Review: America #2
Gabby Rivera brings the heat and, a compelling story line of personal growth in this second issue of America’s solo comic book series. There’s so much realism and humanity contained in the pages of this issue that it would be a shame to miss out on it. Rivera portrays America as a no-nonsense, Latina lesbian trying to find her way in the world as she adjusts to being newly single and starting college. The diversity doesn’t stop with the title character, America has managed to serve up multiple minority characters in each issue that are devoid of tropes or stereotypes and the sophomore outing for this amazing character is no exception to the standard that started in America #1.
America #2 finds America punching her way back through time and space from WWII Germany where she punches Hitler and gets reprimanded by Peggy Carter. The language used in the comic is realistic and leans more towards cultural usage than cliched caricature. Rivera makes sure to keep America authentic and easy to relate to without watering down her ethnicity and culture or falling into a whitewashed version of the character. There is something beautiful in Rivera allowing the reader to come along on America’s journey and letting us be a fly on the wall as the character is exploring the facets of her life that make her who she is.
Joe Quinones makes sure to keep America looking like a real person, as opposed to whitewashing her features and dipping her in caramel. He allows the character to retain her ethnic features and his drawings show the beauty that is found within her ethnicity. The panels that show her full body do show in a way to showcase her figure without lingering in the male gaze and subjecting her to being merely an object of sexuality, the way that many forms of media tend to do with Hispanic women.
This issue shows America trying to figure out how her powers work and how far they can take her, we also see her forming a community with other females which is always good to see in any form of media. We find her supporting and engaged by a black child prodigy and fighting brodudes about their appropriation, objectification, and dismissal of minority culture and to a similar degree women. America tackles hard subjects and makes them entertaining without diminishing the gravity of the situations. This comic is a prime example of how to merge representation, politics, and entertainment in a way that is both strong and full of teaching moments without watering down very real problems and ideas.
Story: Gabby Rivera Art: Joe Quinones
Story: 9.8 Art: 9.6 Overall: 9.7 Recommendation: Buy
Marvel provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Aquaman #20 Aquaman is fighting some kind of water demon called Deadwater (disclosure: Deadwater probably isn’t a water demon, I just don’t remember the last issue that well) who can teleport wherever there’s even a drop of water. It’s kinda intense, yet quite Friendly.
has to prevent. They’ve been split up and sent to various different points in the timestream to fight something that’s happening at the same time in the past and present… if that sounds confusing, then you may want to skip to the next arc.
Time travel is one of those subjects that has been one of those subjects that normally has an oversaturation. Such as Zombies, when The Walking Dead came out, it pretty much inspired every auteur to come out of the of the woodworks, and for every major studio, to invest into their own properties, reviving properties like Zombieland and propping World War Z, in record time. At the end of the day, AMC and SyFy has two shows each just about zombies, which proves subjects like these are and have and continue to grab the public’s interest. Which brings me back to time travel, and just how certain actions yield certain consequences.
When Netflix start working in the Marvel Universe, the plan for how they would be attacking certain characters, and it just so happens characters resided in New York. I have never been a fan of Daredevil, in fact, the only run of his, which grabbed by attention is the Matt Fraction run and at certain parts, Kevin Smith’s run as well. I only just knew of Jessica Jones, and how it was pretty much the first comic book series to target adults. Luke Cage and Iron Fist, on the other hand, these guys I grew up on.
Marvel Studios had no problem casting Idris Elba as Heimdall and Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, which are major victories in diversity. Again, I was a fan growing up reading these books, not possessing a full understanding of “cultural appropriation”, and how characters like David Carradine’s Kwai Change Caine were offensive, and which I later found out was Bruce Lee’s original idea. This is what I found wrong with, them keeping in step with the canon. In many ways, and not also as well, it is the same arguments as the Native Americans fight with the use of their likeness on sports mascots, as both have been wrong since their inception. A nice concession, would have been to have more than one Asian superhero (I know there is Colleen Wing in the show, who I will get to in a minute) like they could have included Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu (who has more than passing resemblance to Bruce Lee) who has been a problematic hero I, but one that would complement Danny Rand.
I had my issues with it, but let me talk about first, what I found great about it. Miss Colleen Wing, one half of the Daughters of the Dagon, is introduced as a local owner of a dojo, who teaches street kids how to fight, Jessica Henwick’s portrayal was immense, as she says more with eyes than many actors do, as I have a been a fan of hers since Game of Thrones. Then there is Lewis Tan’s portrayal of Zhou Cheng, which is rich with hate and regret and it just so happens his style of Kung Fu was a nod to Jackie Chan’s masterpiece, Drunken Master. Then there is Sacha Dhawan’s portrayal of Davos which clearly shines through the episodes he is in, as his portrayal of Danny’s best friend/ eventual enemy, is as complex as one would encounter in real life.
Ok now on to the bad, and I will keep the worst for last, the biggest part of Iron Fist’s mythos, is Shou Lou The Undying, which was never alluded to, I was hoping that there would be some interactions like the BBC show, Merlin which had Merlin talking to a dragon.The fight scenes were subpar, considering the two seasons of Daredevil, had fight scenes which deployed many styles of martial arts., and you would figure that they would get better, especially since this centers around a martial arts expert, but there are nods to The Raid and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon which are well intentioned, but are “meh”, in comparison. The next issue is the inclusion of Bride of Nine Spiders, who in the comics is a formidable foe, but in this TV show, she seems a bit neutered. As Jane Kim portrayals
Don’t worry. You’re not seeing things. Riverdale #1 came out over a month ago, and so did the original review, but that was for the one-shot (the prequel to the hit television show). This is the brand new Riverdale comic, with similar writers, only this series will be on-going. It features what happens in between the television series episodes, so the two go hand in hand, feeding into the obsession that is the newly crazed Riverdale frenzy. Archie Comics is smart to capitalize on this opportunity, taking its show’s success and bringing in their viewers back to its roots (the comics).
making appearance. Some of the gags are overlong, but Baltazar and Franco throw in some clever references to Afterlife with Archie, and the fact that adults are pretty much useless in Riverdale. This comic is definitely geared to a younger audience, but is worth a read if you’re missing old school Archie. Overall: 7.5 Recommendation: Read
Batman #20 (DC)** So that’s “I Am Bane,” huh? A fist-fight that Batman wins with a well-timed head-butt (whoops, spoilers). Issue after issue of buildup for — this? Tom King and David Finch have really bottomed out on this book; time for some new blood. Overall: 1 Recommendation: Pass.
America #2 (Marvel) I will keep this one to a few words:funny, meta and nothing like it in the Marvel Universe. We catch up with America after she punches Hitler. Definitely a different voice at Marvel that not only is entertaining but woke. Overall: 9 Recommendation: Buy
In a world where being politically conscious and is the norm, never has social issues been more mainstream. No one can turn on the television, listen to the radio, stream online, without someone discussing the current administration, the long history of misogyny and devaluation of women, and the societal ills which lead to the Black Lives Matter movement. I remember a time in popular culture when people who brought up these same issues, were constantly being labeled as “conspiracy theorists”, often dismissing their claims, and often in TV shows and movies, being portrayed as some crazy hobo from the Reagan era. I remember growing up, especially when I was in high school, I read books, played bon the school’s basketball team and listened to hip hop, and if I said anything, that sounded “woke”, my classmates used to call me, “Elijah Muhammad”, because it told a truth that only their parents would say and also the movie, Malcolm X was popular at the time.
