Spectra #6

This spent a fair amount of time in the Random Stack of Unread Comics, but this is the sixth issue in this educational series that I picked up at the National Conference on Science Education.

Title: Spectra
Issue: 6
Publisher: American Physical Society
Date: 2014
Writer: Rebecca Thompson
Artist: Kerry G. Johnson

This issue begins with a nice bit of continuity, as laser-powered hero Lucinda Hene finds herself attending a new school, with her group of friends scattered as her previous school is repaired following the damage from the previous issue's mayhem (review is here) at the state swim meet.

Lucinda has a busy morning that involves going to the garage with her mom to drop off the family minivan for service. Enter the Quantum Mechanic. She's not really so much a villain. More like a person confused by their own superpowers. However, a quantum mishap results in a minivan that is appearing in random locations by way of quantum teleportation, and it's up to Spectra and her friends to trap the minivan in a "potential well". At this point, Spectra pretty much admits that we've gotten to the point where it is less about the science and more about the science puns.

The storyline here didn't have that much going on, but this was a good issue for character development, as we got to see more of Lucinda's home life and the consequences of the previous issue's events. The Quantum Mechanic was a fun character, and the suggestion that there could be a future team-up in the works had, well, potential.

Rating: 7/10

Spectra #5

Here's  the fifth issue in this educational series that I picked up at the National Conference on Science Education.

Title: Spectra
Issue: 5
Publisher: American Physical Society
Date: 2013
Writer: Rebecca Thompson
Artist: Kerry G. Johnson

Holofoil cover that looks great in person, but loses a bit in the scanning process.

Having reached at least a truce with rival Tiffany Maxwell, Lucy Hene focuses on the upcoming state championship swim meet. Lucy and the Nikola Tesla Middle School Chargers are set to face their arch-rivals (wait for it...), the Thomas A. Edison Middle School Wizards. The audience cheers are nicely full of Tesla vs. Edison references, of course.

But something strange is going on with the Chargers' coach. He seems to have developed some water elemental style superpowers of his own, and when mayhem breaks loose at the state finals, it's up to Lucy and her friends to bring the... um... corn starch? No, really. It's a viscosity thing and it totally makes sense. At least enough for the story to work. Besides, what comic has ever had a climactic battle that hinged on corn starch? I would guess that Spectra is the only one.

This was fun, but it felt rushed in places. There was more story here than there was really page count for, although Thompson and Johnson do a good job of fitting in all of the essential plot points.

Still. Corn starch. For the win.

Rating: 6.5/10

Spectra #4

Another issue of the Spectra series that I picked up at the National Conference on Science Education. Artist Kerry G. Johnson found this review blog and was kind enough to send me issue #6 of the series as well as the trade paperback for #1-4, so expect some more Spectra reviews soon.

Title: Spectra
Issue: 4
Publisher: American Physical Society
Date: 2012
Writer: Rebecca Thompson
Artist: Kerry G. Johnson


When you have a teenaged superheroine living a double-life as a middle school student, the mean-girl story seems inevitable. Returning to school after summer vacation, Lucy Hene quickly becomes the target of mean-girl and social manipulator Tiffany Maxwell.

It doesn't help matters that Tiffany is an even match for Lucy on the swim team, or that Lucy's friends are taken in by Tiffany's charm.

But Tiffany has more up her sleeves than gossip and jealousy. She has a demon. Maxwell's Demon, to be precise. This is the monster that physicist James Clerk Maxwell described in his famous thought experiment on thermodynamics, and Tiffany's version is small, green, highly elusive, and several notches meaner than Tiffany herself.

Text introduction gives the basics on Maxwell's Demon. The story is mostly teen drama leading up to the impish imperilment at the climax. Lucy's friends continue to be pretty fickle with their loyalty, but it is all resolved nicely in the end.

Tiffany is the most effective villain so far in this series, and this issue had a more serious level of danger to the characters.

Rating: 6.5/10

Spectra #3

Third in this educational series from the American Physical Society. Picked this one up a couple of weeks back at the National Conference on Science Education.

Title: Spectra
Issue: 3
Publisher: American Physical Society
Date: 2011
Writer: Rebecca Thompson
Artist: Kerry G. Johnson, David Ellis, Nancy Bennett-Karasik
Colorist: Kerry G. Johnson

There's a new physics teacher at Nikola Tesla Junior High School (!), and it's the uncle of Lucinda's best friend Ruby. He's known as General Leslie J. Relativity, and he's an ex-military man who hands out sets of pushups to students who aren't up to speed on the theory of gravity.

He's also involved in some secret experiments, and when he discovers Lucinda's laser superpowers, he's eager to have her change into Spectra to test his theories about the effects on light of the gravity extremes of white and black holes.

Lucinda, meanwhile, is hoping to escape from the gravity experiment in time to make it to a school dance.

This story is not as coherent as it could be. There is a seemingly random obstacle course of physics-related traps that the heroes need to overcome at the end, and it doesn't really have rhyme or reason for existing. General Relativity (I see what you did there.) is also a bit unclear in his intentions and motivations.

That being said, I still enjoyed the interaction between the characters, and the book continues to do a nice job of portraying a female superhero. Just the fact that it is consistently passing the Bechtel test and isn't turning Lucinda into a sex object is a nice change from, well, just about everything that the major publishers do. Physics idea continue to be scattered in, not to the point of drowning the story in educational content, but enough so that you can learn some facts and have a few concepts reenforced by reading the comic.

Rating: 6/10



 

Spectra #2

More laser-powered educational comic goodness from the American Physical Society. This is part of the stack of educational comics I brought home from the National Conference on Science Education.
 
Title: Spectra
Issue: 2
Publisher: American Physical Society
Date: 2010
Writer: Rebecca Thompson
Artist: Kerry G. Johnson

It's rematch time between Spectra and Miss Alignment, but first, Lucinda needs to make amends with her friends after having a bit of an issue with her newfound laser powers going to her head.

She also gets a ghostly mentor, the ghost of pioneering laser physicist Irnee D'Haenens. This issue gets a bit more educational content, but it flows pretty smoothly.

The confrontation between Spectra and the villainous Miss Alignment feels a little bit like too much of a repeat of the climax from the first issue, but it does go to a decisive finish this time.

This series still seems to be trying to find its stride as it experiments with getting the right mix of physics content, character development, and plot.

I did like the "if it weren't for those meddlesome kids" line that got thrown in at the end. Cute touch.

Rating: 6/10

Spectra #1

Did I mention that I got a bunch of comics at the National Conference on Science Education last week? Here is one of them.

Title: Spectra
Issue: 1
Publisher: American Physical Society
Date: 2010
Writer: Rebecca Thompson
Artist: Kerry G. Johnson

High school student Lucinda Hene suddenly develops laser-themed superpowers. She experiments with her powers and dreams of using them to save the world. Little does she realize that there there is a costumed supervillain lurking a lot closer than she expects, and she will soon need her powers to save her best friends.

This had a nice Archie Comics vibe to it. There was plenty of laser terminology thrown around, but story took precedence over education in this book. No much was explained when it came to the origins of Lucy's powers, and some of those powers were a bit goofy (she can make music by holding a CD; because well, everyone knows that CDs are played using lasers). I also found the villain's motives to not be as clear as they could have been.

That being said, I loved the fact that this book avoided the gender cliches that would normally be seen with a comic featuring a teenaged female superhero. Her costume looks great, and is practical and non-sexualized. There is a really good balance of genders among the cast too. Why do I need to turn to an educational comic from the American Physical Society for this to be the case? Get with the program, comic industry.

This didn't have the best flow to it, and the action was fairly toned down, but it accomplished its mission of being entertaining while at least providing some laser-related vocabulary to satisfy its educational mission.

The characters were fun and I look forward to reading more of their adventures. Which is good, because I have several more issues to review this week.

Rating: 6.5/10