November 2021 Update

I watched some films, surprise surprise, mostly on Netflix. Surprise again, it was a lot of crap, but I will make a special mention of Red Notice. See it, it's great. Also Falling for Figaro to a lesser extent. 

In my last trip to the cinema this year I saw Encanto. I admit I was pretty underwhelmed and disappointed by it (was it even finished properly? Was it rushed in production? That wouldn't be a shock. And jeez Lin-Manuel Miranda overworked himself for this year. I still love In the Heights and Vivo). I'll be distancing myself from Disney, and I don't wish to consciously give them any more of my money than is strictly necessary (it's unavoidable with them, as is horrifyingly clear).

As for TV, I made it up to four seasons of Gilmore Girls, then Squid Game, and the first season of Lucifer (why yes I am very picky about what I watch, why do you ask?). And I finally saw the second season of The Owl House, and it's amazing! So epically funny and cute and heartfelt and hopeful. It is such a shame that it ended like it did. Another reason to be distrustful of Disney, and to disassociate from the capitalist nightmare conglomerate.

On top of all of this, I've reevaluated many TV shows and stuff - aspects in them - that I used to like or not mind much. I don't think I'm overthinking and being overly critical. Then again, it's true that everything is problematic and nothing can be perfect.

Maybe I should just stop watching television. Yeah, I'll do that. Excepting a few upcoming new animated seasons.

In November, before the Christmas rush, I was allowed two weeks off work, and I'm still exhausted and fed up sometimes.

I got back to reading and rereading, as well. I even visited my library a few times. Here are my book rereviews this month:

Tuesdays at the Castle - Read rereview here.

Night of Cake and Puppets - Read rereview here.

Titus Groan - Read rereview here.

The Picture of Dorian Gray - Read rereview here.

Lolita - Read rereview here.

The Hobbit - Read rereview here.

Please please stay safe, beautiful, hopeful people. Continue to wear a mask and wash your hands.

Graphic Novel Reviews - 'Valkyrie: Jane Foster, Vol. 1: The Sacred And The Profane' by Jason Aaron (Writer), Al Ewing (Writer), Cafu (Artist), Various Artists

'Valkyrie: Jane Foster, Vol. 1: The Sacred And The Profane'...

Is the first Marvel comic to be rewarded five stars by me.

Wait.

Is it?

[checks]

Wow. Yes. Yes it is.

Well, Valkyries in myth and in the media are one of my favourite things ever, and the comic itself is great. It shows Jane Foster's growth and development as a human being, a cancer survivor, and a vulnerable and complex shapeshifter - from a civilian/superhero's girlfriend, to a superhero herself, and back again. And again. And again.

It shows that in every aspect of her life, no matter what she is going through, no matter how much she suffers, in the face of many devastations, crushing blows and backlashes, she will not go down. She will not die. She will keep moving forward, and changing. Changing for the betterment of herself - and how she sees herself - and of others.

Jane cares so much about her work, and she cares deeply for her friends. Her new identity as Valkyrie/the Valkyrior - the last Valkyrie - she regards as just a name and a job to her. But it's a job that needs to be done, and it's a mantle she wants to carry out to the best of her mortal abilities. For a mortal is what Jane is, who's been put under a lot of pressure, and been shouldered with multiple burdens worthy of actual gods, but she persists. She has stared death in the face - numerous times in fact - and she is not about to back down from a challenge now.

She needs to do it. She can do it. And as a doctor, helping people, saving lives and ending suffering is her dedication in life.

She is an admirable heroine. Brave and true. Godlike gifts or not. At the heart of it all she is an ordinary woman put in extraordinary circumstances beyond human comprehension.

Marvel was right not to give up on Jane Foster and kill her off. She was Thor, but that was temporary, and cancer would not be the end of her. She is a strong, human, relatable and aspirational heroine for girls and women to look up to.

As a sidenote: as strange as it sounds, it is freaking innovative to see a brunette superheroine. Think about how rare those are. In that way (that is not so superficial), I can see myself in this Valkyrie. What a beauty.

The comic also features and deals with a lot of themes concerning life and death. As a civilian, Jane is a doctor for the living, and a mortician for the dead. As the new Valkyrie - the last Valkyrie after an extinction of them during a recent cosmic war between realms (poor Brunnhilde) - as well as fight crime, she sees when other people are about to die (grim, especially for someone who's had a near-death experience herself), and then she delivers the souls of the dead into a designated afterlife, sometimes of the departed's own choosing. It is all epic and fantastic and thought provoking. It is written well and it looks gorgeous. It is content on a quite literal godly level; on another plane of existence; a journey into the space between spaces, into the great beyond beyond the great beyond. It is a journey into mystery. It's more of an existential wonder than a existential bleak nightmare.

It's about hope. And growth; reflected also in Jane.

'Valkyrie: Jane Foster' contains LBGTQ rep in Jane's friend and constant companion Lisa Halloran, and Brunnhilde (who's in Valhalla now and is still an important character and influence in Jane's life). America Chavez also appears in one panel in a flashback.

If the diversity wasn't excellent enough, the comic is very anti-patriarchy, subtly and understatedly. Nearly all the villains are men - narcissistic, angry, overcompensating, self-aggrandising and self-professed powerful men. Female solidarity and support is yet another theme. Jane/Valkyrie, with the help of her fellow "ordinary" mortal female friends, outsmarts the devil himself in the end. During an arc in the middle, an important male Asgardian character dies and it is up to Jane to ferry his soul towards the great unknown - not any other afterlife, but the very end of the end (she really does face death a lot, and comes back stronger than she knows). There is no romance. Thor/Odinson walks in at the beginning in a five page cameo, where he is a sorrowful wreck and doesn't actually do anything. Hel, Doctor Strange appears...only to be the damsel in distress. The Sorcerer Supreme is a damsel in distress, and it is women who save him.

Never underestimate any woman, is one of the cornucopia of messages in this comic.

(Like people's lives being more important than any "sacred", ancient and powerful weapon.)

And last but abso-freaking-lutely not least, I've got to comment on the artwork. Gorgeous doesn't begin to describe it. It is some of the best and most beautiful craftsmanship I have ever seen in Marvel comics. They got the top tier artists for this. Hevenly job, everyone.

By the mighty weapons of Asgardians and Valkyries, I highly recommend 'Valkyrie: Jane Foster, Vol. 1: The Sacred And The Profane'. One big negative I will note is that it is very dialogue heavy, and its obvert deliverance of its themes can crowd its story and art intermittently. But after finishing this epic journey that puts heroic and three-dimensional women in the center, I find that I don't care, and I love it enough to give it the highest rating I've ever given a Marvel comic.

Seriously, Jane Foster FTW. An everchanging, ever varied woman with layers, and not just of identities. She's the same smart, brave, modest, passionate, headstrong and bighearted person underneath everything.

She may not see herself as a superhero, but she is a hero. A hero of the universe. A hero to us.

Final Score: 4.5/5

P.S: Valkyrie ends up with a flying horse who is like Swift Wind from 'She-Ra and the Princesses of Power'. He's her omnipotent noble steed, and supplies the comic relief role, and currently resides in Jane's apartment.

Graphic Novel Review - 'Ms. Marvel: Stretched Thin' by Nadia Shammas (Writer), Nabi H. Ali (Artist)

Another comic I happened upon by chance, in this case online, and in my Goodreads recommendations, which I usually wipe clean and ignore.

It's been a long while since I read and enjoyed a 'Ms. Marvel' comic, and with 'Ms. Marvel: Stretched Thin' - an original standalone title not necessarily part of the Marvel comics canon - I'm glad to find that I can still enjoy them. The revolutionary and continuously popular-in-mainstream Muslim-American superhero and star, Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel - oh how I've missed her!

'Ms. Marvel: Stretched Thin' is in a line similar to DC Ink and DC's other graphic novels for younger readers, introducing them to young, modernised versions of famous superheroes. 'Stretched Thin' is like Marvel's answer to that.

As the title suggests, it is about how teenaged Kamala Khan is being pulled in different directions constantly. School, family and babysitting responsibilities, and fanfic writing, pile on top of her secret superhero training and duties, and she is heavily pressured and overburdened. She barely sleeps. Stress is causing her to be an out-of-shape mess - literally and figuratively.

Fanfic writing and website moderating are becoming her comfort zone, where she is completely in control.

Kamala is only a teenager. Poor girl. Why put so much pressure on kids? It is far from healthy.

But at least she has her friends, Nakia and Bruno, who know about her secret identity and who support her wholeheartedly. They are both achingly cute in 'Stretched Thin'! They will teach Kamala that no one in her position should act alone. They will help her, because they want to, and they love her. Unconditional love, and no-strings-attached kindness, especially for an overexerted and overtaxed girl - what a great message to see in something with a female protagonist!

It is unrealistic, unhealthy and even traumatic that females should be expected to be perfect (reminder: no such thing exists) all the time, in order to please other people; people who are supposed to care about her, because she is who she is and she is awesome as she is (wow, try saying that ten times fast). Girls - half the human race - have been forced to carry this people-pleasing-and-personality-suppressing burden since the dawn of "civilisation" - of the patriarchy - began. Stop it already!

Kamala also has Doreen Green, aka Squirrel Girl, and Miles Morales, aka Spider-Man, as her superhero friends and fellow Avenger junior trainees, under the mentorship of Tony Stark.

I am a bit annoyed that Kamala's parents are not allowed to know about her being Ms. Marvel. This is now canon in Marvel's main comic line, due to a last-minute amnesia ex machina. I hate it. It's an insultingly cheap copout, and utterly destroys the parents' development in understanding and accepting their brilliant, growing daughter and the world-saving good she does for others. All of that is gone now, along with any new and interesting developments and stories that could have come from a young superhero who is happy not to have to hide anything from her family anymore.

This is the ultimate reason why I decided to quit reading the original 'Ms. Marvel' run.

The secret identity lying and hiding from loved ones is a trite and frustrating superhero trope that is literally nearly a hundred years old, and it is really unnecessary overall. Why can't Kamala's parents know that she's a superhero? We've seen before that they will eventually come around to it and love her no matter what (there was literally no reason in-universe for the amnesia plot device to happen), and it will certainly save a lot of heartache, stress and drama! And the sake of family drama and sticking to the status quo - no change! no to anything different in comics! - is the only reason that the parents' amnesia exists. Let them stay stereotypically strict, angry, nagging, unempathetic and unsympathetic parents - but most prominently the mother - who don't know or understand their daughter, forever! That's always great to see over and over and over and over and over and over and over again!

Another negative in regards to this comic: even with all the rushing and stress she is going through, how can Kamala be so inattentive as to not know that the robot that infiltrated and attacked Avengers Tower is the same as the "action figure" that comes in the post for her? It becomes inseparable from her baby nephew Malik, whom she babysits a lot. The toy and the robot look exactly the same! How does she never notice!?

I'm also a mite confused about the timescale of 'Stretched Thin'. It is mentioned that it has been only a few months since the Terrigen Mist happened - since Kamala became Ms. Marvel - or at least, it's been less than a year. Yet back then her older brother Aamir and his wife Tyesha weren't married, and young toddler Malik wasn't even conceived. I guess I should ignore plot holes concerning time and when events happened in long-running comics, in Marvel and DC. Or does this not matter in standalone books like 'Stretched Thin', which as far as I know is not canon to the main storylines? Aargh!

But 'Ms. Marvel: Stretched Thin' remains a fun, colourful kids' comic containing wonderful morals and themes. Recommended for Kamala fans.

Final Score: 3.5/5

Graphic Novel Review - 'Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld (2021)' by Shannon Hale (Writer), Dean Hale (Writer), Asiah Fulmore (Artist)

Storytime:

It was yesterday, and I was in town shopping when I really should have been careful and not spend any more money. But I was on my two week break from work before the big Christmas rush, and I felt like being frivolous and I wanted to find some books and comics, what can you do?

Anyway, I wasn't having much luck in the comic-finding department. Suddenly I remembered I could look in my local comic book shop - yes, my small English town has one, I used to be surprised by that, too - and so I did. Again, bafflement and disappointment won out.

But then what should catch my eye, but the small, purple, cute and kiddie spine and cover of 'Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld', authored by none other than Shannon and Dean Hale (art by Asiah Fulmore). I was stunned - I was certain there was no recent 'Amethyst' comic since the Amy Reeder line. Yet there was this little title, placed on a big shelf in between big DC and Marvel trades and omnibuses, like a literal hidden gem that was made for me to find. It's like destiny...

Okay, I'm being overly dramatic. Point is: I bought the graphic novel, adding up to an overall nice and fruitful day in continuously consuming and supporting girl power media, and I read it that very night, and liked it (I shouldn't have doubted!). The end.

'Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld (2021)' truly is an adorable, magical princess-y children's comic with heart. In this rendition of the DC heroine, Princess Amethyst - or Amaya - is nine-years-old and lives in House Amethyst in Gemworld. The magical prodigy is a cheeky troublemaker and a spoiled brat who is always playing pranks, accompanied by her younger brother Quartz.

One day, when one of her antics goes too far and a part of the powerful House Amethyst keystone is damaged - along with part of her palace - her parents ground her...to Earth! To attend school there! (Why hello, 'Star vs. the Forces of Evil')

With the palace mage Citrina as her guardian, Amaya is sent off to the dreaded, nonmagical Earth. Feeling guilty, and as a way to prove that he is strong, Quartz gives her a play-sword with a sliver of the Amethyst keystone attached to it before she leaves. The sword transforms into a tiny pendant on Earth.

This trip was supposed to last only a week.

Three years later, Amaya/Amy and Citrina/Trina have forgotten about Gemworld, and magic. Their link to their realm is gone; the Amethyst network connection was too weak and their separation was too long. Amy is an ordinary middle school girl, minus the purple hair, and Trina is her aunt, as far as she believes.

Then, basically, while dealing with school bully boys, Amy and her friend Autumn suddenly get pulled in through a portal to Gemworld by young Prince Topaz. Both girls' clothes transform into cool and colourful royalty garb on arrival. Monsters made of crystal - originating from one big monster known as Flaw - are terrorising Gemworld. Everything is chaotic and out of balance. Only Amy's sword - now a big and ensorcelled weapon - can defeat the flawlings.

As she starts to remember her past life and the ways of Gemworld - and of being a magical warrior princess - how she can save her true home - and her parents and brother - becomes clearer and clearer to Amy/Amaya. With the help of her friends Autumn, the fashionable and spirited POC who is also dealing with her parents' divorce, and Topaz, the shy and initially-lonely techno nerd and wiz, this twelve-year-old princess can achieve her destiny. Even in between sleepovers!

So fun and nostalgic! 'Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld' is a gem for all ages. It's a joy. A nice, different little edition to the lore of Princess Amethyst in comics and other media. I'm extremely glad I decided to go to my hometown's comic book shop that day, and discover its existence.

Easter eggs: Amy has a Wonder Woman poster in her bedroom on Earth. And one of the lanes in her neighbourhood is called Winston, after her surname in the original DC comics (I don't know what her surname is in this version of her character; is it Winston?).

Plus, I'm loving the implication that House Amethyst is a matriarchy, with Amaya's mum clearly shown to be in charge of most things.

Final Score: 4/5

Graphic Novel Review - 'The Web of Black Widow (The Web of Black Widow #1-5)' by Jody Houser (Writer), Stephen Mooney (Artist)

My first 'Black Widow' comic.

'The Web of Black Widow' was one of the two only 'Black Widow' comics I could find locally - physically in shops - and it's one of the more recent titles (and the shortest, making it a reason for me to choose it over the second one, to play it safe for newbie me). So probably not the best starting point in getting to know the Russian superspy and assassin outside of the MCU.

I never really cared for Natasha Romanoff/Romanova before, because of how stoic, underdeveloped, underutilised, sidelined, uncared for, and just how much a part of the Smurfette Principle problem she is, and how sexist her portrayal is overall (she's a "monster" because she's infertile - what the fuck, Joss Whedon? Though I shouldn't be surprised that that's how his mind works, the hypocritical, fraudulent bastard and abuser, and one of the straight white male privilege parasites of our dire times). But I enjoyed her solo movie that came out this year - which everyone can agree is far overdue; see sexism in superhero movies and in marketing - and I only now wanted to try my hand at reading her Marvel comic titles. These go back decades.

But a comic book reader has got to start somewhere, and with 'The Web of Black Widow', if I simply go with the spiderweb silk flow and be impressed by how kickass, smart and complex Natasha is when she's allowed the spotlight, I can enjoy it as its own thing. Even if I don't know who certain characters are, and no explanation is given to help out inexperienced readers; not even a mini dossier is added in a narration box or something. And what's this about Natasha being hundreds of years old? And a clone? Are her memories blocked or not? Is it just some of her memories? Is this linked to a feature/theme of her being a mystery even to herself?

I guess I've become highly accustomed to the way superhero comics are, as these elements actually don't bother me enough to hinder my enjoyment of the story.

I mean really, at this point, who isn't a clone in Marvel comics?

'The Web of Black Widow' is a short, violent mystery spy thriller, where nothing is as it seems. Here, Black Widows bite and kill as well as plot and pounce.

Natasha Romanoff is not to be dismissed as some sexy spy cliché and femme fatale. She is not an object of the straight male fantasy. She has many, many unaccountable layers, and she is a force to be reckoned with. Her tragic past, her tragic present, her redemption arc, her extraordinary, almost unnatural skills, her determination, her love life (minimal compared to everything else about her), her trust issues, her warming up to her friends, including the Avengers - she is an even better James Bond.

I'm glad I finally gave Black Widow a chance. In comics, it seems like her potential is fully realised, no holds barred. Decades of development helps, but so does good writing, and legitimately really liking a female character.

I will continue to read more about this superheroine and antiheroine soon.

Final Score: 3.5/5