World Comic Book Review

27th March 2024

Not Just Another Princess

Another Castle #1 (review)
Oni Press, March 2016
Writers: Andrew Wheeler
Review by Neil Raymundo, 8 March 2016

It seems appropriate that we are reviewing this title on International Women’s Day. At first blush, Oni Press’ “Another Castle” seems targeted exclusively towards children. The art style features Manga-esque large eyes, exaggerated facial expressions that bring to mind a healthy mix of classic Disney artwork and anime, and the panels use pastel colors liberally. Even the title hints that it was inspired by Japanese game company Nintendo’s retro video game “Super Mario Bros”. This game has in each of its “end levels” a notice telling the eponymous plumber that he must soldier on, because the princess he wants to save is in “another castle.”

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Mirror’s Edge: Exordium – Free Running with the Plot

Mirrors’ Edge: Exordium #1-6 (of 6)
Dark Horse Comics, September 9, 2015 – February 10, 2016
Writer: Christofer Emgard
Review by Neil Raymundo, Feb 18, 2016

“Mirror’s Edge – Exordium” is based on a first-person perspective action/free-running game developed by EA Dice and published by Electronic Arts for various gaming platforms in 2007. The game focuses on a futuristic dystopian society in which an unnamed city is ruled by a totalitarian regime. The regime makes life comfortable for its citizens and keeps crime controlled, at the cost of controlling all aspects of the civilian population’s lives – from monitoring all communication, to controlling the media, and even banning leisurely activities such as smoking and alcohol.

The fact that it is based on a popular source material from a different medium is the biggest drawback of the “Mirror’s Edge” comic. It relies on the reader being familiar about the game. It is very difficult to follow a plot when dropped into the middle of a story without any background information.

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The Autumnlands Volume 1: Tooth and Claw (review)

The Autumnlands Volume 1: Tooth and Claw (review)
Writer: Kurt Busiek
(Image Comics, July 2015)

Talking animals as the protagonists for adventures for children have a long tradition. In the twentieth century, this manifested sometimes as the printed extension of cartoons (Disney’s Mickey Mouse, and the Looney Tunes characters of Warner Bros), or as serialized comic strips (Snoopy, Calvin and Hobbes) which have usually been read as collected works. Talking animals are an absurdity and accordingly the adventures of such characters tend to be comedic (thus, “comic” books).

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Satire predicts politics – Allusions to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in DC Comics’ The Demon #26-29 (1992)

“The Demon” #26, 27, 28, 29
Writer: Dwayne McDuffie
Artist: Val Semeiks
DC Comics, 1992
Review by Max Yezpitelok

One highly peculiar and clearly satirical 1992 storyline contained in the pages of an obscure comic book called “The Demon”, published by American comic book company DC Comics, where a rhyming demon runs for president of the United States is amongst the oddest of all US mainstream comic book stories. But from the perspective of a very cynical reader in 2016 the story has some uncanny similarities to the current presidential election.

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“The Demon” is an anti-hero created by acclaimed writer Jack Kirby in 1972. The character has yellow skin, blazing red eyes, and horns. There is an underlying sense of Jekyll and Hyde schizophrenia to the character, premised on the idea that an evil demon of hell named Etrigan is harboured within a well-meaning human named Jason Blood. Etrigan breathes fire and is just as likely to incinerate other characters within storylines as to assist them. As such, the character is difficult to define within the genre of superhero comics and but for being part of its famous creator’s legacy to that genre, would more properly sit within the realm of horror. Etrigan is magically summoned by the incantation, “Gone, gone, form of man, arise the demon, Etrigan!”

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