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Bibliophiles of the internet, my name is Adriana and today I'm here to review some comics.
I've read quite a few comics lately, and I wanted to chat about them, so here we are.
The first comic I want to mention is actually a manhwa, which is a Korean comic,
and that is "Milkyway Hitchhiking" by Sirial.
This is a really sweet collection of vignettes about a character named Milkyway,
who's actually a cat who can travel across time and space.
Wherever she goes and wherever she ends up, she usually becomes attached to people who are nice to her,
who take care of her, who feed her,
who love her—
—and in that sense, I very much related to her, because SAME.
As far as a synopsis goes, that's pretty much it, because as I said, this is a series of vignettes,
and they're not necessarily intersecting vignettes,
there's no overarching storyline that connects all of them together,
besides the fact that Milkyway herself is in each of them.
There are a few instances where two or three consecutive stories follow the same characters,
but it's just not that kind of comic where you get to know the characters in-depth or stay with them for a long time,
it's not told in a linear fashion,
it's not really building towards any kind of collective climax,
or really building towards anything, really.
It's more about creating an aesthetic experience for the reader
and trying to impart a certain feeling upon them by the end of it.
So if you're not into that and if you don't like vignettes,
if don't like short stories, or you don't like anything I just mentioned,
then maybe this comic is not for you—and that's okay!
I, on the other hand, am 100% here for all the things I just talked about.
I love vignettes, and what I've learned about myself through this process
is that I have a very special place in my heart for vignettes about cats,
especially when they're as cute and as beautiful as these ones.
Milkyway is such an endearing character,
and I really fell in love with her as I followed her throughout these stories
She's undyingly loyal to the people she becomes attached to, she's a great friend to all of them;
if there's ANYTHING she can do to make someone feel loved, appreciated, comfortable, safe,
she will do that, even if it means getting herself into trouble sometimes.
And even when there's nothing she can really do, sometimes it's enough for her to just be there for that person,
and she does that as well, which I think is great.
Plus, this manhwa is fricken GORGEOUS.
The whole thing is in full color; the illustrations are fantastic; the art style is breathtaking
and really brings those characters and those stories to life
and adds to that aesthetic experience I was talking about.
I loved it, I was completely absorbed in it.
It's EASILY one of the prettiest books I've ever owned in my entire life,
and I loved that part of it as well.
Overall, I thought this was such a sweet, adorable collection of short stories,
and I had such a good time reading through them. So I gave "Milkyway Hitchhiking" 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Next up is the third collection of "Phoebe and Her Unicorn" comics, and this one is entitled
"Unicorn vs. Goblins" by Dana Simpson.
"Phoebe and her Unicorn" is far and away the best comic strip out there right now.
I love it so much! It's an absolute treasure, and it's such a great read. Every single time,
every single one of these collections is just GOLD, A+ throughout.
More people need to read it, more people need to experience it.
The premise of this comic is that one day, Phoebe saves Marigold Heavenly Nostrils
from being entranced by the beauty of her own reflection,
and is thus granted one wish,
and she wishes that she and Marigold will become best friends.
This comic is fantastic. It's so important, but it's really difficult for me to put into words why that is.
Phoebe and Marigold have such a healthy and supportive relationship.
They're SO different in so many ways,
and they have different strengths and interests,
but somehow they still spend a lot of time together
and find things to do that they both enjoy and that they both find rewarding,
which is kind of awesome.
And even though they are very different and sometimes their minds are in different places,
they don't put each other down for what they want to talk about, or how they feel, or what they want to do.
Like sometimes, Marigold wants to talk about her favorite subject: herself—
—because she's all about self-love and confidence, which is fantastic.
Sometimes Phoebe wants to talk about kids from school,
or something as inane as trying to sneak a first taste of coffee, or something like that,
and they don't put each other down for what they want to talk about or what they want to do;
they love each other FOR their differences, NOT in spite of them.
They have such a great relationship, and I love how this comic explores all the facets of their friendship,
whether they're having crazy fantastical adventures
or whether they're just hanging out in Phoebe's bedroom, playing video games, having a sleepover, whatever,
it's all great. I love ALL of it and it's fantastic.
Plus it's funny as HELL.
I think it's clear I love "Phoebe and her Unicorn."
As I said, it's a complete treasure of a comic strip, it's an absolute gem,
and I'm so happy it exists in this world because we need more comics like it!
Of course, I gave "Unicorn vs. Goblins" 5 out of 5 stars.
Next up, I have "Princeless" vol. 1 by Jeremy Whitley and M. Goodwin.
This comic is about a princess named Adrienne who, like the rest of her sisters,
has been locked away in a tower that is guarded by a dragon
in hopes that one day a potential suitor or prince
will best that dragon and save her from the tower,
thus proving himself as worthy of the throne.
However, Adrienne is tired of waiting around, and she decides that she can rescue herself just as well as anyone else,
so she scrounges up some armor and rides away on her dragon
so that she can be the one to save her other sisters first.
I feel like, on paper, there are a lot of reasons why I should either love this comic,
or at the very least be really enthusiastic about it—
—like how all the royalty are people of color, how it's very obviously a story about female empowerment,
how there are a lot of overt feminist themes.
These are all things I can very much appreciate,
it just so happens that I didn't really enjoy it.
I feel like the story and the characters themselves took a back seat to what this comic was trying to accomplish thematically
and the message it was trying to get across.
And I felt like it was really overcompensating,
because you can really tell that it was written by men.
You can tell this is a male's perspective
on what it means to be feminist,
and how a feminist woman should act, and behave, and the things that she should say,
and that's not QUITE the same thing as being feminist.
And I say that because this comic really perpetuates the trope of the "Strong Female Character,"
and while that character can be read as feminist
or can be written with feminist intent,
they can often do more harm than good—
—and I won't go into that here.
The point is I appreciate how this story subverts a lot of fairy tale tropes,
and I like that it's feminist, that it's about female empowerment,
I just think it goes about it in a very obvious and clumsy way.
Like rather than seeing it in the story itself,
often the characters have to stop the story
to have, like, a monologue about feminism,
and not needing a man, and not needing to wear revealing armor, and yadda yadda yadda.
And I think that's awkward to put it into the dialogue, and I think that's lazy.
I just want to see it embedded in the story itself.
Like maybe trust your audience a little to understand what your doing
rather than throwing it in their face over and over again like, "Did ya see what I did?"
"Look, Ma! Feminism!"
As I said, I think the comic was just overcompensating, and that diminished my enjoyment of the story,
and I felt like that kept me from getting to invest in the characters more than I did.
So I can appreciate the intent, but the execution was a little bit lacking for me,
and I don't quite know yet if I want to continue on with this series,
but I gave volume one 3 stars.
So those were the latest comics I've read.
I would love to hear from you to know which comics have been in your life lately
and whether you enjoyed them and would recommend them.
Of course, if you've read these comics I mentioned in this video or you would like to in the future,
I would love to hear your perspective on them as well.
But that is everything I had for this video today. Thank you so much for watching.
I really hope that you enjoyed it, and I will catch YOU on the flip-side of the page.
Bye!
[♫ snazzy end screen music ♫]