Graphic Novel Review - 'Rainbow! Volume 2' by Sunny and Gloomy

At last! The second and final (?) volume of 'Rainbow!' is here!

It is more dramatic and intense than the first, but it manages to remain hopeful, heartwarming and cathartic throughout. It is realistic and harrowing, yet at the same time unrealistic and too optimistic. This is a webtoon series that has somehow masterfully balanced different tones simultaneously.

No element, no arc, no development, no character is forgotten about, and by the end, it is very satisfying. You will laugh and cry, and feel an adoring sweetness fill up in your heart, fit to bursting.

I don't want to reveal too much - it is best to go in blind and surprised. What I do want to add, however, is that Boo Meadows's imaginative tendencies are used very well here, and sparingly, perhaps more so than in the first volume (progress?). Boo - dear, wonderful, sensitive sweetheart Boo, who needs a hug on every page - has a gift. Her fantastical, active imagination is a gift, and other people recognise her for it, and want to encourage it. Help her express it in a healthy way. Make her a better, happier Boo.

...

Okay, sorry, but I'm going to go back on my word already - I have to mention this slightly spoilerific scene:

A domestic argument and abuse is happening in flashback, and it is imagined by Boo as being played out by wooden puppets and manikins. The backgrounds are dark and bare throughout. I mean... wow. You don't get more unsettling and haunting than that.

It is a shame that 'Rainbow!' doesn't have much in the way of positive mother-and-daughter relationships. In fact, they are abusive, in different-yet-similar ways, there is no getting around it. Boo's mother is awful, and so is Mimi's. They are irredeemable. Even the blurb describes Boo's life as "toxic", and it ends with, "[...] is dealing with Mimi's disapproving mother any better than dealing with Boo's mom?"

But at least Clarice, the café owner and Boo's boss, happily takes on the role of a positive mum figure. She would do absolutely anything for Boo (and Mimi), and she doesn't have to be a biological mother, or a wife, to give and receive love - and comfort, support, and shelter - at 100% to those who need it. I love her. We need more people like Clarice in the world.

'Rainbow!' is about helping people in trouble, and making life more bearable for them. It is about, to make it absolutely clear, who the real victims of child abuse and gaslighting are. It is about a found family, in addition to its lovely, well developed, slow burning, realistic, naturalistic LBGTQ+ romance between Boo and Mimi.

There is also a surprise trans character - that is, the fact they've been an out trans person all along - to add to its queer representation, and it is treated as no big deal. Good. And the trans character has two dads. All the wins - all the stars - to this rainbow.

'Rainbow!' is such a good webcomic series. It is precious. It is not perfect, but then what is? Who is? The shortest, most simplified way to describe it is: "Cute yet dark".

Read both volumes, and have an enriching, beautiful, heartaching, breathtaking experience, and believe in love and hope again.

Read my review of 'Rainbow! Volume 1' here.

Similar comics: 'If You'll Have Me', and 'Heartstopper'.

Final Score: 4.5/5

P.S. There is no school content, let alone school stress, in this volume, despite what the blurb's first paragraph says. And Boo still never fights monsters as a magical girl in her daydreams.