Graphic Novel Review - 'Teen Titans: Beast Boy' by Kami Garcia (Writer), Gabriel Picolo (Artist)

I'm changing my rating.

Because for all its flaws - the slow pacing, the fact that this comic is more of an introduction and prologue for future books than an actual story in its own right, the one-dimensional popular high school kids consisting of jocks and shallow pretty girls, Gar not making up with his parents at the end - parents who don't appear much in the comic to begin with, Gar's casual law-breaking (even if it is ultimately harmless and for a good cause), the conspicuous lack of LBGTQ rep, the confusing and baffling inclusion of the 'Lord of the Flies' and 'Atlas Shrugged' literary texts, and the obviousness of how it is going to end (especially once Slade Wilson shows up, and the conclusion is crystal clear for anyone who's read the predecessor, 'Teen Titans: Raven') - I found that I couldn't stop thinking about 'Teen Titans: Beast Boy' after I'd finished it. It's such a warm, charming, endearing and sincere DC comic for young audiences as well. It must be a sign that I'm in love.

Loving someone or something in spite of--no, because of, their imperfections, is true love. Accept that nothing and no one can be perfect - as long as they're not harming anyone - and embrace the beauty in everything.

Embrace the beauty of the beast. Of Beast Boy, in this case.

Okay, I'll shut up now.

'Teen Titans: Beast Boy' is a lovely graphic novel that centers around and highlights my favourite Teen Titan from the animated series, Beast Boy/Garfield Logan. To me, he has always been the antithesis of toxic masculinity and male entitlement, while still acting like a believable teenage boy; who happens to be a shapeshifter, that is. He is messy and has a lot of growing and developing to do. He is fun and jokey, but with hidden insecurities underneath his jovial, silly exterior. The sweet, noble, altruistic and non-hyper-violent Gar cares deeply for others, and he has a stalwart drive and resolve to keep going; to never give up, despite various encumbrances and tragedies.

And come on, who wouldn't want to transform into animals and become friends with animals? It's a power that truly is one of if not the greatest in the world.

The graphic novel incorporates these glowing attributes to Gar Logan brilliantly. He is almost unbearably adorable here, as a seventeen-year-old school boy who's nice, helpful and funny. Gar is short and skinny for his age, no matter what he tries, and he is waiting out a growth spurt. Bonus points for him being mixed-race in this version to boot.

Once his powers finally manifest (as a result of a secret experimental procedure done to him when he was four), things start looking up for him, when at last he is able to prove himself to be "cool". He adopts the nickname Beast Boy.

With great power comes great responsibility. Another comic book lesson which applies to life: Popularity in high school really doesn't matter in the least. This is a fact that sadly most high schoolers learn too late.

I'm so happy for Gar in 'Teen Titans: Beast Boy' for having two of the best friends anybody could wish for: Stella Alvarez, the POC pro-gamer and animal shelter employee; and Daniel "Tank" Tanaka, who is a big guy in every sense, possessing a warm, loyal heart. Both of them are loyal, and would do anything for Gar. He is very lucky to have them in his life. They clearly love and care for him; popularity doesn't matter to them, even though that crowd will try to convert the two into their dark circle.

Stella and Tank are outlandishly cool and authentic characters, just like Gar. They feel like real people.

Also, I can't tell you how bloody refreshing it is to see a lone female among a friend group of boys who isn't romantically attracted to any of them! I KNOW, RIGHT!!! Platonic relationships need to be depicted in droves in fiction, for they are as important as romantic and sexual ones, if not more so.

An alternate title for this book should have been 'Garfield and Friends'. Darn it, stop it with the pop culture references, Artemis!

'Teen Titans: Beast Boy', like 'Wonder Woman: Tempest Tossed', is less about the superheroics and more about contemporary slice-of-life. The slow build up towards Gar unlocking and then grasping his animalistic abilities (the shapeshifting in particular happens only towards the end and very sparsely), might discourage some readers. But Gar and his friends are likeable, relatable and adorable enough on their own; it hardly matters whether or not Gar is supernatural or a superhero. If I were around his age and at his school, I'd want to date him in a flash. He's the perfect imperfect teen guy.

Furthermore, anyone who loves animals will get a kick out of this tale. It is strongly and passionately against animal testing, and animal euthanasia in shelters if they are not adopted as soon as it is deemed. A story about Beast Boy which takes a stance against animal cruelty is natural and appropriate (his vegetarianism is unchanged, thankfully). Plus, he will acquire a pet monkey, a cute little gray sidekick called Kong.

'Teen Titans: Beast Boy' - how cute and fuzzy! An earnest and genuine modern teen hero comic that will not leave you.

Thus ends my reading any more DC comics (except for one 'Amethyst' title coming out next year as a trade volume, though my hopes are considerably low even for that). Doubly, I'm done with Marvel comics. As charming and enjoyable as 'Teen Titans: Beast Boy' is, in general I'm going off these giant, conglomerate superhero comics industries. Especially since in recent years, they've both garnered multiple tumultuous, regressive and hateful backlashes; consistent in dumbfounding, tone-deaf and terrible decision making. There is a strong implication that the people working at DC and Marvel have no idea what they are doing, and that most of the writers seem to really, really, hate their audience. Not all of them, but most in undeserved positions of power, and decisions regarding plots and characters (crossovers can bite me - they are so overdone, messy and often incompetently and lazily made). I've gone off and outgrown the Titans as well, excepting a few individual characters. I might change my mind sometime in the increasingly uncertain future, but I've been disappointed too many times. For now, my retirement of my support for DC and Marvel is for good.

Thank you for reading my review of 'Teen Titans: Beast Boy'. Take care of yourselves and others, everyone.

Final Score: 3.5/5

Graphic Novel Review - 'Kim Reaper Vol. 2: Vampire Island' by Sarah Graley

The cuties are back, and as cute as ever.

There is a lot of salivating and daring heart and humour to this gloriously cartoony, gothic and macabre comic series. Add in strong LBGTQ content, and other diverse and woke material, and I am a big fan.

The second volume of 'Kim Reaper' is basically about Kim, Becka and Becka's college roommate and best friend Tyler going to a vampire island (hence the title) for a party, pretending to be vampires for their safety (yeah, that goes bats-up spectacularly and quickly). Shenanigans ensure, and the group encounter an old best friend of Kim's, Charlie, who is now a vampire, and who saves our bumbling heroes. And they're nonbinary! I love how normalised and unassuming this is treated. Kim's backstory on how she became a grim reaper is revealed.

After the vampire island episode, Kim, with the enthusiastic and tireless help of Becka, finally stands up to her stupid grim reaper boss, whose lazy and indifferent skeletal underlings never made her life any easier, either. Who knew Death could be so funny?

Then, in a way, Becka becomes a reaper herself, with a scythe, to save Kim from the actual second level of hell and the most incompetent boss ever!

The ending panels are what completely sell this volume for me, though - too lovely for words. Becka and Kim are a transcendent pair, literally braving life and death for each other. While also being kissy and cuddly and aww!

Grim Reaper girl love FTW!

'Kim Reaper' is certainly more heavenly than hellish.

Tyler - the normal, shy and overly-emotional guy who looks like he could be a werewolf - grows out of merely being a third wheel in the w/w relationship and establishes himself as a funny, three-dimensional character in his own right. There is a hint of a romantic relationship between him and Charlie that builds up towards the end. In addition to Tyler's development, he is learning to sagaciate with Kim, accepting her as someone who Becka loves and is happy with, despite all the danger in the supernatural.

There is a TV vampire teen romance parody theme playing throughout the story. And Becka is sick of Kim's arbitrary and unreasonable work hours that are keeping her cutie girlfriend away from her, and so she wants to fix it, business style (Becka is so random, hilarious, adorable and headstrong, it's beyond endearing).

There is a lot going on in this deceptively simple and silly, kiddie-like plot. I haven't even gotten to the running gag of the same poor, overworked guy never receiving payment from our skimping heroes, who are always on the rush and run. You'd think the hassled and harassed Kim would relate...

I love Kim's new haircut, too.

Did I mention there's a nonbinary vampire? READ THIS!

What a new and sating comic book sequel. What fun, hilarity, cuteness and heart! There is character development and relationship development galore - and gore!


"No time to talk about morals, we've got a goth to save!"


Thanks, British comic series! Your appeal is bountiful.

Final Score: 4/5

Scribble #119

What is the difference, between standing on the edge of a forest, and standing on the edge of the sea?

Both cases you are at a crossroads. Almost a step away from clarity; from destiny. Right before you is the vast, wild, dangerous, barely-veiled unknown. It is another world in of itself. You are staring at the face of Mother Nature at one of her home turfs, and therefore at her fiercest and most unpredictable. And most beautiful, vulnerable and exposed. 

Vulnerable and exposed like yourself.

It's the big, significant and boundless omnipresence on the other side, being timidly approached by the seemingly tiny, insignificant and limited presence.

Do you dare move forward, and risk getting lost? Swept away? Overwhelmed, doomed, by the infinite unknown?

Getting lost, or "just looking around", can have its perks. But it's best to learn to navigate, and forage, and swim first. Survival skills are vital. Adapt to a new environment, even if it's brief and temporary. Plenty of exercise, perseverance and dealing with sweat and a harrowing lack of comfort never hurt anyone. The physical, mental, emotional and the spiritual need persistent muscle work to keep going at a healthy, evenly-breathing pace. Ease is a warm but static mother; unease is a teacher, one who never gives up on you.

Learning to gently and patiently speak to any animals that might live in the territory you are intruding upon is advisable as well.

Learn to look up at the stars, wherever you are when you are on the brink of nature's most bold and daring precipices. The stars and constellations, fighting pollution of all kinds, are your metaphysical guides. Think of them as a part of you, like stardust, sharing microcosms. 

The forests and the sea are masterpieces of the megacosm - provocative, inspiring, and deadly when not treaded carefully. 

Smell the bark, moss, pine, leaves, dew and dirt of the trees; whatever the time of year, it is breath-taking. Notice and appreciate the flower-life around you; like lilacs, ivy, and willows, for instance. See the sun during the day and the moon during the night slipping and shining through the tops of the leaves of the trees, so high above you that you wonder how trees could live long enough, and robust and bountiful enough, to grow so huge. Towering over you are shady and shadowy green tresses. Forests are all about wonder and wandering. The dry, crackling wood nymphs, who are nevertheless sourcing and circulating nourishment through water, and who are easily well hidden, are waiting for you; to cause havoc, exhaustion, disorientation, delirium and disillusionment. Or to steer you in the right direction, depending on your chosen path, and your clear, dedicated and determined state of mind and heart.

Smell the rich and unpolluted sea. See it sparkle and shimmer and dazzle and startle every which way on the surface like silver jewels in front of you. Colours - bright, clear, rosy, sharp, gleaming, shrouding, dark, etc as is cyclic - change all around you depending on the euphoric, ethereal effect of the spinning of the world's axis. Feel the wet sand in between your (preferably) bare toes - how intoxicating the absorbing and crumbling!; feel the continuous and neverending waves power on and fight through your feet, your ankles, before receding and trying again to pull you towards the ocean. Damp, freezing, shivering, shining - you feel it, all these particles of life reacting. And you wonder and wander too. Sea nymphs, and mermaids, wait for you, and selfish creatures that they are, they are not friendly or merciful to your idles, wants and whims. They will challenge your soul to its absolute breaking point, and relish in your follies.

These places are calling to you. Beckoning to you. They want to test you, strengthen you, see how far your endurance holds, as you embark on this, your most serious quest to wander and confront Mother Nature. And come back or out of the other side scarred but your whole, true self at last.

It's up to you to prepare for the first step forward; the first of Mother Nature's unforgiving and ceaseless challenges wrought on humans.

You may be made of stardust, but you are not tiny and insignificant. Show your shine. Prove to yourself how equal you are to this terrifying, capricious. diverse and beautiful world you are living on.

Book Review - 'The Vanishing Girl (Daphne and Velma, #1)' by Josephine Ruby

2023 Reread: Still really good, still entertaining. It contains a lot of important life lessons and human insights as well. A colourful, clever, funny, quick and enjoyable holiday read.

Everything in my original review below applies and supplies; nothing has changed.

Final Score: 4/5





Original Review:



I don't know why I had only recently become suddenly, inexplicably quite obsessed with this femme pairing. Maybe it was from seeing toys belonging to my adorable little nephew and niece, and it brought on nostalgia feels. I mean, 'Scooby-Doo' is an absolutely massive franchise, and must be a part of everybody's childhood to some degree, but it was never a big thing for me (not like 'The Simpsons', which was my obsession). I just remember it as being one in the long line of Hanna-Barbera cartoons that were always on on Saturday mornings when I was very young, and not much more. A toon megacorporation from when I was growing up, that I'm surprised to see is still very popular after several decades.

But there's something about the two leading lady detectives - Daphne Blake and Velma Dinkley, two complete opposites in personality who have undergone various incarnations since the sixties. To me, a feminist pop culture and girl power fanatic, they are enticing; delightful; enchanting.

Before reading 'The Vanishing Girl' (Daphne and Velma, #1)', for context I bought and watched several 'Scooby-Doo' animated films (my favourites are 'Zombie Island' and 'The Witch's Ghost'. Yeah, the mysteries that are the very antithesis of 'Scooby-Doo''s original premise of the supernatural being fake and that the real monsters you'll encounter in life are merely people. I don't care, they're very good films, and good animated films are my jam). I watched the 2018 live action 'Daphne & Velma' film, and I actually enjoyed it; shocking news concerning any live action adaptation of a cartoon, I know. I've also now finished reading this book's sequel, 'The Dark Deception', and in my opinion, it isn't anywhere near as good as the first. The mystery element is rubbish, obvious and incomplete, plot threads and characters are dropped and go nowhere, it's rather boring, and I swear there is queerbaiting - in a 2020 publication! YA authors, make the main leads queer - don't limit yourselves to the very, very minor characters. Why are Daphne and Velma so hung up on boys? Why ram home how straight they apparently are? Ugh, why!?

Anyway, on to the charm and modern female power of 'The Vanishing Girl':

Daphne and Velma, so different in high school social hierarchies and cliques, nonetheless compliment each other emphatically in anything they appear in. At least in this YA novel, they represent two sides of the same coin in terms of female strengths: Daphne, the slender redhead in purple and green, is the queen bee, the fashionista, the "pretty" and popular girl, who is smarter and more observant, cunning and savvy than she lets on; and Velma, the frumpy, freckled brunette in orange, is the straight-up "smart" girl, with the glasses and social awkwardness, and just wearing whatever she wants, not caring what people think of her, but still endowed with insecurities. Both of them are. They are teenagers, after all. And both are intelligent in their own way; Daphne is street-and-people-and-trends-smart, and Velma is a science geek and bookworm, for instance.

Daphne - Extrovert. Velma - Introvert.

To be frank, they complete each other. They would work as a couple, in every sense of the word.

I have to say this for Velma, too: Her entire concept says that a girl who is super smart is a good thing. Smart girls are cool. It doesn't matter what she looks like - she is to be respected, as a detective and a character in her own right. How progressive for the sixties.

In the first in a planned trilogy of YA books about the dynamic, dynamite diva duo, it is established that this is a prequel of sorts to how the Mystery Inc became official. Daphne - rich, cool and confident - and Velma - nerdy and mystery-loving child of impoverished immigrants - live in Crystal Cove, famous for its history of unsolved mysteries, hauntings and legends. The girls were best friends as children, but a heart-breaking fallout, where all sorts of complicated life busts happened for both of them, had left them bitter and mean enemies up to high school. When Daphne's fellow popular mean girl friend Marcy starts acting strange and aloof, and then disappears the day she'd meant to confess all, Daphne and Velma reunite, after many years, to try and find her. And other missing girls. More and more people are claiming to have seen a ghost haunting Crystal Cove's tourist attraction theme park, the Haunted Village.

Daphne and Velma are each going through family issues (Velma had lost her home a long time ago and is living in poverty, and her father is suffering from depression; Daphne is still processing her parents' divorce, and is refusing to emotionally let in her estranged video game designer mother, and her stepfather and younger half-sisters, etc.). But together, they are going to crack the case! Solve one mystery out of a multifold in Crystal Cove.

Shaggy, who is funny and awesome here, tags along to help out occasionally, too, along with Scooby (who, in a contemporary and "realistic" incarnation, is a relatively normal and friendly Great Dane who doesn't talk). Fred barely appears. An extra special highlight is the presence of the Hex Girls, who it turns out are valuable to the plot and not merely fanservice cameos (Thorn even has a crush on Velma!).

Major props for Velma being half-Mexican from her mother's side; it carries such significant, meaningful and relevant diversity rep in this American novel.

I won't reveal much detail about 'The Vanishing Girl', a mystery story, in my review. I don't wish to spoil anything! However, a single minutiae I will mention is the inclusion of a universal fact that men tend to avoid tampon boxes like the plague, and so this makes them perfect places for women and girls to hide anything they need to. Just one life lesson out of loads to take away from a book prominently starring Daphne and Velma from 'Scooby-Doo'!

And Velma's cat is named Jinkies. This is noteworthy to me because I love cats. No other reason.

'The Vanishing Girl (Daphne and Velma, #1)' - recommended, and not solely for nostalgic reasons. It's brilliant to see two girls, unalike yet alike in their loneliness and insecurities, in a complicated relationship, who grow and form a bond, and care deeply for one another. They work in a relationship that will help to make their community and overall society better and safer for everyone. They're a pair who exude innovation and warmth and charm. They deserve credit for their mystery solving skills.

Seriously though, I totally ship Daphne and Velma. Someone make it canon, in something, anything.

Final Score: 4/5

Graphic Novel Review - 'Heathen Volume 2' by Natasha Alterici, Rachel Deering

A good follow-up to the amazing first volume of Natasha Alterici's dark fantastical lesbian Viking comic. It's been ages, but coming back to this world and these characters, and this magnificent watercolour artwork, it's made the on-and-off waiting worth it.

Here there be an animal shapeshifter of Odin's in rotten luck, mermaids (the flesh-eating kind, of course, who can be tamed through bribes of golden apples), and diverse and queer lady pirates. It's Aydis's time across the sea, and Odin is on her trail through his spies, in revenge for her crushing his all-seeing eye at the end of the last volume. Meanwhile, the goddess Freyja and the Valkyrie Brynhild eventually meet again to discuss how they are going to defeat the wrath and rule of Odin once and for all, and protect Aydis from him.

I am a little worried now about Aydis, the main heroine, the relatable mortal warrior woman; not so much for the perils she faces in-story as her very presence being diminished and overshadowed by the other characters and their plights. Freyja, Brynhild, Brynhild's immortal male lover Sig, and Saga the horse, among others, are the guides, the shadows, the web weavers, the ones pulling the silk strings, the ones exacerbating Odin's ire and man-pain, and who have problems of their own. Aydis almost feels like a pawn, a chess piece, reactive rather than proactive, in comparison.

Aydis doesn't think or talk much about the people currently missing in her life. I have to say, her quest to find and confront the land of the gods doesn't seem to be carrying as much weight as it should. Even her sexual awakening and journey towards self-confidence are barely touched on, aside from a kiss from a POC pirate woman, in addition to her routinely working on a ship.

But she still retains a funny, sweet, naïve but determined and altruistic personality - these traits act as both her strengths and her weaknesses, depending on the situation at hand. She's cunning when she needs to be, and kind of adorable. However, Aydis causes far more trouble than victory in this volume, and she's too trusting and easily led. Nonetheless, I am rooting for this queer lady - surrounded by other oppressed, arse-kicking queer ladies - who never gives up on her lethal, gods-and-systems-destroying quest.

'Heathen: Volume 2' - a cool, adequate sequel. Though I wish the themes from the previous volume had been explored a little more -it's too short!

Like before, I'm not sure I'll be reading the third and purportedly final instalment once that's finally published. Probably not, but oh well. It's been a nice revisit to a fantasy feminist story, like greeting an old friend.

Final Score: 3.5/5

Scribble #118

Why are you such a feminist/liberal/lefty/SJW/ally/activist/oversensitive killjoy? (AKA Why do you care?)

Because I don't want to hate anyone just for existing. Other people existing is awesome. Existence is awesome.

Riddle:

What do you collect from doing absolutely nothing?

Dust.

Book Review - 'Mulan: The Legend of the Woman Warrior' by Faye-Lynn Wu (Writer), Joy Ang (Illustrator)

A gorgeous retelling of the ballad and folktale of Mulan. The picture book is gorgeous in both art style and writing; presented as a story about modern empowerment for modern girls.

'Mulan: The Legend of the Woman Warrior' is bold and emotional, as well as uber feminist. It teaches girls (and women, too) to be persistent and brave; to never give up any battle and hardship. To never truly give up being themselves for anyone or anything, and to keep believing in hope; in coming home again.

Girls - never give up, period.

Mulan is a strong and inspiring figure - in history, legend and pop culture.


"One should not judge another by their appearance alone. When a pair of rabbits run side by side, can you tell the female from the male?" - Mulan.


I'm sort of hyped all over again for the live action Disney remake, when or if I ever get a chance to see it.


"A woman can fight any battle. Now I am happy once again to be just me, Mulan, a strong and able woman."


Final Score: 4/5

The Owl House 2020 post

Season one of 'The Owl House' is a surprise animated hit. It's funny, thoughtful, action-packed, creative and beautiful; if you're a fan of both fantasy and animation, you do not want to miss it. Same if you're feeling withdrawal symptoms from the 'She-Ra and the Princesses of Power' finale. The characters are adorable, and I dare anyone not to care about all of them by the end of the season.

The existence of 'The Owl House' and its progressiveness just might be enough for me to lift a well deserved boycott of Disney, for its incessant queerphobic and conservative policies. Is it finally getting with the times?

(I won't hold my breath, to be honest; we've all been betrayed by those cowards too many times before). 

But really, it's hard to believe that this House is a Disney show!

Besides, how can anyone resist a kids' cartoon that takes place on a giant's rotting carcass?

Luz X Amity for life!