Markosia 2016
Created & Written by Sam Johnson
Illustrated by Carlos Granda
Coloured by Chunlin Zhao
Lettered by Micah Myers
Well after the explosive debut of Geek-Girl last issue Sam is taking us on a little different route this issue. He’s exploring Ruby’s state of mind after everything that’s happened. I have to say if Sam is one thing it’s he’s consistent with the characterisation here. That Summer and Ruby watch the news report in the dorm and Ruby’s reaction is to go get drunk yeah that fits with everything I thought about her from the first issue.
I do find it incredibly interesting that instead of putting the glasses on and figuring out how they work with her and becoming more adept at using her powers the first thought is to get wasted. There’s a few things going on here that actually work however and that’s that Ruby has these issues of how she sees herself. More self-deprecating than she should be and not really doing much to change that, for this speaks largely to how the younger generation see themselves. It’s all what’s wrong and not what can I do to fix that and again I think it’s rather telling and that Ruby fits right into that I find fascinating.
Social commentary aside what Sam is doing to tell the story of a new up and coming superheroine in today’s world is extremely well done. I mean the honesty in not knowing what you are doing and causing as much damage as you are helping is that more realistic stance we don’t see enough of. That Sam also goes ahead and shows us the impact that this initial failure has on her mindset gives us that look into her that a lot of writers don’t think to tackle.
Carlos and Chunlin do some marvelous work on the interiors here. I really like the attention to detail that we see. The use of page layouts through angles, perspective and the use of backgrounds really help flesh the story out nicely. The body language and facial expressions really help give that extra characterisation that words alone can’t do, like with or without the glasses on Ruby. The now fashion the girls where that borders on too slutty is handled well too.
I like the idea of the Nina and her introduction. What she’s had done to herself to be more hip and cool than anyone else she knows, again speaks volumes about today’s youth. Her aggressive advances on Ruby yeah that was interesting to see too and part of me thinks there’s a whole lot more to Nina than we know and we need to watch out for this one. Also that we the girl whom she rescued from that abusive boyfriend leads down another rabbit hole she’s not quite ready to jump into but is one she’ll find herself wrapped up in.
There’s a lot going for this series. The storytelling has a brutal honesty about it, it’s well thought out and executed. The characters are interesting, fresh and totally today. The interiors complement the writing extremely well. All in all there’s enough going on even though this was more a get to know you issue that it keeps your attention throughout. Sam is bright voice that needs to be heard.