Category Archives: Comic Reviews

Review: “Ame-Comi Girls: Wonder Woman”

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When I first heard about the Ame-Comi Girls digital comic I wrote it off, due to it being based on a rather annoying toy line that promises anime inspired reinterpretations of female superheroes and villains but mostly gives DC an excuse to sexually objectify their female characters in even more ridiculous ways. I enjoy a lot of manga and anime art styles, but when mainstream North American companies try to imitate those aesthetics, they seem to gravitate towards the more porny depictions.

(While the packaging and price suggest “Japanese import”, the Ame-Comi character designs were commissioned from a Canadian art collective called UDON Entertainment.)

While the Ame-Comi statues are definitely cute – I might have bought a few if they weren’t so darn expensive – the designers obviously think that “anime inspired” means BOOBIES! and stripper-wear as much as spikey hair and Final Fantasy-esque/steampunk costumes. The wasted potential of the Ame-Comi line makes me very sad.

I finally decided to give the currently available Ame-Comi: Wonder Woman chapters a try due to the creative team and the excitement over having all my favourite female characters starring together. (I would have been a lot more enthusiastic if Supergirl’s costume didn’t make me weep.)

Having read the Wonder Woman installments, I’m a bit disappointed about the direction being taken but still hopeful for the next chapter starring Batgirl. That’s largely due to the preview art I’ve seen of the Batgirl pages by Sanford Greene, and the art style of indie artist Ted Naifeh of Courtney Crumrin fame who is up next on Duela Dent.

So far the book is sticking with the formula of sexist male-fantasy fanservice. In the Wonder Woman chapters, it feels like Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray and Amanda Conner are rehashing their usual schtick of parodying the “sexy, scantily-clad warrior maiden” trope in a way that skates just this side of offensive, while reinforcing the same old, tired patriarchal patterns. I’m getting tired of their habit of putting powerful women into sexually humiliating situations and beating the crap out of them for laughs.

The Amazons are a bloodthirsty lot (who claim to want peace yet are suspiciously experienced in brutal slaughter) who wear inexplicably revealing clothing both on and off the battlefield. I don’t even know what to make of Diana’s regal outfit, which consists of a loincloth and a sweep of cloth over her breasts. Even Amanda Conner’s charming cartoony art can’t make up for the ridiculously sexist way the Amazons are dressed.

The low point comes when Diana is forced by her mother into wearing a metal bikini for her foray into “man’s world”. This is the authors’ attempt to work in the totally ridiculous costume from the second Ame-Comi Wonder Woman figure, and there’s just no way for it not to come across as really, really degrading. There is no justifiable reason for her to have to wear that thing in a public setting. Why couldn’t it have made a cameo in a scene where she’s actually swimming?

Diana finds the costume so humiliating that she describes it as advertising herself as “a whore for the nation of men”. Ouch. The idea that Hippolyta would force her daughter to so degrade herself before the ruling men of the outside world is transparently a fantasy for a presumed male readership, and a really ugly one.

I should point out that this Diana bears little resemblance to canon Wonder Woman. She’s arrogant, violent, and most uncharacteristically, hates the idea of going to Man’s World. Of course, that’s probably because she’s being sent out of desperation, to enter into what feels to the Amazons like a servile contract with whichever is the “strongest, most democratic nation” (just once I wish that wouldn’t turn out to be the USA). No longer are the Amazons powerful enough to defend themselves from the war machine of mortal men. This isn’t the peace loving, wise and generous Wonder Woman we know, whose strength issues from a bedrock of confidence in her culture’s ideals.

Near the end of Ame-Comi: WW #3 we are introduced to the Ame-Comi versions of Catwoman, Duela Dent, and Poison Ivy, as they watch Wonder Woman beat up Cheetah on closed circuit television. I’m not sure why it was necessary for Duela to offhandedly call Wonder Woman “a big bitch”; the casual misogyny of that comment is annoying.

I’m hoping that the chapters dealing with some of the less, uh, easily exploitable characters will be better. Much will depend on the artists and which versions of the Ame-Comi costumes they have to work with. I just wish that my favourite character weren’t stuck with the worst costume :(

Release

Ame-Comi Girls is published weekly every Monday through Comixology. Each installment is 10 pages (Comixology breaks each full sized page into mobile-friendly chunks). The individual installments will later be published as 30-page print comics. According to DC Comics, there will be five individual character arcs with 3 chapters each, leading up to a united ongoing Ame-Comi Girls series. All stories are written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray with Wonder Woman art by Amanda Conner and Tony Akins, Batgirl art by Sanford Greene, Duela Dent art by Ted Naifeh, Power Girl art by Mike Bowden and Supergirl art by Santi Casas.

June 19, 2012: This post has been revised since its original posting: some changes in copy, and promotional images of Batgirl and Duela Dent have been moved to their own post.

Review: Supergirl #65

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This is Not My Life: Part 1 of 3

This was a super fun issue and helped to cheer me up after all the recent news. I’d been looking forward to this story ever since reading the CBR interview with Kelly Sue DeConnick, and I wasn’t disappointed. I became quite invested in the characters and their peril over the course of the story, and was firmly on the edge of my seat when I reached the last page.

The art features some different character designs from what we’ve seen before on Supergirl, and some of the early pages seemed a bit rough. I’m not sure if that was the pencils or the inks. The art started to smooth out over the course of the book and I got used to the characters’ facial structures. Hopefully artist ChrisCross will have found his bearings by the next issue. Lois and her flaily hands are funny :)

This issue convinced me that setting Supergirl on a college campus could be really fun. I’m glad we got a chance to see that, at least for a brief time. Kara got to show off her smarts in both poetry and the scientific method. One character notes that she “can see the patterns” and is “full of science magic”. I always enjoy when writers remember that Kara is smart.

Kara’s relationship with Lois is much more fractious than it was in James Peaty’s story; I explained that away for myself as a sort of “two steps forward, one step back” as Lois tries to figure out her relationship with Kara in her Linda Lang persona. Kara seemed to be thrown off guard by the students of the “Silk Pajama Society” more than I think is likely for her at this stage (the art was a bit overdramatic in those panels.) On the other hand, I can’t remember the last time Kara’s had to deal with a bunch of obnoxious youths as just Linda Lang. She couldn’t pull out the “scary alien who might do anything” threat this time.

Kara’s talkative roommate Shirley amused me :) I wasn’t familiar with the version of Starman (Mikaal Tomas) who makes an appearance at the beginning, but he was fun and had a great little speech for Kara that summed up his character quickly.

I like that Kelly Sue DeConnick chose to tell a story set in its own self-contained world which didn’t require prior knowledge of any other characters (unlike the Dubbilex “surprise reveal” a few issues back). Dr. Ivo is an existing villain, but everything you need to know about him is on the page. This makes the story welcoming to new readers, which was a conscious choice by DeConnick:

I kind of wanted to keep the DCU out of it as much as I could. I was afraid of it getting continuity-hamstrung, you know? When I was doing my research I was having to hop around a bunch of different titles to get caught up and it was frustrating, confusing—and expensive! It left me wanting to section off my little arc and make it as self-contained as possible so that it would be accessible to, you know, people like me.

Source: Supergirl Comic Box Commentary: Kelly Sue DeConnick Interview

Having seen Amy Reeder’s cover to the final issue in this story, I’m more curious than ever as to where this is going. It has a beautiful sci-fi romantic feel to it that I love.

I tried to write a gift for her, a story that’s fun and romantic and playful and dances with themes and images from childhood and adolescence. And now, knowing what this story is in the larger context, I’m doubly happy with it. I got to put the period on the end of that sentence and I did it in a love letter.

I can’t think of a better way to end the series.

I’m looking forward to reading the next 2 issues, and recommend getting them now just in case they aren’t collected in a trade paperback.

Static Shock Special (June 2011)

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At long last, a post about something comics-related that makes me happy!

I read the Static Shock one-shot this weekend, and I’m pleased to report that I enjoyed it thoroughly. It was a bit of an impulse purchase, but I wanted to get a taste of the character in advance of the ongoing series. My pull list has been decimated, and aside from Supergirl, all my favourite female characters are gone (and I’m still not convinced on Supergirl). A black teenage boy lead comes along, well, never in DC, and what I’ve heard about him has made me curious. So I sat up and paid attention when I saw his book announced. I’ve kicked myself in the past for not checking out a new character before their book was cancelled after a short run, and I don’t want to miss out again. I’m always drawn to characters who inhabit in their own little corner of the DCU, and I’m hoping Static Shock will fill that niche.

I am a newcomer to Static’s story, and I found the story succeeded in showing me just enough of Virgil Hawkins and his world to decide that I liked what I saw and want to learn more. I’m a bit sad that Virgil will leave most of his supporting cast behind when the series relocates him to New York. I really wanted to read more about his family.

Writer John Rozum on the Static announcement:

[T]he tough thing in moving Static to NYC was losing the supporting cast as well as the easy availability of the other Milestone characters who inhabit Dakota. They aren’t forgotten though. At least one other Milestone character will appear in issue #1. Frieda and the others have not been forgotten.

As a special that ended up being a tribute to Dwayne McDuffie (badly handled by DC as it was), I found it worked just as well for someone coming in cold. Felicia Henderson’s story is suitably touching and fateful, yet ultimately hopeful. It’s a shame that the first series that she was successful in pitching (after being turned down on numerous things by Dan Didio, apparently), she didn’t get to at least co-write with the more experienced John Rozum. Her enthusiasm in the first announcement of the ongoing in January is infectious. I’m just glad they made a Milestone creator lead writer.

I found myself charmed by Virgil, and he’s got that teen science-genius thing going on. Rozum promises that they’re “trying to really work with Virgil’s intelligence and scientific knowledge so there will be a more science fiction based aspect to much of what happens here.” Sign me up!

Review: Supergirl and “The Bloodsucker’s Moxie” in Superman 80-Page Giant 2011

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This year’s Superman 80-page Giant focused on the super family members rather than Superman himself, which is great because we get seven different 10-page stories focusing on Lois Lane, Jimmy Olson, Bizarro, Supergirl, and other characters in the super family. When I saw the way Supergirl was drawn in this story I almost decided not to get this, but the Bizarro, Lois and Jimmy stories intrigued me enough to give it a chance, and I’m glad I picked this up.

Since I’m a Supergirl fan, I’m a more critical of any story featuring her, and I have to say this one has some serious problems that keep it from being as enjoyable as it could have been.

Continue reading “Review: Supergirl and “The Bloodsucker’s Moxie” in Superman 80-Page Giant 2011” »

Supergirl #60 Quick Thoughts

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My decision to drop the book didn’t last very long :) I love the character too much, and I was extremely curious about what would happen next.

Quick thoughts: I’m hoping that the bits I disliked (dialogue like “didn’t ask, don’t tell”, 2-D spoiled rich kid villains/flunkies, unsavory male POV of female characters) will disappear along with Nick Spencer after this issue. The vibe was strongly reminiscent of Spencer’s Morning Glories.

The art was quite nice for the most part, better even than Supergirl #58. Very striking faces. Still, Chang has real issues with body proportions and an inability to draw adult woman who look older than 25. The elongated torso is back. *sigh*

The story’s compelling, but dark.

I’m intrigued by how much the story ties into what’s happening in JSA/Generation Lost/Power Girl. I read Power Girl immediately before this, and was surprised as heck that Cadmus is going to be part of the storyline here too. There’s even a reference to a “supertown” outside Washington, D.C., which I only know from reading this week’s Comic Shop News is a thing happening in JSA. It’s unheard of for Supergirl to tie into JSA. It’s neat but kind of weird!

I’m working on reviews of the last three issues of Supergirl right now, so I hope to have those up before posting a proper review of this issue. It’s…interesting, I’ll give it that. I’d be a lot more worried if this were the permanent creative team.

Review: Supergirl #56

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I continue to enjoy the Bizarro story tremendously. It’s got bizarro humor, poignant moments between super cousins, giant space insects, and an exploding cubic planet only our hero can save!*

*Although she doesn’t seem to realize it.

Story

The trip to Bizarro World gives Kara a chance to unpack all the feelings that BizarroGirl’s appearance has brought up. We know all this, but I enjoyed seeing Kara unburden herself to the unconscious BizarroGirl as she pilots the ship using that crazy unlabelled crystal technology that Kryptonians are so fond of. (I’m not entirely sure why Kara has gagged BizarroGirl again, though. Seems unnecessary.)

Metropolis is probably not the best place to hide out if you’re hoping to avoid crazy weird shit in the DC universe.

I really liked this page where Kara admits that she see herself reflected back in BizarroGirl, which is why she couldn’t let Dr. Light have her way with her. It’s more than just the parallel with Alura and Reactron. Her experience with her mother has made her less automatically trusting that the adults in her life will do “what’s best”. I’d like to see more DC heroes thinking critically about the treatment of prisoners before they hand them over to authorities.

On the other hand, I’m a little concerned that Kara has lost two of her role models, and both are the scientists.

Surprise! The bizarro knockout gas works on Supergirl too!

I love that Kara is willing to take on the defense of an entire planet all on her own. That’s the Supergirl I remember :) But she probably shouldn’t put too much faith in a Bizarro trial: I’ve seen their justice system in action :)

Heehee. Bubbles. Kara’s stoned.

Ahahahaha! “Bizarro me, watching your driving!” was my first laugh-out-loud moment.

Crash landing, bizarro style! Ohmygod ohmygod we’re all gonna diiiieee!

BizarroGirl is so happy to be back home. Aww :)

Naturally the fickle bizarros try to kill her. Poor BizarroGirl :( This is pretty typical behavior for bizarros, but also familiar territory for Kara, which is why she springs to BizarroGirl’s defense so fiercely. Yay!

BizarroGirl fangirling over BizarroLex because “Him am bald, and bald men am sexiest” cracks me up.

Annnnd…there goes BG’s other boot. It’s like Gates is writing this stuff for me :)

You just had to call down a big scary space bug that devours everyone, didn’t you Lex?

LOVE the creepy alien space insects. Very, very cool.

The reunion between the Bizarro cousins, and the parallel with Kara and Kal-El after the loss of their planet, was very poignant. Really tugged at my heartstrings. I really don’t want to see the same tragedy happen to Bizarro World.

I really like that BizarroGirl’s origin story is that Bizarro tried to create a “super-powered backup” and instead he gained a cousin to love. She’s so happy and excited to announce herself, like Silver Age Kara!

Bizarro’s love for his cousin – “For all her perfections, me hate her, so me decide to take her to Earth and live with public identities” – is even more touching because bizarros traditionally have had the same dysfunctional, antagonistic relationships as Silver Age Superman.

Kara is really, really cute in this panel :) Especially because she’s so sure she understands the rules of Bizarro World, and she doesn’t. It’s a mistake everyone makes.

OOPS.

That’s no ship, that’s the mother of all scary green space aliens. I would so love to see this two-page splash filmed, with some eerie 2001 music in the background as the camera pans up to reveal the true scale of the awakened alien “godship”.

After being thrown through the planet, Kara announces that she can’t do this on her own: she needs Superman help if she’s going to save the bizarros. Kara’s never said that before, and I’m pretty sure Superman won’t be making an appearance next issue – and not just because Superman isn’t making appearances in the other super family books during “Grounded”. Supergirl’s going to find that she can save this world, where she couldn’t save hers. She has to.

Art

Cover: Another instant-classic by Amy Reeder Hadley. Yin and yang Supergirls grappling over a bright and shiny Metropolis juxtaposed against a decaying, crumbing Bizarro version of the same. This would make a beautiful entry in an artbook collection.

Interior art: phenomenal. Nei Ruffino isn’t back yet, I’m not sure why, but I’m very happy with the colours by “Blond” (I’m starting to notice colouring a bit more). Every panel has so much going on; I kept flipping through the pages during the review to try to pick out my favourites, and there’s just so many panels I love. The double-page splash is the big eyecatcher, the follow-up to the petrified Supergirl in last issue. But my favourite spread is actually pages 2 and 3. Then there’s the great scenes of Bizarro World, the giant alien insects, the ever changing emotions of BizarroGirl and Bizarro Superman, and Kara herself looking cuter than ever.