Well, colour me surprised: I actually enjoyed a Marvel volume collection from before the 2010s, and the only one directly related to the X-Men.
'X-23: The Complete Collection Vol. 1' is a good starting point to getting to know who Laura Kinney, aka X-23, really is. She can so easily be dismissed as just a teenage female version of Wolverine - not helped that she is his literal clone; another attempt at Weapon X. I know I rolled my eyes upon first hearing about her in the 'X-Men' lore years ago, in the 'X-Men: Evolution' cartoon she debuted in, rather than the movie 'Logan', aka 'Wolverine movie no. 9 in less than two decades'.
This '"opposite sex clone" trope, where popular male heroes receive the distaff counterpart treatment, and where quite frankly a disturbing number of the female clones are very young and objectified, seems like quite frankly lazy writing, and an example of the myriad of lazy ways of introducing female characters who exist sorely in relation to an already-established male character.
But the writing in this collection is nuanced, heartfelt, poignant, and clever enough that any concerns over why X-23 was created in the first place can be overlooked. It contains complex mother-daughter bonds (yes, plural), non-boring superhero comic science, a steady pace for an origin story, the right amount of bloody violence and death without being gratuitous or losing heart and purpose, and as little dialogue as is necessary: nothing feels cluttered with too much exposition, and it lets the gorgeous, action-packed artwork speak for the story just so that the near-400 pages fly by. Anyone who has never read an 'X-Men' comic before can still get invested in this without a lot of confusion or pointless continuity jackhammers.
As is expected from anything 'X-Men'-related, men and women in 'X-23' can be both supportive and be monsters to one another. And you could safely say that all government authorities in superhero universes, especially if they mostly consist of giant laboratories, are corrupt, cutthroat, hypocritical, and idiotic (why do the scientists never consider that raising a clone to be an inhumane assassin might have serious consequences and backfire easily and spectacularly? Don't they ever watch movies? They are not simply one-dimensional and morally-bankrupt, they are really stupid).
Laura herself is an interesting character with a lot of emotional baggage to carry around throughout her young, tragic existence. Not a normal teenage girl by any means, due to her cold, sterile, torturous and abusive imprisonment of an upbringing at the hands of the evil Facility, she's quiet, reserved, and intelligent, but antisocial.
Once the heartbreaking saga of her origin, leading to her escape, is told, she is fighting to the death at every corner of her life - her ignorance of the outside world - using her Wolverine adamantium claws. And she doesn't just use them on others; she continuously self-harms as well.
To the Facility, she was nothing but a specimen, built to be the ultimate weapon: a Weapon X project that of course went horribly wrong. Poor Laura flips between trying to fit in and sympathise with others, like her traumatised cousin Megan and the X-Men, and not bothering and coming close to embracing the killer she was created to be by the Facility. She had been forced to murder dozens of people back then, and again throughout her journey and "freedom" - in cold blood.
Can she never escape this after all? Is it what she wants?
Laura is fierce and, in the end, not loyal to anybody, because she belongs to nobody but herself. Not to the Facility; not to the X-Force, lead by no one's favourite X-Man, Cyclops (the prick); not to Wolverine, a father figure; nor Storm, a mother figure; nor her inner and outer space and time demons (don't ask, it's comic books).
Laura Kinney's story is one about choice, and having or seeking a conscience, and redemption, and finding out whether or not she has a soul. She is Pinocchio, of which the book was read to her by her scientist mother Sarah Kinney against the Facility's wishes, searching for a way to become a real human. She's damn powerful, and capable of helping others in need (female friends ahoy!). Plus her vulnerabilities are presented as a source of both strength and weakness for her, in her ultimately-human complexity.
To complete X-23's antiheroine appeal, she also sports a biker girl/emo girl getup after escaping the Facility, and sadly a few artists' panels in some of the issues can't seem to resist literally drawing attention to her backside, and to a bare cleavage and midriff, even though she is a small child in her teens. X-ing typical.
The final issue where Laura teams up with Ghost Rider more than makes up for that, however, no matter how short the story is. It wraps things up nicely in a quaint little bow of hellfire.
So I do recommend 'X-23: The Complete Collection Vol. 1', for the collected issues are on the whole enjoyable, fun, thought-provoking, intricate, and profound. Satisfying.
Final Score: 4/5
Sunday, 2 July 2017
Friday, 30 June 2017
As June draws to a close, let us never forget the love, hope and efforts surrounding LGBT Pride Month and its importance, all year round. I haven't been reading much this month, due to catching up on a lot of television series and movies (I got two weeks off work), but I can fix that in July! Have a lovely weekend and beyond, you all! :)
LGBT Pride Month - A little of what we can learn
Nothing surprises me anymore. More and more news of people behaving as the worst human beings imaginable to each other, and we are meant to just accept it, that this is normal. That humans are naturally divisive and hate-filled cavemen incapable of listening and reason; that any attempt to educate and better ourselves is useless because we are all merely animals attuned only to our most base instincts, so violence, ignorance, bullying and intimidation are inevitable; that crimes such as murder and attempted murder on both a small and massive scale are the norm now. Especially if the perpetrator is white and male. The most powerful, influential people on earth do morally-reprehensible, nonsensical things simply because they can; politics is supposed to be serious business, not a children's game of us-vs-them, of with-us-or-against-us, black-and-white mentality. It's the 21st bloody century, and people have become so scared of so-called PC culture that the world/mainstream society and culture has switched to reverse and tried to destroy all decades-long, hard-earned human progress. This world - of the lonely, the power-hungry. of entitlement and unchecked privilege - has become a parody of itself, and it's not because it has gone insane - it just stopped giving a shit. Please, please don't let this be the generation that stopped giving a shit. People's lives are at stake here.
With all that said, Happy LGBT Pride Month, as it comes to an end this year. May the next one shine more hope. Although one month of celebrating, respecting, and "caring" about a violently-marginalized community's existence for one month isn't enough when it's a continuous struggle, all year round.
Here's to hope. Have a nice weekend, everyone :)
Monday, 26 June 2017
Graphic Novel Review - 'Wonder Woman, Vol. 1: Gods and Mortals (Wonder Woman II #1)' by George Pérez (Writer), Len Wein, Greg Potter, Bruce Patterson (Artist)
Bloody expensive purchase well spent.
It was only a matter of time before I took a look at George Pérez's rewriting of Wonder Woman's origin story after the 'Crisis on Infinite Earths' event, which was made to reboot and retool the DC Universe in 1985. My collection of the superheroine's comics is growing more and more, and though I feel I already know her inside and out and as intimately as any fangirl can dream of, without worrying about not being considered a "true" fan or some such bollocks - still, essential reading is essential. And after seeing the pleasant surprise that is the 'Wonder Woman' summer blockbuster this year - finally made seventy-five-plus years after her creation - I was pumped to get back into the stories of this phenomenal, original and wondrous superwoman.
'Wonder Woman, Vol. 1: Gods and Mortals' turns out to be really interesting.
Wonder Woman's Amazonian heritage, and the complex history of her fellow sisterhood before arriving on Themyscria and Diana's blessed birth from clay, remains the same as it was originally in the 40s. Only this time the mythos is given more depth and detail. Feminism - or the eighties second-wave feminism - is presented with pride, and issues such as male entitlement, toxic masculinity, and the archaic patriarchal society lingering on as an excuse to hate and fear women, are explored. Ignorance and hatred are clearly shown as bad things, like with the Amazons originally being made by the female Greek gods (idea and leadership by my dear Artemis!) from the souls of women who were killed by men. Misogyny takes on many forms. This social sickness has always been around and it continues even more insidiously in our "enlightened" times, and it cannot be allowed to thrive further and win, for everybody's sake.
Greek mythology is also front and center in this comic; every deity has a purpose and a personality. The characters - the Amazons, the mortals, and the gods, even, as it turns out (thanks to Diana), including the obviously evil Ares - struggle and deal with so much suffering. The reader really gets a feel for them as people, more so than Wondy herself.
I think the only weakness in 'Gods and Mortals' that matters is Diana's characterization. She's kind, caring, thoughtful, and a badass as always; however, I feel that she isn't given quite enough of a presence in her own comic, leaving less of an impact and impression compared to the other, stronger characters. I like that she is mostly in the dark about what is going on in her journey - as is common for a supposed protagonist whom the reader follows - as she leaves her home island to stop Ares from destroying the world via manipulating men and women to launch nuclear weapons. She is learning from each of her experiences (including speaking better English in man's world), being guided by gods and humans alike. But her naivete wears thin after a while. What I found to be most interesting about the warrior princess, aside from how she uses her Lasso of Truth in battles, is her fear of guns, after barely deflecting bullets in her final trial at the Amazon tournament on Themyscira. Maybe this - an inkling of Diana's stance against, and fear of, war and violence? - gets explored further in the later issues.
But it is a hero's journey Wonder Woman takes, with MacGuffins and everything. She does fly - there is no need for an invisible jet! She will not resort to brute force to defeat her enemy, and save the world from nuclear war. Wonder Woman is the name the American press gives her (Superman is mentioned in this!) after she defeats a monster of decay that terrorized the city she is staying in. They already admire and respect her enough to give her her own unique identity, in the public eye, without making her a female version of Superman, an established male superhero. She is love, decency and hope. She is truth.
Steve Trevor is probably at his blandest here. I barely remember what he did; we don't even see Diana take him into hospital for his burning-plane-above-Themyscira injuries, once she is teleported by Hermes to man's world. That is how little Pérez seems to care about him. Steve fights and is framed for murder in his own army base, but that's all that stands out about him. No romance is present in this volume, not properly. Thank Hera. Though I am confused as to how Steve's fate, his destiny, is said to be tied with Diana's - according to a prophecy - when they barely talk to each other! It comes out of nowhere and it makes Steve appear even more superfluous in the story. It's not like the other soldiers are useless.
I love Etta Candy in this version of Wondy's origin. She's a brave, motherly lieutenant and a foil to Diana's view of feminine beauty standards; no wonder, since all her life she has only been around women whose fitness ideal equals tall and skinny. Etta is an equal to the men in her field, is unpretentious, and a Mama Bear: she will do anything to protect her loved ones. Professor Julia Kapatelis, a reluctant mortal guide to Diana, is an actual mother, and a smart and fantastically capable woman - a middle-aged woman at that. Her daughter Vanessa gets infected by the decay monster and is on the brink of death, so the stakes are more personal for her to help Diana on her mission. Julia, whom Diana calls a sister, is another credit to feminism,
The artwork is typical eighties comic books, nothing special. Let's conclude this.
'Wonder Woman, Vol. 1: Gods and Monsters' is a fun and soulful superhero origin story. The mythology, the wide array of truly strong female characters, the political intrigue, and the action are all well-integrated and balanced in their places in the comic. The layering of the divided worlds of the Greek gods and the modern day mortals - and Wonder Woman as the saviour of both - is written excellently, and so is the pacing. While it is not the strongest starting point to getting to know Wonder Woman as a character, nor for new readers to understand why she is so popular, there is enough here about her and her iconography and values that nothing important is missing.
I'm super glad I read it. History is important. The past a vital learning curve and experience.
Final Score: 4/5
It was only a matter of time before I took a look at George Pérez's rewriting of Wonder Woman's origin story after the 'Crisis on Infinite Earths' event, which was made to reboot and retool the DC Universe in 1985. My collection of the superheroine's comics is growing more and more, and though I feel I already know her inside and out and as intimately as any fangirl can dream of, without worrying about not being considered a "true" fan or some such bollocks - still, essential reading is essential. And after seeing the pleasant surprise that is the 'Wonder Woman' summer blockbuster this year - finally made seventy-five-plus years after her creation - I was pumped to get back into the stories of this phenomenal, original and wondrous superwoman.
'Wonder Woman, Vol. 1: Gods and Mortals' turns out to be really interesting.
Wonder Woman's Amazonian heritage, and the complex history of her fellow sisterhood before arriving on Themyscria and Diana's blessed birth from clay, remains the same as it was originally in the 40s. Only this time the mythos is given more depth and detail. Feminism - or the eighties second-wave feminism - is presented with pride, and issues such as male entitlement, toxic masculinity, and the archaic patriarchal society lingering on as an excuse to hate and fear women, are explored. Ignorance and hatred are clearly shown as bad things, like with the Amazons originally being made by the female Greek gods (idea and leadership by my dear Artemis!) from the souls of women who were killed by men. Misogyny takes on many forms. This social sickness has always been around and it continues even more insidiously in our "enlightened" times, and it cannot be allowed to thrive further and win, for everybody's sake.
Greek mythology is also front and center in this comic; every deity has a purpose and a personality. The characters - the Amazons, the mortals, and the gods, even, as it turns out (thanks to Diana), including the obviously evil Ares - struggle and deal with so much suffering. The reader really gets a feel for them as people, more so than Wondy herself.
I think the only weakness in 'Gods and Mortals' that matters is Diana's characterization. She's kind, caring, thoughtful, and a badass as always; however, I feel that she isn't given quite enough of a presence in her own comic, leaving less of an impact and impression compared to the other, stronger characters. I like that she is mostly in the dark about what is going on in her journey - as is common for a supposed protagonist whom the reader follows - as she leaves her home island to stop Ares from destroying the world via manipulating men and women to launch nuclear weapons. She is learning from each of her experiences (including speaking better English in man's world), being guided by gods and humans alike. But her naivete wears thin after a while. What I found to be most interesting about the warrior princess, aside from how she uses her Lasso of Truth in battles, is her fear of guns, after barely deflecting bullets in her final trial at the Amazon tournament on Themyscira. Maybe this - an inkling of Diana's stance against, and fear of, war and violence? - gets explored further in the later issues.
But it is a hero's journey Wonder Woman takes, with MacGuffins and everything. She does fly - there is no need for an invisible jet! She will not resort to brute force to defeat her enemy, and save the world from nuclear war. Wonder Woman is the name the American press gives her (Superman is mentioned in this!) after she defeats a monster of decay that terrorized the city she is staying in. They already admire and respect her enough to give her her own unique identity, in the public eye, without making her a female version of Superman, an established male superhero. She is love, decency and hope. She is truth.
Steve Trevor is probably at his blandest here. I barely remember what he did; we don't even see Diana take him into hospital for his burning-plane-above-Themyscira injuries, once she is teleported by Hermes to man's world. That is how little Pérez seems to care about him. Steve fights and is framed for murder in his own army base, but that's all that stands out about him. No romance is present in this volume, not properly. Thank Hera. Though I am confused as to how Steve's fate, his destiny, is said to be tied with Diana's - according to a prophecy - when they barely talk to each other! It comes out of nowhere and it makes Steve appear even more superfluous in the story. It's not like the other soldiers are useless.
I love Etta Candy in this version of Wondy's origin. She's a brave, motherly lieutenant and a foil to Diana's view of feminine beauty standards; no wonder, since all her life she has only been around women whose fitness ideal equals tall and skinny. Etta is an equal to the men in her field, is unpretentious, and a Mama Bear: she will do anything to protect her loved ones. Professor Julia Kapatelis, a reluctant mortal guide to Diana, is an actual mother, and a smart and fantastically capable woman - a middle-aged woman at that. Her daughter Vanessa gets infected by the decay monster and is on the brink of death, so the stakes are more personal for her to help Diana on her mission. Julia, whom Diana calls a sister, is another credit to feminism,
The artwork is typical eighties comic books, nothing special. Let's conclude this.
'Wonder Woman, Vol. 1: Gods and Monsters' is a fun and soulful superhero origin story. The mythology, the wide array of truly strong female characters, the political intrigue, and the action are all well-integrated and balanced in their places in the comic. The layering of the divided worlds of the Greek gods and the modern day mortals - and Wonder Woman as the saviour of both - is written excellently, and so is the pacing. While it is not the strongest starting point to getting to know Wonder Woman as a character, nor for new readers to understand why she is so popular, there is enough here about her and her iconography and values that nothing important is missing.
I'm super glad I read it. History is important. The past a vital learning curve and experience.
Final Score: 4/5
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