#IDW monster high comics

[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.

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.”

[oceanicpride]

Covers for upcoming G1 Monster High comics by IDE

[grizzlyofthesea]

New Scaremester confirmed to be continuing!!

We can rest easy for now!

Lagoona was right; rumors really are like storms. ^^"

[alainlokerest]

CANON TORADEEN AND SPELLDON IN THE NEW G1 MH COMICS????? GIRL, I'M READY

[smashpages]

Out this week: Monster High: New Scaremester #1 (IDW, $4.99): 

Jacque Aye and Caroline Shuda kick off a new Monster High series featuring Draculaura, Clawdeen Wolf, Cleo de Nile and Frankie Stein who must deal with the trials and drama that come from a new “scaremester” at school.

See what else is coming to a comic shop near you this week!

[dailynicknews]

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

[graphicpolicy]

SDCC 2024: IDW reveals exclusive comics and promos

SDCC 2024: IDW reveals exclusive comics and promos #comics #sdcc #sdcc2024 #comiccon

IDW Publishing is heading to San Diego Comic-Con 2024, and the award-winning publisher is bringing fan-favorite exclusive comics to its booth! Located at booth #2729, IDW Publishing is proudly setting up shop at SDCC for the entire show. To celebrate the massive launch of the new TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES series, IDW will offer a ton of Turtle Power. IDW’s SDCC exclusive selection will…

[jovaline]

All four of my connecting Monster High comic covers for IDW have been released in solicits. 💀💖 I can finally post the full piece all together!

[flightyalrighty]

are there any sonic fan comics you would recommend? bonus points if they have shadow

Yeah! There's lots of really good ones out there!

Ghosts Of The Future by Evan Stanley - First Sonic webcomic I've ever read. Remains incomplete but I'll remember it always. It's the thing that got Evan her job with Archie (and then IDW and Sonic Team).

@pandoraaucomic by @starrjoy - Currently on hiatus! Really really really good and is the comic that convinced me to turn Infested into a comic! This comic is filled with beautiful art of some real high technical skill and a really gripping story.

@teamdarksupernovaodyssey by @sharpedgedfool - Really interesting premise and great character writing and acting (like expressions and posing and stuff). The way Orion crafts all those mechanical bits in their backgrounds blows my mind.

@the-heart-of-a-monster by @superemeralds - Action-packed different take on Sonic Unleashed! Really really good creature design going on here, and super rad paneling. Really nails the vibe of Sonic Unleashed while pushing that story much further. You'll especially dig this one if you like cool werehog designs.

@operationlove by @summersdale - This one is so cute and funny. Still pretty new, so definitely give it a follow and keep an eye on it for more pages. It's a small detail but I love how Summersdale draws Mobian noses.

[radicalcircuit]

Introduction to Drawing Metal Sonic

Texture-less 3D models are from @/mellow-elbow 's massive folder of Sonic character models and reference photos. (And I love you for that, I use it a lot) Which are models ripped from the games. All other photos used here are from the IDW comics (Mostly issue #12) and other official sources.

➟Link to Folder ➟Metal Sonic Folder

Machines/computers are pretty and I wanted expand my skills, and am fixated on Sonic. So I found myself drawing Metal Sonic lately, and feel like sharing my learning experience on drawing this fucker since I found it interesting. I also needed to do something with these references because I used so many.

Obviously, do whatever you want. I am not going to police people on how they should be drawing a fictional robot. I mean hell, I don't draw him game accurate either and am still learning. I was interested in the details and robotics of it all to get a grasp of how he is drawn and be messed with.

From the references alone, his designs are more complicated and simplified between each artists and modellers.

Once removing all the overwhelming details, Metal boils down to very basic human anatomy. Or more accurately: he is a ball jointed doll. Think of how you can move the limbs of a Monster High or Barbie doll, it's similar.

To me, it seems that the joints where he can pivot at 360° are the shoulders, hip, neck, and risks. The elbow and knee areas are able to swing front and back. (Not sure if that needs to be said but here it is).

Pauldrons are able to move too. (Think this is the most obvious but I need to remind myself this)

Break down the hands into a basic drawing skeleton, a slightly curved rectangle for the palms and 3 joints for the fingers. Then draw the rest of the details from there since he has no muscles or fat.

There is a ball joint at the base of the thumb. That itself is a huge joint on the hand.

Fingers are drawn kinda skeletal.

Dude's pretty flat chested, and so his torso section goes inwards.

A lot perspective will come into play when drawing him in different angles, especially those where body parts mesh into one another. Keep in mind that he can't squish like someone with flesh.

Can't remember where I heard this, but the design philosophy for each metal character is that everything on them has a function. Again do whatever you want, but if you want to make a game accurate design then keep this in mind. (It's not the case for Neo, but dude is allow to have a sense of fashion)

[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.

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. :) 

[monsterhigh-world]

MONSTER HIGH NEWS

a YA book, a graphic novel and IDW comics series of monster high

Ya book will be based on draculaura

there is a graphic novel in the works, is unknown if will be based on g1, g3 live action or animated g3 series

Possibly comics are based on the g3 animated series, which i really hope so

ARTICLE

[grizzlyofthesea]

........I'm sorry, what?

I finally had something to look forward to, and this is what happened?

[etherealxgenie]

So I just got the Monster High Pride Comic after waiting so long! And boy was it worth the wait. But I DO have some things to say about it and note this is not to shame or disrespect anything whatsoever.

Here we go:

A side (Toradeen)

I'm gonna be upfront: Obviously this is G3 Toradeen covered in G1 skin. Don't get me wrong, it's cute and interesting chemistry while keeping some character in for both Clawdeen and Toralei. But... how did the story introduce a new MH cute side couple while failing to tell us HOW the main story couple got together?

I had to read this side a few times because while I was disappointed of the lack explanation, it was good to see a few things. I'm glad it had the side story of Ghoulia writing 'Fangfiction' (I almost forgot about the lexicon, dear god!), Howleen's OG look, A GLIMPSE of Clawdeen's dad and a few of the ghouls. Jackie and Bridgette are very cute as well giving some more representationfor MH.

The only thing was bad was the lack of BG or showing us how Toralei and Clawdeen would be in the same room of each other, let alone date. Cause these two were at each other's throats before in the series and boovies so... yeah. The next comic I hope they explain that.

B Side (Spellentine)

Maybe I'm biased, but I was anticipating this side of the comic more. First of all, I've been waiting for almost a decade to finally see the mysterious Spelldon! And I knew based on Val's diary they were gonna be a great new ship and I was SO glad to be right! I like the flow of this story well of how it shows regarding building romance and even trying to repair friendships.

The only tidbit would be the misleading thing of Draculaura refusing to accept Val's apology, though it IS understandable. But yeah, she was making excuses to not fang out with him. But I'm glad in the end they both decided to take their time. Val has a new 'friend' to pay attention to anyway :)

The bonus was that NOBODY TOLD ME WHISP WAS GONNA BE IN THE COMIC!!! It made me VERY HAPPY and she's portrayed as I expected her to be! (can you tell 13 wishes in my favorite boovie yet?). I guarantee you she will wingwoman the hell out of these two.

Overall, this comic was a pretty good read and well worth the wait. I'm curious as to see what IDW will do with the Monster High franchise from now on for the "New Scaremester."

[smashpages]

Out this week: Monster High Pride (IDW, $5.99): 

IDW announced last year that they had acquired the license to make comics based on Monster High, the line of monster-themed dolls owned by Mattel. For their first offering, they’ve recruited Megan Brown, Hannah Templer, Siobhan Keenan and Bowen McCurdy to create Pride-themed stories featuring the students on the “spooktacularly inclusive campus.”

See what other comics and graphic novels will arrive in comic shops this week.

[dailynicknews]

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