The Gritty Spiderwoman Motion Comics.

After the release of the Watchmen motion comic, it’s very trendy to produce more motion comics. Essentially, they are the most faithful forms of the comics translated to the multimedia form with action and voices. The pages should, literally, pop out to your face. I’ve heard the Watchmen motion comics are atrocious as the voices were terrible and uneven, but Marvel Comics’ Spiderwoman should fare better. And with 5 ten-minute long episodes, writer Brian Michael Bendis is successful with his execution of entertainment.

The plot is fairly simple. Jessica Drew, the first Spiderwoman, is the most hated woman in the Marvel Universe. The shape-shifting Skrulls’ queen used her face as the instigator of the alien invasion. Now she is deeply depressed, but lands a job as an agent of S.W.O.R.D. by Abigail Brand. Her first mission is to kill a hiding skrull in the seedy Madripoor, but has to deal with prison, Madame Hydra, Norman Osborn’s Thunderbolts, and more shape-shifting skrulls. There’s a special appearance from her teammates, the New Avengers, but she ultimately comes to term with her identity and takes the offer as the sole agent of S.W.O.R.D.

What’s most impressing is artist Alex Maleev’s moody and gritty artwork as it blends the voice acting and special effects. My only irritations are Spiderwoman’s characterization as suicidal and worse than Wolverine while the panels simply shift with minimal movement. These are minor issues as her characterization improves while the moving art becomes very bearable. The Spiderwoman motion comic is looking pretty good and entertaining, but I’m excited to see the X-Men motion comic, as it looks superior and badass.

Rawhide Kid: Slap Leather.

The end of my summer happened during the last days of August, but the end of my summer reading ends with this graphic novel, Rawhide Kid: Slap Leather. Now, I’ve heard controversial reviews about this graphic novel as it takes an old character from the 1950s and update him to make him completely gay. Gay must have been taboo back in 2003 because it’s labeled under Marvel’s MAX imprint with explicit content. Now, I have no qualms with any of its background, but after reading it and finding absolutely nothing risqué about the comic, then I’m just puzzled. I can’t say that I liked this novel because the humor is in bad taste. Ron Zimmerman (a writer for the Howard Stern Show) wrote tremendously bad scenes as everyone calls the sheriff a pussy after being shot and appearances of George Bush and his acts of terrorism. What’s more appalling is that Rawhide Kid speaks like a typical gay stereotype with no personality depth. He insults women into picking a better dress, he yells out “booorrrinng” and “honey,” and he speaks gay innuendos that nobody realizes. If Marvel was trying to make a good three-dimensional gay character, then they failed. Luckily, they’re redeemed with other better characters like Northstar, Hulking, Wicca, Rictor, and Shatterstar. The only validation this series has was that the artist drew the character way back in the 1950s. That helps only a little.

My Rating: D+

Side By Side.

So I’ve found one of my favorite graphic novels in the form of Mioki’s Side by Side: The Journal of a Smalltown Boy. It’s definitely up there with Apollo’s Song, Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall, and The Dark Phoenix Saga, but this special tale is more personal as it involves a simple love between two dear friends.  A rarity in storytelling as 90 percent of the book exhibits really graphic gay sex. Is it porn? Many will undoubtedly call it that, but the loving passionate connection that the two characters share elevates the book to just mere fluff. Evan (the hetero, at first) and Rick (the gay)  have been best friends since they were 8 and progresses with Rick confessing his feelings to Evan. He shrugs it off as nothing with witty humor, but after high school, their relationship deepens. Their banter and their situations flow naturally while the sex scenes amalgamate between real-life and porn settings. Side by Side never loses its charm as it‘s an engaging 120-page story. I read the book three times the first time I bought it. I hope Mioki continues Rick’s and Evan’s love story.