad southern accent” should have been right under the first panel. Then it has Valentine asking Spelldon “what’s the plan?”.

page 8:

It cuts to them finally mixing all the ingredients together in the library, Valentine second guesses and then decides against drinking the potion and Spelldon chucks it back. 

Pros:

Once again, I love the opening panel (Valentine’s face is great on the opening, fourth and seventh panel).

You get some close ups of that rose he took from Valentine’s bouquet as a bracelet and it hasn’t died yet. :D

And Spelldon still has his poor head wrapped. 

Call Back:

I like that Valentine says he has been bettering himself after the “incident” (in which he nearly made Draculaura an emotionless husk).

Nitpick:

Valentine mentions he already considers Draculaura a friend here???? So he IS just upset that she won’t hang out with him/is really busy? >:P

page 9:

Next page! Spelldon reveals that it’s just a Murktail and that he cares for and “likes hanging out with” Valentine. Valentine admits he likes fanging out with Spelldon too and then THIS CUTE PANEL where they flirt. Aaaaand no kiss….again!!! >:/ 

Pros:

Again, I love this artwork (Spelldon looks down-right gorgeous in that last panel) and the two boys admitting that they like each other.

Their facial expressions and how Valentine grabs Spelldon’s shirt is just SO GOOD.

Nitpicks:

Also in that last panel, it looks like the three “…” were accidentally copied into Spelldon’s bandaged head. Haha.

I just wish they were more blatant and we got a dang kiss! 

page 10:

The last page again fast forwards again to sometime later and Valentine and Spelldon are holding hands down the hallways of Monster High. Draculaura runs up and apologizes to Spelldon on how much she thinks he has the wrong impression, she does want to be friends, she just has a lot going on (what’s going on with you in this TIMELINE ghoulie…??!?).

I do like that Valentine catches himself slipping back into his southern drawl (I like that it’s pretty obvious when he falls back into it- but does anyone else have a hard time trying to remember what his voice sounds like without it or is that just me). 

It ends on a great note (calling back to how Valentine does have friends now - with Whisp calling him to ask about his new boo-friend and Spelldon asking how he’s feeling now). 

Pros:

THE ART! All the art. It’s all so good!! The hands in the first panel, the shading on all of them! The little heart drawn on the bottom of Valentines’s shoe. <3 Valentine’s realization he’s slipping into past habits in the third panel. So good!

Nitpicks:

Valentine DOES think they’re already friends, so maybe Draculaura should have ran up and said she thought about it and he does seem to be turning over a new leaf and she does want to fang out with him and maybe try being friends. If he would like, she’s free on -insert day here- maybe even for a double date. Valentine blushes and says he would like that. (CAN YOU IMAGINE A DOUBLE DATE WITH THESE GUYS?!?)

Spelldon’s jacket studs are missing in the fifth panel.

Draculaura is still draw a bit too tall here.

Overall:

I’ve already said it a million times, but I think the artwork is SO MUCH better in this comic than the others. The emotions seem to flow better, the characters are not as stiff, the line work varies, the color story is complimentary, the space doesn’t feel empty, the paneling flows together better. Just on a whole other level than what the previous comics are doing.

The colorist did an AMAZING job on the whole short story, she just elevated the already great line work. It’s FANGTASTIC! I’ll be curious to see where the characters go from here and if they will get dolls (please oh please oh please oh please) or at least another doll that is SDCC exclusives only…

I LOVED seeing Spelldon. Spelldon played more of a supporting role here to Valentine, but I think it worked well as an introduction. His personality seemed a bit quiet and mature, very observant and kind, and he has some wit and sarcasm to him. It’s a nice contrast to the more emotionally turbulent Valentine.  I still wish it was longer, and Valentine getting upset over the fact that Draculaura is friends with him but is too busy to fang out with him (but she implied she didn’t know they were already friends: “of course I want to be friends with you!”) is a bit “eh.” And I would have liked to see at LEAST one kiss.

I could see this short story fitting right into the main G1 canon (even with Draculaura still being suspiciously busy and not her bubbly self, which seems to be part of the new-“Once Bitten”/IDW comic-G1-verse canon).

This took a lot longer than I thought to make, but I managed to do it!

I’m still thinking about maybe doing a Spelldon fanon to canon evolution post, but it might take awhile to compile stuff. I find how the whole fandom basically willed this character into existence and all the different interpretations fascinating. Perhaps I will read the new issue of the IDW comic when it drops in August and make a post (to give the comic an actual fair chance). But I can’t see myself doing it to every issue due to me not collecting floppies (I’d rather wait for them to be all collected first, my cat has already stepped on and badly wrinkled my Pride Comic).

Maybe I’ll begrudgingly picking up the new “Once Bitten” book (I’d really rather get that on a super sale then give them full price for THAT) and report on that. TT^TT

What were your thoughts and feelings? Did I miss something? Have horrible takes? Did I mention the beautiful artwork too much?? Let me know. :) 

[tinkerbitch69]

✨La FCBD 2024 Haul✨

Roast my selections if you wish

[snaptrappressabandonedblog]

FCBD 2024 Haul Review

It's Free Comic Book Day yet again! I was actually pretty excited for this one, as for the first time in a good couple of years I was able to go out to a few stores with my partner and one of my best friends. I've been wanting to use this space as an actual blog a lot more, so I figured this might be fun to do. I'm gonna go through my stack of free stuff and give some thoughts on each of these! I'll also be giving totally arbitrary ratings, basically to indicate whether or not I would be interested in picking up more of these series.

UNICO AWAKENING (Scholastic) 7/10 Samuel Sattin and Gurihiru, based on the original manga by Osamu Tezuka

So, I've always wanted to get into Tezuka's work as a big Astro Boy fan, but I find it kind of hard to engage with a lot of the time in the same way that golden age American comics are. The dialogue feels kind of clunky when translated to english, and there are a lot of moments of... unsavory themes and ideas, to say the least. I'd never read or even heard of Unico, but you can tell just from the cover that it's a Tezuka creation. That all said, I thought this preview of the upcoming graphic novel was really charming! The story is really simple but engaging, and Gurihiru's art is just absolutely adorable. If I see it at a bookstore or my LCS, I just might pick this one up. If you've got a young kid who's into fantasy or things like My Little Pony, give this one a try.

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (IDW Publishing) 9/10 Various, anthology

I'm a pretty big fan of the IDW TMNT series, but I kind of fell off of it a ways before #100, so I'm about 65 issues behind. I was interested to see what the series would do with its post-issue 150 relaunch, which is apparently set in the same continuity but begins a new story to get new readers interested and re-engage old readers. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but I was really excited when I saw Nightwatcher on the cover! I love the 2007 TMNT movie, and I think Raphael being a lone vigilante with a superhero name and armor is a cool concept in itself, so I was pumped to see the character return in a new piece of media. The first story in this one-shot, which is a short preview of the upcoming Nightwatcher solo book, was really really good. I really enjoyed the art, which felt painterly and solid in a way that not a lot of TMNT stuff is (to the point that the colors reminded me a lot of Mouse Guard) and the writing was really cool. I love the narration about the concept of the "other," and the tone and themes felt really compelling in the current political atmosphere. The second story, Splinter's Day Off, was not quite as engaging but still really enjoyable. The story was really cute, and I've been a fan of Andy Kuhn's art since he first worked on the IDW Turtles books. Overall, a pretty good pickup! Got me very interested in seeing what the next chapter of IDW Turtles will look like. ENERGON UNIVERSE 2024 SPECIAL (Image Comics/Skybound) 7/10 Daniel Warren Johnson, Ryan Ottley, Robert Kirkman, Lorenzo De Felici, Joshua Williamson, and Jason Howard

I've been keeping up with the Energon Universe Transformers comic since its launch, and as someone who could not care less about G1 Transformers, I absolutely adore it. Daniel Warren Johnson is a modern master of comics action, and each issue is more engaging than the last. That said, I haven't read any of the other stuff set in this new universe. Void Rivals doesn't look all that interesting (although I read two issues because I heard Jetfire appears in it), and I'm under the age of 45 so I'm completely incapable of caring about GI Joe in any capacity. Now that the intro is out of the way, I really liked the Transformers part of this. Ryan Ottley is one of my favorite artists in the industry, and his work is great here as always, but I can't help but feel he's trying to imitate Johnson's style and it's kind of holding him back. The way he draws the mouths of the Cybertronian characters is really weird, and sometimes the lines feel a bit too stiff and scratchy. The story was engaging, though, and beyond those critiques, this is truly fantastic Transformers art. The cover is also absolutely spectacular. The art in the other two stories is great too, but seeing as I don't know anything about the ongoing story of either series, this really didn't hook me in beyond an appearance by Hot Rod in the Void Rivals section. Remember, folks: If you have strongly-held opinions about G1 Transformers or GI Joe, it's about time you got your regular colonoscopy.

ABSOLUTE POWER SPECIAL EDITION (DC Comics) 3/10 Mark Waid and Mikel Janin

I gotta be honest, my eyes completely glazed over trying to read this. I just absolutely cannot give a shit about DC's big event comics anymore. This was basically white noise in printed form. The character of Failsafe is kinda neat, I like the Zur-En-Arrh Batman stuff, but all of this bullshit technobabble was just completely indecipherable to me. That said, the art was very, very good in both of the little preview stories here. I'm sure the comic itself will be written well, but I cannot bring myself to care about the fate of the DC universe. The advertisement for season 2 of My Adventures with Superman on the back cover was more exciting.

ASTERIX (Papercutz) 6/10 R. Goscinny and A. Uderzo

Asterix is just one of those things that, as an American, I have never been exposed to in any capacity, and to be honest, it never really interested me like other European comics like Valerian or Tintin did. It kind of just struck me as newspaper comics-style fun, and I can now confirm that I was right! The cartooning here is really great, the illustrations are super lively and engaging and the character designs themselves are instantly iconic. Like I said, I've never read Asterix before, but that design is so distinct that I already knew WHO Asterix is. The writing here is not really for me. It's probably just a matter of humor written originally in French not really crossing language and cultural borders seamlessly, and this also seems to be aimed at a younger crowd, which is totally fine! It's just not really for me. I did think the detail of the Greeks speaking in that Greek diner menu font was very cute. I'm always a sucker for a good lettering gag.

ARCHIE HORROR PRESENTS: THE CURSED LIBRARY PRELUDE (Archie Comics) 6/10 Various

I was a huge reader of Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comics, to the point that I'd say they were more formative to my tastes as both a reader and creator of comics than almost anything else, but I've never really been interested enough in the world and characters of Archie proper to follow along with the comics consistently, though I've always had it in my periphery. I'd get the digests at the grocery store as a kid, I've got some old issues that my parents gave me, and I remember my sister being really into the Archie Marries Betty/Veronica comics when those were ongoing. After the reboot of all the Archie universe comics in the mid-2010s, I fell off completely. Riverdale didn't interest me at all, that Sabrina show on Netflix wasn't my bag, and the comics (besides Archie vs. Predator) were a complete blindspot to me for the years following that reboot. Archie's weird scramble for an identity as both a slice-of-life series and an unrelated horror series has been interesting to watch, though, especially knowing the history of the brand as the most squeaky-clean comics in America. Honestly though, the horror stuff just does absolutely nothing for me. Afterlife with Archie was kinda fun very briefly, but nothing else has really worked for me. This one-shot preview was interesting conceptually, but I feel like I'm missing too much setup to really get engaged by this, and it doesn't make me want to find out what I'm missing. The art is all very good though, and the writing is totally fine for what it is.

BARDA (DC Comics) 8/10 Ngozi Ukazu

Big Barda and Mister Miracle (Scott Free) are two of my absolute favorite DC characters, and Jack Kirby's Fourth World saga is among my favorite stories and concepts in comics ever. I love everything that Fourth World is, and almost everything that came out in the wake of it. I feel like if you want to make a new, good Fourth World story, you need to have either a really solid grasp on Kirby's ideas and aesthetics, or something totally new and unique to call your own while using the world and ideas as a springboard. This preview of the upcoming YA Barda Graphic Novel strikes me as the second of those two things more than the first. It's not trying to look exactly like Kirby's original designs, but it evokes the spirit of the thing well enough that I wasn't confused who anyone was. The art is adorably charming, and the story looks neat: A look at the meeting of Scott Free and Barda and the relationship that blooms out of that. I think this could turn out really fun and cute! I look forward to the graphic novel itself, which releases this summer.

BLOOD HUNT (Marvel Comics) 4/10 Jed McKay, Sara Pichelli, Federico Blee

Much like Absolute Power, this one left me feeling almost nothing. I think maybe I'm just too old for big superhero event comics, because they all kind of feel the same. They always end up being clones of older things like Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Clone Saga, Infinity Gauntlet, etc. This feels like your generic Secret Invasion type of deal, where an army of evil something or others (in this case, vampires) comes to earth to wipe out mankind and yadda yadda etc. etc. Admittedly, this one seems the slightest bit interesting as it pulls in both street-level heroes like Daredevil and Spider-Man and cosmic characters like the Fantastic Four to deal with the same threat on different scales. The appearance by literal, actual Dracula was kind of neat, and it's mostly just nice to see Marvel using Blade stuff for something again besides a video game or a reboot movie that's never coming out. The X-Men backup story was honestly so bland I forgot about it as soon as I set the issue down to write this. I liked the art, though, and Jubilee is one of my favorite X-Men so that was neat at least.

CONAN: BATTLE OF THE BLACK STONE (Titan Comics) 9/10 Jim Zub, Jonas Scharf

Now THIS is how you do a FCBD book! I've been on a huge Conan/sword and sorcery kick for like a year now, and this preview of an upcoming Conan story scratched that itch hardcore. I haven't been keeping up with Conan's comic exploits for quite a while; I read some of the later-era Dark Horse stuff, but once he went back to Marvel for a month and a half or whatever I lost interest. I may have to go back and pick up Titan's other Conan comics though, because this totally rocks. Jim Zub strikes the exact kind of action-fantasy tone a good Conan story requires, and Scharf's art is absolutely pitch-perfect. It's dark and gritty without getting muddy, high-contrast shadows and scratchy textures abound. The time-spanning nature of this story seems neat, and I look forward to the mystery unfolding in the series proper.

FLASH GORDON #0 (Mad Cave) 7/10 Jeremy Adams, Will Conrad

I liked this one! I have a passing knowledge of Flash Gordon thanks to my mom's love of the 80s movie and my love of Queen, but I've never been really familiar with the world and characters. This got me interested to see where Mad Cave is going to take the mythology, even if I was a little lost while reading it. I liked the art quite a bit, and I really love how they've gone about updating Flash Gordon's design to be a bit more modern, while retaining that pulpy look to everything that makes the series so charming.

GATCHAMAN #0 (Mad Cave) 6/10 Bunn, Orlando, Edwards, Batista, Hansen, Lobo

Gatchaman is another one of those things that just never really reached my sphere of comic book influence, but I've always really liked the costumes of the Science Ninja Team. I was pretty interested to see if this preview issue would get me hooked enough to want to follow up and read the ongoing series, but I'm not super sure that it did. I liked the science fiction stuff, the second short story in this anthology worked well, and the art was good in all three stories, but overall I just wasn't really hooked by it. I feel like if I had read this around age 15 I probably would have loved it, but it just wasn't for me right now. Also, Chris Samnee's art on the cover is absolutely fantastic and I'm slightly disappointed that he wasn't doing the interiors.

HELLBOY and STRANGER THINGS (Dark Horse Comics) 8/10 Mignola, Laszlo, Stewart/ Fridolfs and Case

Another two-series anthology here, and for once I actually really liked both parts! The first part, a Hellboy story involving a storyteller, is sort of just a visual retelling of Hellboy's story from start to finish, with each important chapter of the story in a beautiful panel drawn by Mark Laszlo. It's not really anything I haven't read before, but it was really charming and nice to look at. The second half, a Stranger Things story titled "Deliver Me From Evil," is a short centering on Jonathan and Argyle. Argyle was my least favorite part of the fourth season of ST, but he's grown on me over time and my love of this series made this a fun read. I kinda want to go back and read some of Dark Horse's other Stranger Things stories, because I just really love this world.

JOHNNY QUEST, THUNDERCATS AND SPACE GHOST (Dynamite Comics) 8/10 Casey, Piriz, Shalvey, Moss, Pepose, Lau

All of these series are based on cartoons from before my time, but I've always had a fondness for the old Hanna-Barbera superhero and action stuff, and I've always felt that Thundercats was far superior to He-Man in terms of aesthetics and lore. I really liked all three of these stories, and I feel like Johnny Quest in particular fills a "Challengers of the Unknown" shaped-void in the comics world, with a story about a group of normal people on a sci-fi adventure. Thundercats looks like a fun, semi-gritty reimagining of the original cartoon's origin stories, and the Space Ghost story seems like it'll be a good time, with the story following Jace before he becomes one of SG's sidekicks. I had no expectations for any of these, but they all look like a good bit of fun.

THE OVERSTREET GUIDE TO COLLECTING COMICS 6/10 Vaughn, Huesman and Gonzalez

If there's one thing I hate in this world, it's people who collect comics or toys or video games or whatever solely as an investment. It ruins the hobby for other people and turns what should be fun escapism into purely a matter of business. That said, I found this little publication from the famous Overstreet Price Guide company to be charming and a sweet look into the nature of collecting comics and supporting your LCS. I've never been someone who collects for the purpose of reselling, and I've never been insanely concerned with buying secondhand comics in mint condition, so a lot of this fell flat to me, but it was charming and it can give an outsider a fun look into the world of comics buying and collecting. The art is really good, and the writing is serviceable considering this is essentially intended to be an educational pamphlet.

MAD MAGAZINE 8/10 Various, reprints

I've been a MAD magazine fan for as long as I can remember. When I was a kid, my grandma got me a subscription for my birthday 5 years in a row, and I truly enjoyed every issue, even in the modern age where a lot of the humor can be defined as "Isn't it WACKY what celebrities are willing to say on Twitter???" But this was a refreshing look back at MAD's parodies of DC superheroes specifically, and it was extremely charming. It's all reprints of old material, and it's funny to see the specific things getting parodied at any given time, and the costumes in use for each parody. Not all of it lands, but it gave me enough laughs to justify the reading experience.

SPIDER-MAN and ULTIMATE UNIVERSE (Marvel Comics) 5/10 Wells, Stegman, Camp and Frigeri

Lastly, we have another Marvel job. I was, sadly, also not really enthused by this one at all. Everyone involved has done better work elsewhere, and this just feels like something to fill time in everyone's work schedules. The Spider-Man story is basically "What if Spider-Man was in Five Nights at Freddy's," and the Ultimates story was a little more engaging, if only because there are fun concepts at play. I actually do really like what Marvel is doing with this new Ultimate Universe, and I'm pretty interested to see where it goes. Sadly though, this was another pretty forgettable issue.

And that's it! I picked up a few more things, but I don't have strong enough opinions about pretty much any of it to warrant writing much more. I always recommend going to your LCS even if it's after Free Comic Book Day, because they usually have leftovers for months following the event, and they still give it away for free.

[taybatwo2]

Monster High IDW Comics Review: Part 4 of ?: Monster High Pride 2024 Issue (“I Put a Spell on You”) Valentine’s Hiss-tory

I’ve already covered the IDW’s Free Comic Book Day issue, and the first comic in the Pride Issue (“Summer Fangout”) in previous installments.

The moment I’ve been waiting for!! The Spelltine comic!!! *fanfare fanfare*

Well….almost….I wanted to actually cover Valentine’s (and Spelldon’s very limited) background first.

Check out the Hiss-tory of Valentine under the cut (cause it’s long).

Part 1:

https://www.tumblr.com/taybatwo2/754406016295321600/monster-high-idw-comics-review-part-13-the-fcbd?source=share

Part 2:

https://www.tumblr.com/taybatwo2/754406053729452032/monster-high-idw-comics-review-part-2-of?source=share

Part 3:

https://www.tumblr.com/taybatwo2/754555603918127104/monster-high-idw-comics-review-part-3-of?source=share

Part 5: 

https://www.tumblr.com/taybatwo2/755042011333132288/monster-high-idw-comics-review-part-5-of?source=share

Valentine was the main antagonist in: G1 Monster High’s CGI 2012 “Why do Ghoul’s Fall in Love” movie/“tv special.”

These campy movies are so entertaining.

Valentine is a 1602 year old vampire (his SDCC Diary confirmed him to be an emotional vampire instead of the blood drinking kind, but he still got those pointy toofers).

He preyed on ghoul’s love for him (putting their broken hearts on display in his basement room at his mom’s house). That’s at least 14 ghouls right there. All things considered, that’s like only 1 ghoul every 114 years. I think he would be starving if that’s all he’s been snacking on.

Back in Transylvania’s sepia toned (Victorian….? Edwardian….?) time period, Valentine started attending the local spooky school for monsters. He goes to the trouble of putting on a fake southern accent to charm the European ghouls (I’m guessing, he doesn’t say why in the movie). But out of all the ghouls fawning over him, he zeros in on Draculaura.

He meets her during a class mock-witch trial (witches will keep popping up in this guy’s story). After his flowery speech he spends just ONE week showering Draculaura with gifts, poems, creating a holiday for Draculaura’s birthday (naming it after himself of course).

Alas, Draculaura was the only ghoul to get away from him. A misunderstanding with a local Normie mob had her flee from Transylvania and inadvertently saved her trophy-sized heart.

Oh, but he still craves her heart as a trophy because it is “the biggest heart.” The Edwardian period was 1901-1910 (so that would be 111-121 years ago from 2012) or it was a Victorian period: 1837-1901 (137-111). That’s a long time to be hung up on a ghoul, even for a vampire.

He comes back into her life after Toralei gets his information (somehow…maybe he was easy to find on a dating app/social media) and imitates Draculaura’s voice to get him to transfer to Monster High. He looks to be living with his mother (specifically his mother’s basement) at the time.

He shows up, and Toralei briefs him on her plan to ruin Draculaura’s Sweet 1600 and break up Clawd and Draculaura.

He has some second thoughts when he sees Clawd (“he sure is big”), but heart-trophy wins out over being mauled by Clawd.

He takes a day to try and “fill her heart all the way with love” before snatching it.

But he can’t seem to woo Draculaura and even worse (in his eyes) she picks Clawd over him. He takes this really well by hypnotizing her (I love the unique vampire powers).

His spell/hypnosis gives him three days to win her heart before she becomes heartless and he loses out on the ultimate big game challenge for himself.

Soooo, he states he mostly wants it for his trophy case, but he has to sustain himself off of it too…does he just like rip it out? Magically drain her essence? Does he do halfsies with the trophy case and getting himself a snack? It’s not (Mr) super clear. 

But he still can’t seem to win her heart all the way, and after he relents on both of them going to her birthday bash in the catacombs his plan fails. His spell over her breaks because of her love for her friends and real love for Clawd.

And Valentine and his co-conspirator Toralei (I miss her deviousness so much) fall into the random Pit of Everlasting Body Order (well…semi-everlasting body stank as we will come to find out).

ANNND he loses his powers (all his trophied hearts are also set free).

This was the last look of this sad, stinky vampire boi, until the 2014 graphic novel:

“I Only Have Eye for You” (a comic that was partially used to drum up attention for the SDCC Manny and Iris 2-pack). 

He is the accidental antagonist of whole comic (a series of 6 short comics all leading up to the Fraidy Hawkins dance). And thankfully he does not have the little cloud familiars anymore.

He steals Iris’ candy gummy worms at the movies to try and make Manny look more “valiant and get her more.” It backfires after Manny gets sticky shoes/embarrassed at the theater. But Iris still asks him out after they talk it out.

2. He gave Gil (to give Lagoona) the biggest shell he can find (from a “scary sea witch” -what’s with this guy and witches). It backfired and made Lagoona continually sing in rhyme and gave her a beautiful dress (I think it’s a reference to what Ariel’s voice did for Ursula/Venessa in Disney’s the Little Mermaid). 

3. He turned up the “cute-ness” factor on Ghoulia’s computer/lab equipment to make Heath cuter (….it was a very weird comic), but it turned Heath into a giant fluffy love monster and fried Ghoulia equipment. Apparently Abbey was still into it and asked Heath out (I loved his extra chest-hair fluff in the last panel). 

4. He tried smoothing stuff out with Cleo’s daddy about Deuce and Cleo’s relationship (this guy IS NOT as smooth as he thinks he is). And Cleo’s dad cuts off her funds.

5. He gave Invisi Billy and Scarah “extra electrified” furry love friends, but it caused them to switch bodies (…G1 had some very odd plot lines…). But it’s okay, they switched back. 

6. He tried paying/getting Clawd the flowers, dinner for two reservations, his tux, limo rental to bring them to the dance, the dance tickets, Draculaura’s gift, and canceled Clawd’s reservations. But! He forgot to send Clawd the message. Whoops. Guy must be loaded to try and pay for all that. 

Draculaura and all her ghoul friends seem pretty aggressive towards him and want him to leave (understandably so) when he shows up.

(Sorry for the cropped quality - I had to cheat to fit this one in here because I ran out of space for pictures). (With Clawdeen and Lagoona being the most protective of Draculaura, Cleo threatening to unleash her wrath on him, and Frankie being the mediator between them all). They all calm down after they see he was trying to help and all of their stories ended up being alright.  Draculaura, Lagoona, and Frankie tell him what makes true friends. While Deuce and Heath tell him he needs to check in before helping someone. 

Valentine says he’s learned his lesson. Clawd was also pretty pissed off at Valentine, but the comic ends with Clawd dancing with Draculaura (which must have cooled him down). 

(An interesting tid-bit Valentine mentions: his “mom was right-I should stick to my strengths, like ruining love.” Well…What a gut punch.)

His next appearance was the following year: 2015’s SDCC exclusive dolls (with Whisp). They came with diaries that explain A LOT (I miss diaries so much!! I’ll keep bringing it up every review, I don’t care!). And the events happen before the graphic novel’s (apparently?).

His diary is chock full of goodies (all of the diaries are - read them on the MH wiki if you can or here on tumblr: monsterhighdiaries posted all the diary entries in chronological order). 

We find out his first name is Kieran (“little dark one”)

Diary Speed Run/Highlights: 

May 1st:

His mom wouldn’t let him into the house and made him sleep above the garage due to his stink. He thinks it’s just as well because he got to do some serious self reflection. 

His charm powers/powers in general were super weakened by no longer having stolen love power them (the guy had weird cloud familiars, hypnosis, could manifest things from thin air -chocolates, hearts, boomboxes- he could shoot bats out of his hands, he could light candles with magic too).

(So far, he was out of commission for about 3 months since the movie). 

An old lady with no sense of smell: “Mrs. Gremlin,” runs an unwanted creature shelter and needs some help taking care of all the exotic creatures, and says he would be a good candidate.

He starts feeling more energized and she tells him that emotional vampires are “idiots” because stolen love is just empty calories compared to the much more sustaining, freely given love. (So maybe they kinda just soak it up from their environment and don’t use their fangs at all. They’re just for looking cool).

May 3rd:

He is thinking back to how he stole love and it had never made him feel right, just angry and frustrated (he hid it VERY well in the movie - that little fucker looked like he was having a great time terrorizing others in that movie). 

He wants to try being his true self.

July 1st:

He says he’s been working at the shop for a year so MY TIMELINE IS WRONG. 

So now, he started/got out of his room five months after Feb 14 (WDGFiL), then he made his first diary entry (May 1st) 10 months later as a look back after starting the job. 

He no longer stinks (~17 months after falling into the body order pit, I guess Toralei got over the stank faster due to shedding and excessive cat-self cleaning). 

His mom doesn’t know a Mrs. Goblin and the building he was working in looks to be abandoned for years. She left a note telling him to continue bettering himself or she’s going to make him clean more flying monkey cages. She’s like his fairy gob-mother. 

July 2nd:

Apparently the WHOLE graphic novel (“I have my Eye on You) takes place in one day (but it clearly doesn’t…..?). 

Maybe another year passed by…or he had been working on helping them and this was the day of the Fraidy Hawkins (but Sadie Hawkins dances usually happen in November….and classes should have been out for July). 

So either school years are longer in MH, and the dance still happened in November (4 months after his July 1st entry, 21 months after the movie) and he is writing about it 8 months after to make it July 2nd….? 

Maybe it goes WDGFiL on/around Feb 14th, his first day of working for Mrs. Goblin was in the July of the same year. His first diary entry was in May of year 2, his 1 year anniversary of working at Mrs. Goblins was in July, and the Fraidy Hawkins Dance from Only Eye for You happened in November of the same year, then onto the third year he makes his next entry for July 3rd, in August he has his last diary entry, and that September is the Pride comic…?

Ignoring that….

I’m assuming they forced the July entries to coincide with the SDCC release…? 

He thinks that Draculaura and her friends will never really trust him, and he understands it might take time. 

He had bumped into Spelldon while sneaking around and gave him his number (THIS IS LITERALLY ALL WE KNEW OF SPELLDON. That and Casta Fierce is his sister)!

July 7th:

He walks on the beach to get out of his funk and comes across Whisp’s lantern and accidentally summons her (in her diary she says it’s her first summon, looks like he almost fainted and his clothes had seen better days). 

July 10th:

Both Whisp and Valentine bond over what they did wrong at Monster High.

He is not specific enough when wishing to “go back to MH and fix things.” He poofs into the past dressed as a repairman and is nearly thrown back into the body odor pit before wishing to be brought back. 

July 12th:

He thinks over his past mistakes and knows that it’s going to take a lot of work to make him a better monster and repair all his mistakes.

August 1st:

His final wish is to always be friends with Whisp (so now she has an iCoffin to stay in touch. It always has full bars and they both have each other’s numbers to stay in touch). 

His mom thinks he is talking to himself down in his room (a call back to the movie).

His information in the back of the diary was greatly welcomed:

His parents were confirmed to be emotional vampires (I had headcanoned that maybe he some incubus/succubus ancestry mixed with vampire, but that is probably a bit too much for MH).

He likes formalwear. 

He is open to now having a pet (just not flying monkeys….a very witchy pet…hmmmmm….??) 

His favorite subject if biteology, he now wants to be a vet and he dislikes Phys. Dead due to all the sweating and casual outfits.

He likes the color maroon and devils food cake. 

The comic takes place after this, so I’m going to guess at least one month after August (lots of American High Schools start in September). 

Phew! I love deep dives like this, but I have been putting off my review of the Spelltine Pride Comic short for long enough! Onto covering it in the next post!!

[taybatwo2]

Monster High IDW Comics Review: Part 2 of ?: Monster High Pride 2024 Issue (“Summer Fangout”)

This is taking forever for me to get out, but I had stopped in at my local comic book shop and picked up the single issue MH Pride when it first released.

Part 1:

https://www.tumblr.com/taybatwo2/754406016295321600/monster-high-idw-comics-review-part-13-the-fcbd?source=share

Part 3:

https://www.tumblr.com/taybatwo2/754555603918127104/monster-high-idw-comics-review-part-3-of?source=share

Part 4:

https://www.tumblr.com/taybatwo2/754946130507333632/monster-high-idw-comics-review-part-4-of?source=share

Part 5: 

https://www.tumblr.com/taybatwo2/755042011333132288/monster-high-idw-comics-review-part-5-of?source=share

This is the first release in the MH IDW run (the Free Comic Book Day is a preview to the actual series). It is 37 pages long (30 of actual story) and was 5.99. Mattel hired several people from the LGBTQIA+ community to work on the artwork of this comic too (a great addition). 

It has two stories “Summer Fangout” and “I Put a Spell on You.” I will explore the second short story in my next post.

“Summer Fangout” by Hannah Templer (she/her - has a HUGE comic art portfolio and a graphic novel series called Cosmoknights and her own website).

Art by Siobhan Keenan (she/her, also did the artwork in the FCBD issue and has a ton of GORGEOUS art on -Twitter- “x” and Instagram: @ siobhanchiffon).

Colored by Rebecca Nalty (she/her, also worked on the FCBD Issue, and has beautiful artwork on her own website and Instagram: @ sharkberri).

The front cover’s art was by Betsy Cola (she/her, she shows off her lovely art on Instagram: @ betsy.cola). I also kept reading her name as: Batsy Claro. Ha!

I like how they are wearing each other’s traditional claw-polish, the pride flag in the scratch in the background and the stenciled hearts. Toralei has a little lesbian pin (I would have thought she was bi-sexual due to dating Rocko and even going to prom with Jackson in the Monster High Website Prom’s Night In Scare-adise). I do really wish Toralei’s nose was colored in.

Both shorts had Kielamel Sibal as the letterer (she/her, her lovely artwork is on Instagram @ labis_lemaleik), Riley Farmer as the editor (she/her, I think, I can’t access her LinkedIn profile), and production/design done by Johanna Nattalie (she/her and has worked on a lot of IDW Sonic titles). All three had worked previously on the FCBD issue.

It is 20 pages long (double that of the second short story).

My comic book shop had 3 volumes when I got there (an hour after opening) and I bought the only Spelldon/Valentine cover Variant there (the artwork for all three variants are in the back of the issue -apparently there was a black and white IDW Exclusive done by Rose Bousamra and I especially like how Cleo and Clawdeen were drawn here).

I am curious as to how they were stocked at other comic book shops.

I am generally not a floppies collector, but I wanted to make an exception for MH G1’s pride comic (I assume it will be in the collected series, but it is a one shot and I wanted to support pride, AND get a good look at the official Spelldon). My Spelldon really wanted to compare himself with the official version…which I might do in another post because I think those kinds of things are fun.

Synopsis: “Summer Fangout” shows Clawdeen and Toralei trying to build a summer fangout for their ghouls; they meet two new ghouls to help them out, and gremlins get in the way of building it. All the while, Ghoulia is gaming and talking favorite characters with Kjersti.

My personal opinions/review of the comic is under the cut:

To try and prevent copyright infringement, I whited out the speech bubbles in this issue.

page 1:

“Summer Fangout” starts off with Clawdeen painting Toralei’s claws in the Wolf family backyard, which I could have sworn was said to be huge in other media (as they were always having HUGE family BBQ’s there), but here it is so crowded that the ghoulfriends are thinking about different ways to get away.   Lagoona is mentioned (so maybe she didn’t get “boiled alive” in “Once Bitten”), so is Purrsephone (not her sister though), and Cleo (who just redid their pool in solid gold but apparently didn’t want to invite all her ghoulfriends over to celebrate it -big missed opportunity for a pool party Cleo).

Their beverages are lemonade and….gingerbread cookies….oh…what a tasty combination. Clawdeen and Toralei look really pretty in the first panel (Toralei and Clawdeen’s nails are their traditional shades here, which is a shame, I would have liked them to have it switched like the alternate cover). Clawdeen continues to be gorgeous in the second and third panel too.

And Toralei looks perfect here:

But she is still looking a bit off….

Her nose! It’s too pointy!!!

They didn’t give Toralei her little cat nose! Even when it wasn’t colored in on the doll, she still had a little, blunt cat nose!!! 

Also, seeing Clawdeen’s siblings (and one mystery brother) is cute! Look at little Howleen just vibing and Clawdia chilling. 

The clawwwww. Their hands still look a bit off, and I’ve already mentioned in my FCBD post that this artist’s hands just look a bit off in these comics.

page 2:

Toralei complements her ghoulfriend on her maniclaw (ha!), the two ghouls complain that none of their friends have a secret base/lair, and they decide to make their own space out in the woods (away from other monsters) a “Purrfect Summer Fangout!”

Well, I’m pretty sure Cleo and Draculaura have huge homes that everyone can fangout in and the catacombs were usually the go-to place to find killer fangouts, but to the haunted woods we go!!

What if they had made this short comic all about camping instead…? Clawdeen would have had more experience camping with her Family/pack, Toralei could have bemoaned not having a great eye-coffin signal for a whole weekend! They could have butted heads about setting up camp (on every family camping trip I’ve been on this has been the case), or someone forgot something, they could get lost in the woods and Toralei could climb a tree to see where to go/Clawdeen could help track down some of her friends that also came along, Toralei could go fishing!!! Maybe they find a misunderstood monster in the woods?? They could have DESIGNED them new little CAMPING outfits…. *cries*

Human-nosed Toralei looks very lovely and has a very cat-like posture in the first panel that really captures her (but her spikes are missing in her jacket and her pointer finger still looks a bit off). I think Clawdeen looks good in all these panels, with the fourth being a standout due to her canines being actually visible outside of her lips. I think the artist captures Clawdeen pretty well (her wavy hair especially) but her nose still looks both too small and oddly straight and pointy.

Also, Toralei’s glove is not outlined in the last panel and her jacket’s spikes have the outline of her collar running through them.

Just my opinion, but I feel the paneling in this short jumps around instead of flowing well together. For example, on just this page, it starts off with Clawdeen kneeling down beside Toralei (cute), then the camera shifts behind Clawdeen and Toralei is holding a gingerbread cookie, next Clawdeen is standing up BEHIND Toralei, and the cookie is not shown again in any of the panels (like this one could have had Toralei holding up the cookie with a bite taken out of it and taking with her mouth full to just show some continuation), the next panel has Clawdeen back on the ground/in front of Toralei and hing her hands (cute, but this would have been less jumpy if she just would have stayed kneeling next to her ghoulfriend), and then in the final panel of the page, they are both standing up BUT THE FIRST PANEL of page 3 they are once again sitting together (with Clawd standing over them). It’s like they’re afraid of just having these characters sit (or stand) still and talk. That can still be intriguing!

page 3:

Clawd overhears the two ghouls getting excited about something. Toralei is excited to share their “secret lair,” while Clawdeen is more than happy to tell Clawd their “SECRET FANGOUT” is for fiends only, no brothers. Clawd mentions the woods are cursed, and one time his casketball went over their fence and climbed a tree on its own. Clawdeen is done hearing her brother talk and takes her ghoulfriend to get her dad’s toolbox and take her into the woods -to make out- to decorate. Clawd yells after them that he warned them.

I missed snarky Clawdeen so much. This is now my favorite drawing of Clawdeen in this whole comic. I can hear her Brooklyn accent seeping off the page!!

But Clawd, oh poor Clawd. I like seeing him appear and his facial expression is good in the first panel, but why is his nose so small and pointy in some of these panels?! Also, his hands look so stiff in the last panel…

I assume the artist was working off of pictures of his Forbitten Love doll, because he is missing his killer cheek bones he has in the animated show/movies and artwork.

Another couple of nitpicks…is their backyard connected to the woods because we already see glowing eyes in the third panel? Also, Clawd’s flashback of losing his casketball could be conveyed clearer to the reader (like lighter colors or any lines separating the speaker from the action) otherwise it looks like his casketball he just had in the crook of his arm in the first panel has also JUST ran up the tree too. Also in the fifth panel, Clawd’s right ear is intersected with the outline of his cap.

page 4:

Meanwhile Ghoulia and Kjersti are gaming together and talking about their favorite “Skulltimate Creep Fighters” characters (“Barb E. Rian” (HA) is Kjersti’s and “Nika Románcer” (whose name I don’t think has a doll pun to it, but it might have gone right over my head) is Ghoulia’s). Kjersti claims Barb is the best, even the pros know it, and the hits on her Barb fangfic solidify ”prove it.” She inadvertently dunks on how unpopular Ghoulia’s Nika fangfic is (and begrudgingly admits that it isn’t bad BUT Nika’s stats are still inferior).

Kjersti looks really cute in the fourth panel and really cute in her Chibi-fied sixth panel. Ghoulia looks nice in the first panel. Her and Ghoulia’s hands still look poorly traced (it really reminds me of G3’s original doll box artwork looking really off and the reason was Mattel took the early design work done by Anna Cattish -a really good artist- and either poorly traced it, or had another artist poorly copy it). Ghoulia’s hand outline is SUPER light blue in the fifth panel (maybe to show that is being lit up, but it’s not seen anywhere else). However, I am missing Ghoulia’s sunken in cheek, and Kjersti’s more rounded features/HUGE ears in this art style. They all kinda have the same face shape (including noses, eyes and lips).

Something a bit distracting was Kjersti insisting that Barb has the best stats was partially due to her Rotpad fic has more attention, and I don’t think that’s how game was“STATS” work. I feel like Kjersti should have just been talking about how Barb is best because all the pros agree she has the best stats AND her fangfic get the most hits on Rotpad. Then she shows off how well her fangfic is doing. Then Kjersti could say: Niki isn’t well liked, because she only has a few fics with only a few hits -THEN she can notice that Ghoulia’s handle wrote most of those and apologizes for putting her foot in her mouth - OR Ghoulia sees that Niki doesn’t have many fangfics and decides to start writing some/challenges Kjersti to a fangfic writing competition…? Either way, this could be a learning opportunity that even smaller character have their own fans too, fitting for Monster High and their myriad of characters. This is a good time to bring up the HEAVY USE of puns in this. It’s not unusually for G1 MH, but a bit of them in this comic are a bit forced or miss the mark: “Skulltimate Creep Fighter….?” Eh. How about “Skulltimate Street Biter??” “Spider-Hammock” is fine, but what about “web-hammock?” “Rotpad” instead of “Watpad,” “Fangfiction” instead of “Fanfiction” and “Howlware store” instead of “Hardware Store” are all good though.

page 5:

Kjersti still claims that Barb is the “beast” due to her numbers and “claw-culations,” and that’s she’s still beating Ghoulia. Ghoulia is saddened by Kjersti being dismissive of her feelings, again, and says it’s on (oh, Ghoulia still speaks in moans and groans in this and, oh how I’ve missed it). Also, Ghoulia sits like “L” from Death Note when she games (which is cute) and has posters/figurines all over her wall of this new character and Deadfast (yesssss). 

Looking at the last panel on this page, you can kinda see more of Barb’s design and see that the reason she has some odd looking legs in page 4 is due to her pants being incorrectly colored to look like skin.

page 6:

The Ghoulfriends come across a clearing and start putting decorations up, but Clawdeen is annoyed how Toralei doesn’t stick with a project/is moving too fast and her stuff is starting to go missing.

The top panel has a lot of nice energy to it. Clawdeen’s expression in the last panel is good (I kinda wish the whole “gremlin” was not yet shown, and maybe we see just a sneak peak of a foot or claw reaching into the tool box). Toralei looks really nice in most of these panels too and Clawdeen’s nose looks more accurate in the first, fourth and fifth panels (wahoo), but her right ears are placed a bit too far on her head on the first and third panel. Her teeth are partially colored red in the fourth panel, and her ear is drawn through her left gold hoops in the fifth panel.

Clawdeen calls Toralei “kitten” and that is so cute.

page 7:

Clawdeen is concerned about the missing tools, while Toralei tells her she probably just misplaced it (even if they haven’t used it yet), and Toralei keeps jumping from project to project while Clawdeen gets stuck moving the rock by herself, stuck in the “spider-hammock” and getting frustrated, but Toralei doesn’t seem to notice or hear her. Toralei ends the page by telling Clawdeen not to stand around. I liked that Toralei called Clawdeen “poochie and climbed the tree with the lights stuck in her mouth (that’s very on brand for her). Toralei’a and Clawdeen expressions were pretty good on this page, but Clawdeen in panel five had a very low right ear, super pointed nose and weird hand. In panel three, above Clawdeen’s left ear, it should be colored dark green as it’s the rest of the forest, not another rock.

page 8:

Okay. By a writing standpoint, this page is kinda confusing, so I’m going to do a panel, by panel breakdown to see if this makes sense to anyone else. Toralei asks Clawdeen where their stuff is at and Clawdeen asks her the same thing and that’s she’s been running around “like a freshblood at fearleading tryouts.” (Toralei, your ghoulfriend has been asking you were her tools are this whole time, and Clawdeen, Toralei went everywhere but the tools- this exchange would have worked better if the tools were already out of the toolbox before they went missing). Toralei answers that her “creativity can’t be tamed”and if Clawdeen wasn’t hung up on every little detail they’d be farther along. (Clawdeen didn’t mention anything about creativity, and wasn’t slowed down by focusing on something for too long, she was busy finishing Toralei’s projects and looking for her tools). Clawdeen says she thinks aesthetics are really important too (WHAT AESTHETICS?!?) and Toralei responds that she has learned the only way to get things done is to do things herself (????? But she hasn’t done everything herself, Clawdeen put the other side of the “spider-hammock” up, moved your rock for you and was trying to get you a hammer and some rope for the lights).

Toralei trips? Falls?? I THINK is startled by the parasoul opening up and falls to the ground (understandable cat reaction it’s just not the clearest here). Clawdeen asks (before Toralei falls) how that was going for her (this one makes more sense because things are falling apart so far). Suddenly Clawdeen looks apologetic and kneels down to Toralei. She tells Toralei that she thought couples were supposed to be good at these things and they should be able to work together. Torelai angrily spats that they are working together Clawdeen just needs TO KEEP UP (the mood shift is really sudden and I think this is what should have been the focus on this page because this was the actual issue they were having as a couple: how to work together!! Like maybe Toralei should have said Clawdeen’s line and Clawdeen should have said Toralei needs to wait until they’re done working on something before moving on, otherwise she gets overwhelmed. Because the next panel would have flowed better into that!).

Clawdeen and Toralei stand up and look at the empty toolbox and Toralei (whose mouth is CLOSED - it looks like Clawdeen should have been speaking since her mouth is parted and why did they put the speech bubble covering them both up! They could have moved it over so Clawdeen is speaking, and you can actually see these ghouls closeness) says that they need to get more tools if they want to get anything done (I guess neither apologize to each other for their earlier outbursts, and Clawdeen is going to ignore the fact that Toralei is putting the blame on Clawdeen for not keeping up).

Clawdeen pulls Toralei to the Howlware store to get more tools and maybe get someone to help them get organized (organization might be part of the problem, but I don’t think a Howlware employee is going to help walk you guys through learning to listen to what the other person needs and teach you to slow down if your partner is getting left behind).

I also thought Clawdeen was more of a go-getter/self starter and Toralei was a stand-back and work on the most entertaining/fun parts of a project. Besides those critiques, these are all great panels of Clawdeen, and Toralei looks good in the sixth panel. I like that they mention they ARE a couple, Clawdeen and Toralei holding each other’s hands is really sweet and I love them standing together in the sixth panel. The spider-hammock is continually something that Clawdeen is messing with in panels 1-3, and that’s a nice sense of continuity. Toralei’s ear is lightly over colored in the third panel and grey was randomly added to her right ear in the fourth panel. The parasoul looks like it has a bit of the top of Clawdeen’s right ear drawn on it.

WHY?!?!

page 9:

Cut back to Ghoulia and Kjersti (Kjersti has her large ears again - yay). Kjersti (I guess can sense) Ghoulia has been writing more fics for her character and Kjersti can’t help but brag about how much better her brand boo fangfic is doing (that has a Barb Vs Nika angle…I mean…I think Kjersti is pulling in the readers who want the enemies to lovers for this pairing, but that’s just me). I assume they are taking this angle because she’s soft core “trolling” Ghoulia. Ghoulia throws her iCoffin over her shoulder (I would have just hung up on her), uploads her newest chapter to her fangfic and stomps out of her room.

But again, this just seems so odd? If they were having a fangfic writing competition (like I mentioned on their last appearance) it would make more sense to me why they are suddenly so interested in the fangfic side of their favorite characters, and why Kjersti would be bragging about it…or soft-core trolling Ghoulia. OR what if she still didn’t know that Ghoulia had written the few fangfics for Nika and decided to write more of a smear fic about Nika (to prove to Ghoulia that not many people like Nika). Then she brags to Ghoulia about doing huge numbers on this smear fic is. Ghoulia still hangs up on her, posts her Nika fangfic and storms off as fast as her Zombie legs will let he, to go dish to Cleo.

I like seeing more of Ghoulia’s room, I like the detail on Kjersti’s hat, seeing her large ears, and Ghoulia’s facial expressions. Nitpicks: In the fifth panel, half of Kjersti’s glasses were flipped to make the other side (that’s why their perspective is off). In the third panel, the writing on Ghoulia’s iCoffin does not lay correctly on the perspective of her phone. In the first panel, the stand that holds the monitor also should have had another line on its left side to make its perspective match the monitor’s and keyboards.

Why would you want to make Ghoulia sad…or angry?? She is smart enough to hack into a space laser or nuclear facility and aim it at your house.

Well, we are about half way through the first short comic in the Pride issue and I’ve maxed out my picture capacity. Hopefully I’ll have the second one out shortly…gosh I really hope so, I want to work on something else (Toralei’s work ethic is very relatable to me!!!).

But what were your guys’ thoughts? Did you like it more than me so far? Less?? Did I misinterpret the message and the relationships?? Am I wrong about the artwork and pacing?? Do you agree? Have any favorite panels?? Let me know your thoughts. :)