Archive for the Western Comic/Comix Category


I Am Not Starfire, by Mariko Tamaki and Yoshi Yoshitani

August 20th, 2021

In DC’s I Am Not Starfire, Mandy is a young woman trying to make her way in life, under the constant pressure of being a celebrity superhero’s daughter with a mystery father, and no powers to speak of. It’s probably not that surprising that’s she’s got an attitude.

Typical teenager, Mandy is whatever her mother is not. In fact, she thinks herself of the “anti-Starfire.” What’s worse, there are fans of her mom at school, just to drive home how much not her mother she is She’s got a goth look and a dark outlook. More importantly, like generations of adolescents before her, Mandy is keeping secrets from the people around her. The only person Mandy can stand is her friend, Lincoln.

Mandy’s doing the normal balancing act of school, life and, of course, love. She’s got a crush, but there’s a lot of things between her and happiness. Her crush is the uber-popular girl in class, Claire. Claire seems nice, but man, her friends are jerks. So what’s a not-cool, not outgoing, not-superpowered girl to do?

Nothing in this YA title is going to come as a surprise, I think, to a sophisticated reading audience. Nonetheless, I think we can all completely feel where Mandy is at… (even if, as an adult, it feels a bit irritating.) Mandy’s secret is absolutely something that a high school student and their parent might find very relevant to their life. Her crush might even like her back, but Mandy is really not receptive to anyone actually liking her, which makes this more complicated that it otherwise might be. However, like the rest of the plot complications, this has a happy ending for both girls and us. ^_^

Mariko Tamaki’s writing is approachable and Yoshi Yoshitani’s art is colorful, fun and very simple to follow. What works best here is that this works well as a YA story. There’s nothing here that is creepy, or condescending, as is so often a problem with YA works. (I’m still salty about DC’s “Minx” line which had great content and the creepiest old-dudes-talking-about-young-girls name ever.) Aditya Bidikar’s lettering is readable, and adds flavor where needed…like flavor boost icing on a very decent cake. ^_^

I’ve talked about how much I am not a DC fan here many times, and even though I really like Tamaki’s work, I probably wasn’t going to get this, but for two things. The puling of the *.*gaters was enough to make me put this on my to-get list and Okazu family member Chris L. mentioned that it was suitable for Okazu…and so it was.

The girl gets the girl, YA comics fans get something for them and everyone is happy except the over-sensitive manbabies who think everything has to be about them…and that, frankly is also good news for us. Because if it makes them unhappy, that means it’s ever so much more likely to be interesting and diverse. It’s like a big “Read This!” sign. Thank you, puling man babies for making it much easier to find good stuff to read. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7 More like YA than like DC.
Story – 7 Same
Characters – 7 Oddly, I really liked Claire.
Queer – 7
Service – 0

Overall – 7

A fun read, and I guess I’m going to have to stop saying I don’t like DC, because they are so vastly much better than Marvel right now at making puling manbabies unhappy.





DC PRIDE #1

July 1st, 2021

2021 is not the best timeline ever, but this year both Marvel and DC decided to acknowledge the queercreators and characters in their line-ups. A few days ago, I took a look at the Marvel Voices #1, their Pride collection. I had no particular expectations for either anthology, but expected that DC might do a better job, as they’ve had a bit more experience and a handful of more well-known characters who are out.

Marvel took the opportunity to talk about all the “firsts” they’ve done, without noticing that those firsts often lack follow-up. It made for a self-congratulatory feature that, I’m sorry to say, wasted some top-notch talent. In the end, I came into the book not knowing some of the characters and I left in the same state. Yes of course I can look the characters up, but why should I have to?

So here we are at DC Pride #1, and again, I had no idea what to expect. What I found was a really interesting approach. DC took their currently known, beloved characters from their DC TV Universe and focused on them. It was innovative in a way, because they were offering up two ways to engage with these characters at once – in comics and on television.

Again, I didn’t know every character when I began the book, I don’t watch DCEU on TV. I tried, most of the shows just didn’t hook me. But I do like Batwoman, and I’ll be the first person to tell you how much of a surprise that is. I even like Alice. I mean – I really like Alice as a character now, so far removed from the stuuuuupid origin story. And Javicia Leslie gets two thumbs up from be as Ryan Wilder/Batwoman.

So, I sat down to read this anthology…and by gum, I enjoyed it. Trung Le Nguyen’s art in the Batwoman story was fab, but I love-love-loved Lisa Sterle’s art for “Clothes Makeup Gift.” The Harley x Ivy story was a bit weak. I don’t much like Harley, but I especially dislike that Ivy ends up being the good cop to Harley’s chaos agent schtick. “Try the Girl,” written by Vita Ayala was a fab story all around and well drawn and colored by Skylar Partridge and José Villarubia. Of all the stories, I thought this one stuck the landing best.

Also, let me remind you, that I have permanently retired “Date Night” as a title, so dear comic artists, don’t use that anymore. Ever. It’s over. Done. The story was solid, I liked “meeting” Nia (again, I don’t watch TV much…) I loved seeing Brainiac, because I always did think that Silver Age Braniac was a bish. ^_^

Overall this anthology did exactly what I wanted both anthologies to do – introduce the queer characters from that universe and give me a taste of their personalities and powers. If you know someone queer who wants to get into American superhero comics but has no idea where or how or even if to start, you could do worse than hand them this anthology to get a broad idea of who is out there, what their stories are  and why they might be interested. Dear Marvel – this is what anthologies are supposed to be. Do this next time.

 

Ratings:

Art – 8 Overall excellent, some sublime moments. And Lisa Sterle!
Story – 7 Generally very good, a little performative, but each choice served a purpose
Queer – 10 Yes, and… old school and current and varied in a way that I truly enjoyed
Service – Shockingly little

Overall – 9 Hands down this anthology was a winner

 

If you haven’t picked this issue up yet and aren’t virulently opposed, hop over to Comic Shop Locator and find a comic shop near you! Or, of course, you can get this digitally on Comixology.

After how much I really disliked DC’s Love is Love Anthology, (“searing white-hot rage” is a quote from my review)  Pride #1 was a relief and a genuinely enjoyable read.





Marvel Voices #1: Pride

June 28th, 2021

The week after DC announced their Pride anthology this year, Marvel jumped in to say that they would be launching their new “Voices” series with a pride issue as well! My feelings about this were ambivalent. I will remind you that for my first two decades of life I was a hard-core Marvel fan. I have recently sold all the comics that no longer sparked joy, but I retain two long boxes with my whole Defenders run and my Thor and key issues that I have loved for years. I wanted so much to love this issue, and I knew I would not. Why? Because Marvel feels and sounds and produces and creates like a company that is putting out stories that aren’t theirs and so, they kind of don’t get how this works, really.

Marvel definitely got top notch talent to write and draw this issue, so much love to the creators – they really put their heart into the work. Voices #1: Pride had some really terrific art, especially. But….

I know what it is…but who is it for?

Honestly, I was hoping to read a bunch of cool stories about queer characters  – whether I knew them or not  and by doing so, get to meet them. Instead I found myself neck deep in “explaining how it feels to be not-straight/cis 101” and “performative teen trauma 102” and “woops, this is all the intro this character’s gonna get.”

You shouldn’t need wikipedia open to enjoy a 8 page comic.

The layout is all wrong. The book begins with factoids about every one of Marvel’s breathrough first “whatever” and later, mid-book, actual issues are cited, without them being referenced in the initial discussion….in fact, there’s no continuity from the one to the other, which would have been a nice touch. “XYZ happened! Whoooo us!!!!” and no hint of “For where it happened, look on on page 18.”

My favorite story is heavily laced with irony for me, as I historically absolutely do not like the X-Men franchise on account of working at a comic shop in the mid 80s and having to tell the same guys every single week on Thursday, “No, I don’t read X-Men” as they stood there for hourssssssss trying to convince me to read X-Me on the busiest day of the week.  X-Men fans in the 1980s came in 2 types – one of them was cute little fae, looking for something gayishishish to hang on to and the other kind asked me every single Thursday if I read X-Men.

Anyway, I really liked the X-Men/famous detective fanfic crossover “Grey Ladies”by Tini Howard & Samantha Dodge with Brittany Peers on colors. ^_^

And, in the end, that was why the book did not uplift me. It was all short scene-fanfic. Not a fully developed story in the lot. I know it was a lot to ask, but I would have paid twice as much for one whole story.

Ratings:

Art – 8 Outstanding in places
Story – Okay for what they were, and you kind of have to know the characters and their circumstances for it to work.
Queer – Yes, but yeah, as a comic nerd I’m not comfortable with all my heroes being cool club scene – kiss randos in the post-HIV, post-pandemic, post-Pulse, post I’m a fucking old grumpy nerd wolrd.
Service – A wholly reasonable amount of cheese and beefcake and I have no complaints, honestly.

Overall – 6 It could have been so much more. But attaboy Marvel, this is exactly the kind of self-congratulatory thing I expected. Adequately done.

If you feel that this deserves a deeper, much more abrasive dive, check out this fabulous Twitter thread in which Zoe does it better than I could ever.

…and I want to be very clear about this…Bobby Drake never “came out.” He was outed and I am still extremely pissed off about the choice by Marvel. It was not admirable.

Lastly, I bought the America Chavez cover….she’s not in the fucking book. SMDHaM





Alter Ego by Ana C. Sánchez

March 17th, 2021

Noel is in love with her best friend, Elena. Or is she? She’s jealous when Elena spends time withe her boyfriend and now she’s going to have a new rival for Elena’s attention, June. Frustrated and feeling alone, Noel blurts out her feelings to a complete stranger. When Elena finally introduces her to June…you guessed it, she was the complete stranger.

Noel tries to keep her feelings about Elena front and center, and put distance between herself and this older woman, but “circumstances” keep bringing them together. The more about June she learns, the harder it is to keep distance between them. Noel struggles with conflicting feelings, until she’s forced to admit the truth.

There are a lot of things to like about Alter Ego, Ana C. Sánchez‘s manga-inspired comic from Tokyopop’s LOVE x LOVE imprint. I especially liked Elena, as we quickly realize she is neither clueless…nor without agency. June is an interesting character, as well. We’re told she’s older and indeed, her perspective does seem more mature than Noel’s in some ways, but not in others.

The weakest element of the book is Noel herself. Her behavior is not just immature, it’s often selfish, manipulative and, IMHO, quite toxic. I frequently sent mental waves to both Elena and June to tell her to shape the fuck up or get out of their lives. I will give Sánchez credit – she makes passive-aggressive behavior exactly as unpleasant as it actually is and doesn’t pretend it’s “cute.” I was also a little surprised that there is no mention of queer identity in this comic, but it wasn’t a point against, as clearly this is meant to be read as a “Yuri manga.”

The art is solid – it suffered, I think, when the artist was attempting to draw “a manga” rather than just draw her story, but this improves as the story continues. Overall, this is a fine one-volume story, that has a lot of the strengths and weaknesses of one-volume stories. If you’re looking for a one-shot Yuri romance that won’t ask too much of you but also won’t break any new ground, Alter Ego by Ana C. Sánchez is available from Tokyopop in Print and Digital in English and Planeta Cómic in Spanish right now.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – Noel was a 5, everyone else a 7
Service – 2ish?
Yuri – 7

Overall – a solid 7

Thank you very kindly to Tokyopop for the  review copy!

 





Before You Go, by Denise Schroeder from Chromatic Press

December 21st, 2020

In 2012, Sparkler Monthly had a bold vision – it was going to be the jousei manga and comic magazine we needed. For years, it was. In print and online, Sparkler Monthly incubated new creators whose work would be focused towards female readers. They paid creators and put out a wide variety of interesting work. Among the stories in their pages was Denise Schroeder’s Before You Go, a girl-meets-girl Yuri story. You can still read this comic for free online, just click the link.

As part of a wrap-up Kickstarter campaign, Chromatic Press put out a collected edition of Before You Go. I wanted to to take a moment to look at this collected volume, to memorialize Sparkler Monthly and thank everyone on the team at Chromatic Press for being ahead of their time.

Sadie and Robin meet one rainy day, waiting for the train. They see each other from time to time, get to know one another and end up going out. They move in together, have communication problems and resolve them. They live happily ever after,

In the final chapter, in which Robin introduces Sadie to her parents, we can see the kernel of less happy, more fraught story that was set aside for the much more light-hearted and happy one we end with…I thank editor Lillian Diaz-Przybyl for suggesting the baggage be shed, before we were burdened with it. The little black hole of Robin’s near hysteria at Sadie meeting her parents becomes an ignorable personality trait, rather than a dismal plot complication. So may years have passed since Yuri came to our shores and a story about self-loathing and parental disapproval might be real…but it’s a drag and what place does it really even have other than self-flagellation in our entertainment? Yes, of course, some people may want to see their experiences and their trauma represented, but I could also argue that there is a place for that and a light-hearted Yuri romance might not be that place. Surely not every queer romance needs to wallow in the old toxicity or stereotypes? (I say this, knowing full well that I’ll be writing a review shortly about this very topic. ^_^)

Schroeder’s art visibly improves as the story goes on, which is really quite charming. Sadie and Robin at the end truly are not the same people they were at the beginning of the story. ^_^ The creator has some nice insight to her artistic choices in the back of this volume.

When I spoke with Denise Schroeder many years ago, she said at the time that she wrote this because she hadn’t seen anyone else do it. Of course, here at Okazu, we had already at that point, reviewed many stories like it, but there were fewer in English. Now of course, I can barely keep up with all the Yuri coming out of Japan, much less English…and we’ve got sub-genres(!). Even so, there’s something admirable in Schroeder’s efforts in bringing together a female couple in an English-language magazine that had a large audience of BL fans, and her shifting the story away from a predictable dramatic pathway to a much appreciated one of acceptance and love.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Service – 0
Yuri – 9

Overall – 8

Thank you to all the folks at Chromatic Press for making this volume reality. Your work was always something I looked forward to. ^+^