Beast Complex, 1.

 

- Beast Complex, vol. 1. Paru Itagaki. 

Six tales set in a furry world (the one from “Beastars” —this anthology was written concurrently with it, as were the latter volumes). A preppy lion trying to help an outcast bat, and discovering which of them truly needed help. A tiger and a beaver trying to hold on to their friendship despite societal pressure. A kangaroo motel owner and his panther guest who harbors a dangerous secret. The gazelle and crocodile hosts of a cooking show in need of a desperate stunt to stay afloat. A camel reporter spending a life-changing night with a mysterious wolf woman. And two fox and chameleon high schoolers dealing with prejudice and revenge…

The recurrent theme, the delicate balance of personal need and societal benefits, helps set the stories in different genres —Noir, Drama, Romance, Comedy… And the cast is uniformly interesting and as diverse as needed. 

Very much recommended, particularly for those who appreciate variety and unusual readings. 

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2021 TV

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Assorted tv shows and other stuff I’ve finished this year so far (and that I did not do a longer review of for one or another reason): 

ANIMATED

- DC Superhero Girls (Season 1). Terrific action-comedy, one of the very few recent superhero shows I’ve actually enjoyed. Loosely adapted not from the previous incarnation of “DC Superhero Girls”, but rather from the animated shorts “Super Best Friends Forever”, part of the DC Nation animated shorts —all of them worth a look (well, the assorted Nation shorts are of VERY different quality, as you can expect. Still…). 

- This Duckburg Life  (Podcast). Spin-off from the 2017 Ducktales cartoon. Every bit as engaging as the show, with near-perfect comedic timing. Also, pretty much the end of that particular incarnation… for now at least. 

- My next life as a villainess: All routes lead to doom! (Season 1). One the most popular recent Anime (it just got a second volume), sort of a… if not “Deconstruction” then subversion of the “Isekai” genre. Also noteworthy for fans of Visual Novels, both romance and mystery. 

- Vivid Strike! Spin-off of the successful Anime franchise “Lyrical Nanoha”… of which I have to admit I have never seen a single episode yet. Vivid is a fantasy-action series that is notable both for the intense action scenes… and for the often alarming focus on preteen girls getting pounded in increasingly vicious ways. And I’m told this one is actually one of the mildest entries of the Nanoha franchise! So maybe not for all tastes, but if you know what you’re in for…

- Beastars (Season 2). The Netflix Anime adaptation of the excellent furry manga takes a few liberties with the source, most of the for good. Some for not-so-good, managing to make the characters a lot more unreasonable. Still buoyed by the genuinely gorgeous animation. 

- DC Showcase: Death (animated short). Remarkable tale that would fit right at home with the original Sandman comic or the Death spin-offs. Maybe a touch hurt by the insistence of placing it squarely in the DC universe (that damn Arkham Asylum shot), but otherwise more than worth a look. 

- Wonder Woman: Bloodlines (animated movie). An entertaining enough showcase of 21-st. Century Wonder Woman storylines, drawing as much from the comics as from the live-action movies —and in this case set on the “DC Animated Movies” continuity which once again creates far more problems than it solves. Between this and the Wonder Woman shorts also included on DC Nation, I get to the by now probably common question: When do we get a “Wonder Woman: The animated series” proper? 

(Note: Been reading “Historia”, a series of articles by Riteshi Babu which chronicle the entire history of Wonder Woman comics. Very much recommended, in part to get an idea of how that animated series could go. Look them up online)

- Masters of the Universe: Revelation. One of those shows that people online love to whine about yet people in real life enjoy a lot. Very entertaining, whether you take it as a sequel of the He-man cartoons or a, this word again, sorta Deconstruction or just subversion of it. 

- Trese. Terrific horror fantasy yarn adapted from a famous Filipino comic. Great world-building, animation and overall storyline. 

- Onyx Equinox. Another terrific horror fantasy yarn, in this case drawn from assorted Mesoamerican mythologies woven into an original story. 

I really do hope these two last will continue. 

LIVE-ACTION

Without planning to, all are YA thrillers, hehe: 

- The Wilds. It’s tempting to say “Lord of the flies + Lost, but with girls” —but that is really underselling this neat little show about troubled teenage girls stranded in a mysterious island. 

- Panic. Adaptation of the Lauren Oliver book (“Before I die”), about a small town with a summer tradition: A very high-risk game where the prize is millions and the worst outcome is death. 

- Al-Rawabi School for Girls. Teenage revenge yarn from Jordan, by turns darkly humorous, vicious and dramatic. Quite the surprise. 

And three movies: 

- A simple favor. Virtually every 21st Century domestic thriller (From “Gone girl” to “Desperate Housewives”) run through a blender. Far more implausible than its fans want to believe, and yet undeniably entertaining. 

- 1922. Bleak Stephen King adaptation (but current-day King, which, you know, accounts for the bleakness in question), generally more grim than horrific. 

- The woman in the window. Competent thriller that’s as skillfully made as ultimately, and sadly, forgettable. 

WHEW!

The other history of the DC universe, V.

The other history of the DC universe, vol. 5. 

V: 1981 - 2010: Anissa Pierce. 

- John Ridley, et al

The fifth and final volume tells us the tale of Anissa, eldest daughter of Jefferson (alias Black Lightning), who under the name Thunder became a super heroine in her own right. Aiming to be role model for queer women of color everywhere, Anissa had to grapple with a very different world that the one her father swore to defend, while dealing with judgment from past generations —including her own family. 

A very rare case of a volume that both makes a nice bookend with the first of the series and is a more than fine tale on its own right. The Pierces, parents and daughters, help illustrate the shifting state of the world from the second half of the twentieth century to the early twenty-first. Where Jefferson used his religious morals as a shield against the injustice of the world, Anissa questions those morals. “People’d used the word of the Lord to justify slavery. Dad had no excuse for using the same to justify his zealotry”. 

This volume, more than the previous four, delves as much into Superhero anecdotes as into real-life events. But twenty-first century DC comics, starting circa 2003, took a turn for the considerably more violent and exploitative. “I literally cannot describe what 36 burnt humans looks like.” A reflection of the increasingly difficult world that produces them. 

Pop culture is here used not just as a reference point, but as identity signals. Anissa reminisces about attending a Prince concert with her sister, while they were on their teens: “As amazing as the music was, the way he celebrated sexuality and androgyny, and the way he disregarded labels, is what attracted me to him as an artist. Back then, when I was still struggling with identity, people like Prince gave me permission to just create my own”. 

The world changes as time goes by, and so do we. New generations come, sometimes bringing conflict and sometimes repeating the same mistakes we did, under new terms. But sometimes, it’s this passage of time that gives clarity to the past and lets us face the present (and the idea of the future) with courage. Through these five volumes, Ridley and collaborators have created a unique and quite necessary tale to remind us the importance of thinking outside the box as it were. 

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The other history of the DC universe, IV.

The other history of the DC universe, vol. 4. 

IV: 1992 - 2007. Renee Montoya. 

- John Ridley, et al

For the fourth volume, we return to a very famous place —Gotham City, as seen through the eyes of policewoman-turned-superhero Montoya. An unflinching, uncompromising, and so very queer look!

This is another volume that garnered strange comments from the kind of fans who obsess over minutiae and continuity, always a rather peculiar notion in the kind of product that by definition is never in any fixed timeline despite often bromidic reassurances from marketing. In this case, complains about Montoya not acting in a perfect way —for all that it’s a story about and against the very notion of white-washing. 

It asks us not to take what we have been told for granted. Starting with the infamous alliance between Batman and Jim Gordon —what makes us think it’s not constantly under vigilance? (“Gordon volunteered to work as a liaison between the department and the Bat. That was fine for the brass. With Gordon they had a trusted cop to keep an eye on the Bat, and a fall guy if things went south”). Or the rich characters we are used to seeing as heroes or innocents (“The Drakes and the St. Clouds and the Elliots. The Kanes and the Waynes. Their wealth was built largely on copper mines and steel mills. But mostly it was built on the backs of the men and women and sometimes children who toiled under the earth and beside the blistering smelting cauldrons of the moneyed class”). Gotham as neither a place of wacky adventures nor a surreal hell —merely a big city like so many, except that this one wears its problems on its sleeve. 

This unflinching look from Montoya extends to herself, as she takes us through her absolute worst moments —but in order to emerge not just stronger on the other side, but as her true self. That she openly admits her own flaws, some previously stated and some new, seems to be what most bothered a few longtime readers. This bizarre demand for minority characters, especially Queer ones, to be absolutely perfect and to never do any wrong. This peculiar insistence to forget that it was always the fringe of society that first took us in, that is our true land. 

Once Renee embraces her true self we see the theme of the superhero not so much as a power fantasy but as an act of liberation (“The mask’s lack of features and the suit and tie that amounted to a costume added an element of queerness to my character. It went against the notion that everything must fit a label that already exists. To the contrary of that, there is something about placing yourself beyond definition”). 

A story, then about embracing one’s true self, flaws and all. Not the squeaky-clean others, inside and outside the tale, would want us to be, but ourselves as we are. Something quite necessary to keep in mind, always.

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The other history of the DC universe, III.

 

The other history of the DC universe, vol. 3

III - 1983 - 1996. Tatsu Yamashiro.

- John Ridley et al

The third volume tells the story of Katana, a fairly famous character who yet had never been regarded as an A-lister. Yet she has been an integral part of the more politically-minded side of DC superhero stories. 

This volume became famous among the fans for two somewhat extraneous reasons: For proposing that Katana’s sword Soultaker is not in fact a mystical artifact (and that Tatsu herself was never a martial artist —that her entire training had been as a gymnast), and for her denouncement of the character Deathstroke, better known as Slade, for raping teenaged Tara, better known as Terra (“Not with physical force. He coerced an underage, mentally unstable girl into having sexual relationships with him. Again, and again, and again. And Slade used that sexual dominance to manipulate Tara.”). People debate the first as an unnecessary Retcon, the second as —and here the arguments get unreal. 

Both discussions miss the point: That this series asks us to re-evaluate the stories we have read and taken as “fact” for years. Decades even. It’s not a simple “Everything you thought knew is a lie!” twist, but rather a shift in perspective. In this case, it is a tale about who defines our tales. The very first page, the very first lines even, lay the theme our for us: “The birthing process is a painful and bloody event. It is endured by women, but presided over by men. My birth, my metaphorical birth, was both excruciating and gory. And it was men who had dominion over it.”

In other words, it asks us to ponder who tells whose story and to what end? As narrator, Tatsu does not so much tell us her biography as challenge the way certain stories have been told —hers and others’. 

Even the idea of a continuity in-series is delightfully challenged, taking advantage of the very fact that it is set in the long-running DC Universe itself. The previous two volumes mention the death of Supergirl, and Superman’s grief at it. This one tells us of Superman’s death, with Supergirl as one of the mourners. The comics have a reason for it —cosmic reboots, it was not the same person, and so on —but that is not the point. The point is the perspective each person brings with the tale they tell. For Katana, it’s not about grief, but about death or near-death experiences as a way to wrestle with our demons. Hauntings perhaps literal, perhaps mental —aren’t they all a little of both? 

As this series progresses, the blending of real-life event and superhero stories feels increasingly more organic… allowing for the necessary suspension of disbelief, of course. What truly holds them together is the humane perspective. Tatsu’s relationship with a girl she takes care of for a few years, her wry yet poignant observations about societal evils (“I don’t mean to compare tragedies. The horrors that humanity too often inflicts on itself need and deserve to be understood singularly. Equally, we need to understand that evil is not something that other societies commit. It is something that all societies commit.”).

Very recommended, both as part of the series and by itself. 

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The other history of the DC universe, II.

The other history of the DC universe, vol. 2

II - 1970 - 1989: Karen Beecher-Duncan & Mal Duncan. 

- John Ridley, et al

The second volume of this fascinating series takes us on a journey through the history of the infamous Teen Titans, through the eyes of two minor… or rather, supposedly minor characters, who in many ways have been representative of the virtues and flaws of the group as a concept and as a comic. 

Bumblebee and Guardian (or Hornblower… of just plain Mal Duncan) illustrate exactly how much damage being regarded as a Token can do to a person, in both a literal and a figurative sense, as well as showing exactly how dysfunctional the Titans characters are and have been for decades. 

This volume takes a much more humorous approach than the first, driven by the couple’s differing points of view and often contrasting recollections of past events. But the humor is used with a satirical intent: Exaggerating the flaws in order to shine a stronger light on the social critique. 

In the first volume, the contrast between real-life events and superhero anecdotes was often jarring. This second volume makes them more organic, though sometimes at the cost of making the narration feel somewhat smug (“Mal fought the Angel of Death and got Gabriel’s magic shofar? I’m sorry, that’s crazy talk. Even in a world where you’ve got to deal with insanity like Mr. ESPer and Antithesis… you talk about fighting Azrael and getting a magic horn you’re either crazy, or you’re desperate to impress people”. “Who designs a super-suit so she can attack her boyfriend in front of her friends just to make a point about their behavior?”). But that smugness ultimately serves to highlight the main point: That even in narrations that illustrate our wildest dreams, too many people are left behind, if not outright discarded. 

A strong second installment, with equally gorgeous art. More than worth a look. 

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The other history of the DC universe, I.

The other history of the DC Universe, vol. 1. 

I - 1972 - 1995: Jefferson Pierce. 

- John Ridley, et. al. 

The history of the extended DC Universe as told through the eyes of minority, and often neglected, characters. Herein, Black Lightning. From his rise through the turbulent 70’s and the dawn of heroes to his quest for revenge in the guise of justice and the ultimate toll it has on his family. Yet his tale is not just that of a man or even a super-man —it’s the tale of those who had to fight tooth and nail for everything in a willfully blind nation…

One of the most interesting comics in decades, a provocative book that confronts deeply ingrained prejudices and oversights both editorial and cultural. Merely shifting the point of view often asks us to interrogate the way we read certain stories and the assumptions we carry with us. 

Setting the story in the actual DC comics is something of a double-edged sword. It serves to directly confront iconic characters (“Superman’s weakness wasn’t just irradiated rocks from his home planet. What made him human was a desperate need to be liked and admired”), but it sometimes feels jarring (juxtaposing real-life events with the over-the-top shenanigans typical of the sub-genre). Quite a few readers seem to have missed the point, obsessing more over the story’s exact continuity or the sneering at certain characters' ideologies (there is a very “How dare you!” tone to a lot of fan comments. Not at all surprising, to be honest).  More interesting are those who do get the point: To reconsider the way we’ve viewed certain tales for years and years. 

As such, even narrators are confronted with their own prejudices —Pierce is both a hard-working teacher and a man often unaware of his own biases (“When you can’t see yourself in others it’s just bigotry by another name”). Of particular interest is a subplot of a student that Pierce believes is helping with ‘though love’ —years later Pierce’s daughter will discover that the only thing he managed to do is make a gay student feel constantly harassed. Pierce, too, is forced to re-evaluate his own stances every so often. 

A very recommended comic, worth of several careful re-reads. The amount of details both explicit and subtle packed into each page is notable. Consider the simple secret message in a newspaper or the homaging of several famous comic covers and panels. A strong start to a fascinating five-volume mini-series. 

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