Eternity Girl #3
(W) Magdalene Visaggio (A/CA) Sonny Liew
In Shops: May 09, 2018
SRP: $3.99
While Eternity Girl and Madame Atom make their way to the mysterious Shining Tower that sits at the intersection of being and nothingness, Caroline’s old boss reveals a devastating secret about Eternity Girl’s powers that even she doesn’t know, but that could destroy her for good. This looks like a job for… Never Man?
Eternity Girl #2 (of 6)
Story: Magdalene Visaggio
Art: Sonny Liew
Color: Chris Chuckry
Letterer: Todd Klein
Editor: Andy Khouri
Assistant Editor: Maggie Howell
In Shops: Apr 11, 2018
SRP: $3.99
Far beyond the farthest any mortal has ever traveled is a nameless world nested in the very heart of existence. On that planet is a structure that extends infinitely into the heavens. It is the Shining Tower, the axis of life and death. And to end her suffering, Eternity Girl must destroy it. The catch? Everyone else will die, too.
It’s Wednesday which means it’s new comic book day with new releases hitting shelves, both physical and digital, all across the world. This week we’ve got a new series from DC’s Young Animal.
Eternity Girl #1 is by Magdalene Visaggio, Sonny Liew, Chris Chucky, Todd Klein, Paulina Ganucheau, Maggie Howell, and Andy Khouri.
Get your copy in comic shops today. To find a comic shop near you, visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com or call 1-888-comicbook or digitally and online with the links below.
Amazon/Kindle/comiXology or TFW
DC Comics provided Graphic Policy with FREE copies for review
This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and make a purchase, we’ll receive a percentage of the sale. Graphic Policy does purchase items from this site. Making purchases through these links helps support the site
“Laid yourself out under the stars. Some peace at last so don’t be sad. A fitting end to your end…” from “Some Kind of Nothingness” by Manic Street Preachers (2010)
Abandon hope all ye who enter here, this article is more of a self-therapy session than a review of a DC comic book. Gallows humor about suicide, therapy sessions, cake and vodka veg out time on the couch, Eternity Girl #1 is definitely not your typical superhero/espionage book. This new book from Magdalene Visaggio, Sonny Liew, and Chris Chuckry fits like a glove with the Young Animal imprint’s ethos of telling stories about strange, yet extraordinary individuals that explore universal human themes in an experimental way with a psychedelic color palette. Caroline Sharp, the superhero/spy operative formerly known as Chrysalis or Eternity Girl (See the “Milk Wars” backups.) has been suspended because her shapeshifting abilities glitched and hurt a fellow Alpha 13 operative. She has to get the green light from her therapist before going back to active duty, but that seems light years away. Really, Caroline just wants to die and collapse in the nothingness of Chuckry’s electric blue color palette.
To steal a phrase/cliché from an old children’s game, Liew’s art in Eternity Girl #1 can be light as a feather or stiff as a board depending on the mental state of our suicidal, “elemental superwoman” protagonist. When she dissociates, Liew’s pencils are fluid as Caroline becomes an energy wave, almost one with the universe. But when she’s forced to take up space in public, Liew’s sharp, rigid lines make you feel the pain in her body as she tries to maintain a frail human form on public transportation. He also has a real gift from switching gears from emotive slice of life, two friends at a coffee shop style art to throwback superhero work when Caroline is thinking about her past as Chrysalis and is confronted by the spectre of one of her old, presumed dead foes and finally pure Kirby crackle when the story gets really philosophical/trippy. My one minor critique of Liew’s work is that Caroline’s therapist and her good friend Dani look very similar, and I thought they were the same person until finally realizing they weren’t thanks to context clues/a second reading.
Visaggio and Liew convey a feeling that everyone who has ever suffered from anxiety or depression can understand of putting on a brave, happy, competent, and/or professional face when you want to cry, scream, or most of the time, just lie there motionless like when Caroline is making dark quips to her therapist about her suicide attempts. The use of humor to mask pain is definitely relatable, and using it to kick off Eternity Girl #1 immediately shows that Visaggio understands the nature of depression. She doesn’t sugarcoat things and isn’t afraid that after losing her purpose in life as a member of Alpha-13, Caroline feels like she’s just “killing time” and hoping that one of her futile (Due to her power set.) suicide attempts actually pan out. Immortal plus depression seriously sucks. However, in a literal earth and reality shattering third act, Caroline realizes that she has to pass as a functional human before she tastes death’s sweet release.
As a book, Eternity Girl #1 is nestled in a nice niche between artsy indie and superhero comic, but leaning more towards to the artsy side thanks to the fragmented nature of Magdalene Visaggio’s plot and Sonny Liew’s art plus scattershot, intergalactic colors from Chris Chuckry towards the end. However, Visaggio, Liew, and Chuckry use this niche to honestly probe and explore the feelings that come with depression and create opportunities for connection and empathy in regards to mental health through this engaging comic book. Because sometimes you don’t fear death, you long for it…
Story: Magdalene Visaggio Art: Sonny Liew Colors: Chris Chuckry
Story: 9.6 Art: 8.8 Overall: 9.2 Recommendation: Buy
DC Comics/Young Animal provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Eternity Girl #1
Story: Magdalene Visaggio Art: Sonny Liew
Color: Chris Chucky Letterer: Todd Klein
Editor: Andy Khouri Assistant Editor: Maggie Howell
In Shops: Mar 14, 2018
SRP: $3.99
Caroline Sharp has been a lot of things, including both a superhero and a super-spy. But now, with those days behind her and her powers proving unreliable, Caroline finds herself stuck in a life weighed down by her depression and an inability to change. You see, Caroline is going to live forever, and there is no escape to be had. The very act of living reminds her that, to the rest of existence, she is an anomaly. All of that could change, however, when her old foe, Madame Atom, comes to her with an intriguing offer. Madame Atom can give Caroline the power to end her life; she just has to destroy the rest of the world.
This brand-new DC’s Young Animal miniseries spins out of the Milk Wars event, written by GLAAD Media Award-nominated writer Magdalene Visaggio (Kim and Kim) and illustrated by Eisner-winning artist Sonny Liew (The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye).
In its penultimate chapter, “Milk Wars” gets grody and corporate as Cave Carson, his daughter Chloe, and the hockey mask wearing vigilante Wild Dog team up with Swamp Thing against brainwashed cubicle dweller types and a spot-on parody of those soulless, yet addictive Pop Vinyl figures. Jon Rivera’s scripting is a little on the nose as far as the corporate satire goes, but is more than redeemed by some funny one-liners (A guy reading his fellow co-workers name badge while beheading him takes the cake.) and the cast chemistry between Cave, Chloe, and Wild Dog.
But the best part of Cave Carson/Swamp Thing Special #1 is the interplay between Langdon Foss’ (Bucky Barnes, The Winter Soldier) art and Nick Filardi that threads together like one of Swamp Thing’s tendrils. When Swamp Thing bursts into one of one Retconn’s (Evil mind-controlling and metafictional corporation) offices and wakes up Cave and the crew from a milk induced stupor, Filardi throws up the puke green, and Foss gets grotesque with faces and various liquids. It’s very third act of Hateful Eight, but without the two hours of self-indulgent dialogue. Sometimes, epiphanies about being rat in a cage, or cubicle slave in a cave aren’t beautiful come to Jesus moments, but involve puking your guts up.
However, Foss and Filardi can do sleek and beautiful too when Cave and Chloe try to blow the office and attempt to rescue those under lactose tolerant mind control. Foss channels his inner John McTiernan and also Michael Avon Oeming’s work in the original Cave Carson comic with air vent escapades and excavations that use every inch of the 
page and turn overcrowded cubicle space into an action playground. Filardi contributes to the tense mood with pinks and blues that are the polar opposite of the clinical off white palette he uses for the office scenes earlier in the book. Almost, every page has Ben-Day dots giving the book an old school comic gone deranged feel.
Cave Carson/Swamp Thing Special explores similar themes of conformity and corporate subservience as the other “Milk Wars” comics, but also riffs off the viscous body horror of Alan Moore, Stephen Bissette, and John Totleben Saga of the Swamp Thing run. Swamp Thing’s first big splash page is an homage to the classic “Anatomy Lesson” story with a chopped up body emerging out of his green form. Langdon Foss’ take on Swamp Thing finds a happy medium between the sad, detailed Bissette/Totleben Swamp Thing and the more cartoonish Swampy like in the Justice League Dark animated film. It might not be as regal or easy on the eyes, but erring on the cartoon side helps when Swamp Thing starts punching office workers or emerging from a Green salad. Yeah, this is a pretty weird and great comic, and there’s even a much less sexual, but just as psychedelic allusion to Swamp Thing’s magic fruit.
On the Eternity Girl backup story front, Magdalene Visaggio and Sonny Liew turn in their best work yet in a minimalist, yellow tinged parody of comics that break the fourth wall. Basically, when you run out of ideas or stories just tear everything down. The two pager is quite cathartic in age of reboots, reimaginings, and fresh starts and has elegant layouts and line work.
Cave Carson/Swamp Thing Special is a tiny bit office drone satire with a portion of DC “mature readers” body horror and is mostly a damn fun caper from Jon Rivera, Langdon Foss, and Nick Filardi. It’s gross, thrilling, and thought provoking (Sometimes all at once.) and provides a segue to the “Milk Wars” finale without taking up too much space from this adventure.
Story: Jon Rivera Art: Langdon Foss Colors: Nick Filardi
Backup Story: Magdalene Visaggio Backup Art: Sonny Liew
Story: 7.9 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.2 Recommendation: Buy
DC Comics/Young Animal provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Cave Carson/Swamp Thing Special #1
(W) Jonathan Rivera, Magdalene Visaggio (A) Langdon Foss, Sonny Liew (CA) Rian Hughes
In Shops: Feb 21, 2018
SRP: $4.99
“MILK WARS” part four! Swamp Thing has detected a disturbance in the Green, and his hunt for it has led him to RetCo headquarters. There he finds Cave Carson and his crew struggling against being assimilated into RetCo’s diabolical narrative. Is it possible for Swampy and Cave to destroy the organization from the inside? Plus, find out how their efforts help Eternity Girl in the final installment of her backup story!
Shade the Changing Girl/Wonder Woman Special
(W) Cecil Castellucci, Magdalene Visaggio (A) Mirka Andolfo, Sonny Liew (CA) Frank Quitely
In Shops: Feb 14, 2018
SRP: $4.99
“MILK WARS” part three! Shade has been split into multiple parts, each representing a different mood, all in service to the perfect and beautiful Wonder Wife. But Happy Shade is starting to sense that not all is right in Wonderland, and she finds something strange staring back at her on the other side of the looking glass! Plus, part three of the Eternity Girl backup story!
It’s Wednesday which means it’s new comic book day with new releases hitting shelves, both physical and digital, all across the world. This week we’ve got the third part of “Milk Wars”!
Shade the Changing Girl/Wonder Woman is by Cecil Castellucci, Mirka Andolfo, Marissa Louise, Magdalene Visaggio, and Sonny Liew.
Get your copy in comic shops today. To find a comic shop near you, visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com or call 1-888-comicbook or digitally and online with the links below.
DC Comics provided Graphic Policy with FREE copies for review
This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and make a purchase, we’ll receive a percentage of the sale. Graphic Policy does purchase items from this site. Making purchases through these links helps support the site
In the second chapter of DC Comics/Young Animal crossover “Milk Wars”, writer Jody Houser, artist Ty Templeton, and colorist Keiren Smith serve up a large helping of Catholic guilt. Mother Panic/Batman Special uses religious iconography and of course, dairy products, to look at the sadness and loneliness at the center of both Gotham vigilantes. Templeton’s art fluctuates from bright pop art bursts similar to his work on Batman ’66 to a more Gothic style when Mother Panic thinks about her terrible childhood at the Gather House and how she killed her father. Along the way, he and Houser pose the question of whether vigilantes, especially ones of the darker side, should take child sidekicks, and they draw a parallel between the Gather House’s brainwashing and Batman dressing up young boys (And occasionally a girl.) in yellow capes and green pixie boots.
Even though she’s almost 80 years younger than him in character years, Violet Paige aka Mother Panic wasn’t about to get upstaged by Batman in this comic. In the issue’s funniest meta joke, Violet’s swearing is censored, but she has no fucks left when she infiltrates the new Gather House and sees Batman in a priest’s collar preaching to a group of children in a Robin costume. As he rants about how none of this is real, Batman aka Father Bruce and the “Holy Sidekick Choir of Merciful Justice” point out her surface-level moral failings like her use of profanity and breaking random 10 Commandments. However, she is after the truth of what is going on with these kids and knows that everything isn’t okay.
The breaking point is when Violet sees a young girl that she’s saved multiple times in the main Mother Panic series enter the sidekick creation machine thing (It’s like something out of the Lego Batman games, but more nefarious.) and knows that she wants her to break the cycle of violence and revenge. After this, Ty Templeton loses the gaudy, religious trappings and replaces them with a flurry of quick hitting panels as Batman and Mother Panic go mano a mano and fight for reality itself. The fight choreography reminded me a lot of Batman ’66 especially with Keiren Smith’s bright background colors, and the “Milk Wars” theme of light exterior, dark interior continues in Mother Panic/Batman Special. On the outside, it looks like it’s Robin cosplay day or a Sunday School class, but these kids are being trained to go to war just like Violet was when she was a young girl with the body horror replaced by bright surrealism.
Even though it’s a crossover comic, Houser and Templeton find time to develop the character of Violet Paige between the crazy quilt of visuals and milk puns. A strong emphasis is placed on Violet’s strength as she sees through the ecclesiastical illusion and defies the Gotham City vigilante tropes to own her dark past instead of repressing it with toys and child sidekicks. However, as Mother Panic/Batman reaches its conclusion, Violet’s strength becomes tempered with responsibility because she lets the would-be Fennec Fox, who tugs on her cape and looks up to her as an inspiration, stay in her guest bedroom. Her war on crime doesn’t have to be a solo flagellation, and perhaps she can use her wealth and sense of empathy that is buried beneath snark and violence to help people and be a light and not a burning torch. It’ll be interesting to see if this thread continues in the conclusion of “Milk Wars” and the upcoming Mother Panic: Gotham A.D. series.
In Mother Panic/Batman Special , Jody Houser, Ty Templeton, and Keiren Smith deconstruct the child sidekick trope and takes a look at the connection between childhood trauma and masked vigilantes through the imagery of religious liturgy. Just like JLA/Doom Patrol showed how the “traditional family” could be a cover for all kinds of evil, Mother Panic/Batman goes for organized religion. These institutions, in and of themselves, are not bad, but can be used for nefarious ends because of their primal connection with humans. The comic doesn’t go full religious satire, but it’s a memorable framing narrative. I am never going to get the six panel Batman Year One remix with him becoming a priest and not a “bat” out of my head.
Lastly, but certainly not least, Mother Panic/Batman also features the second installment in Magdalene Visaggio and Sonny Liew’s Eternity Girl serial featuring revenge, oozing body parts, and a late Bronze Age aesthetic. The two pager is a like an eye catching teaser trailer and has gotten me more excited for the upcoming miniseries with its play on superhero and horror tropes.
Story: Jody Houser Art: Ty Templeton Colors: Keiren Smith
Backup Story: Mags Visaggio Backup Art: Sonny Liew
Story: 8.1 Art: 9.5 Overall: 8.8 Recommendation: Buy
DC Comics/Young Animal provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
