Scribble #138

Primary School

Secondary School

I was so shy, quiet, and not very bright. I got bullied continuously. Always. It upset me so much and I never hid how much it upset me, which of course made the bullying worse. It didn't stop me from telling the teachers about the wrongdoing when I could, even though it never worked. I mostly tried to keep to myself, keep attention away from myself. I found solace and escape and comfort in books. Books - books I wanted to read - were, and still are, decades later, my sanctuary. I could rely on them, then and now.

All this is to say if I were ever to meet any of my school bullies or rubbish teachers who hated their jobs again, I'd walk away. They never listened or took me seriously then, so why should they start now? Why should I believe they had changed, or really grown up, when they had faced no consequences for their bad behaviour in the past? I would be ready to forgive them, but I won't make it easy for them. I won't let them get off scot-free. I'd move on from their toxicity; the trauma they put me through in childhood. I owe them nothing.

One lady in my creative writing group told a story about a nun at her school who, whenever it rained, would say it was coming down, and then it was "letting up", as she lifted up her hands. The lady, as a young girl, took this literally and said that "rain doesn't go up". Then someone else in the group said something to the effect of, "Nuns can't defy gravity". For bizarre reasons, I thought, "Huh, so The Flying Nun isn't a documentary?". Was I, the youngest of the group, the only one who thought of that reference and joke?

Scribble #137

October, October

I could say it all month

It rolls off the tongue

Warm with teas and lattes and cocoa.

Sitting in a café

Rich with pumpkin spice

No ice cream, but nice cream

The coffee beans crushed and boiling.

Steaming.

Toiling.

Grounding.

I watch the orange and coffee-brown

Leaves out the window

The spicy latte in my cosied hands

My scarf hugging me.

Look out, then inn, see.

Smell the tea.

Look in, then out.

The wind

The blustering wind

The dark cloud

The autumn leaves falling and flying

And whirling.

Twirling.

Winding like cups of tea.

See.

And me

Warm indoors

In a bustling café

With its own blustering activity.

Its browns and oranges

And pumpkins and spices

And cakes and chocolates

And cinnamons and creams.

And rich, heavenly dreams.

I love autumn

I love October.

October, October

The Samhain season

Wheels both earth wooden and celestial

Spellbinds.

Unwinds.

Divines.

And is here.

(I'm no poet, it's just about atmosphere, so cut me some slack.)

January - Funny how the start of the year is the coldest and darkest. It's like a challenge. Through it all, make your dreams come true now.

Scribble #136

I Remember

I remember what it was like to visit my grandmother's bungalow, and read picture books and do puzzles there, and then what it was like to visit her in another home, when everybody got older. Nearly every holiday in my childhood and early adulthood was like this, visits to my grandmother's houses. It hasn't really hit me yet that those days are gone, and will never come back.

I remember my uncle, who I seldom saw in my life but loved dearly. Now I will never get a chance to see him and get to know him better, after his road accident a couple years ago.

Sometimes I can't help but wonder, who will be next? Who will become just a memory next? I have to see everyone when I can. Childhood and memories are never over. Not if you don't let them be. Always look to make new memories, for yourself and your dear, hopefully-not-soon-to-be-departed loved ones.

I remember:

Trees.

Streams.

Squirrels.

Mud and plants.

Big, ugly winter coats.

Wellington boots.

Beaches.

Pebbles.

Ice cream cones.

Frisbees.

All my cats.

Jones the rabbit.

Gretel the hamster.

Tadpoles.

Caterpillars.

Soft toys - Jiminy Cricket, Daisy the dog, Browning the dog.

Dolls - Sailor Moon, Disney princesses.

Matilda by Roald Dahl.

Super Mario Party games.

Donkey Kong games

Banjo-Kazooie games.

Crash Bandicoot games.

Sonic the Hedgehog games.

Spyro games.

Croc games.

Gex games.

Scribble #135

Love.

That is all the world needs.

We all live on the one planet. So it is important to love one another. To care for each other.

Take care of each other, take care of our planet.

No place, nothing on our planet is the same; it is huge and habitable and varied and beautiful, just as the animals and humans living on it are all different, each and every one.

We are all equal in that we are all different. It is amazing. And there is nothing we can't share and understand and listen to. There is no one we can't love.

Every life, everybody, is important. To ourselves, to everybody else, to each other, and the world.

Live together, love together. There is nothing we can't do.

Scribble #134

My idea of Heaven is curling up in a comfy chair in a cottage, near a lit fireplace, the rain or snow outside, with a cup of tea, a book, a notebook, a pen, and a cat or two. Chocolate and a cinnamon pumpkin spice latte are a plus. What more could one want in life? That's magic to me.

Graphic Novel Review - 'Pizza Witch' by Sarah Graley, Stef Purenins

'Pizza Witch'

I love that title.

It is exactly like a comedic, far more cartoony 'Kiki's Delivery Service' and 'Doughnuts and Doom', and a not terrible version of 'Bee and PuppyCat' (the comic version, anyway, and I deeply regret buying and reading that). It is 'Sabrina the Teenage Witch' on parmesan and crack. With its LBGTQ+ ingredients to go with its foody content, as an extra pizza topping, it can be called a more entertaining and less infuriating 

'Basil and Oregano'.

It's colourful, irreverent, and a lot of silly fun, and it has so much pizza! And cheese, garlic, oregano, and other food ingredients.

Witchcraft and gourmet, together at last on this cartoon adventure.

Join seventeen-year-old Roxy, a biracial lesbian witch who dreams of becoming the best pizza witch in the world (pizza is her passion and specialty), and her talking cat George, as they embark on ridiculous but no less dangerous quests, errands, and wild goose chases, to find legendary secret ingredients so Roxy can maybe become a better chef and maybe get into Magic Uni.

We have nervous, disapproving, traditional, not-awfully supportive gourmet magic parents; an abusive, lazy, narcissistic, hack fraud bum of a pizza warlock boss; his grumpy, vicious, brownnosing assistant; a girl student love interest who accompanies Roxy and George on their major secret ingredient quest; a crystal dragon; his farm witch; a crystal tomato; hungry skeletons; lots and lots of cats; a soup witch who uses divination; bees and honey; wrestling; ghouls; and a cauldron for pizza making and shielding from attacks!

It's wild and pizza-tastic!

It's the cheese! The cheesiest!

Manga stylings in the art are included, as the star-shaped pepperoni on top.

No surprise it's by the author of 'Kim Reaper', a series also containing uninhibited cartoony madness, LBGTQ+ elements, and a clowder/chowder of cats! Sarah Graley made 'Pizza Witch' with her husband Stef Purenins (I have read the definitive 2025 paperback edition, though it ends on a cliffhanger, ready for a second volume), and they own four pet cats.

Roxy is an upbeat, passionate protagonist, who flipflops on being a morning person, and is in fact very sensitive and anxious. She has an inferiority complex (other characters have this to a degree, too), and a bit of a hot temper, and she doesn't forgive easily. Her pizza magic is excellent every time she prepares it, both as food and as an offensive. She only needs a confidence boost, and belief in herself, and not to set her sights so fixatedly on the current "greatest", reputable pizza warlock/food sorcerer, and on Magic Uni.

Her cat George - old Georgie-porgy - is hilarious. He is like Salem from 'Sabrina' mixed into a cauldron with Garfield and Jake from 'Adventure Time'.

On that reference, as much as a cartoon in graphic novel form as 'Pizza Witch' is, and as child-friendly as it appears to be, however, I warn any parent who is thinking of seeking it out for their young child: It is not for young children. The word "ass" is said sparingly yet liberally, and I was shocked at a panel near the beginning, in chapter 3, where two characters clearly give each other the finger. To be fair, I don't think it's been labelled a children's book anywhere, and my copy is 'RATED AGES 14+'.

It's odd, because it could have easily been an all-ages comic without the swearing, and I see no reason why it couldn't have been. It would have broadened the target demographic and sold a lot more, I think.

But 'Pizza Witch' is great, either way. It is an unforgettable romp, and it even gets touching, subversive, dramatic, and kind of heartbreaking at the end. I hope there is a sequel coming out!

One unexpected, nice, needed message in 'Pizza Witch': University and higher education is not always what it is cracked up to be. It is overrated, or at best it is not for everyone, and whether or not you attend is not the end of the world. It should not be a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't life choice, that wrecks your entire life. It should not be the prime step towards your future goals, nor the judge of your talents, passion, abilities, and hard work.

Now I'm hungry. I want the cheesiest pizza ever after reading 'Pizza Witch' - and I will never get tired of that title.

I haven't felt this famished after devouring a queer foody graphic novel since 'The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich', 'The Restaurant at the Edge of the World', and 'Crumble'!

Final Score: 3.5/5

Book Review - 'Hekate: The Witch' by Nikita Gill

I feel bad, because 'Hekate: The Witch' is an epic, atmospheric, gripping, thrilling, engrossing, and at times beautiful, insightful and important poetry read, and I wanted to love it, because Hekate/Hecate is one of my favourite deities, and I loved Nikita Gill's 'The Girl and the Goddess: Stories and Poems of Divine Wisdom', 'Fierce Fairytales: & Other Stories to Stir Your Soul', and 'Great Goddesses: Life Lessons from Myths and Monsters'.

Sadly, I have to be honest and say 'Hekate: The Witch' ended up being one of my biggest three-star disappointments of 2025.

Because despite the powerful, passionate writing, and the female empowerment and journey, at the end of it all it is a rather standard, conventional story, and it is shockingly, highly heteronormative, with an unnecessary romance it really could have done without. For a Geek mythology retelling in 2025, this is inexcusable and unforgivable.

I will try not to spoil much, but near the end, there is a, *ahem*, gigantic battle, where a god gets hurt and bleeds, and this angers Hekate enough to go full god mode and ultimately win the day, even though gods are immortal and no one is in danger of dying (this is a problem in a lot of books about gods and goddesses, and not only in Greek mythology, in fact, where there are no stakes, nor meaningful losses, or any losses). It's made a big deal because how dare anyone - any creature - make a god bleed! It's the winning turning point of the battle and war! It's laughable. And elitist, which runs counter to one of 'Hekate''s messages, about the arrogance and warmongering of power-hungry and paranoid gods, who are their own worst enemy, yet think they are superior to the lowly mortals whose lives they destroy for fun.

For a book titled 'Hekate: The Witch', very little is in it about Hekate's witchcraft. She collects herbs and makes potions with almost no fanfare, and that's it. No rituals, no going over the potion making process, no insight, no detail, nothing on how she learns her craft and develops into her magic. She barely casts any spells, and she can collect stars from the night sky in order to revive the dead, with no explanation as to how she achieves that.

Even her necromancy is downplayed, as is her ability to split herself into three - representing the Triple Goddess; the maiden, the mother, and the crone. This amazing power only happens a few times, and it's treated like nothing, and over far too quickly. What does the unique power mean to Hekate? What does having two other versions of herself mean to her? I have no idea. It means nothing. It symbolises nothing.

I... I... what?!

She meets the Fates themselves, for fuck's sake! She should mirror them, and be a pupil, a ward, a sister, a daughter, or a threat to them, but nothing of the kind is ever acknowledged! The Fates are pointless! A pointless presence!

Oh, and apparently Hekate can fly - she 'had learned a spell for flight over my years of witchcraft' (page 376), none of which we ever see - and she doesn't use it until like, the last eight pages when the climactic war is already over and it is the least needed. Don't look at me, I just work here.

Hekate might be a witch, but she could be any goddess. Her witchcraft isn't treated as anything special. Her torch lighting is utilised and revered more than her spellcasting. Her necromancy, which is the chips-are-down reason why all other gods fear her, including Zeus, is at the end brushed away with a shrug, like the rest of her powers. She could be any deity (further emphasised by how she needs help from male gods constantly), based on what 'Hekate: The Witch' reveals, when it is supposed to be a retelling of her origins, her coming-of-age story, and her power reclaimant.

Other details are forgotten about or tossed aside, such as Hermes - one of the "good" gods here - turning Cadmus and Harmonia into a single snake staff, and this is never brought up again. Ever. And Hekate has her silver hound, gifted in one of the book's most memorable and powerful scenes, but her owls are only mentioned once. Once. The cover lies.

I can't even remember if the moon receives a passing mention. I don't think it ever makes an appearance. It isn't factored into anything. Hekate is in the Underworld for 80% of the book, but according to ancient mythology, it is a major part of her identity as a predominant triple moon goddess, associated with the night and magic, and lunar phases and cycles are a big part of witchcraft in any culture. A full moon is on the bloody cover, for goddesses' sake.

Goddessdamn it! The cover lies!

I felt empowered and riveted in anticipation whilst reading 'Hekate: The Witch', but by the final few pages, that excitement petered out, and I was left feeling underwhelmed and disappointed. It is largely the lack of explained magic and the unessential hetero, dependable and dull romance that is at fault.

The modern poetic retelling tome is still good, and compared to my other three-star disappointments this year, it is perhaps the best. However, it is a disappointment nonetheless. What it gets right makes what it gets wrong stand out all the more in bafflement and bewilderment. No bewitchment.

It is about a Hekate who is very powerful, and determined, fierce, and feared by the Greek gods and Titans, and is a saviour for women. Contradictorily, she is male dependent, and constantly needs rescue, aid, reliance, information, wisdom, observation, motivation and reassurance by men--gods, who are her prevalent superiors, companions, acquaintances, and present loved ones. She is like a helpless, confused child who is in way over her head whenever she is with them. She falls in love with a god, who I won't bother to name in my review, because he's hot. How original.

I cannot stress enough how unnecessary and out of left field Hekate's love life is to her story. It's like 2000s-2010s YA.

This is not the Hekate/Hecate I know and admire.

She is surprisingly faltering in her revenge against the gods, as well, considering everything, and in the first half of the book it is suggested she might be prone to vengeance, as one of her motivators (her primary goal is finding her purpose as a god), but it is yet another detail forgotten about later on.

'Hekate: The Witch' - where her title and purpose as the "Goddess of Witchcraft and Necromancy" falls incredibly short in comparison to doting on the male gods in her life.

I reiterate, plainly: when it comes to Hekate's witchcraft, show don't tell!

At least it is a thrilling, epic, educational exploration of Greek mythology and the deities throughout the ages. The Titan war, Hekate's parents Asteria and Perses, Kronos, Styx, Nyx, Gaia, Mnemosyne, Kore, Demeter, Queen Hecuba, Odysseus, every inhabitant of Hades/the Underworld, and so many others, are namedropped, and play important roles in how they relate to Hekate.

Motherhood, grief and bereavement are vital themes, handled quite well and consistently.

I like that it is pointed out how the very concept of womanhood is seen as a threat to the patriarchy, and that's why it has been demonised, shamed, mocked, beaten and treated with violence for centuries, if not millennia.


'I was starting to feel as though my entire existence was a threat. Perhaps this was what womanhood was. The dangerous knowledge of who you are and what you could do with that power if pushed.' (page 277)


Feminism: depressingly relevant and needed in 2025.

I am sorry. No offense is meant by my middling-to-negative opinions and comments in my review of 'Hekate: The Witch'. I have positively no doubt Nikita Gill worked exceedingly hard in researching for and writing this poetry and narrative power ballad. I just think it could have been better. It should have been better.

Final Score: 3/5

Knights of Guinevere 2025 post

Dana Terrace's giant f*** you to Disney is validating and glorious.

(Come on, it's clear that's what's happening here; it can't not be.)

'Knights of Guinevere' also reminds me of classic anime such as 'Cowboy Bebop', 'Wolf's Rain', 'Planetes', 'Battle Angel', and the anime movie 'Metropolis', and there's a bit of 'Princess Tutu' and 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' in there. It has that vibe to go with its social commentary.

I will definitely be looking out for this animated show, unlike a lot of others, and other pilots. It could be the next 'Arcane: League of Legends'.

Glitch is a surefire hit; one of the examples of a promising, progressive future for the animation medium, specifically because it is indie. It is a YouTube animation channel that is legit and guaranteed to be worth your time, in this dark, f***ed up, uncertain moment in human history. Glitch is one of the few things that makes me glad to be living in the 2020s.

'The Owl House' remains my favourite show of all time. Whatever Dana Terrace does next, she deserves all the love and support in the world.

F*** Disney. They are cowards who didn't appreciate what they had, and they didn't deserve Terrace.

I want to feel happiness and hope again. I want to feel like I'm being respected and treated like a intelligent and thoughtful human being again, who wants to keep learning. I want to feel like good dreams can come true again.

Never get tired of saying:

Fuck Disney.

Graphic Novel Review - 'The Variants (A Jessica Jones Mystery)' by Gail Simone (Writer), Phil Noto (Artist), Cory Petit (Letterer)

I had to read 'The Variants' twice to fully "get it", as the case may be. I think one of its major flaws is it doesn't really work as a standalone comic - you have to have read some previous 'Jessica Jones' comics in order to understand most of what is going on, and why.

But I guess, for a mystery comic, reading it more than once is beneficial to understanding it better, and seeing the clues and traps laid out that you didn't notice the first time. Its subtitle is 'A Jessica Jones Mystery', after all. Even though, honestly, Jessica isn't much of a detective here - shit just finds her, and things have to be explained to her by others.

And for a Marvel multiverse story - with Jessica Jones suddenly meeting alternate universe versions of herself, her variants (nice meta, multilayered title, there) - it is a surprisingly quick and easy read. It is a short and fairly simple, self-contained multiverse comic book, not too convoluted and infodumpy, even if it doesn't make enough sense, especially by the end. But hey, I'll take what I can get with superhero media nowadays.

I wanted to read 'The Variants' because of Jessica Jones and Gail Simone. The female comics writing legend can pen entertaining superhero sequential art, while incorporating difficult and sensitive issues and subject matters.

And Jessica's still existent and happy family life, despite everything.

Life will never be quiet, uncomplicated, and painless for Jessica Jones, but her family - her husband, the sexy Luke Cage, and their three-year-old daughter Dani - are her rock. They will always be there, and will always love her.

In the multiversal 'The Variants' - one of Jessica Jones's most bizarre adventures - we have Jessica trying to be more feminine via lipstick shades (it makes sense in context, and is even quite touching and empowering), Jessica's coffee obsession and relapsing in full force, Jessica coming to terms with her trauma, her past, all over again, "mob bosses" who have nothing better to do than target a coffee shop, Matt Murdoch/Daredevil, Tigra (in a flashback, and I don't think I've seen her before, though she is mentioned in 'Alias, Vol. 1' , and she kisses Jessica on the lips), She-Hulk (who doesn't interact with Matt, a fellow lawyer and regular acquaintance, and she acts as a bodyguard, who is then forgotten about halfway through the comic), Misty Knight, Iron Fist (another mainstay in Jess and Luke's lives, like Misty, except he is family to Luke, and Dani's godfather), and Professor X in one of his best appearances. There is X-Men content, too.

Seeing Jessica Jones as various heroes, and as her past superhero identities, is fucking cool. 'The Variants''s selling point is charming, if too short and compact, and over too soon.

I swear, the more 'Jessica Jones' comics I read, the more convinced I am that the heroine is perhaps a better superhero than a PI, which she would never comfortably admit to. She's not that good, precise, and deductive a detective, as sharp as her instincts usually are, though they largely kick in whenever she is about to be physically attacked - for example, by intruders in her crappy, run-down Alias Investigations office. Trouble finds her more than she finds it, as an easy plot contrivance. She gets deceived - hoodwinked - far too often, and kidnapped far too often. She's great at punching people and escaping dangerous situations, though. She's not a big Marvel punching bag herself, and the focus remains on her as an abuse survivor, but she is close to it.

On that note, it is maddening how utterly unsympathetic Jessica is towards other survivors - in this, 'Purple Daughter', and other comics. She is chiefly motivated by anger, self-hatred and shame, and it hasn't changed since 'Alias, Vol. 1'; it continues to be a frustrating, glaring failing of hers. When will she finally get out of her own head and learn she is far from alone in her life-shattering, violating, painful experience, and take solace, community and strength from that? Strength from other victims?

But anyway, 'The Variants':

Regardless of its flaws - including the... somewhat eyebrow-raising twist villain reveal and ending, which needed further fleshing out - it is a refreshing and well written 'Jessica Jones' and superheroine trade comic book.

The art is brill and colourful. It isn't dark and noirish like many 'Jessica Jones' comics, and it is aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

I love the moment when Jessica says to Luke, "I married into magic". They are a wonderful couple. My ultimate power couple, as I said in my review of 'Blind Spot'.

Then there's the fact that 'The Variants' makes a point of saying abusers target people who are happy. They hate free and happy people, and they want to turn them into submissive, small, miserable victims - small, miserable and hateful like they are.

All abusers are cowards. Pathetic, childish, narcissistic, self-loathing, empty, little cowards. Who are only, temporarily satisfied when they hurt, dominate and control people.

It's okay to not forgive your abusers; another lesson from 'The Variants'. You can forgive yourself, but not the people who continuously hurt you without remorse.

Well fucking done, Gail Simone, and thank you.

That's it for my 'Jessica Jones' reviews for now.

What a dark, raw, emotional, psychological, yet thrilling and empowering journey it's been. These have been entertaining, female-centered mystery stories. Starring an extremely flawed and tragic, yet admirable and hopeful female protagonist.

The rest of the reviews:


'Jessica Jones: Alias, Vol. 1'

'Jessica Jones, Vol. 1: Uncaged!'

'Jessica Jones: Blind Spot'

'Jessica Jones: Purple Daughter'


As mature, heavy and harrowing as her content is, I'll keep coming back to Jessica Jones. Happy life and family to you, Jess. You have earned it. You deserve it.

Final Score: 3.5/5

Graphic Novel Review - 'Jessica Jones: Purple Daughter' by Kelly Thompson (Writer), Mattia De Iulis (Artist, Colourist), Filipe Andrade (Artist), Stephane Paitreau (Colourist), Cory Petit (Letterer)

One of the darkest, most harrowing and intense of 'Jessica Jones' comics, written by the magnanimous Kelly Thompson.

'Purple Daughter' pulls no punches. It is a heart and mind punch from beginning to end. For Marvel especially, it is brutal, and pretty pessimistic and depressing. Its cover is heartbreaking.

Lucky that it is quite a short comic, then.

Jessica and Luke Cage's toddler daughter, Dani, has suddenly turned purple, and what this means in context is Jessica's worst nightmare, the worst trauma of her life come back to haunt her; to psychologically and emotionally kill this survivor.

It is a planned attack. It is torture and terrorism to her very sense of self; to her sense of reality.

Content warning for SA and PTSD is warranted for this Marvel comic.

Jessica Jones's character and story have never been for children for a reason.

As little as little Dani actually appears in the comic whose title refers to her, perhaps there is a reason for it. It is absolutely to do with Jessica and her reactions, and spiralling, fracturing, and desperate denying. She is a traumatised adult seeing her child become a reminder of everything she hates and fears, and the horrific, devastating implications of what it might mean. It's not a trigger, it's an explosion. (Plus, Dani's lack of page time could be attributed to there being only so much Marvel is willing to do with toddler characters, when they even remember they exist).

I won't reveal much of the haunting plot, but I will add a caveat and say it does, sadly, showcase superhero comics' tendency to not commit to just fucking kill off their villains already; even worse when the villain's deserved and cathartic death is retconned away, like it's nothing. Like the heroes never accomplished anything. How insulting, to both them and the audience.

Death has never meant anything in superhero comics - everyone comes back eventually, without fail, we all know this - but it is far more annoying when comic companies refuse to move on and away from the worst, most vile and evil villains they create. Those villains are done, and no one wants to see them again. Move on to something else!

Oh, and how many damn 'Jessica Jones' comics kill a one-off female character, whether she is a client of Jess's or not, as part of a supervillain's plan? The random doomed woman in 'Purple Daughter' is especially egregious and arbitrary, not meaning anything in the long run. Seriously, it's part of the 'Women in Refrigerator' trope, a term first coined from the comics media to describe a pop cultural phenomena*, and it needs to have died by now, and it's kind of counterintuitive to Jessica Jones's character's feminist representation.

But apart from that, 'Purple Daughter' is mostly written deftly, and it handles its subject matters well. Not consistently carefully, tactfully and sensitively, mind you, but well nonetheless. A conscious, knowledgeable effort is there, though there are instances of frustration amid the horror. It is an on-the-edge-of-your-seat mystery thriller, that stays gripping throughout, without feeling tasteless and exploitative.

The artwork is the same (for the most part) as in 'Blind Spot'. As nice, dark and clean as it looks, my lingering suspicion of some tracing stands.

The superheroines who come to Jessica's aid are Captain Marvel, and Emma Frost, who plays a major role. Unlike so many other appearances I've seen her in, Emma Frost is cool, literally and emblematically, and she is neither a boring, too evil villain, nor a boring, bland antiheroine. I like her here, and that's something.

She's still objectified, however, to the point of it being played for laughs a couple times, even in a comic like this. *sigh*

So, Jessica Jones fans, feel free to read 'Jessica Jones: Purple Daughter', but with caution. It's not a fun, sunshiny, easy read. Pay heed to content warnings.

I'll leave it at that.

Bless you, Jessica Jones. Never give up. Remember you are loved, no matter what.

Feel free to also read my reviews of 'Jessica Jones: Alias, Vol. 1', 'Jessica Jones, Vol. 1: Uncaged!', and 

'Jessica Jones: Blind Spot', in that order.

* It is a term coined by Gail Simone herself, who will go on to write 'The Variants' - 'A Jessica Jones Mystery'!

Final Score: 3.5/5

Graphic Novel Review - 'Jessica Jones: Blind Spot' by Kelly Thompson (Writer), Mattia De Iulis (Artist, Colourist), Marcio Takara (Artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (Colourist), Cory Petit (Letterer)

'Jessica Jones: Blind Spot' is one of the most fun and entertaining 'Jessica Jones' comics I have read - as much fun as you can have with a character like her, with her backstory, anyway. It might be my favourite of hers to date.

It is a dark (literally and figuratively) crime mystery comic, starring gritty private detective Jessica Jones, while simultaneously, it is a superhero action comic, containing colourful superheroes. And it works. I shouldn't be surprised, seeing as it was written by the queen, Kelly Thompson.

'Blind Spot' explicitly deals with themes of toxic masculinity, and abuse and violence against women. It is about women supporting women, and men doing better - they can be better. They can be decent human beings to women. Fuck the patriarchy that says they can't. That says the bare minimum of civilised decency in men is impossible, because they won't want to be good, kind, caring people, without expecting something in return. That says women shouldn't expect better from men anyway, and they should put up with them in everything.

Being a good person, not being a monster, is common sense, and its own reward. It's innate, natural, healthy. It shouldn't have to require effort or anything resembling an achievement.

In 'Blind Spot', we have Jessica team up with, or at least talk to, Captain Marvel (I'm glad they're still friends), Misty Knight (when isn't she up in Jess's business, when she seems determined to never be her friend?), Elsa Bloodstone (oh, fuck yeah! Finally I've read a Marvel comic I like with the redhaired British monster hunter and slayer in it!), a White Rabbit, Spider-Man, Mary Jane Watson, Doctor Strange (and his talking snakes... sure, why not? He's Doctor Strange and it's Marvel), She-Hulk, Thor, and some shark geezer who wrecks Jessica and Luke's two-year-old daughter's birthday party. It's all cool.

I'm glad to see Jessica happy with a family. Luke Cage is a wonderful, funny, hot and sexy man; a powerful man who takes crap from no one, and is a brilliant husband to Jessica, despite literally everything going on with her. Her unfathomable baggage and trauma. Luke deals with it with her, helps her, and copes with and shares her horrific life and personal struggles as his own, because he truly loves her. She is lucky, in that regard, to have him. Never let him go, Jess. Never stop appreciating the Power Man.

Jessica Jones and Luke Cage are my ultimate power couple. Their daughter, Dani, is adorable.

The artwork in 'Blindspot' is gorgeous, though a lot of it looks traced. The art in the final issue is an improvement, as it's more expressive.

'Jessica Jones: Blind Spot' by Kelly Thompson - hugely, highly recommended. If you like Marvel's Jessica Jones, and flawed, vulnerable yet strong female characters, who go up against all odds, and punch toxic, abusive, patriarchal men in the face, then there is plenty to love here.

For more more more!, read my reviews of 'Jessica Jones: Alias, Vol. 1', and 'Jessica Jones, Vol. 1: Uncaged!'.

Now onto Kelly Thompson's next 'Jessica Jones' comic, 'Purple Daughter', which has the exact opposite tone to this one. It is a heavy, harrowing, difficult, distressing read, but I will get there, and come out the other side having survived, like Jessica has.

On that depressing note, I end my review of this fun superhero comic!

Final Score: 4/5

Graphic Novel Review - 'Jessica Jones, Vol. 1: Uncaged!' by Brian Michael Bendis (Writer), Michael Gaydos (Artist), Matt Hollingsworth (Colourist), Cory Petit (Letterer)

'Jessica Jones, Vol. 1: Uncaged!' is perhaps my least favourite good 'Jessica Jones' comic. I am aware of its flaws and plot holes, and it has Jessica herself at her most genuinely unlikeable, manipulative, and despicable, mainly due to flimsy and contrived writing.

But Doctor Strangely enough, I find it to still be a fun and thrilling Marvel comic, from 2017. Jessica Jones is brought back to her messy PI noir roots, and she has more complicated life shit than ever before. For one, she has a baby daughter, Danielle, with her now-husband, the unfairly hot and delectable Luke Cage, and because this is superhero comics, this family drama requires sacrifices as well as love... dialled up to extreme and absurd levels.

'Uncaged!' contains Misty Knight (a mainstay in Jess and Luke's lives), Jessica Drew as Spider-Woman, Commander Carter of S.H.I.E.L.D., the supervillain Spot (*pfft*), and Gwenpool...?... I think?... and Jessica Jones's horrible mother, in, thankfully, the only comic I've seen her in.

Oh, and there's Captain Marvel in the aftermath of the 'Civil War II' BS, like anybody wouldn't rather forget that happened. Plus multiverse BS and babble, because of course.

It's to do with Jessica's development, and her considering if life, and choices, are indeed meaningless, I think? The moral is nothing matters?

Bah. Marvel, get your head out of your arse with your existential multiverse nonsense you yourselves created, and into therapy, and have more fun with your heroes. Remember fun? Superhero fun? Likeable heroes who trust one another and don't act like villains?

With that said, in 'Uncaged!', it is all told interestingly, and the ideas hold massive potential. They're just not perfectly reached. In fact, in hindsight, they seem arbitrary, superfluous and pointless. Brian Michael Bendis flung in the first ideas that came to him, without giving them the needed time to develop properly. Did he contemplate seriously whether they would actually fit into the story, a story about Jessica Jones, niche noir PI? In any case, he bit off more than he could chew when penning for the wider superhero universe, which appears to be a reoccurrence in his writing career. I wouldn't call it pretentious, confusing or convoluted, but it comes close.

But I enjoyed the comic nonetheless. It manages not to be an aggregated, messy disaster. It is entertaining, and Jess Jones kicks arse, even when she's failing at being a hero in a simple, straightforward way. The art by Michael Gaydos remains great, and I like the copious amounts of girl power and female presences.

The premise of 'Uncaged!' works in-universe by Jessica Jones being a colossal fuckup, and playing to that strength, to her advantage, so... meta?

I love the painting and shades of the cover art, too, I cannot lie. Love Mum Jessica Jones in jeans, a black jacket, and a scarf.

Read my review of 'Jessica Jones: Alias, Vol. 1' for my additional, greater thoughts on the Marvel heroine.

Final Score: 3.5/5