Things I've Read Recently (81): Comic Sequels

If you're new around here, Things I've Read Recently is a series of posts I do that are basically mini-reviews of books that I either forgot to review, didn't have enough to say for a full review, or just didn't want to do a full post about for whatever reason.

Fandemonium (The Wicked + The Divine, Vol 2) by Karen Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, Matt Wilson, and Clayton Cowles

Published: July 1st, 2015 by Image Comics
Genre: Adult Fantasy comic
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: Goodreads says 168 pages
Part of a series? This collects the Wicked and the Divine numbers 6-11.
Got via: The library
Amazon / Book Depository / Indiebound

Summary (from goodreads): The second volume of the award-winning urban fantasy series where gods are the ultimate pop stars and pop stars are the ultimate gods. Following the tragic and unjust death of Lucifer, it takes a revelation from Inanna to draw Laura back into the worlds of Gods and Superstardom to try and discover the truth behind a conspiracy to subvert divinity. Includes issues 6-11 of the series, plus supplementary material.

Thoughts: This series is growing on me. I still really like the premise, and this volume isn't nearly as gory, which I did struggle with in the first one. Gore really isn't my thing. There's also a bit of an art shift in this, or - or, more, that one of the issues really experiments with a lot of colour and a different way of storytelling, and I really enjoyed that.

I'm curious about how we feel about a trans woman becoming a goddess? On one hand, yay no misgendering, and I kind of absolutely adore her character in both versions, but there is kind of the inherent, you know, death sentence that the diety characters have in this series, as they all die after two years. There aren't any other trans characters yet, so perhaps that's, as it often is, the solution.

All in all, though, I enjoyed this volume and I'm excited about the next one.

Paper Girls, Vol 2 by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, Matt Wilson, and Jared K. Fletcher

Published: November 30th, 2016 by Image Comics
Genre: YA Fantasy Comics
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: Goodreads says 128
Part of a series? This collects Paper Girls issues 6-11.
Got via: The library.
Amazon / Book Depository / Indiebound

Summary (from goodreads): After surviving the strangest night of their lives in the Cleveland suburb of Stony Stream, intrepid young newspaper deliverers Erin, Mac, and Tiffany find themselves launched from 1988 to a distant and terrifying future... the year 2016.

What would you do if you were suddenly confronted by your 12-year-old self? 40-year-old newspaper reporter Erin Tieng is about to find out in this action-packed story about identity, mortality, and growing older in the 21st century.

Thoughts: I'm quite enjoying this series. Honestly I read these super fast, because they are so quick paced and easy to read. It's like watching the whole season of a show on Netflix in one night even though you should really, really go to bed and you'll regret it tomorrow.

There's some fatmisia in this that made me roll my eyes, and there's something a little off about a comic series about young girl heroes being created entirely by dudes. Also I'm not sure how I feel about the idea that Trump may literally have caused an apocalyptic future. I believe it, but I just don't know how to feel.

This does also still feel a bit like it's still getting its feet under it, but I'm enjoying it overall. Excited for the next volume!

Squirrel You Know It's True (The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Vol 2) by Ryan North and Erica Henderson

Published: December 8th, 2016 by Marvel Comics
Genre: YA Science Fiction Comics
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: Goodreads says 120 and comics never have page numbers so we'll just assume goodreads is correct.
Part of a series? This collects Squirrel Girl issues 5 through 8 plus some bonus material.
Got via: The library.
Amazon / Book Depository / Indiebound

Summary (from goodreads): The breakout character of 2015 continues her one-woman crusade against injustice and jerks! These TAILS of the Squirrel Girl will show you the Marvel Universe's most powerful super hero from a bunch of brand-new perspectives, several of them Quite Astonishing.

Thoughts: I continue to enjoy this series! This series set in a continuity of Marvel that I don't know super well. Not really sure what went down that made original Captain America all old and the um. The bird guy? The new Captain America, or how dude-Thor lost the hammer and now we have awesome Lady Thor, but I'm honestly down for both of these things and I think it makes this universe more interesting.

Not entirely sure how this works for my dream team-up of Squirrel Girl, Moon Girl, and Ms. Marvel, but I'm still into it.

This is really funny throughout, but also managed a little bit of some really creepy imagery that still fit really well within the style of the series. Really enjoyed this and looking forward to reading more of this series!

Also can I just say I adore the pun titles of this series???

Cosmic Cooties (Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Volume 2) by Amy Reeder and Brandon Montclare

Published: December 28th, 2016
Genre: MG Science Fiction Comic
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: Goodreads says 136 pages
Part of a series? This collects issues 7 to 12 of the series.
Got via: The library.
Amazon / Book Depository / Indiebound

Summary (from goodreads): THE TERRIGEN CLOUD FINALLY FINDS LUNELLA LAFAYETTE!

But her transformation isn't what you might expect! Plus, poor Lunella's been so busy worrying about the Terrigen Cloud turning her Inhuman, she's totally unprepared for...Cosmic Cooties?! Because when a new boy moves to town from far, far away, he's oddly interested in her.

Meanwhile, the most wanted T-Rex in NYC is running out of places to lie low--a problem that won't get any easier when our darling duo undergo a body swap! It's a big change-up that will see Luna spending a freaky Friday (or whatever day it happens to be) as Devil Dinosaur, and vice versa! Will Luna evade capture? Will DD scrape a passing grade? And who exactly is Moon Girl's new 9-year-old archnemesis, Kid Kree? Lunella's got a huge future in the Marvel Universe, if only she can survive the present!

Thoughts: To my surprise, my library branch actually had the first three volumes of this series, so I barely had to wait after reading the first one! I actually filled my own hold grabbing the third one off the shelf, lol.

The thing I wanted to happen happened!! Well, not my ultimate dream team up of Ms. Marvel, Squirrel Girl and Moon Girl, but Lunella got to meet Ms. Marvel in this! It was so cool to see Kamala being a hero for Lunella like Captain Marvel and Wolverine and Iron Man were people that Kamala looked up to. It made my little heart go pitter patter!

Also, a little thing I noticed - I'm not sure if it's done every chapter yet or what, but Lunella's hair changes pretty frequently. In this one she's rocking some cornrows along with her little pigtail puffs, and in the first one volume I believe she often just had one ponytail, and it's really cool to see her hair changing since she wears it natural and that's really important representation.

I want to read more and it's literally right here so that's the end of the review, lol.

And that's four! Expect a lot of these in the next couple months. I've been reading a ton of comic books lately.

Thanks for reading!

Peace and cookies,
Laina