Girl Power Graphic Novel Haul!

I've done a lot of reshelving this January; this start of the new year. Gotten rid of dozens of old books and book series I'm not too fond of or find memorable anymore; given them to charity shops, like I always do with things I don't want in my room, my sanctuary.

As well as rereviewing those old books with the same disclaimer message at the start - and there are still some more books and graphic novels I had previously reviewed favourably, that I no longer own, which I haven't put the disclaimer in - I've also been rereading dozens in my graphic novel collection, that are not DC and Marvel. I'm relieved that I still love most of them, and girl, it took up so much of my time!

But it's finally done. I haven't reread every graphic novel on my shelf, but judging from all I have reread, I think I can trust my (evolved) tastes. My progressive, feminist girl power comics are here to stay!

Below are my beloved graphic novel rereads, with links to my reviews or rereviews of them, starting from my most favourite:

The One Hundred Nights of Hero

Nimona

Princess Princess Ever After

Aquicorn Cove

Séance Tea Party

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me

Mooncakes

The Girl from the Sea

Red Sonja, Vol. 1: Queen of Plagues

Page by Paige

Rat Queens, Vol 1: Sass & Sorcery

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Pink

Beetle & the Hollowbones

Another Castle: Grimoire

The Sprite and the Gardener

Motor Crush, Vol. 1

Spell on Wheels

The Prince and the Dressmaker

Stage Dreams

Enola Holmes: The Case of the Missing Marquess (The Mysteries of Enola Holmes #1)

Phoebe and Her Unicorn: A Heavenly Nostrils Chronicle

Mega Princess

Heavy Vinyl, Vol. 1 (Hi-Fi Fight Club)

Misfit City Vol. 1

Woman World

Snapdragon

Ghostbusters: Answer the Call

The Infinite Loop

Mary: The Adventures of Mary Shelley's Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Granddaughter

Josie and the Pussycats Vol. 1

Fangs

EDIT: I've recently reread The Last Unicorn graphic novel adaption as well, and it's still so good!

There's also my graphic novel series rereads!:

Rapunzel's Revenge

Calamity Jack

Zodiac Starforce: By the Power of Astra

Zodiac Starforce: Cries of the Fire Prince

Princeless Book 1: Save Yourself

Princeless: Raven the Pirate Princess Book 1: Captain Raven and the All-Girl Pirate Crew

Heathen Volume 1

Heathen Volume 2

Sabrina the Teenage Witch (2019)

Sabrina: Something Wicked

The Magic of Sabrina the Teenage Witch

I find I am a fan of most works by Kelly Thompson, Kate Leyh, Paulina Ganucheau, and Brenden Fletcher. To say nothing of N.D. Stevenson and Mariko Tamaki. Not a fan of Hope Larson, though.

One more thing: My favourite poetry book rereads!:

The Princess Saves Herself in This One

The Witch Doesn't Burn in This One

Goddess of The Hunt

Who knows what's in store for me in the future!

Goodnight for now, my dear hearts 💗💖💜

Graphic Novel Review - 'Magical Boy Volume 2' by The Kao

What an honour and privilege it is to have read a fantastic fantasy graphic novel duology within a month!

'Magical Boy Volume 2' is a smashing, tearful and so damn hopeful conclusion to the first volume. I won't dare reveal anything of its substance - I don't want to spoil any important content in a series that should be read by everyone, who should experience everything firsthand - but all I'll say is that this time there are themes of fighting inner "demons" as well as outer monsters, snapping out of self-doubt, self-loathing and depression through the love of supportive and accepting friends and family, never having to struggle alone, relief from hate and aggression and unhappiness, questioning long held traditions and legacies (as well as changing them with the times), and generational trauma. The love of your friends and family is powerful, world saving - and world changing - stuff, and it makes everything worth it.

The book isn't perfect. There's the unexplored, unresolved issues concerning a revelation about the talking cat Walnut, who I kind of hate now. Jen and Pyper barely interact. Plus it could have gone a bit further with its gender critique. But it's fine and revolutionary as it is. That ending is damn near perfect.

'Magical Boy Volume 2' also... well, I know I said I'll try to steer clear of potential spoiler content, but I have to mention that there is a "surprise-straight" "twist" at the end; a subversion of the common and typical "surprise-gay" "twist" device in story endings in other media. Nearly all of the main cast are LGBTQ+, so it would be a twist, as it were.

Anyway, that's it from me.

Just read it. Read all of 'Magical Boy'. Seriously.

It's beautiful. It's great. Like the Magical Boy Max Owen.

Read my review of 'Magical Boy Volume 1' here.

Final Score: 4.5/5

Graphic Novel Review - 'My Aunt Is a Monster' by Reimena Yee

'My Aunt Is a Monster' is a colourful, adorable and touching adventure graphic novel. It does have pacing issues, and tonal issues, leaving the whole thing feeling kind of erratic, and I can understand it being criticised as a bamboozling mess. Yet, in the end, I find I don't mind.

It's a high concept idea, about a little blind orphan girl who loves stories, and her former adventurer aunt who is cursed to look like a makara - sweet and simple enough. Then, along with the aunt's extremely versatile, butt-kicking nanny (and, unbeknownst to them, their invisible doglike pet), they go exploring to another country together, much to the girl's excitement, to where the aunt was originally cursed, in fact - again, cool. But then there's a sudden 'Indiana Jones'/twisted 'Mission Impossible' plot introduced near the middle; along with the monster aunt's own goals, there's this secret agent service devoted to spreading chaos in the world, and have done so throughout the decades. Because why not?

Anything goes in this children's story, it seems.

I wanted to read 'My Aunt Is a Monster' because I love love the author's previous graphic novel, 'Séance Tea Party', and the diversity of a blind POC protagonist. Her name is Safia Haziz, and she is eleven-years-old, had recently lost her bookseller parents in a bookshop fire, is still grieving, and she loves to listen to stories being told to her by her family, and through audiobooks and tapes. She wishes to travel the world and become an adventurer and finder of "strange and wonderous things and observations", like her famous distant aunt, Walteranne Hakim Whimsy, whom she just met and now lives with. Aunty Whimsy had "disappeared" one day, but actually she's been a recluse in her "haunted" house for the past decade. Safia does not know the truth about her condition...

It's rare enough to see any disability rep in a main character anywhere, but I can't think of any book I've read where the protag is blind, so that was new and excellent for me. It is written at the beginning of this book that Reimena Yee did her research and contacted members of the blind and visually impaired community and their allies, so kudos there.

Overall, 'My Aunt Is a Monster' is a fun, cartoony, innovative, imaginative fantasy adventure comic. It contains loads of female characters - and nonbinary rep in the form of Aunty Whimsy's "arch rival", Prof. Dr. Cecilia "Pineapple Tart" Choi - and the first act is sweeter and more wholesome and lovely than the rest (the fairy tale-like prologue is so wonderful and sad). Nonetheless, I recommend it, for it also contains themes of family love and trust, living life to the full, complicated friendships, seclusion and fear of discovery of identity, and questioning loyalty and legacies.

Can't forget about Aunty Whimsy! She is a great, funny and tragic character in her own right. She reminds me of Eda from 'The Owl House' and Sisu from 'Raya and the Last Dragon'. She'll learn a lot from young Safia, and vice versa, especially concerning trust, and secret and promise keeping, breaking and revealing. There are hints in the story that Aunty Whimsy is far from straight, too.

'My Aunt Is a Monster' is a keeper. Goddesses know it's not as perfectly polished, structured, flowing and flawless as 'Séance Tea Party', but its heart, creativity, and dedication are there, and it should be enjoyed as its own separate work. Of adventure!

The only real similarity to 'Séance Tea Party': There's a ghost girl, though she's barely in the story as she's confined to Aunty Whimsy's garden, as a "Gardener Ghost", and it's not clear at all if Safi knows her frontyard friend is a ghost, or even if Aunty Whimsy knows she exists.

Messy but fun and heartfelt!

Final Score: 3.5/5

Graphic Novel Review - 'Twelfth Grade Night' by Molly Horton Booth (Writer), Stephanie Kate Strohm (Writer), Jamie Green (Artist)

I didn't know what to expect from 'Twelfth Grade Night', a contemporary graphic novel retelling of Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night', set in high school. But I certainly did not expect the fantasy elements - fairies and fairy kingdoms exist, though they are in the background and to the side, mostly. That was... strange, the 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' references. On the other hand, I should've anticipated that more than one of Shakespeare's works would appear as motifs. Also, why are four-hundred-year-old fairy royals attending a high school full of ordinary human students? Is magic taught there?

However, on the blessed whole, 'Twelfth Grade Night' is an adorable and romantic comic. It's one of the few high school stories in any media I can tolerate. 'Twelfth Night' is my favourite Shakespeare play - in fact, it's possibly the only one I really like - and that was what initially attracted me to this modern, 2022 retelling. It's genuinely funny, and full of lovely, rosy, sparkly artwork, and it's hella LBGTQ friendly. Most of the characters are not straight, and many of them do not look like they fit into traditional gender roles and norms. There is LARPing, family drama, friendships, and antibullying messaging.

It's so freaking adorable and fun!

Of course, 'Twelfth Grade Night' takes full advantage of the conspicuous queer elements and subtext of its source material. It has to. Only there is no disguise or crossdressing, and thus no misunderstandings that come from that. Vi dresses in conventional boys' clothes and may look like a boy, but she is a girl, and it is just who she is. No one mistakes her for a boy. She is mistaken for a lesbian by a couple or more people, because of her appearance, but they are called out on it. Vi might not be straight, as shown in one of the last pages, but she is in love with a boy, Orsino, an artistic, hipster poet and influencer, who screams bi vibes. Olivia, the prettiest and most popular girl in Arden High (oh yeah, the school with elitist fairy royalty in it for some reason and is next to a fairy kingdom is called Arden High), is also the nicest and adroitest girl ever, and she's a lesbian. Really, there's nothing to hate about her! She's wonderful. Vi's twin brother Sebastian is explicitly bisexual, as is one of the friends in her new, prankster friend group, Maria, who additionally is Black and plus size.

I'm glad that Vi has a supportive mother present, too. Her mum is a real character, and I am here for it!

Art, poetry, song writing, music, drama, shenanigans, social media, and love abound in 'Twelfth Grade Night'. I can see it as a fresh, hyped big deal. A few things about it bug me (one reason being, like, maybe it could have been a bit more racially diverse), but whatever. It's a lovely treat of a graphic novel.

I wish it could have addressed the elitist royal fairies' prejudice against mortal humans, who make up the majority of Arden High, though. Seriously, why were they there?! Why the magic at all? Is it symbolic of Vi's new, scary life in attending the hardships and turmoils of high school independently?

Final Score: 3.5/5


P.S. I'm pleasantly shocked and surprised that something like 'Twelfth Grade Night' was published by Disney-Hyperion.

Graphic Novel Review - 'Other Ever Afters: New Queer Fairy Tales' by Melanie Gillman

'Other Ever Afters' - a collection of original, unconventional fairy tales by Melanie Gillman. All of them are LBGTQ+; most are ostensibly so. Some of the stories are clever, and charming, and ambiguous, and melancholic and harrowing; some are a combination of two or three of these traits. A few are longish and epic. But none are as soft as Gillman's artwork makes them appear. They're pretty brutal.

All end in twists that are different from any happily ever after you've heard before.

Regardless of what you take away from these strange yet beautiful tales, for me the two greatest elements of every one of them are: they are clearly anti-gender conformity (plus pro-genderfluidity in heroes), anti-cishet normality, and anti-conservative; and, in degrees of subtlety throughout but bluntly stated at the end:

Spoiler:

It is anti-monarchy.


'We all know (for we are told it so often) that girls who linger in the woods meet terrible fates [...] They do not marry; they do not rule. What truly goes hungry when it is denied girls to devour -- is the castle.

May we live to see it starve.'


Having no love for the British royal family these days, nor for any royalty, I appreciate this message enormously.

Spoiler end.

My favourite stories, the ones I adore the most, are: 'The King's Forest' (that ending, wow: powerful, startling, cryptic, profound stuff), 'The Goose Girl' (the only unoriginal tale, a retelling, but it's a great, effective, lesbian and POC twist), 'Sweet Rock' (with a giantess! who safeguards girls and women!), and 'Hsthete' (with a plus size heroine, who falls in love with a Pan-like goddess of mishaps).

'Other Ever Afters' - even when it's confusing, it stays with you all the same. These stories are needed for modern times.

They're gorgeous.

Love and respect for queer people, people of colour, trans people, fat people, older people, and nonbinary, gender nonspecific people.

I heard Gillman made more fairy tales. I wonder if those'll be collected in a sequel book. I also wonder if they'll have disability rep to go with everything else.


'Happily Ever After... For All of Us'


Final Score: 3.5/5

Graphic Novel Review - 'The Witch's Throne (Volume 1)' by Cedric Caballes

In his preface, the author Cedric Caballes says that 'The Witch's Throne' is a love letter to all the media he loved in his childhood. And oh, by many a cauldron's bubbly, exploding mixture, it definitely shows.

'The Witch's Throne' is a bright, vibrant, kaleidoscopic, energetic, thrilling, not-too fast paced, demented hodgepodge of all things alluding to shonen anime and manga. Reading it really made me feel like a kid in the 2000s again, watching those types of anime.

It is set in a fantasy world where wannabe heroes, called throne seekers, must compete in a fighting tournament (this is only one of the myriad of lifted shonen conventions), in the Citadel, and only four of them - the mage, the rogue, the warrior, the saint - are chosen to be worthy enough to reach the ultimate goal of going on a witch hunt, which means killing an evil witch - an apocalyptic threat who is up alone in her shadowy, towering mountain-sized throne. Darkness, destruction, and death are the future if heroes are not chosen. So it is said.

This process has been repeated once every ten years, for centuries, and the witch's awakening and ascendance always seems to be random and spontaneous, never happening of her own free will.

Thanks to a famous wizard, in order to "combat the witch", everyone in this world is born bound to the law of numbers, with a power level and status, based on their predetermined (?) jobs. Their level numbers increase or decrease depending on their fighting wins (and kills) and losses. Yeah, it's a nod to its obvious influences, and is as charmingly on the nose as that.

There are goblins, elves, ogres, orcs, giants, dragons, dragon people, owl people, and all sorts of fighters and magic users you'd find in an RPG and a shonen anime.

Heck, I can even see 'Undertale' influences!

'The Witch's Throne' contains a vast cast of colourful, distinct, and unforgettable characters. Best of all, half of them, if not more, are female! This includes the protagonist. There is a subversion of shonen conventions for the contemporary days. Furthermore, not everyone's gender can be immediately known by their appearance! No one is blatantly sexualised, not even the characters, male and female, who show off their chest. Absolutely no romance is in sight, either! Just friendship and companionship.

A list of my favourites are Reksha the female orc/dwarf warrior and fighting master, Flora the psychotic assassin elf, and Mico Dhama the arhat and mage. But surpassing all the others, to me, is the aforementioned protag, Agni Arvelle.

Agni is a spirited, optimistic, altruistic, slightly naïve young human alchemist who has one big blue eye, and skeleton arms... for some reason I'm sure will be explained in later chapters. (This is also where I drew the 'Undertale' comparison). Anyway, having recently lost her beloved mother tragically, Agni, who had lived sheltered and isolated in a forest for ten years, is so pumped to achieve her dream of becoming a hero, alongside her own ragtag band of friends (her first friends!) on her quest, like in the stories she loved to hear from her mother. Her good heart and drive to do the right thing by people is infectious. She's a funny fish out of water, and freaking adorable, and a badass when she needs to be.

It won't be easy for her, but with her potions casting and fighting skills, she is on her way to being very powerful; OP, in fact. Agni is truly like any shonen hero you can think of, only, refreshingly, female.

The art in 'The Witch's Throne' is brilliant, all anime-esque. However, due to the paperback volume being adapted from what was originally a webcomic, its panelling placements (with so much white space) can make it tricky to follow character interactions sometimes. But I just went with the flow, and could follow everything fine as I got more immersed and engaged in the book; in the characters and their progress and development.

In conclusion, for a fun time, for a fun homage, for action, comedy, heart, and a wacky OTT hero's journey comic, read 'The Witch's Throne'. As picky as I am with my reading material, I might pick up the second volume. For Agni more than anything else.

And I'm curious about what the deal is with the as-of-now vague threat of the nameless, characterless witch, who I doubt is actually evil, or she isn't as evil as we are told. She reads like a victim of a spell or evil "destiny" to me; not the true villain the heroes have to defeat. There is definitely more than meets the eye about this world's messed up system, more than what it seems on the surface...

Final Score: 4/5

Graphic Novel Review - 'Unfamiliar' by Haley Newsome

'Unfamiliar.'

Indeed.

For it is a bizarre, abstract, oblong, yet colourful and shiny witchy comic. Likewise, it is genuinely, terrifically funny.

The art style took me a while to get used to, but it grew on me eventually, and now I find it to be so charming. It's expressive - the characters' big eyes have pupils that hilariously display their emotional states via emoji-like imagery - over-the-top, and cartoony.

The closest comparison I can think of in terms of its style and humour is 'Adventure Time'. Also another witch graphic novel, 'Beetle & the Hollowbones'. And 'Kiki's Delivery Service' (Kiki even makes a cameo on one panel! The comic knows where it's at!)

'Unfamiliar' is about a witch, Planchette, and her familiar, Winston the rabbit, who make a new start, moving to a new town, into a new house, which unfortunately is haunted - deadly seriously haunted - so Planchette tries to find solutions to exorcise the ghosts that inhabit it. She'll need help, since she is a kitchen witch only good at food spells.

Along the way she meets other witches, and makes friends with them, including Pinyon, a nervous, almost magicless wreck who actually comes from a rich and powerful family and has a daunting (and haunting, heh) legacy to live up to. Then there's Babs, a pink, shy southern belle-like siren, who is always full of, and surrounded by, sparkles and love hearts. Everything I just described about her is literal. Planchette's fourth witch friend is Sun, the relationship of which is developed slowly and with much reluctance on Sun's part. The exact opposite of her name, Sun is a moody, grumpy goth woman whose one big red eye is in her hair, at the top of her head, and she works everywhere in town, all the time. She has a dark secret, and she and Babs are totally in love with each other.

Four witches - Planchette is the blue one (blue hair and yellow irises) and also the short one, who has the white rabbit familiar, Winston; Pinyon is the white and yellow one (white dress and hat, yellow hair, and blue irises) who resembles a tall, sickly bird, and has the white pigeon familiar, Ari; Babs is the pink one (pink everything, except for her white, though blushing, skin, and the white on her pink checkered dress, and a black belt, and a black bow in her hair), who has the one-eyed black cat familiar, Marlow; and Sun is the dark one (black hair and one big eye with a red iris), who has the lizard... crocodile... thing familiar, Edgar... we never see the two interact, or in the same scene, as they evidently don't get along.

Sometimes these little cartoon women are together, but mostly they are off in pairs on separate adventures, having nothing to do with exorcising the many, many ghosts from Planchette's new house. But it is all-around wacky, exciting, witchy fun. It's magical slice-of-life, only not really.

Read it yourself and you'll see what I mean.

'Unfamiliar' is wickedly sweet, cute, colourful, bedazzling, funny, and a touch morbid and creepy. I'd say it is suitable for children. There are Halloween themes throughout. A tall skeleton doctor is included, plus a faery realm!

It's sapphic as all get-out, as well.

'Unfamiliar' - Unfathomable. Unruly. Uncanny. Unforgettable. Unique.

Recommended.

I'll be adding it to my extensive witch comic book collection.

Final Score: 4/5

Graphic Novel Review - 'Magical Boy Volume 1' by The Kao

My 850th review.

I've decided to use this occasion to highlight a Magical Girl--no, 'Magical Boy', the graphic novel, which is a colourful, fantastic, fantastical, magical tale, about a trans boy Magical Boy. He is a descendent of the Goddess of Light, Aurora, and part of a long line of transforming, sparkly, amulet-wearing, staff-wielding, darkness-fighting girls. Well, this time it's a guy defending the world from evil using Magical Girl motifs.

'Magical Boy' has the best art, the best characters, the best premise, and as well as being outrageously fun and funny, and subversive as all hell, it is a moving and empowering coming-of-age story about Max Owen, a trans highschooler.

Max is struggling, in slowly and surely coming out to people, and coming into his own identity. He knows exactly who he is, and it's hard, standing his ground whenever he is met with ignorant and unaccepting people. The world is already so dark and hateful towards people like him, but it'll be made worse by the supernatural dark god forces that feed off of that loathing, those insecurities, and which, he discovers, he must banish! (He could also see people's "light energy" or auras, before he could transform into his magical self.)

Max knows himself. He wants nothing to do with the whole sparkly and frilly Magical Girl/ Goddess of Light nonsense that's making his life even more difficult! Yet, as his magical hero identity develops with him and starts meeting his needs and preferences, his reluctance wanes, and he learns and grows further, into his own hero. This self-acceptance hero's journey will extend to others in life changing ways, too.

In a surprising turn of events (as if the goddess light powers and dark deity bugs and sealing leaks into other realms weren't enough of a shock!), more people will come to accept him, in time, on his path to self-discovery, and saving (and changing) the world.

Max the Magical Boy will make friends with the most unlikely of people, who will happily help him fight evil.

'Magical Boy' was clearly made with such love and care by its author, The Kao. This is not only to be judged by the anime style artwork and anime influences, done meticulously and in a tongue-and-cheek fashion. Max and the other characters are loved, and are handled with sensitivity; they are nurtured and cherished, not to mention highly interesting, so the readers will come to care for them in equal measure.

The comic does right what so many other LBGTQ+ stories, particularly trans stories, do not. Basically, it is the opposite of stories like 'Galaxy: The Prettiest Star', another LGBTQ "superhero" comic. There is positivity, and sympathy for the victimised trans lead throughout, with nary any serious meanspiritedness and cruelty which permeates all else. The conflict isn't so nasty and toxic as to be triggering. Also dissimilar to 'Galaxy', 'Magical Boy''s protagonist really is trans, it isn't an allegory or a metaphor, and they never apologise to their abusers, who don't deserve sympathy, and who are hardly sorry. There is no triggering hateful rhetoric, nor hate crimes, that overwhelm everything, happening with no accountability, nor repercussions, whatsoever. No bigot gets away with it in 'Magical Boy'. Any "metaphor" present in it doesn't take over the story and character development, either.

In other words, what I'd feared I'd get from 'Magical Boy' because of 'Galaxy' didn't manifest. It is everything I'd hoped 'Galaxy' would be before reading that.

Kudos.

(One last thing concerning 'Galaxy' is that, as far as I know, no existing edition of it comes with a content advisory or warning at the beginning. 'Magical Boy' does.)

Additional notes on the character love and respect:

Max is a gay transman in high school who is frustrated and fed up with it all. Being a "magical girl" is among his worst nightmares, but overtime, he might make it work for him, in his own way, on his own terms. Screw convention. Jen, his cool lesbian best friend, is awesome, like many others in the colourful cast, and she is like his super supportive sidekick. New friends that Max unexpectedly makes along the way are: the tough cisman Sean, who actually loves cute, sparkly Magical Girl things (he's such a dear, plus he's like the Tomoyo to Max's Cardcaptor Sakura, in the filming-him-in-his-magical-fighting-monsters-glory sense); and, another surprise, and slight spoiler... the blonde, blue-eyed, typical mean church girl, Pyper, who is of course closeted and suffering from internalised homophobia.

Hell, even Max's mother, Hikari, who is the most resistant and unaccepting of who he is out of everyone else, and is his biggest obstacle in navigating the world of transphobia (she constantly deadnames him, which is blurred in the text of her speech bubbles; the same treatment is given to anyone who does the same, thank goodness), she is miraculously made likeable by how over-the-top, and cartoonishly pomp and enthusiastic, she is. We're clearly not meant to take her seriously - her conservatism and her ironically aggressive banging on and on about being "ladylike" - and everybody but her knows she's in the wrong. Max's few interactions with his softhearted father, Kai, are sweet and touching by contrast, at any rate.

I hate to mention this, but I feel I have to: A slight imperfection - a legitimate, objective flaw - in 'Magical Boy' is the editing, panelling, and speech bubble placements. It does get messy a few times, leading to confusion as to who is talking and when, in following an interaction. One example of a mistake is when a speech bubble is designed to look as though it's coming directly from... an unconscious person, when it should have come from the person standing right next to them, who is shown to be the one talking. Oops.

There are loads more things - details big and small - I could talk about when it comes to 'Magical Boy', which is overall, in fact, a lovely, lively, hilarious, yet simple and fun fighting-evil-type anime and manga story. But I've prattled on long enough, and I can't do the comic justice. Especially seeing as I'm a ciswoman reading and reviewing it.

Just read this great, modern graphic novel, whoever you are. The world is made better, pleasanter, and lighter, by its existence.

I'll sign off by saying that 'Magical Boy' made me feel good, and it filled me with joy and positivity, after reading it; after experiencing it. Unlike a lot of stories of its ilk (*cough* 'Galaxy' *cough* 'The Prettiest Star' *cough* my arse *cough*). My hypersensitive and hyperempathetic self approves.

And that cliffhanger. Oh! Oh no! I will definitely read the sequel, the conclusion to this landmark duology, this opus. I can't wait!

Final Score: 4.5/5

Graphic Novel Review - 'The Legend of Korra: Patterns in Time' by Various

I've waited over a year to read this, out in physical form, in paperback, and it was worth it. In 'The Legend of Korra: Patterns in Time', you'll find cute, colourful short stories, with different writers and artists, that center around different characters from 'The Legend of Korra'.

There's 'Friends for Life', with Korra as a little kid in the snowy Southern Water Tribe, where she first meets Naga the polar bear dog; then 'Skyscrapers', another adorable tale, and a touching moment, about kid Asami and her mother; then 'Wisdom'; 'Lost Pets', a good Meelo (and Korra) yarn; 'A Change in the Wind', about Korrasami, and Jinora's development (such beautiful art in this one!); 'Weaver's Ball', another fun story about Korra as the young Avatar in training; 'Clearing the Air', about a young Tenzin, and Aang; and 'Cat-Owl's Cradle', the final and longest story, about Meelo and Bumi (Lin Beifong cameos). Very funny stuff.

Meaningful, touching stuff, too.

The blurb lies, though: Mako and Bolin are not in this collection at all, which is strange.

Maybe there'll be further short stories in the future. More highlights, please!

Also more Avatar Korra action. And Korrasami.

Final Score: 3.5/5

Graphic Novel Review - 'Nubia & the Amazons' by Vita Ayala (Writer), Stephanie Williams (Writer), Alitha Martinez (Artist), Dominike Stanton (Artist), Darryl Banks (Artist), Mark Morales (Inker), Emilio López (Colourist), Allen Passalaqua (Colourist), Romulo Fajardo Jr. (Colourist), Becca Carey (Letterer)

'Nubia & the Amazons' - an imperfect but empowering and raw, rich, and pretty much epic DC comic about the Amazons on their island of Themyscira. It is diverse as hell, embossed in worldbuilding and mythology building, and has plenty of action to offset the dialogue heavy scenes. There's a new, sympathetic twist on Medusa (even though she starts off as a villain), and oh, did I mention that Nubia, big and bold and space-taking Black Amazon extraordinaire, also an LBGTQ icon, is canonically the Queen of the Amazons now?

(Diana is dead, but then, after a lot of otherworldly journeys, she got better, and now Hippolyta, who had taken her daughter's place in Man's World in her absence, is dead, but that likely won't last long, either. You know superhero comic books.)

I wanted to read more about Nubia after the fantastic 'Nubia: Real One' comic, and in 'Nubia & the Amazons', I may have found a companion piece to 'Real One'. In the recent canon, she is a hard-ass, and a badass, never giving up, never giving in, in fights or in the ways of the heart. She has compassion and understanding, too, like Diana and Hippolyta before her.

The art and writing style reminds me of the DC comics of the mid 2000s; it reminds me of 'Wonder Woman: The Circle' and 'Wonder Woman: Who is Wonder Woman?', only set almost entirely on Themyscira (flashback sequences of Nubia fighting monsters in Chicago and romancing a POC woman are in this, too). It's a worthy comic for the Amazons.

However, the volume ends on the second issue of a sequel storyline (!). There are tie-ins, crossovers, the usual comics business. It is all connected to an event, a plan for all the Amazons by DC, culminating in the series, 'Trial of the Amazons'. I have read it, and I am disappointed. It is an equal balance of good - great, even - and bad, but overall, it is a rushed, choppy mess. Maybe I should stick to some of the tie-ins and not the main even itself.

I prefer standalones, or at least comic volumes I can enjoy without having to buy and read other comics to understand what is going on. Ugh, events.

Luckily, 'Nubia & the Amazons' can be enjoyed as its own separate thing, in my opinion. A badass POC, sapphic queen protagonist, an epic, badass story, an all-female cast of characters, Medusa, and brilliant art - I am in! I will be reading another series about Nubia soon, as well as one more 'Trial of the Amazons' tie-in/prequel.

The comic loses a point, however, in that, for its accurate portrayal of Medusa as a victim in need of comfort, understanding, compassion and empathy from her fellow women, Athena gets off completely scot-free in the end for what she did to her. She even still calls her a snake! Why not call her out!? F&%*! the gods! Poseidon the rapist isn't even mentioned at that point. Bloody terrific.

Medusa is also completely forgotten about by the time 'Trial of the Amazons' progresses and wraps up. *sigh*

Well, regardless:

Long live Queen Nubia.

Final Score: 3.5/5

EDIT: I have recently read 'Wonder Girl: Homecoming' and 'Nubia: Queen of the Amazons', and I'll share my thoughts here:

I'm done.

The subtitle of 'Wonder Girl' is 'Homecoming', though it really should have been 'Abandon all common sense ye who enter here'. I hate it. Nothing makes sense, nothing flows, details, developments, and characters keep getting dropped and never mentioned again - it's a writing (and feminist) disaster. Which is a shame because before I felt I could very much like Yara Flor as a character, but in her debut, she's as much a mess as "her" stupid story, where she is used and manipulated by others constantly, and she barely possesses any agency and free will of her own. DO all the Amazons want to kill her or not, and WHY?! Why is she showcased as so astronomically and cosmically important anyway? It doesn't reflect on any future books she's in. Hack decades old clichés abound, too.

While 'Nubia: Queen of the Amazons' is better, and more entertaining, it's confusing and structurally messy, as well. Many details get forgotten about (of course). Side by side with this is the character derailment of Nubia - the flipping queen of all the Amazons - which is unforgivable; just like what happened with Yara and her squandered potential, only not as extreme.

I don't think any of the writers at DC have been keeping up with this new storyline, this new chapter, of Wonder Woman and the Amazons well. Medusa remains a tiny blip on the radar, not a character. I'm sad to say I won't read any more Wondy titles, unless I can be sure that anyone at DC knows what they're doing at this point. It is a shame, for everything to do with 'Trial of the Amazons' had huge, shining potential. Still not sure about 'Future State'. It's exhausting, keeping up with all these storylines - for the readers and the writers and artists.