'Primer' is a drop-dead gorgeous original DC graphic novel for kids. Seriously, the artwork is some of the best I've ever seen in any comic, and the characters are fully realised. It is dynamic, dramatic, hilarious, touching, and it contains explosive paint superhero action.
Seriously.
Ashley Rayburn is a twelve-to-thirteen-year-old foster kid with an upbeat and energetic personality big enough to burst through the pages. There is nothing small about this literally colourful girl. Her criminal father is in prison, and she tries not to let the child abuse of her past get to her (she has nightmares about her dad); though her father still thinks that he owns her, and that she's in his thrall.
Ashley is a creative and girl power-loving street artist with a "bad streak", "like her father". She's a savvy and marvellously funny optimist with nonetheless deep insecurities. She has been in and out of foster homes for two years, until she is adopted by a young couple: Kitch Nolan, a community college professor and artist who is every bit a hipster, and Yuka Nolan, a shy Asian scientist with a dark secret. She's sweet (and also a huge football fan), but she worries a lot, and due to a misunderstanding Ashley thinks Yuka may not want her after all.
A switcheroo with a government military project - Project Warpaint - and sneaking around in the foster parents' room later, and Ashley receives superpowers. You know the classic superhero origin tale. Ashley dabs tubes of "paint"(superhero DNA residue), which are colour coordinated, on her skin, and they each give her a different power. There are thirty three paints in total. For longer lasting effects and simplicity, she uses three paint colours/powers on each crime busting escapade she goes on. For you better believe she immediately aspires to be a superhero.
Colourful in every way, and armed with spray cans and super paint applied to the skin, Ashley Rayburn is certainly not "just a little girl".
Just don't turn on the sprinklers when she's in the room.
I don't want to spoil much of the plot, though it is basic, but still entertaining. In addition to the foster parents in her family group, Ashley has a POC male best friend, Luke the hairstylist and wig maker, who she instantly clicks with at her new school. The main villain is a military guy who's a violent thug, you know the type, and the drill (heh), and he is effectively intimidating.
'Primer' comes close to being great - it could have been a five star win - except for a few things.
First, while I understand Ashley's feelings and insecurities from being a trouble-to-the-state foster child for years, I still think that her rejection of the Nolans (Yuka, specifically) near the end of the comic, born out of a barely-developed misunderstanding which led to her thinking they don't love her, is sudden and very contrived. They just threw her a birthday party and gave her VIP seasonal football tickets! Of course they care about her! Even a selfish and moody teen could see that! What real reason does Ashley have to think that the Nolans don't want her, and don't care for her? There isn't one. They're awesome people, who worry about her, and who never did anything wrong concerning her. I know that, for all her pizzazz, she's still a traumatised kid with trust issues, but this could have been written better.
Second, Ashley's talent as a street artist, and an artist in general, never really goes anywhere. Apart from the one superheroine painting on the street, she never does anything creative, like in Kitch's studio garage. The paints she uses on herself as the hero Primer were disposed to her by accident - they existed on the onset. She practically stole Project Warpaint and it is now her secret - it doesn't count as her personal project, because she didn't create it herself. Ashley doesn't really use her various powers imaginatively, except for how she paints her body; even in the crime fighting department she's lax in artistry. At least she's inspired, albeit in only one panel, by said superheroine painting before her climactic battle with the bad guy, and she changes her hair now and then. She's also the one who comes up with the name Primer.
And third, and I feel that this is eminently important, the comic doesn't make the military accountable for their actions; for their part in creating Project Warpaint, specifically for the purpose of warfare. They were going to use the paints to make super soldiers, and kill their enemies (whoever they may be) and other countless people. In another story, and in another organisation not called the government or the military, they would be the villains. They would be the corrupt system that the hero has to take down. They would be Marvel's Hydra.
But no: only one "bad apple" turns out to be doubly evil - a soldier who "goes rogue" and is a "liability" who kills scientists, and he wants to use the paints for himself to become the "ultimate soldier". Only he is taken out, and the rest of the military is scot-free. They thank the hero for saving them from the mess they themselves created, and they even become partners with the hero - "taking it from here" - and make her a new superhero suit.
Nothing is learned! One person takes an already evil plan too far in the extreme, and once he's out of the picture (no doubt "taken care of" in that sense by the military), that's the problem solved forever! No realisations, no redemption, no concerns, no "Why should we trust you? You did this! This is all your fault! How do we know you won't do something like it again?" - everything is all hunky-dory in a rushed ending.
I wouldn't say 'Primer' glorifies the military, but it doesn't criticize it either. Let's be friends with the unrepentant warmongers and murderers!
But for all that, 'Primer' is hard not to adore. It is hugely entertaining. It succeeds in colour, humour, action and drama. I love this new young superheroine by DC.
I just wish that the three issues I've raised had been fixed.
Final Score: 3.5/5
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