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Of Embassies and Origins - Justice League International Part 2 (Eaglemoss Collection v77)

  Review: Since we are doing a series of reviews focusing on Booster Gold over his nearly 40-year history, we include this one as a collection of some of his earliest appearances, dating to late 1987. That places the original publish date of these tales while his original solo series was still going strong.  This book is a beautiful, glossy hard-cover with smooth and heavy-stock paper inside, although the sometimes-low print reproduction quality leads to blurred and hard to read word balloons on occasion. It is also a rare book here in North America, as Eaglemoss Collections targeted UK fans with this series. At this point in the history of the 1987-rebooted Justice League, they have gained official United Nations recognition and sanction. To ensure their reach truly is global, they rebrand as Justice League International (as does the title of the series!) and they open new headquarters buildings around the world: New York, Paris and Moscow are included here. As this is a product of 19
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Erin one, Erin two, Erin three - review of Paper Girls Volume 2

 

Cover of Paper Girls volume 2

Review:

In this second volume of Brian K Vaughan's multiple-award-winning Paper Girls series, we've jumped from the teased-hair and cassettes era of 1988 into the contemporary moment of 2016, roughly the present given the original publication date. Our temporally displaced pre-teens now have more than a mystery, they have a mission: get back home to 1988.

But 2016 is a near enough future that their older selves might still be alive and around. The childhood desire to trust an adult urges them to seek out reliable ones, and who more so than their older selves? Who would be more sympathetic to their plight and willing to assist them?

They meet 40-year-old Erin almost immediately, and their first encounter is a powerful moment. Vaughan draws out the "is this for real?" confusion and consternation, fear and suspicion over several emotionally fraught pages, and Cliff Chiang's art drives home the tension and relief in this strange reunion.

The creative team gives a similar treatment a few pages later, when the girls learn that Mac does not have an older self. In fact, she dies of leukemia in the early 1990s, just a few years ahead of her current age. It's a sobering discovery that will carry forward as a dark cloud hanging over the group. And the words and images blend together with such gut-grabbing force.

To this point, the Paper Girls series has been more or less an after-school special with a bit of Twilight Zone mixed in. But here in 2016 elements of science fiction and horror begin to come more strongly to the fore. It starts with the appearance of a third Erin, a clone from the future. Is she someone to be trusted or not? Then giant-sized formerly microscopic monsters begin battling each other in the lake and rivers of Cleveland or chasing the girls through an abandoned shopping mall. And the many-eyed monsters shaped like pyramids and cubes and spheres arrive and attack too. We are clearly not staying n the realm of middle-school relationship TV dramas!

Volume 2 is a brisk sci-fi / fantasy tale with the emotional punch of a giant tardigrade monster. Another strong chapter of this fantastic series. Our heroes escape on the final pages and land in another time, but where in history are they now?


Description:

The Eisner Award-winning “Best New Series” from BRIAN K. VAUGHAN and CLIFF CHIANG continues with a bold new direction, as intrepid young newspaper deliverers Erin, Mac and Tiffany find themselves launched from 1988 to a distant and terrifying future... the year 2016.

Collects: issues #6-10

Authors:  Brian K Vaughan
Artists:  Cliff Chiang, Matt Wilson
Published By:  Image Comics
Published When:  Dec 6, 2016
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN:  978-1632158956
Pages:  128 pages


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