Archive for the Western Comic/Comix Category


Always Human by Ari North

June 29th, 2020

Some years back, I received an email about a comic on Webtoons that I might find interesting. And indeed, when I had a chance to check out Always Human, by Ari North, I did indeed find it interesting. I originally reviewed the webcomic in 2017.

Always Human is about Sunati and Austen, two young women who meet, fall in love and have to make the kinds of decisions all young people developing their careers and lives have to make. In a future where people’s appearance can be changed with “mods,” Austen is unable to use mods, and is unwilling to be seen as special or have her condition seen as the sum of who she is. This is a story that folks with many kinds of conditions can relate to.

Both Austen and Sunati have obstacles to overcome in their own lives, and in their relationship, but we’re rooting for them all the way. Set in a future when society does not appear to be one of those obstacles, the story lets us settle in and just enjoy the human aspect.

What really captures the reader instantly is the vibrant color palette North uses, and how the color is more than just background or tone. Tied into Sunati’s look, the color scheme adds as much depth of meaning to scenes as the words and shapes used do….something we’re used to seeing in fine art, not comic art.

When I heard it was to be made into a book, I wondered how it was going to look, since Webtoons is so specifically designed for phone consumption, with vertical format. I’m ecstatic to tell you that here in 2020, Always Human has been made into an absolutely magnificent book. North has reworked the layout completely, so the reader can be transported wholly into the story without having to adjust for the vertical layout on the print page. I love the extra touch of the hardcover book being the cover design for the webcomic underneath the dust jacket. Every detail is so well thought out.

I can only imagine how arduous a process reworking the layout must have been, so my kudos to artist North, editor Rachel Gluckstern, Rob Wall on layout  and all the folks at Little Bee, who made this a beautiful, book, a seamless reading experience and a charming story.

I picked up the hardcover and will be very glad to have this visually rich book on my shelves.

Ratings:

Art – 10
Characters – 10
Story – 10
LGBTQ – 10
Service -1 on principle only

Overall – 10

Always Human is a radiant story of love, of life and of a hopeful future.





The Legend of Korra: Ruins of the Empire, Part Three

March 6th, 2020

Imagine my surprise this morning when I settled in to work and found that Nickelodeon was running a Legend of Korra marathon. So as I worked, I watched the story of Avatar Korra and her friends and allies work to stop Kuvira and the Earth Empire from invading Republic City. Imagine my annoyance when the Nick marathon cut off four episodes from the end of the arc. Who does that?! So I pulled up LoK on Prime, because duh.

All of this is to say, I felt that this was a sign, that the time was perfect to review The Legend of Korra: Ruins of the Empire, Part Three.  You may recall, from Part One and Part Two that the Earth Empire is once again at the center of chaos, as General Guan has brainwashed pretty much everyone to vote for him in what was to have been the first open democratic election after King Wu stepped down.  To stop Guan, Korra enlists the help of Kuvira herself.

In Part Three, Kuvira is on our side. She has a short, bitter reunion with Baatar who, ultimately, also offers his assistance. Together they figure out how to break Asami free from Guan’s brainwashing. But Kuvira escapes and head off to face down Guan herself. When the Avatar catches up, Kuvira surrenders and she and Guan are put on trial. Kuvira pleads guilty and is miraculously remanded to the custody of her family. (I wish this arc had been animated, because Kuvira looks throughout as if she would sound…younger, I guess, less burdened, maybe…and I’d like the opportunity to hear Zelda Williams voice her again.)

My only complaint with this book is the same as all the others in this series – everything feels very rushed, with any given “episode” handled in about 4 pages. It makes for a fast read, but a thin one. Someone please write this as a Sayaka-style 3-part novel series, so we get all of Asami’s, Korra’s and Kuvira’s perspectives and internal dialogue. ^_^ On the other hand, the pace means we’re not dragging through expository scenes.

Michelle Wong’s art in this final volume was very good. There’s a moment at the very end where Asami takes the opportunity to address Kuvira about her father’s death (a half chapter in my internal novel…2 panels here) that were worth the price of admission for me, as Asami lets her residual anger and resentment go.

As for Korra and Asami, they only get to be together for half to book, as Asami spends the first half brainwashed. But when they are reunited, they get a prelude to a romantic interlude, when they are interrupted. Nonetheless, the story is neither awkward nor coy about their relationship in that moment or any other.

This series and Turf Wars were very solid sequels to the animated series. I’m happy to have had them and certainly would be pleased if any more were announced.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Service – 0 Well, they almost get a bed scene…
Yuri – 10 Same

Overall – 9

I am once again reminded that had I had this comic at 9 years old, my life might have been very different indeed. ^_^ Here’s to is making a difference for the 9 year olds out there who need it!

Thank you so very, very much to Okazu Superhero Eric P. for his sponsorship of today’s review and his ongoing support. If you’d like to help support Okazu, please consider subscribing on Patreon! $5/month will get you access to sneak peeks at content from the Big Book o’Yuri!

Now I’m going to go rewatch the final two episodes of the cartoon!





Xena: Warrior Princess Road Warrior GN (English)

March 5th, 2020

Xena: Warrior Princess Road Warrior written by Vita Ayala with art by Olympia Sweetman, and cover art by David Mack, is exactly the balm we need today for our battered hearts.

From the very first page, in which the opening sequence of the television series is lovingly drawn out, prompting every reader to hear the pipes, then brass of the musical theme, all the way through the final page and the ending we always wanted, this book was a delight.

The story is exactly the right level of cheesy, lighthearted blasphemy against the Olympians that made the show so fun. Xena and Gabrielle find themselves in the unenviable position of assisting Discord (Hail Eris! All Hail Discordia!) to clear her name and regain her godhead and her position on Olympus. To do that, Eris, Xena and Gabrielle travel the world and stomp all over other, non-Greek mythologies, until they can pin the problem on Discord’s sibling Strife.

My favorite chapter lands the three at the door of the crone known as Baba Yaga. For this section, the stories relies on a theory I myself subscribe to – that gods have only as much power as they are given by belief. With Gabrielle’s bardic skills and a little timely help, Baba Yaga is restored to her rightful place.

Xena and Gabrielle are shown throughout the series as the lovers we all knew they were. Phew ! What a relief. And it’s about time, too. It’s 2020, I think we can stop pretending they were roommates, can’t we? I joke, but Ayala’s Xena and Gabrielle have exact the same level of teasing friendship that we saw in the show…with the intimacy we never got. It’s…perfect. We never needed a sex scene, but we did need this.

The art in this book is not at all to my taste, not with so many years of looking at manga art, but when Eris showed up in her angry goth black leather lingerie I had to cheer – Sweetman nailed the look of the series from the gormless villagers to Olympian ridiculousness. In my head I heard Kevin Smith and Alexandra Tydings as clearly as if they were standing there reading Ares and Aphrodite’s lines…and of course read the entire thing hearing Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor in the lead roles. So, who was Eris in my head…good question. I think I heard her voiced by AJ Michalka. Eris was petulant and ironic – of course the goddess of chaos and discord hates to be inconvenienced. ^_^ I was glad that the story included Eris, but wasn’t just another iteration of the original snub.

From beginning to end, Road Warrior is the Xena Warrior Princess episode we all deserve.

Ratings:

Art – 6 YMMV, proportions are all over the place
Story – 10
Character – 10 Other Gods for the win
Service – 1? 2? Not all that much, honestly, very TV show esque
Lesbian – 10

Overall – 10

Bonus features: No Joxer, Eris ends up with a pet capybara.
No Joxer.

 





Yuri Comic: ROADQUEEN: Eternal Roadtrip to Love, Guest Review by Meru C

December 11th, 2019

It is my very great pleasure today to welcome back guest reviewer Meru C, with a look at a book that I think a lot of you will really like! Guest reviews like this are made possible by our Okazu Patrons! Thank you for your support of Yuri reviews, news and interviews!

Mira Ong Chua’s Roadqueens first debuted as a one-shot comic in 2016. Two years later in late 2018, it became a full-fledged story and was released in a physical edition thanks to a successful Kickstarter that won the hearts of thousands of eager fans. Unfortunately, at the time, I was unable to back Mira’s campaign, and was left desperately wanting to indulge in what seemed like a really stellar story. Thankfully, Seven Seas Entertainment picked up the rights for graphic novel, re-releasing ROADQUEEN: Eternal Roadtrip to Love on October 8, 2019 in a definitive, quite lovely Complete edition. 

I’m reviewing this re-released edition, which includes a full-color, glossy version of the originally one shot “ROADQUEEN: Girlfriend of the World” and the saucy short story “Passion Marathon” which fills in what happened between the climax of the story and the epilogue.

Roadqueens follows Leo, the hottest heartbreaker at Princess Andromeda Academy with hordes of adoring fangirls focused on one single goal: beating Leo in a road race to their school so they can ask her out on a date. Little do they know, Leo only loves her motorcycle, Bethany, and doesn’t want to ruin her Cool Girl/Lone Wolf persona. She also absolutely doesn’t care about the hearts of her fans at all. In comes mysterious cool girl Vega, who steals Bethany away and challenges Leo to step up her game and prove that she can be a half-way decent lesbian-slash-girlfriend at least once in her life in order to win Bethany back. Fail, and Bethany will be gone forever.

So I’ll admit up front, the plot is pretty straightforward, leaning on tried and true tropes of Yuri: we’ve got a very butch Bifauxnen, fake dating, a Ferris wheel date, and biker babes to name a few. One of my favorite tropes -”childhood friends”-appears as a crucial plot element, though I’ll admit that this kind of caught me off guard because it felt like it was dropped into the story without any prior foreshadowing.

Mira’s art also makes the plot shine: their retro style harkens back to 1990s manga, and is clearly a love letter to dozens of series that Yuri fans worldwide hold near and dear to their hearts. Naturally, this extends to our two main characters, Leo and Vega, who had really nice designs that I quite liked, and that definitely made me dozens of sapphic couples with similar dynamics. I particularly liked Mira’s use of light and shadow throughout the volume: both were quite well done, lending a lot of atmosphere when the plot slowed down for a transitions or pivotal moments.

Speaking of our main characters, Leo is very… unlikable. I genuinely don’t think I started to like her until a good way into the first third of the story, and even then, I still found myself preferring Vega over Leo. I left the story ultimately liking Leo, but did feel a bit of whiplash: she starts off incredibly callous and quite rude, and at times, is quite frankly just mean. If I’m honest, Vega isn’t much better at the beginning either: she barges in to Leo’s life, quite cruelly -and without explanation- takes her bike and is quite brusque, though I think that by the end of the story, Vega’s actions are much easier to justify than Leo’s are. 

Truthfully, I think that anyone well versed in Yuri will see the climax as pretty obvious: Leo and Vega will fall for each other, and Bethany the Motorcycle will become their motorcycle. Roadqueen isn’t doing a lot of new things, but honestly, it’s like having cake: enjoyable and satisfying. While not the revolutionary work that I saw a lot of fans praising it as, it’s by no means a bad work: in fact, I’ll probably reread Roadqueen this week.

With snappy writing and hilarious, laugh-out-loud comedy beats and a plot that feels like treading familiar ground, it’s easy enough to overlook the fact that you know how Roadqueen will end and just enjoy the wild ride. I can’t wait to see what Mira Ong Chua creates next!

Ratings: 

Art – 8 especially for the color pages, which look really good and make you wish the entire comic was in color
Story – 7
Characters – 6 
Service – 6
Yuri – 10 This is a series all about girls loving girls and girls love girls who also love motorcycles and is very clearly queer and sapphic
Motorcycles – 10

Overall – 8

I think that Roadqueens offers something for everyone, though veterans of the Yuri genre -notably, fans of Revolutionary Girl Utena, Sailor Moon or even Kill la Kill– might find this fast paced road race leaving them wanting. Still, give it a read and see what you think: this one-volume story might surprise you. 

You can find more of Mira Ong Chua’s content on her website miraongchua.com.

Erica here: Thank you so much Meru! I know that there’s a lot to like in this book for fans of classic Yuri manga and anime series. Hopefully we’ll see new original work from Mira Ong Chua in the future.





The Legend of Korra: Ruins of the Empire, Part Two

November 22nd, 2019

Legend of Korra: Ruins of the Empire, Part Two was fantastic.

As Guan ramps up efforts to take over the Earth Kingdom, it becomes obvious that he’s outright brainwashing people. Korra heads in one direction looking for a solution and the rest of the gang heads in another trying to get a bead on what’s going on. In the process, they get captured. Now Korra has to face down her own friends and her lover as well as an implacable enemy. She needs an ally and the only one available is…Kuvira.

Kuvira was one of the best characters in the Korra anime. Nuanced, human and both sympathetic and unsympathetic simultaneously. Here in Ruins of the Empire, we’re getting another look at Kuvira, as a leader, as an enemy, as a resource and as a human.

I wasn’t sure in Part One if this story was going to grab my attention, but by about halfway through this book, I was well and truly grabbed.

Even aside from the strong (and timely, as persistent election interference is our current reality in the USA) plot, there’s something I want to note. As Korra is taking her leave, she and Asami kiss each other goodbye. Does that sound boring and every day? It is! Isn’t that exciting! Korra and Asami kiss goodbye just like couples do and it’s not a thing. It’s so absolutely delightful that they are just…together. Happy sigh.

Michelle Wong’s art is solid and Killian Ng’s color palette is excellent. The cover of this volume makes my heart pound a little faster. Kuvira, Toph, Su and Korra, wow. 4 generations of strong, interesting, three-dimensional women in a comic for tweens. And it’s #2 on Amazon in LGBTQ Graphic Novels, which makes me so happy.

I’m really looking forward to Part Three which hit shelves in February 2020, and here’s hoping for more time with the depth Kuvira brings to the story.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Service – 0
Yuri – 10 Once again because Asami and Korra just are, together, not because of any grand coming out.

Overall – A very solid 9

Thanks to Okazu Patron and Superhero Eric P for today’s review copy!