COMICS: Dave's Other Rant: ArmyAnts,Troublemakers,GayComics
Dave Van Domelen
Dave's Other Rant:
Army Ants #15 "Heritage"
Troublemakers #18 "Storm Before The Bigger Storm"
Gay Comics #25 "Finally Came Out"
Spoilers....
Army Ants: The cover proclaims that it's #3 in a series of 4 covers, but
I only saw the one cover at Laughing Ogre. This means either A) the
distribution of covers was sloppy, or more likely B) it's a gag, there's no
other covers.
A few more layers of Zak's backstory are peeled away. Not only is it
confirmed that he's going to fight for Neregrim because of the coin bit
several issues ago, we also find that he's the (adopted?) son of the Potato
Bug Sensei, and that he was supposed to fight in the contest on behalf of the
Potato Bugs. So, is he a potato bug under that mask? Well, probably not.
The doctors in #1 would have figured it out when he was hospitalized for
cinnamon poisoning. Unless Desing's decided that in his world there's no
medical difference between the two species, merely different antennae (which
the mask could disguise).
If Zak *is* an ant, then as Sarge says, competing in the contest would
be considered treason, since the contest is basically an affront to them. If
he's a potato bug, then he's not technically committing treason, but he's in
a whole different set of trouble. And we're not even at the halfway point
yet.
Meanwhile, the Bee General proves that not all of his kind are hapless
comic relief, as he manages to manuever the Wasp Baron into a position where
he has to let the General live, even appoint him regent. Oh, and cute visual
gag...the other potato bugs are using the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle
weapons.
Troublemakers "Simple Lessons": Media pressure is starting to get to be
a bit unpleasant, and it's making life at XL's high school practically
unbearable. Not just for her, but for other students now they know that they
can never be the best as long as Christine's around. Naturally, this
resentment is personified in Jacinda, the B-ko to Christine's A-ko. And the
faculty is starting to wonder what they can do about the whole can of worms.
So they decide to have Christine tutor Jacinda. They're not sure
exactly what will happen, but they figure SOMETHING will happen and end the
suspense.
And happen something does. Without teachers around, Christine loses her
edge academically, and finds she can't tutor Jacinda. This "laziness" her
powers allow is tossed back in her face, but then she recovers and turns
around to point out Jacinda uses her attitude as a crutch the same way. In
the end, both try a little harder to get past their crutches, and succeed.
Felt a little "After School Special" on the last few pages, tho.
Meanwhile, a bunch of subplots advance so that things can be wrapped up
next month. Mysterious energy sources, Harada's machinations, etc.
Oh, and Omar...if you must be derivative, don't use the guitar case full
of guns, go to a better source and use a gym bag. }->
Gay Comics: 71 creators, 80 pages. Do the math...it's almost all
one-page bits. Some of the amusement comes from seeing some of these strips
written in 1996 talking like this comic came out then. Guess the closet door
was a bit stuck, even Desert Peach got out several issues while waiting. }->
Like most massive anthologies, there's a lot of good stuff and a lot of
not good stuff. As befits an anniversary issue, a lot of the pieces look
back, either on the creator's own work in the last 16-18 years (or less), the
progress of society on the matter of gays, or more specifically the progress
of gays in the comics.
Still, I'd have to say my biggest complaint about this book is the
frequency of publication, especially since there's a few serialized stories
in it that I've gotten interested in (like the Mark Lynx one). Waiting two
years for one page ranks up there with being a Beanworld reader. }->
Someone needs to give Mangels a lot of money so he can move this to at least
a reliable quarterly status.
Speaking of a lot of money, it's $6.95, which is a bit steep for 80
pages B&W newsprint. On the other hand, if you think of it as $3.48 a year,
it's not as bad. }->
Dave Van Domelen, "See...a basketball goal! We just have to put it
together...what could possible go wrong?" - an invocation of Murphy in Gay
Comics, p69 (and no, there's no special reason that strip was put on that
particular page).