#new comic review

[ninja-muse]

This book! This book!

I'm a fan of:

sporking fantasy tropes

female antiheroes

pop culture references

competency porn

hot messes

hot messes who somehow are also hyper-competent???

fourth wall breakage

unapologetically queer people

animal-people

time shenanigans

great fight scenes

footnotes

laughing

And this book delivered! I knew I had to read this as soon as I heard about it. (Woman caught in a time loop decides not to be the Chosen One, but the Dark Lord? Hello, yes please.)

It's been a while, like maybe a year ago with Perilous Times, since I've had so much fun with a comic fantasy. I have a serious case of the gimmes for the sequel now.

[queerism1969]

[thelailasblog]

[gecenin-karanligi-21]

[sylvieserene]

My thoughts on Primer: Clashing Colors #1 - "Color Me Impressed" (2024)

This was a comic I was waiting a long time for and was super excited about its story. Not because omg New character, Primer!! Nah, because of Teen Titans lol

That too the TEEN TITANS ANIMATED SERIES 2003

I seriously had high hopes for this comic but let's just say I'm disappointed.

Without getting into spoilers,

The writing is just meh at best. Primer is fleshed out decently but the writing for TT03 cast is horrendous at worst and ooc at best.

This comic also suffers from the "Telling but not showing" problem, similar to Nightwing (2016) comic by Taylor.

It's clear that the writers prefered Primer but it's almost like they didn't really do much research over the Titans' personality and that was of less priority. They act a lot like their TTG! (2013) Counterparts rather than TT03 characters. Even the humour is similar to TTG! (2013) and not the original show unlike what was being advertised.

As a Primer comic, it gets the job done and highlights her nicely but as a teen titans fan who was looking forward for the TT content rather than Primer, it's pretty disappointing and saddening.

⚠️ Now getting into spoilers ⚠️

(click off if you want to or scroll down to the end if you wanna skip and basically go to the summary)

The introduction to Primer is pretty decent and I think it does a decent job and blooming her personality.

I believe most of you here must have seen this particular panel in the teasers before the comic's release. It catches the TT03 essence nicely but this is where characterisation jumps in.

As I said Primer as a character isn't of concern to me but as a TT fan, TT is.

So here's where things went downhill in characterisation and character consistency.

You are saying Slade came out in the open, got unmasked and it's of NO big deal to Robin?

Lemme rephrase this to you; Slade, the evil mastermind, who never does anything without a reason and NEVER leaves his basement other than the reason for kidnapping children, touched grass and came out at day and Robin is unphased? It doesn't make ANY sense.

Even more so, when the story tries to pretend it's on purpose.

Slade was NEVER unmasked other than that skull reveal scene and that one Easter egg from TTG! 2003 spin off comics. So the fact, this scene was displayed as something comical is genuinely baffling. The Titans KNOW he doesn't get caught unless there's a catch. This part makes absolutely zero sense.

Then this part ...

The problem with this part is, characterisation. BB debatably acts like himself but Raven? No. It's ooc for her to go "Awww :D" like that. If anything, the best possibility is that she'll say the same line but she'll say it with full and utter sarcasm.

I think most BBRAE fans will agree with me on this one but they both had romantic POTENTIAL but they weren't anything other than good pals in the show. And we haven't gotten any hint at their relationship even in the spin off comics which were canon to show. Which in simpler terms means, this is ooc. Most of the development BBRae can have is after the show and after they get older. But the comic claims they are same Titans who haven't aged a day thus THIS IS OUT OF CHARACTER FOR RAVEN TO SAY!

Raven is a gloomy, sarcastic character who doesn't express what she feels instantly or openly, it would have made a lot more sense if she said the same line sarcastically (where she could blush implying a subtext incase they really wanted to insert BBRae but not making too obvious)

It really makes no sense for her character as depicted in TT03 to suddenly melt at the idea BB giving her tulips if it is the same Raven from TT03. Raven isn't that stereotypical girl character. She's a reserved and introverted person who was still learning to open up even to the series very end.

If this is the TT we know and love, this can't be her.

I'm not bashing the ship btw, I'm bashing the writing. Atleast be faithful to the character's personality while doing fan service!!

If you say, it's the same people who haven't aged a day since the last time you met. You can't have it be that oh yk they changed. Both the statements can't be true at the same time.

Then this scene:

This scene looks straight up from TTG. Back to making Robin dumb af and the team bashing him into normalcy. I'm tired of this trope like jeez, TT ROBIN WAS NOT LIKE THAT!!!

Infact if anything, "Can we just call it 'the battery'?" Line is something BB would say not Raven. Also Starfire getting mad at Robin for saying a long name and rolling eyes? She would never. Robin taught her earth customs and language patiently. If anything, she's that one person who would never eye roll on Robin even if he says something dumb. If it's the same Starfire from TT03 AS ADVERTISED.

Then there's this panel....

Two things, Robin never had a car in TT03. He had a bike named R-Cycle. Second, Starfire always carried Robin while Beast Boy carried Cyborg as a Pterodactyl. The Titan with a car was Cyborg. And when the car was out, everyone rode the car instead of taking the skies. Why the hell would Cyborg be carried out by Starfire when the car is right there??? It makes no sense.

It's incredibly strange how the writer is going long lengths to not make the two (Robin and Starfire) even merely interact with eachother.

How hard is it to just be canon accurate? These are stuff you catch on literally one rewatch. Did the writers not even do that or did they go with fanon or what they remembered from their childhood or like spent 5 mins trying to remember the characters through YT shorts and called it a day?

Like this is the only time they technically look at eachother to talk anything other than business:

Then coming back to Slade, I said the story tries to pretend it was all on purpose.

This further proves that this Slade isnt the same evil mastermind we knew of. This is some other guy.

Then this,

Yk what the awful part is? This . This isn't something you would see in TT03 or anything similar. This is simply something you can expect to see in a fan comic.

And wanna know what's worse? Ravager already existed in TT03 verse except she was Rose Wilson not this guy. This simply just means the writers didn't even BOTHER doing minimum research on the show beforing stamping in characters.

========================================

SPOILERS END!!!

Like I am genuinely lacking words as to describe this mess of a Teen Titans 2003 representation. This isn't them at all.

If anything, this isn't anything like they promoted and advertised. If anything, this is simply a TT03 AU which has nothing to do with the show.

It's neither faithful to the show nor the characters nor the established canon.

If anything, this feels like a shameless cash grab..ik some of y'all be mad at me for saying this but yeah. That is what this is.

If anything, it feels like a clickbait way to get people to Primer without actually bothering to respect that clickbait through which you are trying to pull people in.

It's shameful and disappointing and if I'm being honest, this got boring fast. I didn't enjoy it at all.

The writers prioritised cheap comedy and Primer over the Titans who are apparently a big part of her journey. They didn't even feel hesitant in making all the characters go ooc. The story itself is pretty bland and not interesting and genuinely nothing unique about it other than the Titans who apparently were TT03 as left on the final episode.

Anyway, this feels like an AU TT03 self insert OC fan comic at best or a version of TT based on TTG 2013. Frankly, it has the humor and characterization of TTG. Infact, I think this can totally work out as a 'tame' episode in TTG.

Introduction of Primer to TT and her demeanor to them to get along and on the team gave off Massive Terra vibes, it's almost like the writers got heavily inspired from it.

Tldr, the characterisation and characters of TT aren't like their TT03 counterpart but rather TTG one with a lot more grounded personalities. They often go ooc and say things which they won't say if we went with TT03 canonicity. Deathstroke is basically a joke now. The story itself is boring and uninteresting and doesn't make me like Primer any better. The comic falsely promotes this as the TT03 version even though this is, at best, a TT universe maybe inspired by the 2003 show but not the 2003 show. It's closer to 2013 one.

Personally, I'm severely disappointed and I'm gonna say it again, this is a total cashgrab and not worth reading.

[bonefall]

I do feel bad for Owen. Clearly this is NOT his forte. #freeowen

I'm guessing Owen has some kind of contract to do all the covers for the "Erin Hunter" books, since he also seems to do the art for Bravelands and Survivors. Which baffles me.

When you look at his portfolio, it seems clear that animals are NOT his strong suit. He mostly designs them as monsters or setpieces, not as characters in their own right. His humans, objects, and backgrounds are excellent, while his animals are quite generic-- So why did they choose this artist to design for their xenofiction series?

The art he does for Percy Jackson and Artemis Fowl is not as jilted and uninspired as his work for any of the Erin Hunter series. He does have a thing for harsh lighting (too harsh for my taste) but the composition is fine and the characters are recognizable. Certainly not "someone tried to unlock your phone" tier. It's strange.

It strikes me like he's not "comfortable" enough with animals to experiment with them, heavily referencing zoomed-in photos and leaving it there. Note how his cats are almost never doing anything, just sitting or standing around looking confused.

Has he ever even drawn a battle cat... battling?

I don't really feel "bad" for him, OR "mad" at him, because we have no idea what's happening behind the scenes, but I WILL say that I feel he is an absolutely awful match for WC. I don't understand what about his portfolio made him look like a good replacement for Wayne McLoughlin, besides some executive recognizing his style from somewhere else.

I hope he is compensated well for his work, but I don't buy hardcovers because of his art and am holding out hope that someone else takes over someday.

[fancyfade]

honestly one thing i don't like about zero year is that it seems like they take beats from other stories, but can't let them be un-dramatic, or even just... not the most cinematic, explosive thing ever. Like everything from Batman-in-past has to be amped up to match Batman-in-present. And as a result there's no room for character growth, because everyone has to start at essentially what is their 'final form'.

like I don't really care for most joker backstories, but the zero year joker falls into a vat of chemicals thing is reminiscent of the TKJ origin (intentionally) which itself was calling back/building off to 'tec 168. In both of those, the situation that spawns the chemicals thing is pretty 'small scale'. TKJ has proto-joker helping two people past security in a lab he used to work at, 'tec 168 has proto-joker committing robbery just for money's sake.

while it's obviously up to the reader whether these stories are good, none of them feel epic in scale. It's not trying to be epic. TKJ is analysis of the joker, batman, and gordon, and the question as to whether one bad day can fracture anyone (with the answer 'no')

compare the relatively simple setup for TKJ joker tripping to the complete battlefield and chaos in zero year. Red Hood already has the city in terror, he has like half the police or he's already done his thesis (link) and is already connected to Bruce via the death of Bruce's parents which inspired him. He essentially already is 'joker', jsut with a different name, so there's no real purpose of the origin. And then in terms of the 'needs to be epic' scale - we have a huge dramatic showdown in the ACE chemical factory with bullets flying, philip (bruce's uncle) shoots at joker, gets shot and dies, bruce tranqs jim, grapple with the joker over the chemicals... etc.

similarly, a lot of the reason batman: year one sticks in people's heads is because we see Bruce genuinely failing at things that later are effortless for him. We see Bruce figuring out how to be Batman.

Zero year has some of that - in that he doesn't have his costume yet. But he's pretty much already still batman. he's already got his disguise, he's pretty much perfect at fighting (in a backup story we see him fighting people in a death-match for 28 hours straight as new combatants are added as bruce defeats yet refuses to kill his opponents). Like... I don't think Scott Snyder could do "bruce gets beat up trying to stop thieves on a fire escape while making sure no one ties". it's so... non-epic in scale. And everything Snyder does has to be big and dramatic and involve city-wide threats in his batman run. but it results in a 'year zero' bruce who does not really feel like he's any different from a fully realized batman in any way possible, because he already has to start as the bestest of the best.

which IDK. maybe was fun to read about when it was coming out. but as a work of literature it's just... boring. All style no substance.

[sonknuxadow]

went to a comic store today and saw individual issues of idw sonic in person for the first time ever btw . epic win

[ciegeinc]

In one season Beau Demayo has created the best (beyond the comics) visualization of XMEN (live action or cartoon).

[mylifeinfiction]

Harleen by Stjepan Šejić

He smiles... and I make the worst mistake of my life... I smile back.

As fascinating an origin story as it is a compelling, thematically complex study of mental illness, Stjepan Šejić's Harleen shows us the 'meet cute' behind the twisted relationship between Gotham's Clown Prince of Crime, The Joker, and Dr. Harleen Quinzel. It's heavy on the psychiatric, favoring conversations and inner monologue over any substantial action; a choice that works beautifully in showing how inevitable Dr. Quinzel's transformation into Harley Quinn really was. However, the moments of action we do get, throughout, are delivered in a satisfyingly graphic manner that effectively displays the erratic, manipulative psychology of these characters.

I really enjoyed getting a more nuanced look into Harley Quinn, a character I'm mostly familiar with through animated series (where she's little more than a caricature of 'mad love') and films (where's she's so far gone, there's really no trace of Dr. Quinzel left). Šejić's smart writing and gorgeous artwork elevate this character to something more interesting, more consequential, than a secondary villain while also giving further insight into the psyches of several other Batman villains, in the process.

9/10

-Timothy Patrick Boyer.

[ho1ymermaid412]

“The darkest of angels. The fifth rider of the apocalypse”

[queerism1969]

[kryptonbabe]

Superman's love life archives: Lyla Lerrol's tragedy

From Superman #141 (1960) by Jerry Siegel & Wayne Boring

Lyla Lerrol is one of Superman's briefest and lesser known love affairs, but one that carried a lot of meaning for Kal-el, at least while he was with her, for their love story happened in a Krypton before its doom. Lyla would only appear on this one issue for a long time, until getting mentioned post-crisis and appearing as a sort of villain. In her origin her imminent death is not exactly a surprise given what we know about Krypton, still, the story packs a punch, if not for her and Kal-el's love story, for the personal perspective we gain seeing Superman exploring and getting to know the people of his planet before its destruction.

So this is my long and unnecessary deep dive into Lyla's first issue.

After a freaky accident, Superman goes back in time to Krypton, gets stranded there due to the effects of the planet's red sun, is mistaken for an extra in a sci-fi movie, and finally meets Lyla, the famous actress on the set. All of that on the first pages, and I'm skipping lots of things. This is fast-paced!

After that, Kal-el gets to go to his biological parent's wedding and there has one of his many introspective moments in Krypton. In fact I felt most of the heartbreak and sadness of this story during these moments in which Superman is thinking about how he wishes he could tell Lara and Jor-el how much he loves them, without inevitably telling about their tragic end, how he wishes he could save this planet from its doom. After avoiding them at the wedding, he broods and decides to spend time with his parents no matter what.

Introspective Superman is a real mood, I can almost hear the most melancholic classic rock jams of Krypton playing on the background, while the night cityscape of his home planet slowly moves.

Despite admiring the artist, I don't think the stern aesthetic Wayne Boring gives his art always matched the tone of the silver age stories he drew, in this case though, it is perfect.

(I had to include Superman meeting Krypto, the superdog, parents!)

Kal actually manages to work for his dad while in Krypton, he becomes Lara and Jor-el's close friend and when they realize he has thing going on for Lyla they become obsessed with making the two a couple, and inevitably, after several attempts, they succeed. I mean her initials are L. L., he has no other choice...

The word love is used often between these two, it takes a little time for their relationship to fully blossom, but once it takes off it's all or nothing, true love forever, which is par for the course in romance comics of the time. Lyla has her own career and social life, but once she meets Kal-el these things become somewhat secondary. Her character is not unlikeable, there was room for further development, however there's a lot going on with this issue already and the focus is never fully on her as a person, but rather as a love interest.

Time passes and yes, they kiss a lot. This page is so beautiful, it stands out for how the art and writing combine to make a metaphor between the burning passion of Superman and Lyla and the cataclysmic forces of nature working to destroy Krypton at that very moment. How two powerful forces can coexist in antagonism to each other. The planet often gives signs of instability, constantly reminding Kal-el his time is running out. Later he will choose to save Krypton, building a huge ark to save its people, but Brainiac will steal the whole city the ark was built on. Which was really funny to me, I mean Clark you simply don't make plans involving Kandor unless you want to get kidnapped by Brainiac!

It's a slow process of acceptance for Superman, he broods a lot, carrying the heavy weight of his secrets, but after Kandor's fiasco he accepts to die with his parents while basking in his love for Lyla. More time passes, it is not clear how much, but it is implied that Kal-el spends months living on Krypton.

Meanwhile he discovers Jor-el watches Martha and Jon's life as a soap opera, knowing every detail about their lives, not creepy at all... Then, things escalate and Superman's uses a gun to break the statue mentioned above to reveal Jon's rival is a swindler and make Martha love Jon instead of him. Absolutely convoluted and so very entertaining.

Also Kal-el caused such an impression on his parents, that Lara has a dream about him and decides to name their future kid after him (while Jor-el basically ignores her). So Superman's Kryptonian name was inspired by himself. Which made me think just how many time paradoxes did Kal-el provoked on his little trip to Krypton. We've been blaming Barry Allen all this time for the New 52, but what if...

At this point everyone knows about Krypton's imminent destruction, but Superman and Lyla are so in love they decide to get married despite of it. Kal-el is not willing to ruin the mood with his bummer origins so he also decides to keep the secret. There's a melancholy in the air, but he accepts his destiny, and they all dance in this futuristic jazz club.

However, fate had other plans and after a freaky accident... Kal-el is thrown into space, eventually accessing the yellow light of another sun, recovering his energy and going back to Earth. While Lyla, who could not possibly imagine her lover could survive such an accident, is left in tears, doomed to die soon, without ever seeing Kal-el again.

Superman gets back to Earth reminiscing about the time he spent on Krypton, the happiness he shared with his parents and his love for Lyla. Although he seems quite relived on the last panel, he has so much going for him on Earth, a girlfriend, friends, his job and superpowers. This story is rarely mentioned and I think that's actually a healthy choice, to languish over what he lost on Krypton, his biological parents and a lover, could become a burden, a weight he could not afford to carry as a superhero. Or the other writers simply didn't care to bring back this story line.

The issue was written by Jerry Siegel himself, one of Superman's creators. I already loved him for his contrived sci-fi and the working class Superman of the golden age, but I was positively surprised by his talent for melodrama, despite the lack of depth in Lyla's character, this was an emotional story with a good amount of action, although my intention with this post was to focus on the drama. Wayne Boring's art in the textless panel of Lyla crying while looking at the sky, searching for Kal-el's body is heartbreaking, and his art overall is really good on this issue. It is an obscure entry in Superman's love life, but an interesting and entertaining one. Worth reading. Thanks for reading this!

In case you're interested, Lyla's post-crisis appearance is on the story arc Superman: Godfall (2004) by Joe Kelly, Michael Turner & Talent Caldwell.

[kilowogcore]

Heya poozers, it's time fer Kilowog's pick a' the week! This is where I pick the best comic I read this week and give ya' a non-spoiler review of it. Keep in mind I really only read DC comics. I want to read more, but I ain't got the time. This week was another tough one, because Batman's arc finale was amazin' and actually made me love Batman, which ain't easy ta' do, but ultimately I had ta' go a different direction.

Kilowog's Pick: John Constantine: Hellblazer: Dead in America Vol. 1 #6 by Simon Spurrier, Aaron Campbell, Jordie Bellaire, Steve Wands, Matthew Levine, and Chris Conroy.

This whole series has been fantastic, with Simon Spurrier showin' he can write horror an' Aaron Campbell showin' he can illustrate it, but this issue really took the cake fer me.

They play around with metacommentary an' fourth wall breakin'. That's something we see all the time from people like Deadpool an' Harley Quinn, or from writers like Alan Moore an' Grant Morrison, but when they do it it's makin' big serious points, or else bein' silly an' goofy.

This is about horror. It's a horror comic. A twisted tale a' obsession with story an' obsession with makin' story perfect, the madness of bein' able ta' change things narratively, an' some fantastic art that takes full advantage of the comics medium to show the fourth-wall-breakin' an' reality-warpin' powers at play.

Yeah, any time there's a fourth wall break comic it's kinda whimsical, but whimsy can turn ta' horror easily under the hand of a good writer, an' Simon Spurrier is a good writer.

The issue ties in with the larger plot of this series, but the metacommentary stands alone an' I think it'd be enjoyable even fer people who ain't readin' the rest of it.

An that's my pick a' the week!

[copcomco]

Nancy and Sluggo's Guide to Life 

by Ernie Bushmiller FINALLY!  Ernie Bushmiller's iconic classic, Nancy is back in print, thanks to the fine folks at New York Review Comics – and Denis Kitchen, who provides the forward to this volume – the first of many, we can only hope.  It's hard to believe that a strip so beloved by so many and so central to the history of comics has been completely out of print for close to a decade.  But, the drought is now officially over – it's here: 148, 8 1/2" x 11" pages in glorious black & white.

Now available up on our site, HERE.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The Tamakis' "Roaming"

Tomorrow (September 12) at 7pm, I'll be at Toronto's Another Story Bookshop with my new book The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation. On September 14, I'm hosting the EFF Awards in San Francisco.

Cousins Mariko Tamaki and #JillianTamaki are a graphic storytelling powerhouse, and their latest title, Roaming (from Drawn and Quarterly) is a stunner:

https://drawnandquarterly.com/books/roaming/

Roaming is the story of three young Canadian women meeting up for a getaway to New York City. Zoe and Dani are high-school best friends who haven't seen each other since they graduated and decamped for universities in different cities. Fiona is Dani's art-school classmate, a glamorous and cantankerous artist with an affected air of sophistication.

The three young women check into a youth hostel for a hotly anticipated long weekend, which turns into a complicated and moody marathon of debauchery, bonding, feuding, flirting, resentments and wonders.

The Tamakis' specialty is capturing the charged sexuality, subtle friendship power-moves, and intense but brittle friendship between young women. They're very good at it, which is why they won a Governor General's prize for their 2014 blockbuster This One Summer:

https://memex.craphound.com/2014/05/06/review-this-one-summer/

With Roaming we get a dizzying, beautifully wrought three-body problem as the three protagonists struggle with resentments and love, sex and insecurity. The relationships between Zoe, Dani and Fiona careen wildly from scene to scene and even panel to panel, propelled by sly graphic cues and fantastically understated dialog.

Meanwhile, NYC looms large as it only could in a story about young Canadians in the City. It's hard to overstate the glamour with which New York looms in the imagination of (many) young Canadians. Hence the old joke: "How many Canadians does it take to change a lightbulb? Two: one to change the bulb and one to go to New York and make sure lightbulbs are still cool." Or: "Toronto is New York run by the Swiss; the city that never sleeps…in."

I was one of those Canadian adolescents drunk on New York, on several occasions, and even today the City can just floor me. The Tamakis nailed this, from the facial expressions to the body-language of their characters, the push-pull of wanting to go to all the tourist traps and not wanting to be the kind of rube who goes to all the tourist traps.

All my female friends have stories of growing up in intense, three-way friendships that were forever turning into two-on-one fights, with allegiances shifting from moment to moment. Roaming tells the story of one such triangle, forming and shattering and re-forming in a sorefooted, exhilarating weekend in the greatest city in the world (TM). It's a love story about friendship and the transition from adolescence to adulthood, perfectly precise in its depiction of very specific people in a very specific time and place, and yet absolutely universal in the truths it reveals.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/11/as-canadian-as/#possible-under-the-circumstances