A Release and a Recommendation · 9:00pm Jan 4th, 2021
So, first things first: the sixth Iota Force story's getting released:
However, rather than my previous habit of just saying so, joking about the awkwardness of doing so and passive-aggressively indicating how I think there should be notifications when a story gets a sequel, I thought I'd try something a bit different: a recommendation for something outside the Ponysphere.
See, as you just might possibly have gathered from my body of work, I'm very fond of comics, superhero comics specifically.
I know, I've been very subtle about it, but it's there if you're looking closely.
And furthermore, a particular penchant of mine, as can also probably be gleaned, is for the whole idea of kid superheroes – generally from mid-tens to very early teens, though obviously there's hardly any hard limits. And, specifically, I like stories that play the concept at least somewhat straight. Not that they need to be super-serious and dark – in fact, I very much prefer them not to be – just that they shouldn't be parodic and treating the idea of someone so young being a superhero as something inherently ridiculous. Or, at least, more ridiculous than superheroes in general. In the same way that something like Ghostbusters pokes fun at many things, but not the base premise (in that case, ghosts existing and being caught), I enjoy Kid superhero works laughing at the situations, the characters and the events, but not at the concept of the whole thing, if you follow me. Obviously, it's something that can be very easily screwed up, but done right, I think it can be brilliant.
Now, as you can imagine, such works are by no means common, but there have been a few over the decades, such as Captain Marvel (no, I'm not calling him Shazam, shut up), Power Pack and PS238. But, still, they are still somewhat rare, so I think it's worth bringing a good one up when it does come along.
That said, much to my own retroactive surprise, the presence of a child superhero in a relatively straight context is not what first got my attention about my recommendation. No, that was from a method of becoming such a superhero that, despite how ridiculously varied such things are in comics, I can safely say I have never seen before: gaining superpowers... from bodypaint.
Introducing Primer!
Thirteen-year-old Ashley Rayburn is an upbeat girl with a decidedly downbeat past. With a father in prison, Ashley has bounced from foster home to foster home and represents a real challenge to the social workers who try to help her--not because she's inherently bad, but because trouble always seems to find her.
Things start looking up for Ashley when she finds new, loving parents, a best friend, and an outlet for her creative skills. But her life quickly gets more complicated when she also finds a suitcase full of specially enhanced body paints, changing her from artist to the world's newest superhero. It's the greatest thing to happen in her life so far, until Ashley finds herself pursued by a government agency that wants those paints back! Now she has to make hard choices to protect her new parents and learn what it truly means to be a family.
So says the back cover and, in my opinion, the book does not disappoint. The book is a fantastic mix of fun super-heroics and believable character interaction and drama, expertly portraying Ashley's struggles in finding her place in both her life of danger and her life of normalcy.
Ashley herself is a great character. It's always difficult writing a kid believably (believe me, I should know, and I'm under no illusions that I always manage it successfully). A little too far one way and they don't talk like any actual kid does, but as an adult in a child's body. But at the same time, a little too far the other way and suddenly they're talking like they're three years old, despite the fact that, in terms of construction, children beyond a very early age do talk much like adults do. It's a very hard needle to thread but, in my opinion, the writers here do it excellently – Ashley comes across as a believable kid and as her own character, with her own nuances and struggles.
So, yeah, as cheerful and silly as Ashley is, she's got no shortage of troubles, as I'm sure you can well imagine. However, that doesn't diminish the fun when she finds herself accidental keeper of a set of superpower-granting bodypaints
So, yeah, just looking at those, she might seem just a touch overpowered, yes? Well, there are some limiting factors: as she says, she can only have three powers at a time – any more and they short out – and while each paint does come back after being used, it takes time, so she won't always have access to the powers she needs at any given time. As such, she'll often need to be creative with how she uses them.
And, of course, there are the natural issues with using bodypaint for such things, but nevertheless, she's pretty dang powerful and, being a thirteen-year-old, naturally, she's going to use them to be a super-hero. Hey, I'd have done the same thing. Though possibly not as charmingly.
Now, the story isn't perfect – the parent's Ashley finds are... mostly good, but there is a bit of a “cool parents” problem going on with them, with the father in particular having a slight, uncomfortable air of hipster about him. Still, it's not too bad, particularly since Ashley seems as embarrassed about it as the reader is.
And, while I like that it doesn't tend to linger on things and actions or stretch things out (and there's plenty of examples of how that kind of decompression can turn out badly), it is a fairly short story. Plus, while I like the artwork and think it has just the right blend of realism and cartoony expression, I freely admit it won't be everyone's cup of tea.
Still, if any of what I said sounds interesting to you, I highly recommend you check out Primer. It's available, both digitally and physically here and I hope at least a few will check it out, if only to make it more likely for DC to do more with the character.
But, you may be asking, why would I be bringing this comic up on a blog on Fimfiction? Well, aside from a few obvious similarities to my work and a desire to do something more with these blogs?
Well...
No reason!
I'll have to bear this comic in mind!
... I'll also have to finish A Sheet in the Wind.