Manga Review - 'Claymore, Vol. 1: Silver-eyed Slayer' by Norihiro Yagi

I attempted to watch the 'Claymore' anime a very long time ago. I gave up on it. Maybe the reason why is I thought that it suddenly got fanservice-y, sexual and ridiculous with its female lead. Which I now find to be a shame, because I enjoyed 'Claymore, Vol. 1: Silver-eyed Slayer' by Norihiro Yagi.

It's a manga I decided to buy and read on a whim, and it is action-packed and intriguing, with a tragic (sword) edge, memorable characters, and artwork that is stylised, sharp, eerie and unsettling, like a horror manga, which it technically is.

Fantasy action heroines and antiheroines are my bread and butter and jam, and I am glad to have looked into the manga origins of the female-led, epic fantasy, sword and sorcery, action adventure horror series (Shōnen or Seinen or not), 'Claymore'.

How refreshing it is to see a morally grey, badass, kickass, competent, and complex female warrior protagonist in Clare, the silver-eyed, half-monster-and-monster-slaying Claymore!

In manga and anime, anyway. I haven't forgotten Red Sonja and Xena. Though Clare is more fully and appropriately clothed than they are...most of the time.

I need to watch the anime again. I hope there is no pervasive, gratuitous fanservice there.

Plus, it was only until after I got my hands on 'Claymore, Vol. 1: Silver-eyed Slayer' (great title) that I realised that the Claymore heroine on the cover, the "stoic" badass warrior Clare, looking dead-on at the reader, does have silver eyes that really reflect light! How clever!

Clare is also known as "the Silver-eyed Witch".

So, good manga. Recommended.

Final Score: 3.5/5

Graphic Novel Review - 'Space Trash, Volume 1' by Jenn Woodall

After reading, liking, and reviewing 'Girls' and 'Magical Beatdown', here is me reading, liking, and reviewing another comic by Jenn Woodall, 'Space Trash'.

It is set in a dystopic future, on the Earth's moon, and in a high school, or "Education Center", for "misfit" girls. Meaning, punk girls who are of different races, ethnicities, and body types, and are all queer AF. Girls who are freely, expressly themselves, no matter what.

They are "rebel girls".

In other words, girls who are "difficult".

I suspect the Education Center is actually an internment centre, and a dumping ground for the poor and underprivileged ("Out of sight, out of mind", right?); one that is extremely underfunded.

It is a dump; a messy, stain-covered shithole in outer space for the not-good girls, basically.

'Space Trash' is similar to Kelly Sue DeConnick's 'Bitch Planet', for YA audiences, and with punk sensibilities and an outrageous, irreverent sense of humour.

The whole premise is about space trash, both literal and metaphorical. Though no human being should ever be derogated as "trash", to be thrown away and made to disappear for being an inconvenience in society...

In the shithole prison school for teenage girls who have done nothing wrong, there are ineffectual robot AI teachers (that goes without saying), spacesuits, lost (punk rock) music, loads and loads of graffiti and pop culture paraphernalia and swag, and lots and lots of girls. Girl gangs everywhere. Girl prisoners students who are trying to survive and enjoy themselves - and remember Earth, and its nature and bands and concerts - as their surroundings quite literally crumble around them, threatening to blow them into the vacuum of space. Not that the powerful, authoritarian higher-ups in the privileged, capitalist food chain care.

There isn't a single male character present in 'Space Trash, Volume 1', and it is glorious.

I won't reveal much else about the comic, except that it is more of an introduction to a greater plot than anything else.

A plot that began with humanity collectively giving up on their one home planet, Earth, and leaving in 2091, because it was deemed uninhabitable and unsupportable. Spoilers: This is pure propaganda, a lie made up by the "caring and brave leaders of Earth" (spouted by AI slop) who gave up without even trying and wanted to leave to save their own arses after causing the world's problems to begin with. This shouldn't surprise anyone in the slightest.


"But revisionist history is such a proud human tradition."


'Space Trash, Volume 1' is like 'WALL-E' meets 'Bitch Planet' meets 'Orange Is the New Black' meets space sapphics.

The colourful, shiny, shady, shadowy, manga-esque artwork is freaking brilliant and sublime, and you will grow to like and enjoy spending time with these funny yet tragic, punk girl characters.

The main trio are Stab (Agatha), Yuki, and Una, each different and distinct girls, with different tastes and histories.

Is there any actual continuation of 'Space Trash'? Not as far as I'm aware, and the first volume was published in 2022.

Just like with 'Magical Beatdown', is appears as if Jenn Woodall won't be continuing a comic series she started.

And again I have to ask, WHY?!

But regardless, 'Space Trash, Volume 1' is great, girl power fun, full of meaningful and relevant themes. I adore seeing the various 90s and early-2000s pop culture references sprinkled throughout. I've spotted 'Sailor Moon'! And 'Wedding Peach'! (Woodall sure loves magical girls!) And Elvira, and the manga series 'Nana' and 'Ranma ½'.

Hell, the robot AI school principal (as far as we know, there are no human adults at the school/center) has what looks like a feminised (i.e. "more friendly and harmless") version of the eye of Big Brother from '1984'. An A-Eye fascist dictator!

After consuming some of Jenn Woodall's work now, the only thing I object to is: her (pretty exclusively female) characters smoking. Anything to do with nicotine, and as far as I'm concerned, vaping isn't much better. I hate to see anyone smoking, in real life and in fiction. I am vehemently against it. Sorrynotsorry.

Otherwise, I admire her punk, feminist, no-fucks-given, girl-empowering, girl-loving, and 'Sailor Moon'-loving art and stories.


'The future is ours!'


For my further thoughts on Jenn Woodall's creations, here are my review links to:


'Girls'

'Magical Beatdown, Vol. 1'

'Magical Beatdown, Vol. 2'

'Magical Beatdown, Vol. 3'


Final Score (for 'Space Trash, Volume 1'): 3.5/5

Graphic Novel Review - 'Magical Beatdown, Vol. 3' by Jenn Woodall

The final instalment of 'Magical Beatdown', which is a shame, because it definitely leaves you wanting more, and it ends on a mystery and cliffhanger.

Does Jenn Woodall seriously have no plans to go further with this series? Why not?!

Basically: Fujiko, with a new boyish haircut, and the pretty and feminine Kyoko go out on a date. Kyoko's arsehole ex-boyfriend and his male mates interrupt them, and start harassing them, making highly inappropriate, sexist and homophobic remarks. Kyoko appropriately lashes out at her ex, and, depressed, bails on the date. Enraged, Fujiko tracks down the boy gang - who of course are also street harassers of girls - and as a magical girl she slices them up one by one. Breaks their privileged skulls apart. Then there's the final boss boy to contend with, who it turns out has magic too, stolen from another magical girl...

I won't spoil anymore, but wow is 'Vol. 3' ridiculously fun and violent, like the previous two volumes. It continues to grow and develop in length, dynamism, characterisation and plot.

Why is there no more?!

Once again, there's the pink (and darker shading) for the second half of the comic - the hyperviolent magical girl fight sequence - and different shades of blue (and black?) for the first half - the ordinary, civilian half. This part keeps on looking different in each volume, what is up with that?


"On behalf of love, justice, and just being done with this shit...MAGICAL HEARTACHE COSMIC LOVE BEAM!"


My 'Magical Beatdown, Vol. 1' review link.

My 'Magical Beatdown, Vol. 2' review link.

Well, as it stands, thanks for the good, fun, cathartic, feminist revenge fantasy comic, Jenn Woodall.

From one 'Sailor Moon' fan to another.

Final Score: 4/5

Graphic Novel Review - 'Magical Beatdown, Vol. 2' by Jenn Woodall

'Magical Beatdown, Vol. 2' is a bit longer and more developed than 'Vol. 1'. It shows the consequences of said magical beatdown from the previous instalment - what should be called a bloody massacre - of not

innocent victims, mind you. The girl characters are given names (our main magical girl is Fujiko, for example), and the magical girl fight sequence is longer, more ridiculously gory, and ends in an actual, big, disgusting monster boss battle. It's not just harmful, misogynistic, male street harasser gangs this time round, who are clearly working for a much higher and more dangerous power and authority.

Additional notes: Magical Girl Fujiko has a crush on fellow schoolgirl Kyoko, and for the final boss battle she combines her sword and spiky bat to form a typical magical girl staff - that turns into a scythe! She still has her motorbike at her command, and her eyepatch remains on the left eye in this volume! Improved art consistency.

What's not consistent, however, is the use of colour. The pink for the fighting is the same, but why is the mundanity at the beginning a greyish, more bold and darkly pronounced colouring, instead of blue, like in the first and third volumes?

"When are you worms going to learn...Don't underestimate girls."


My 'Magical Beatdown, Vol. 1' review link.

Next up is 'Magical Beatdown, Vol. 3', the final little comic in this series by Jenn Woodall.

Final Score: 4/5

Graphic Novel Review - 'Magical Beatdown, Vol. 1' by Jenn Woodall

Hey, I love Magical GirlsTM, so why not check out a hyperviolent one-shot magical girl comic (plus its two sequels), that's also a female rage and revenge fantasy?

It wouldn't be the first time I read an adult, violent Magical GirlTM feminist revenge fantasy.

And 'Magical Beatdown' is just a quick fun and cathartic fantasy, even for someone like me who doesn't usually approve of extreme violence in any context.

I was into Jenn Woodall's other work, 'Girls', which in addition contained art of the magical girls from 'Magical Beatdown' on one page, ergo another reason I had to get this.

A mousy, bespeckled Japanese schoolgirl who just wants to have fun playing at the arcade is accosted by a gang of predators on the street, and she transforms into a tall, foulmouthed, sword-and-spiky-bat-wielding magical girl*, and takes down their arses in swift, bloody, gory and hilarious fashion, and she can summon a motorbike to kill them, too.


"Yay, video games!!"


That's it.

Maybe that's all it needs to be.

The colours are blue, dark and shadowy for the mundane moments, and bright pink, light and white for the magical girl fight moments. What a contrast! So much spurts of pink blood.

Thus concludes my review of 'Magical Beatdown, Vol. 1', which is similarly short and sweet.

Next up is my review of 'Vol. 2'.

Final Score: 3.5/5

*Which eye her eyepatch covers isn't consistent from panel to panel, and I'm not sure if it was intentional.

Graphic Novel Review - 'Girls' by Jenn Woodall

A booklet, a small art gallery of Jenn Woodall's feminist girls.

Punk girls. Vigilante girls. Witch girls. Queer girls. Girls of so many races and ethnicities, shapes and sizes, and hair colours and styles.

And I am here for it.

'Girls' is from 2017-2018, and it is even more relevant now. More important, more loud and proud.

It deserves to be. Women need to be listened to and taken seriously. For despite everything, misogyny remains alive and well.

Let all girls and women be free.

Fuck the patriarchy.

I love the punk Sailor Moon art, the warrior schoolgirl art (from Woodall's other work, 'Magical Beatdown'), and the girls with the mallets, and spiky bats; my favourite is the one the writing on it: 'This machine kills fascists.'



'Your move, creep'


'Resist!'


'I'm constantly told that my own opinions will change - someday, I'll want babies and to get married. Honestly, what I would really like is for people to stop assuming they know who I am based on some bullshit gender stereotypes and some extremely simplistic idea of who women are.'


'Our Lady of Self-Defense'


'Support survivors.

Believe survivors.

Reject the idea that there is a right way to be a survivor.'



Final Score: 4/5

Graphic Novel Review - 'Dead Girls' by Beck Kubrick (Writer, Artist, Colourist), Knack Whittle (Colourist)

I am not really a horror movie fan, and am even less of a slasher fan, but wow did I have fun reading 'Dead Girls' by Beck Kubrick.

It is an affectionate parody and homage to the genre, with a feminist's knife edge and twist, and if you don't like it, deal with it. Something like this was long overdue. It is a story that needs to be told.

It is like 'Scream', and 'Black Christmas' (2019), only without any supernatural elements. Come and fight me.

The patriarchal tree (and pyramid scheme scam), and its toxic, poisonous roots in misogyny - delusional, desperate, violent misogyny - is more frightening and deadly than any slasher killer.

The defiant 'Dead Girls' is a coming-of-age slasher-survival flick in comic book form, about Ashley "Ash" Hargreeves, a traumatised, haunted, and depressed teenage daughter of a long-dead female serial killer, "Evil Evelyn". Her miserable life in the miserable, judgemental town of Clossdale, which has a history of killing more "witches" than Salem, is slowly, surely, eerily creeped on, then upended by a copycat killer of her mum, who has already brutally murdered five girls.

Throughout the bloody and gory terror of one night, it all comes to a showdown: It is Ash - and her bubbly, influencer foster sister Cassie, her female/enby friend Jamie (who has hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome), her secret girlfriend Heather, and the true crime podcaster Naomi Dinkley - vs a cult of male serial killers of girls.

It is Ash and the (Not Evil, Not Dead) Girls.

I won't dare spoil much more, but (un)safe to say, not everything is as it seems.

Not everyone is as they seem...

'Dead Girls' is OTT, balls-to-the-walls hilarious as well as scary and shocking. I adore the flawed, often hilarious yet realistic characters. I love how strong and brave Ash is, in spite of her self-hatred, suicidal ideation, and self-imposed loneliness. Cassie is also great, and she shows just how far from the shallow, helpless dumb blonde stereotype she in fact is; the type of girl ("virginal" or not) who tends to die first in slasher films. But Cassie will say fuck that, and still be her lovable, charming, goofy, cute, sweet and innocent self; a social media influencer who will end you if you cut her pretty face or hair, or threaten her friends and found (foster) family. Jamie, Heather, Naomi, and other "outsider" and "weirdo" "dead girls" have their share of highlights and are incredibly brave, to boot.

The artwork is amazing, colourful, dark and shadowy in the right places, expressive, kind of manga-esque, and absolutely wild and bonkers in some parts. It is all the more gorgeous for it. It shows how creative the comic - the entire medium of comics - can and should be.

There is LBGTQIA+ and POC rep, and giant fuck-you vibes towards rich and powerful straight white men (pretty much the only good white man in 'Dead Girls' is Ernie, Ash's friend who was also her mother's friend, and who is homeless, and full of complexities).

There is nooooooot any love for furries and furry-adjacents in this comic, however. Even the dedication at the beginning makes a playful apology to them. I certainly have nothing against people who may call themselves furries. Like whatever you like, it's none of my business. As long as they're not hurting anyone, I don't want to judge anyone, or kink-shame. And I've never known a woman attracted to the male form who hasn't had a thing for Disney's foxy Robin Hood at some point in their lives, myself included. Taste is relative, fluid, everchanging, and really random, you know. So to see "furries" - who might not even be that - be demonised and dehumanised in 'Dead Girls', even in a silly, parodic way, is strange and disturbing. And hypocritical.

Another feature that stopped me from loving this comic completely is the inferred suggestion at the very end: "No, actually, smoking might save your life!". Ridiculous parody facet or not (it borders on slapstick here), there is no planet or plane that exists where I will endorse that sort of message, ever.

Yet I can't help adoring this slasher feminist comic!

I am usually against violence in any context, and 'Dead Girls' is a very violent and dark comic... but it is utterly, infectiously, perversely and pervasively fun, funny, sad, heartbreaking, and clever, containing masterful artwork and characterisations.

There is so much angry and cathartic female rage, pain and joy to 'Dead Girls', you gotta love its passion and ambition.

Through the violence (mostly self-defence on the girls' end) and deliberately silly and cringey comedy, it exposes one ultimate, universal truth; a message that everyone should listen to:

Listen to women and girls.

And fuck the patriarchy. It is an insidious, global-takeover cult that enjoys victimising women and girls in every possible way. Take it down, by any means necessary.

Final Score: 4/5