Suicide Squad: King Shark Special Edition: Free Comic Book Day 2021

A previous year's FCBD edition that I got from Zombie Hideout in Springfield MA USA for this year's Free Comic Book Day.

Title: Suicide Squad: King Shark Special Edition
Issue: 1
Date: May, 2021
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Tim Seeley, Brian Azzarello
Artist: Scott Kolins, Alex Maleev
Colorist: John Kalisz, Matt Hollingsworth
Letterer: Wes Abbott, Jared Fletcher
Editor: Michael McCalister, Mike Cotton, Bixie Matheiu
Cover: Trevor Hairsine

This was released in anticipation of the James Gunn Suicide Squad film, which heavily featured King Shark, thus the hype here. And much to my surprise, this really lived up to the hype. Told primarily from the point of view of Defacer, a graffiti artist who somehow got lumped in with the supervillains at Belle Reve Penitentiary, the story follows King Shark as he goes on temporary release to fulfill his obligations to his father, Lord Chondrakha, the shark god. Why is Defacer along? Because King Shark likes her, and so Amanda Waller is using her as leverage to assure King Shark's return. Weirdly, this actually works really well, and the almost-certainly-doomed defacer has instant chemistry with King Shark. This was way more fun than it had any right to be, and I actually found myself interested in both characters.

The second story was also pretty good, although it didn't do much in terms of treading new ground. Told in first-person by Jason Todd, it recaps his origin, this time as Robin, and his subsequent return as the Red Hood, before placing him in (you guessed it) Belle Reve Penitentiary and introducing the storyline for Suicide Squad: Get Joker! The recap was effective for getting readers up to speed on what the deal is with Jason Todd, and Jason's voice is well written. The art does a nice job of using the shadows of the cell bars in Belle Reve to establish mood, and takes its time to let Jason's thoughts sink in.

Rating: 7.5/10

Heartstopper Volume 3

From my school library.

Title: Heartstopper
Issue: Volume 3
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2021
Writer: Alice Oseman
Artist: Alice Oseman

I really liked the idea that formed one of the major themes in this volume: Coming out isn't something that just happens once. Charlie and Nick are now dating, but they need to figure out who to tell and how to do it. As exams bring an end to the school year, they find themselves off to Paris on a school trip with classmates, some of whom are in on their semi-secret and some who are not.

Lots of school-trip things happen, including the beginning/deepening of some new romances among their friends group, and we get some good character development in the supporting cast, along with some more revelations about Nick's family.

There are also some revelations about Charlie's mental health struggles. as well as the continuing progress of he and Nick's relationship.

As has been the case through the series, the author does a great job of giving the scenes the time and space they need, and the positive support that the main characters receive from friends is a welcome element of the story.

Rating: 8/10

Stravaig #14

Bought at the Flywheel Zine Fest in Holyoke MA USA.

Title: Stravaig
Issue: 14
Publisher: Emma Percy
Date: March 2021
Writer: Emma Percy
Artist: Emma Percy

Nature/gardening oriented personal zine, opening with an essay on the beginning of Spring and mental health. There's a practical bit on preventing and treating tick bites, and a brief profile of the Catholic martyr Thomas Percy.

A second short essay on gender fluidity and some cute sketches from a nature walk finish up the issue. This was a nicely put-together traditional zine with collage-style layout and a succinct writing style that evokes the images of the season.

Rating: 8/10

2021 Comic Review Recap

With Covid continuing to be an issue, and with travel restrictions in place, 2021 was a lot like 2020 in terms of lack of travel. We did manage a trip to Chengdu and Leshan around Christmas, but otherwise we spent our time in Shanghai. I wanted to try to read 100 books in 2021, which I managed to do (actually read 101), but since I don't count individual issue comics toward book-reading, the Random Stack of Unread Comics was pushed aside once again. This was not that big a deal, since with no traveling there was no chance to replenish it. I had a decent number of graphic novels among the 101 books, and those made up the majority of my contributions to this blog in 2021.

My total number of reviews in 2021 was 27, down 3 from last year.

Highest Rated Comics in 2021

Feast of Fields (8.5)
Roller Girl (8.5)
A Wish Fulfilled: Accidental Time Machine (8.5)

Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You (9)
Saga Compendium 1 (9)
Small Town Type #1 (9)

A Monster Calls (9.5)

Lowest Rated Comics in 2021

Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey (5)
Jedi Academy: The Force Oversleeps (5)

Avengers Endgame Prelude (4)

I'm looking forward to some more graphic novels (I have several on my to-be-read shelf, plus delving back into the remaining Random Stack of Unread Comics in 2022!

2021 Recap: My Top 5 Books (Prose or Comics) Read in 2021

 

My 5 Favorite Books Read in 2021

5. Molly House by A.R. Pip

4. Saga: Compendium One by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

3. Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

2. Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

1. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

A Wish Fulfilled: Accidental Time Machine

 

A project by students at my school.

Title: A Wish Fulfilled: Accidental Time Machine
Date: 2021
Publisher: Knowledge Sprout
Writer: Intisar Alkhatib, Carl Wasing
Artist: Kitty Li, Koki Kin, Airi Lyama, Annyka Ma, Seo-Jin Lee, Gyeonga Seo, Yewon Jeong, Maxon Jin
Editor: Kyle Gumangan

Introductory volume to this fantasy series by Knowledge Sprout, aimed at improving vocabulary for English language-learners while telling a fun story about a group of young friends send on an adventure through space and time.

Thirteen-year-old Amy Dickenson is worried that her friends have forgotten her birthday, but when her friends come through for her with a celebration on the beach, they unintentionally release an ancient magical power.

The story is mostly setup, but nicely establishes the characters before launching into the ending cliffhanger. The anime-flavored illustrations by the Knowledge Sprout art team are vibrant and fun.

Rating: 8.5/10

Introducing Alien Romance Webcomic by GS Silva

Alien Romance is a new webcomic by my awesome wife, GS Silva, and it is now online on Patreon!

Cathy dreams of meeting an exotic American rock star. Maurice wishes for a girl as weird as the characters in his sci-fi novel. When they find each other, they quickly learn that alien romances are HARD. Follow their misadventures as this graphic novel unfolds here on Patreon.

You can read the free content for the story, and consider becoming a patron to get exclusive content at:

https://www.patreon.com/alienromance

This is the first new comics work from either of us in a while and we're both incredibly excited for this new story!

Dog Man: Mothering Heights

Bought at Foreign Languages Bookstore, Shanghai, China.

Title: Dog Man: Mothering Heights
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2021
Writer: Dav Pilkey
Artist: Dav Pilkey
Colorist: Jose Garibaldi

So, as it turned out, Dog Man: Grime and Punishment (reviewed here) was not the end of the series. This new installment includes a romantic subplot between Chief and Nurse Lady, a bit more about Petey's mother (hence the title), giant evil animated sippy cups, lots of malic acid, and some references to the first law of thermodynamics. Oh, and poop jokes. Lots of poop jokes, because apparently the series had not actually moved beyond poop humor so much as to take a brief scenic detour away from it.

As with most of the more recent Dog Man books, the serious stuff here was quite well done, and never felt like it slowed things down or weighed things down. The bathroom humor has never been a favorite of mine, but my son (13 now) still finds it hilarious. The main source of much of this was Molly the psychokinetic tadpole, who is Lil' Petey's best friend, which seemed a bit weird because this wasn't an aspect of her character in previous appearances.

I did feel like this relied a bit too much on tropes and gimmicks from previous installments, while not adding too much to the longer-term plotlines. That being said, it was still cute fun, with several really great jokes.

Rating: 7/10