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3. Silk: The Life and Times of Cindy Moon by Robbie Thompson, Stacey Lee, Annapaola Martello & Tana Ford - My familiarity with SIlk was from the Spiderman related titles where she was the one who was wearing a weird nightgown made of webbing that is supposed to be her costume. I did not know about her origins as a Korean American or the Stockholm Syndrome backstory where she was kept away from the world for 10 years and her family is missing.
This is the first issue of Cindy Moon in her own book and it works as an introduction for the uninitiated (those who weren't eager to see the new Spider title and just checked it out from the library) as she gets presented as a counterpoint to Spiderman. She's working for the Daily Planet but J.Jonah Jameson likes her both as an employee and a superhero. She's drawn like a human being which is a nice relief to the male gaze comics that I've been gorging myself on since I was 12. Really easier to claim that a heroine is a feminist character if she is drawn like a person instead of a Playboy model. I'm not terribly thrilled with her expressing displeasure with Peter Parker by sucker punching him since it's a trope that's used too much, like cops pulling out their guns and pointing them at people. But the emotional truth of Cindy not going with Parker just turning her over to the Fantastic Four to work on her issues when he just outright blabs her family history is wonderful.
My favorite part is when Robbie Thompson does something that I loved in Spiderwoman (It's very strange but I LOVE every Spider title except for ones where Peter Parker is the original. He's off being an entrepreneur. It's boring) which is to forge a relationship with a villain who is practically a non-entity and at first is a joke. At first, it's the kind of relationship between hero and villain that gets played out. Hero beats up a villain who is mostly a joke. Villain goes off and comes back with much better tech. Villain becomes a real challenge and a lot of it has to do with the fact that the villain is angry over being mocked and passed over.
And then the twist that worked so well in Spiderwoman and I love in this one as well - the villain is a real person and a human being with motivations and feelings that go beyond being pissy about a superhero fight. Just one moment puts this book above a lot of other books which is when he just says "I give up. Please stop." Then there's a whole lot of caper stuff to get his daughter back but when he shows up again he's saving lives from the big event that is the lead up to Secret Wars.
The Secret Wars ending is kind of just there. I kind of like it but I know that Ms. Marvel also did it well. But there's something about the world ending and everyone trying to find their loved ones and be their best selves that just makes me all weepy. And it does advance the plot as she finds her brother who seems to have been lobotomized.
4. Rick & Morty Volume 2 by Corman Maclean & Cannon Flardi - It's fan fiction. I mean it's fine. But graphic novels of television shows, especially television shows with emerging world building and mythology are going to play within the lines. The main story is the alternate universe where everything is Steampunk and Morty is the dictator. Everyone falls into the usual line. Summer is angry and resistance. Jerry is pathetic. Beth is the commandant for her psychopathic son. The Rick and Morty of the regular universe are more tourists than active participants. There's also a ball fondlers advertisement that takes up 22 pages because everyone loved intergalactic television.
The "A Very Special Blumbus" chapter is the only one that really made me happy I bought the book. The art is creepy and the story is a take off on the Christmas tale but with cannibalism. And I know that using Christmas as a take off to tell creepy stories is a standard joke (Lindsay Ellis kind of ruined that for me by pointing it out), it's still funny.
5. Junjo Ito's Cat Diary: Yon & Mu - Junjo Ito is one of the creepiest manga artists working today. His books are full of body horror and psychological terror. Tomie should not be scary (her power is that people kill her and she comes back) but every story is a paranoia inducing freakout. So of course, he's going to write a book about his cats.
There was a joke that William S. Burroughs was creepiest when he wrote a book about his cats. I don't agree. Burroughs wrote creepy junkie books for the most part, but the book itself was sweet and heartfelt. This on the other hand tries to be as creepy as possible. His wife has no pupils and looks like she's going to eat him. The white and gray cat Yon has a death head patter on his back. Whenever he depicts himself wanting to play with the cats, he draws himself like one of trying to kill Tomie.
However, the book actually comes to a point where he starts drawing things more naturalistic. So instead of a joke of Manga Horror Guy making cats even creepier than snail people, it's actually a purposeful reflection of how he went from a cat hater reluctantly agreeing to live with them to a man who genuinely loves his cats. So they are softened. So like the Burroughs book, it's pretty sweet. But unlike the Burroughs book it takes a bit to get there and is creepy as fuck for at least the first third.
This is the first issue of Cindy Moon in her own book and it works as an introduction for the uninitiated (those who weren't eager to see the new Spider title and just checked it out from the library) as she gets presented as a counterpoint to Spiderman. She's working for the Daily Planet but J.Jonah Jameson likes her both as an employee and a superhero. She's drawn like a human being which is a nice relief to the male gaze comics that I've been gorging myself on since I was 12. Really easier to claim that a heroine is a feminist character if she is drawn like a person instead of a Playboy model. I'm not terribly thrilled with her expressing displeasure with Peter Parker by sucker punching him since it's a trope that's used too much, like cops pulling out their guns and pointing them at people. But the emotional truth of Cindy not going with Parker just turning her over to the Fantastic Four to work on her issues when he just outright blabs her family history is wonderful.
My favorite part is when Robbie Thompson does something that I loved in Spiderwoman (It's very strange but I LOVE every Spider title except for ones where Peter Parker is the original. He's off being an entrepreneur. It's boring) which is to forge a relationship with a villain who is practically a non-entity and at first is a joke. At first, it's the kind of relationship between hero and villain that gets played out. Hero beats up a villain who is mostly a joke. Villain goes off and comes back with much better tech. Villain becomes a real challenge and a lot of it has to do with the fact that the villain is angry over being mocked and passed over.
And then the twist that worked so well in Spiderwoman and I love in this one as well - the villain is a real person and a human being with motivations and feelings that go beyond being pissy about a superhero fight. Just one moment puts this book above a lot of other books which is when he just says "I give up. Please stop." Then there's a whole lot of caper stuff to get his daughter back but when he shows up again he's saving lives from the big event that is the lead up to Secret Wars.
The Secret Wars ending is kind of just there. I kind of like it but I know that Ms. Marvel also did it well. But there's something about the world ending and everyone trying to find their loved ones and be their best selves that just makes me all weepy. And it does advance the plot as she finds her brother who seems to have been lobotomized.
4. Rick & Morty Volume 2 by Corman Maclean & Cannon Flardi - It's fan fiction. I mean it's fine. But graphic novels of television shows, especially television shows with emerging world building and mythology are going to play within the lines. The main story is the alternate universe where everything is Steampunk and Morty is the dictator. Everyone falls into the usual line. Summer is angry and resistance. Jerry is pathetic. Beth is the commandant for her psychopathic son. The Rick and Morty of the regular universe are more tourists than active participants. There's also a ball fondlers advertisement that takes up 22 pages because everyone loved intergalactic television.
The "A Very Special Blumbus" chapter is the only one that really made me happy I bought the book. The art is creepy and the story is a take off on the Christmas tale but with cannibalism. And I know that using Christmas as a take off to tell creepy stories is a standard joke (Lindsay Ellis kind of ruined that for me by pointing it out), it's still funny.
5. Junjo Ito's Cat Diary: Yon & Mu - Junjo Ito is one of the creepiest manga artists working today. His books are full of body horror and psychological terror. Tomie should not be scary (her power is that people kill her and she comes back) but every story is a paranoia inducing freakout. So of course, he's going to write a book about his cats.
There was a joke that William S. Burroughs was creepiest when he wrote a book about his cats. I don't agree. Burroughs wrote creepy junkie books for the most part, but the book itself was sweet and heartfelt. This on the other hand tries to be as creepy as possible. His wife has no pupils and looks like she's going to eat him. The white and gray cat Yon has a death head patter on his back. Whenever he depicts himself wanting to play with the cats, he draws himself like one of trying to kill Tomie.
However, the book actually comes to a point where he starts drawing things more naturalistic. So instead of a joke of Manga Horror Guy making cats even creepier than snail people, it's actually a purposeful reflection of how he went from a cat hater reluctantly agreeing to live with them to a man who genuinely loves his cats. So they are softened. So like the Burroughs book, it's pretty sweet. But unlike the Burroughs book it takes a bit to get there and is creepy as fuck for at least the first third.
