DC Archive Comics - Wonder Woman



Wonder Woman is a superhero of great beauty, strength, speed and intelligence. This comic introduces this great heroes history and her fun adventures fighting unique villains. The introductions provide us with interesting insight to the story they are about to tell about Wonder Woman. The introductions keep the readers entertained with asking us questions that we need to look for in that part of the story. At the beginning of the comic Wonder Hippolyte, the Queen discovers Wonder Woman during a tournament to see who is the strongest woman in the Amazon. She and Steve Trevor have a very close relationship with each other, as Wonder Woman tends to save him a lot and they always seem to be in scenes with each other. Wonder Woman sets out to save problems and reach feats no other woman can achieve. The drawings are stiff and feel flat to me including the compositions, which I think could be a lot better. For vintage comics the color is decent. However I have read other “Archived,” comics that have a better use of color with more interesting compositions. After watching Wonder Woman make a cameo in Batman Vs. Superman the actor Gal Gadot does an excellent job in the role. She is a great representation like the ones in the comic, especially the suit, which depicts more of the "newer," version of Wonder Woman. She acts in a way that truly brings out Wonder Woman’s physique, strength, speed and beauty in this film. Her shield reminds me of Captain America's because of its strength as well. I would recommend this comic to anyone who enjoys Wonder Woman or any superhero comics.

Arkham Asylum 



Arkham Asylum is a comic that really takes a horrifying and dark turn to the Batman saga. It's something I would not normally read. However, I really enjoyed this comic. The beautifully drawn illustrations and master storytelling drew me into the entire narrative. There is so much simplicity and stylization in some of the drawings and in others are very detailed environments that are masterfully designed and colorized. Batman is not one of my favorite everyday superheroes and see him portrayed as more of a criminal and vigilante than the classics that have powers. His advanced weaponry and combat skills make him a master at fighting. Ben Affleck's portrayal in Batman Vs Superman was very well done. There was one thing that did not work well when Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman were fighting Doomsday. Since Batman is not a god he was pretty much rendered useless in this fight. I liked Christian Bale's portrayal is Batman in The Dark Knight series a lot more. It reminded me more of the comics especially when he was fighting the joker, which reminded me of the joker in this comic. The joker is my all time favorite DC comics villain. His tricks as well as insanity makes him perfect against the crime fighting superhero Batman. This comic goes full insane when the joker takes the mantel and Heath Ledgers portrayal of the character is just as disturbed and insane as the one in this comic. Overall, I would recommend this comic to people who enjoy horror and being terrified. This is a comic I enjoyed but I am not a huge fan of comics or movies that goes full on insane.

Ms. Marvel


Ms. Marvel is a fascinating muslim teenage superhero with interesting powers of shapeshifting. She sneaks out at night to go to parties and is still figuring herself out. She has very disciplined parents that want what's best for her. There is a sort of disconnect between Kamala and her parents because she is just beginning to discover who she is and what she is capable of. Kamala's different shapeshifting abilities are exploring her true identity and the coming of age. She is first discovering her powers after she is leaving a party and has a drink she falls down. She is dreaming about Captain America, Iron Man and Captain Marvel. This was an interesting effect in the comic book where they connected her with the use of her powers and spoke to her about maturing as a person and a superhero. When she wakes up she is trapped in this cocoon, breaks out and turns into Ms. Marvel. There was not a whole lot of action as she is just getting her powers, but I feel like the writers need to  develop her as a character. Instead of her just saving her friends she needs to be protecting the city. Overtime I think this will happen, but I found it to be a little slow. The illustrations were beautifully drawn and were the highlights of the comic book. As a teenager we are in between the child and adult phases where we are in the middle of childlike and mature behavior. Overall, this is a comic I would recommend to anyone who enjoys reading Marvel comics.

This One Summer - Mariko and Jillian Tamaki 



This is a story of two friends, Windy and Rose, who are visiting the beach together with their families. However, since they are maturing into teenagers they find themselves dealing with love. And Rose deals with her parents marriage falling to pieces.

This was a very enjoyable comic to read and the illustrations were beautifully drawn. The script had the content of two young teenage girls who are going through a phase and talking about boys. We were getting a perspective of two girls and what to talk about when they are at the beach. We got a feeling we were at the beach with the mention of the fresh air and swimming. When you are at the beach with your family your parents always tell you your story of how you were born and grew up. I enjoyed the reference Windy's mom used when she was telling her about how she grew up. The mother referenced a bean to Windy because they start off tiny and when they grow up they turn into a beautiful human being. That's what Windy is becoming and I just thought this was fascinating. The illustrations were very well composed and expressive, which makes the scenes come to life. They are very atmospheric and dreamlike, which give us the feeling that it's summer. And since there is no color in this it creates the quality of a dream, which is what the beach feels like. The characters are developed to a point where they are recognizable and stand out. They are stylized to the point where they could be cartoons on a kids tv show. I always like a cartoon characters eyes because, in my opinion they are the focal point of the character and define them. He simplifies the eyes, but they create an interesting character. I would recommend this to anyone that enjoys the summer, the life of teenagers and their struggles. I think this is a great interpretation of that.

Asterios Polyp 



This is a bizarre and random comic that I enjoyed for its single illustrations. It was very confusing to follow and at times was very hard to read. As an illustrator I noticed a very interesting stylization of the characters; they are very gestural and expressive. They were very well developed and we know a lot about the characters histories and how their lives play out; the best part of the story. I fully enjoyed the illustrations that did not have script with them. I thought they were good as stand alone illustrations. The silhouettes are very powerful and like the fact that they are not black. The illustrations were not always consistence with each other, at times reminded me of storyboards, and seemed rushed as well. The vintage color palette was very unique for the story. It made me feel like i was part of the dream world with the opal colors and subtle value changes. This story seems to take place when everything was very retro and old fashioned. The single illustrations on each page tends to break up the flow of the story. I think it is interesting of they were played out correctly and not have most of the white page invading the space of the illustrations. I would recommend this to people who enjoy very vintage and retro style comics.

Manga - Yaoi Too Close for Love Ch. 1 

This is the first time I have read a Manga comic. I have never read one before until now because this type of comic just never really appealed to me. The covers are interesting, but they do not capture my attention. A lot of the Manga comics mainly have just characters and not full illustrations, which captures more of my attention. While I think the illustrations are fun and exciting I find this comic as hard to get through, chaotic and unorganized. It was confusing to try to follow the script and as well as the illustrations. There seems to be a lot more character development than characters and environments together in a panel. There are very suggestive environments in some of the panels that are interesting, but just do not bring me into the story. I am also not a huge fan of the very pointed chins to me it just makes me think of villains from comics and animated films. The characters seem very similar too each other. They do have different eyes and body shapes. However, from my perspective all the characters seem very similar to me.

This comic Too Close for Love was a story about Fumi and Eiji and their love for each other. They seemed to be very happy when they were together. There was also a lot of kissing, which i thought was overplayed a lot in this comic. Overall, manga just isn't appealing to me so i was not able to read the entire thing because of all the confusion and chaotic presentation of this comic.

The one thing I do like about Manga is the environments. The environments are beautifully drawn and detailed and very representational of everyday life. I just wished they put that much effort into the characters, which to me just do not seem complete and consistent enough with the environments.

March: Book One 
By: John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell



The first volume of March is a very powerful story about the Civil Rights Movement and blacks marching the streets to protest for equal rights. The story developed around Congressman John Lewis  his extraordinary life's history, accomplishments and the movement he lead. During the beginning of the story they write about the events of the very christian praying protestors getting arrested for being in a bar or refusing to move sitting in the back of the bus. Eventually there were so many people in jail the policeman decided to let them go. "Bloody Sunday," was a very aggressive time when they were fighting for equal rights, marching and where police were blocking their path. They were then attacked after John Lewis's orders with many getting injured. It then jumps straight to Obama's inauguration. We notice Lewis is telling his story to people who visited him in his office in congress.

Lewis, Aydin and Powell create a comic book with a strong vision, message and storyboard like illustrations using a lot of graphic lines to communicate the emotion. They use very dramatic compositions and simple character designs, which communicate the story very well. Powell uses a very interesting technique using black, gray and white washes and markers to create some really good storytelling. They succeed in describing Lewis's life story and his becoming of a true and very prayful christian and civil rights leader. His life was very extraordinary. He held funerals for chicken that died instead of eating them or throwing them away. He also spoke of Ghandi, talked about the Montgomery Bus Boycott, War Resistance and Nonviolence. They reference racism and how evil it was, how evil poverty was and how evil war was. They just do such a great job with capturing us in the moment and to me it felt like I was part of the civil rights movement and experienced a time of such hardships for the blacks.