Tag Archives: galaxy

Justice League: Dream Girls #4 shows both the triumphant and sad sides of queer identity

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Justice League: Dream Girls #4

Jadzia Axelrod, Nicole Maines, Stein & Brandt, Rosi Kampe, Triona Farrell, and Dearbhla Kelly wrap up their beautiful, action-packed, and soul-searing Pride Month event in Justice League: Dream Girls #4. Most of this issue is set in the Kampe-drawn dream dimension, where Galaxy fights to save her BFF Dreamer from the clutches of the Key, who is very close to having infinite knowledge that will transform him from that one villain you vaguely remember getting knocked out by a boxing glove arrow in Grant Morrison’s JLA run to an A-list baddie. It cements the bond between Galaxy and Dreamer while setting them on two quite different, yet valid heroic paths. Axelrod and Maines give both heroines full arcs while leaving room for either them or other creators to play in the sandbox. In addition to wrapping up the weekly crossover event, JL: Dream Girls #4 features a powerful, personal black and white autobiographical comic from the legendary Klaus Janson about growing up as a gay, immigrant cartoonist in the 1960s and 1970s.

To start, it’s been such a pleasure to follow JL: Dream Girls each week and see transgender superheroes written by transgender comics creators get to be front and center in a big summer crossover with such a buffet of different art styles and a huge cast of characters, LGBTQ+ otherwise. (Batman is a trans ally, y’all!) And it wouldn’t be a summer crossover with some badass fisticuffs, and JL: Dream Girls #4 doesn’t disappoint. There’s a surreal action-horror vibe to Rosi Kampe and Kelly’s visuals, with interesting panel layouts as Galaxy flies around and tries to get Dreamer to literally wake up and not be married to the Key. For example, while Dreamer is under the Key’s thrall, the gutters are black, but when she gets her act together, they’re different colors or non-existent. Kampe’s line art and Dearbhla Kelly’s colors go from something light and almost trance-like to solid and punchy as the story progresses. As someone who has put on a variety of identities throughout the series, it’s so empowering to see Dreamer finally be herself in JL: Dream Girls #4’s climax.

After the big fight, JL: Dream Girls #4 has an extended epilogue that’s drawn by Stein & Brandt and colored by Farrell, who have done an excellent job on the Watchtower sequences throughout the series, giving this large cast of characters their own unique personalities, sometimes with a single eye movement or head tilt. (I live for Jon Kent’s eyes lighting up and wanting to play DnD even though Damian Wayne says it’s for nerds.) The use of “Bwahahaha” all but confirms, but they’re worthy successors to the superhero sitcom era of J.M. DeMatteis, Keith Giffen, and Kevin Maguire’s Justice League. The highlight of this part of the story is a conversation between Batman and Dreamer, where he tells her that if someone is uncomfortable with her being simply present in a space, that’s their problem. It brings the superhero/queerness/trans metaphor full circle and means a lot because it’s DC’s biggest seller saying those words. Jadzia Axelrod and Nicole Maines have done a wonderful job telling a story that is both a sci-fi/superhero epic with psychological dimensions that also works as a personal tale of two very different transgender women coming to terms with who they are. It was in the previous issue, but Coagula and Dreamer talking about being transgender lesbians is an all-time great moment in superhero comics. Finally, Galaxy and Dreamer are just awesome friends, and I hope they have many more adventures either as part of the Justice League or together. (DC editorial, we need a JLQ ongoing.)

After the colorful triumphs of the lead story, the black and white backup story from Janson entirely switches tone, and I appreciate the reader’s advisory between them. He gives a stark portrayal of what it was like to be a gay man in the 60s and 70s, with bullying, slurs, and not having heroes like Galaxy and Dreamer to look up to. However, young Klaus finds hope through superhero comics, which are the only part of the story done in color and give him an escape as he struggles to fit in with the oppressive society around him. Another place of escape for him is one of the first Pride parades that happened after Stonewall, and it’s cool to see the LGBTQ+ culture of the era, like when Klaus shows another young man his art portfolio after getting an early assignment at DC Comics. There’s also a shift in Klaus Janson’s art style as he grows in confidence in himself as an artist and gay man, before culminating in that iconic style that defined Batman and Daredevil for generations of heroes. And, personally, I love that a queer person like myself is partially responsible for those dark stories that were important to me growing up and still are to this day. I appreciate that Mr. Janson was able to share something so personal in such a beautiful way and that DC continues to publish autobiographical stories by LGBTQ+ creators.

Justice League: Dream Girls #4 shows both the triumphant and sad sides of queer identity through its punching and friendship-filled lead story and its sobering, yet hopeful backup story. It’s the perfect comic to read during the last week of Pride Month.

Story: Jadzia Axelrod, Nicole Maines, Klaus Janson
Art: Stein & Brandt, Rosi Kampe, Klaus Janson 
Colors: Triona Farrell, Dearbhla Kelly
Letters: Jodie Troutman, Frank Cvetkovic, Lucas Gattoni
Story: 9.0 Art: 9.5 Overall: 9.3 Recommendation: Buy

DC Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: Zeus Comics – Kindle

Almost Dead #1 reads like a bad point and click game

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Almost Dead #1

After having an accident on her way home to visit her family, Sara Walker awakens to find that the world has changed. Now she must travel up the Eastern Seaboard, using suppressed survival skills she learned as a child, in hopes of reuniting with her loved ones during a viral pandemic that has turned humans into monsters. Set in modern day 2005, Sara unites with old acquaintances and new friends along the way, and her struggle to survive will be both an unexpectedly exciting journey and an absolute horror. Almost Dead #1 is a rough start that feels more like playing a point and click game than reading a comic.

In the solicit for Almost Dead #1, it says it “redefines the genre, with its cinematic approach and attention to detail.” Having read the first issue, it feels more like a step back and missing a lot of details instead.

Written by Galaxy, Almost Dead #1 is your typical zombie horror comic that teases it might be something else. Sara arrives in Maryland and falls in the bathroom hitting her head. During her recovery, all hell breaks loose as the zombie apocalypse descends. When she eventually comes through, she walks around rather oblivious remarking about luggage and cars left around but not noticing much else. All of it hints this might be in Sara’s head but until things are shown otherwise, it’s the details and dialogue that add to a frustrating start.

The comic boasts its “attention to detail” but throughout there’s small details that are missed. Sara loses a shoe which is mentioned later but that shoe just mysteriously comes off. It’s not shown off her foot or around her when she wakes up, she’s just missing it. In the car she takes, in one panel the back hatch is open, perfect for zombies to climb in and kill her while she’s passed out but when she wakes up the hatch is closed. When she lands in her plane it deboards on the tarmac!? Unless it’s a tiny plane, and this doesn’t look like it, not likely. And generally there’s no reason to present the scene like that.

Then there’s the narrative that switches between Sara’s thoughts in her head to eventually what reads like details you’d get when playing a point and click video game. It’s a jarring switch that makes little to no sense at all when it comes to the storytelling itself.

The art by Ryan Benjamin is good but doesn’t stand out too much. There’s all this damage and destruction as Sara shuffles her way to the destination but the comic never uses its visuals to really tell a story. We get some zombie looking people here and there but overall the world feels a bit too empty and clean for whatever has happened over the three days Sara was passed out. It feels more Rapture than zombies.

Almost Dead #1 kicks things off with an opening we’ve seen many times before and it just doesn’t do it well. When there’s so many options out there for this type of story, it doesn’t make a case this is the one you should check out and stick with.

Story: Galaxy Art: Ryan Benjamin
Story: 6.0 Art: 7.5 Overall: 6.0 Recommendation: Pass

Ablaze provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: Zeus Comics – Kindle

Almost Dead – Post Apocalyptic Horror Comic Book Series Launches November 1st

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Somewhere between pure exhilaration and sheer terror is Almost Dead! After having an accident on her way home to visit her family, Sara Walker awakens to find that the world has changed. Now she must travel up the Eastern Seaboard, using suppressed survival skills she learned as a child, in hopes of reuniting with her loved ones during a viral pandemic that has turned humans into monsters. Set in modern day 2005, Sara unites with old acquaintances and new friends along the way, and her struggle to survive will be both an unexpectedly exciting journey and an absolute horror.   

Relentlessly vicious, Almost Dead isn’t your typical apocalyptic story. Tying in conspiracy with historical flashbacks and showing how perhaps everything we learned in our textbooks has been altered over time.

Featuring a story by Galaxy, art by Ryan Benjamin, and published by Ablaze, Almost Dead #1 debuts on November 1st.

Almost Dead #1

Ablaze launches Almost Dead, a post apocalyptic horror series

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ALMOST DEAD #1

story by Galaxy
artwork by Ryan Benjamin
SRP: $3.99
Available September 6th   

Somewhere between pure exhilaration and sheer terror is Almost Dead!  

After having an accident on her way home to visit her family, Sara Walker awakens to find that the world has changed. Now she must travel up the Eastern Seaboard, using suppressed survival skills she learned as a child, in hopes of reuniting with her loved ones during a viral pandemic that has turned humans into monsters. Set in 2005, Sara unites with old acquaintances and new friends along the way, and her struggle to survive will be both an unexpectedly exciting journey and an absolute horror.   

Relentlessly vicious, Almost Dead isn’t a typical apocalyptic story. It adeptly weaves conspiracy with historical flashbacks and shows how perhaps everything we’ve learned in textbooks has been altered over time.

ALMOST DEAD #1