6 Autobots
allhailgrimlock

Grimlock ♥ Ultra Magnus

I'm a well read grad student who's bluntly honest about all things, although I try to be most honest about myself.   

Currently reading

Separate Orbits
Yael Mermelstein
Progress: 119/427pages
BATMAN #53 ((Regular Cover)) - DC Comics - 2018 - 1st Printing
LeeWeeksBatman53, TomKingBatman53
BATMAN #54 ((Regular Cover)) - DC Comics - 2018 - 1st Printing
MattWagnerBatman54, TomKingBatman54
BATMAN #52 ((DC REBIRTH)) ((Regular Cover)) - DC Comics - 2018 - 1st Printing
LeeWeeksBatman52, TomKingBatman52
BATMAN #51 ((DC REBIRTH)) ((Regular Cover)) - DC Comics - 2018 - 1st Printing
LeeWeeksBatman51, TomKingBatman51
Infinity Wars: Iron Hammer (2018) #1 (of 2)
Al Ewing, Humberto Ramos
Champions (2019-) #4
Jim Zub, Jacinto Benavente
SUICIDE SQUAD #46 ((Regular Cover)) - DC Comics - 2018 - 1st Printing
JosLuisSS46, RobWilliamsSS46
SUICIDE SQUAD #45 ((SINK ATLANTIS)) ((DC REBIRTH )) ((Regular Cover)) - DC Comics - 2018 - 1st Printing
JosLuisSuicideSquad45, RobWilliamsSuicideSquad45
Champions (2019-) #3
Jim Zub, Jacinto Benavente

Holy crap, long

Invincible, Compendium 1 - Robert Kirkman

This was long.   Like about fifty issues worth of comics.   

 

Still, it was fun.   It was a take on graphic novels that poked fun at a lot of the tropes, and even came close to naming some of the things it pokes fun at.   All the while, it's the story of what it might be like to grow up and find out your father is Not-Superman.   (Omni-Man is not only a Not-Superman character in that he shares a lot of the same powers, without really being Superman - or feeling like a ripoff - but the origin story is given to you as a Superman substitute before it's cleverly turned on its head, in a way that makes a long-running story arc feasible, logical, and a lot of fun.)

 

In fact, this all feels like a loving tribute to, and rewriting, of a lot of tropes found in comics.   And unlike some of his work - cough, cough, Walking Dead - none of the women feel really needy.   Eve and Mark's mother are the closest: when Rex cheats on her, she cries on Mark's shoulder.   When he starts dating someone else, she's so distraught she moves to Africa.   To her credit, she does what she considers the most good, which isn't superheroing as Atom Eve.   It's making sure poor people in a poor country have enough to eat, and helping them out in any way she can.   When Mark's father leaves the planet, under horrifying circumstances, when this goes viral's, Mark's mother tailspins into alcoholism.   Mark doesn't know how to approach her, and hides her from his girlfriend, Amber, and to her credit, she finally gets a talking to and cleans up her act, giving up on alcohol and studying to be a realtor.   This would feel like women need men, except when Mark breaks up with Amber, he talks to his best friend William.   He does exactly what Eve did, in fact, and not only talks to William, but starts brushing his friend off and goes off to fly alone and think.  Cry and run seems to be the MO for broken-hearted college students in this series.    When Kate dies, her husband lashes out in rages, and gives up on life.   (Or this life.   He says he's going to 'start again' since he can't die, although 'starting again' is couched in vague terms, and seems like wiping out his identity.   He doesn't die physically, but that person dies, even if the memory lives on within him.)

 

As for women, I feel like everyone has moments of weakness.   None of these women cling to that neediness: they may break down at times, but they get back on their feet.   They might need to talk to someone, or need someone to talk to them and prod them into getting back on their feet, but they do so on their own.   I would actually argue that women are a strong point in this series: confident, smart, strong-willed.   I liked some of the women, including Atom Eve and Mark's mother (Debbie).   In fact, Debbie is one of my favorite characters.   She's incredibly strong-willed to be married to Omni-Man, know he's in danger, and not be clingy.   She's not.   She's worried a lot about him, yes, but she never gets in between him and his work because it's important to her that her husband is free to be the hero she met.   Their lives are, obviously, intertwined in so many ways, but they are separate people and allowed to be so.     She comes back from alcoholism with a will to study, become a realtor, and to take care of someone's love child whom she falls desperate in love with in a motherly sense.   She does so with strength and dignity.   Debbie is surrounded by superpowered women (and men), including the Atom Eve who's got immense power and incalculable abilities.   And yet Debbie seems to have the strongest will of them all.   It's pretty astounding that amongst all of these people, and all of their extinction level problems, Debbie is one of the standouts of this series for me.   Kudos to Kirkman.   

 

Everything else was fantastic: the humor, the soap opera feel comics can get, the origin stories, the characterizations, and colors, and friendships, and alien storylines and monster storylines.

 

I would absolutely continue with this series.   In fact, I'm kinda loving this series. 

 

I am, however, knocking off a star.  Some of the art was flat-out weird, enough so that I was like, 'um, no.'   And the storyline between Robot and Monster Girl was actually neat but not for me: since she de-ages when she loses her powers, she's treated like a small child.   Robot can relate to her and tries to help her, and is in love with her, in fact. 

 

The reveals about who Robot really is were incredibly disappointing, however.   Sad face.