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11-20-2022, 11:46 AM | #1 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,406
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Didn't see a thread for this yet, so I decided to make one!
What is the Massive-Verse? In short, it's a toku inspired comic universe started by Kyle Higgens. It's got a lot of different titles going on in it now, with the most recent entry being Inferno Girl Red, which began as a Kickstarter project, and of which I was backer. Thus, I'll be using that as my gateway into the comics. But, yeah, if you're a reader like I am, let's talk about the comics here!
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11-20-2022, 11:50 AM | #2 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,406
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I actually read through all of Inferno Girl Red today, and I gotta say, as my entryway into this superhero universe, I rather liked it!
My only real critique is that the exposition is a little ham-fisted sometimes, but it's nothing major. Overall I felt the book had alot going for it. Likeable characters, great art, and a surprisingly solid sense of humor. It works really well as a entry point too, as it's a very standalone title. All throughout though you really can tell that the people behind the book used to work on the Power Rangers comics, and book provides its own little spins on toku such as PR and Kamen Rider while paying great homage to them. So yeah, if you're at all interested in it, I say check it out. Either via the free PDF that was put up online or by buying the book itself when it's made physical early next year. Can't wait to get my physical copy myself!
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12-27-2022, 06:58 PM | #3 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,406
|
I recently finished reading the three current volumes of Radiant Black, and it's... alright.
Something that everyone who's interested in reading it should be aware of is that this is not a Tokusatsu in comic form. It is an American superhero comic with a Tokusatsu aesthetic. If I were to give a comparison as to what the story is like, I'd say it's more akin to, say, Spider-Man and Green Lantern than it is, say, Power Rangers or Kamen Rider. Whether or not that's a good thing is of course up to you, I'm just saying to not expect the Mighty Morphin' comics with this. That said though, I personally was willing to roll with that, but what I wasn't so keen on was a bunch of other issues that I feel the story has: Primarily its pacing and obsession with plot twists. I'm not exaggerating when I say almost every issue, especially for the first two volumes, ends with the sort of twist that M. Night would love. It got all kinds of monotonous for me. The biggest twist I'd argue comes at the end of the fourth issue. And while I won't spoil what it is, it's the sort of thing that I could easily see making or breaking many readers. Heck, I would've probably dropped the books myself had they not been given to me as a gift. Now granted, a few issues down the line there's a decent amount of exploration as to what comes of that twist, but whether or not it'll be overall worth it remains to be seen in my eyes. This directly ties into the pacing of the comic as a whole. To give another Toku comparison, if you totally jived with the pacing of Kamen Rider Build, then Radiant Black should be right up your alley. Just like Build, Black focuses on doing big dramatic pushes right out the gate while not bothering to offer much in terms of build up or character development. Many events happen and are presented as if the comic has been running for twice the amount of issues that it has been at any given point and it really doesn't do any favors in terms of drawing me in. Which is another thing: Don't expect much in the way of character development for anyone outside the leads. The rogue's' gallery especially are incredibly under cooked to the point that I barely remember who they are the very few times that they actually pop up. Where it gets ridiculous to me is in the third volume, where Radiant Black's' enemies come together to form their own version of the Sinister Six, and I still barely know who they are but the comic presents it as this big thing in terms of all the characters at play, with one of them even giving Black a morality play despite not really having much leg to stand on. It overall feels really shallow, is what I'm saying. But, it's not all negatives. The thing that I universally love about the comic as a whole is it artwork and general aesthetic. Issue 10 is a big highlight; Being essentially a glorified art gallery in the way that the entire story is drawn and I was all in on it because the artwork overall was just that pretty to look at. This in turn also helps with the action scenes, which are stylistically done and really sells how cool the superpowers in this story are. It's like if someone made a comic version of Into the Spider-Verse, which is a funny roundabout, really. But yeah, in terms of "Toku comics," Inferno Girl Red was much more my speed, and based on what little glimpses of them I saw in RB, I think I might like Rogue Sun and Radiant Yellow alot more too. But those stories are for another day.
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Last edited by DreamSword; 12-27-2022 at 07:24 PM.. |
12-11-2023, 03:55 PM | #4 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,406
|
I finished volume 4 of Radiant Black, and I think the story has finally found its footing. Its not perfect; featuring certain character traits that come out of nowhere, but it's a much more contained and character focused affair than the volumes before it, which helps alot in terms of caring what exactly is going on in the grand scheme of things. Makes me wish that some of the stories told in this volume had happened earlier in the story, but it still works out overall.
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01-05-2024, 03:42 PM | #5 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,406
|
I just finished reading the first two volumes of Rogue Sun, and boy did I not like it!
And I won't beat around the bush here: The primary reason as to why I couldn't stand most of the story is that I found literally every single character to be incredibly unlikable. Even when there's an interesting plot angle, concept, or character beat presented, it doesn't matter because not only am I not at all invested in these terrible people to begin with, but anything that even closely resembles redeeming is immediately ripped away a few pages later. An issue later at most. Sure, it's not all bad. Issue 7 has a really fun Choose Your Own Adventure gimmick that a part of me wishes the entire story had, the art is nice to look at(most of the time), and the superhero banter can be pretty decent at times. But when it comes down to it, I don't appreciate how unlikable everyone is ontop of the story giving me no real reason to root for any of them. In hindsight it also makes me dislike the Supermassive crossover even more, as, now having read all of the stories involved, said crossover terribly misrepresents all of the characters. And on that note, I kinda have to call out the Massive-Verse in general for false advertising, as just like Radiant Black before it, I personally wouldn't qualify Rogue Sun as a "Toku" comic. It reads more like a standard American superhero story with some minor Toku aesthetic thrown onto it. Anyway, yeah. I really was not a fan of this one. Hopefully The Dead Lucky will be atleast a little better. But that's for another time.
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01-09-2024, 09:51 PM | #6 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,406
|
Just got done reading Radiant Red, the oneshot spinoff of Radiant Black that focuses on, well, Radiant Red, AKA Satomi.
And for the first story I've read that's written by Cherish Chen, I really liked it! As one might expect, the book is all back Satomi's' backstory, of which we only saw a small glimpse of in Radiant Black. But more than that, it's a very focused character story/study, and I felt it worked really well there. The key to it all being that Satomi herself is a rather likable and sympathetic character right from the getgo. That, combined with the preserved tone and atmosphere throughout the book got me really invested in where everything was headed, even despite somewhat knowing already due to Radiant Black. I still wouldn't exactly call it a Toku comic per say, but even so, I rather enjoyed it for what it was. It had good art, most of the dialogue felt very natural, and the pacing was perfect. The only real downsides I can think of are that I don't feel like the time matches up with Radiant Black perfectly, and you do need to have atleast read Volume 1 of said book before reading Radiant Red in order to understand everything going on. But yeah, it's overall great stuff and I'd highly recommend it, especially if you're already a fan of Radiant Black.
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01-12-2024, 10:21 AM | #7 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,406
|
Just got done reading through the first volume of The Dead Lucky and it's... okay.
Not really sure what to say beyond that to be honest. The story, the characters, the pacing, all of it is just a very okay, non-engaging experience. Sure, it has some interesting aspects to it, such as the exact nature of the main character's' powers being ambiguous, but I was never super drawn into the experience, and it never did anything to infuriate me either. So uh, how does one recommend this book exactly? I mean, the art's good. The main character is Bi. It features the return of Shift from the Radiant books. The ending is an interesting subversion of the classic "Bolivian Army Ending" trope. That's about all I got. I guess just check it out if you're already a fan of Massive-Verse stuff and/or you read a synopsis and it sounds at all interesting to you.
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01-26-2024, 02:54 PM | #8 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,406
|
Radiant Pink is not a book that I'd recommend.
The short of it is that the entire book is filled with the sort of "lel XD" random humor you'd often seen in the early 2000s internet, and it gets old fast. Meanwhile, the book also tries to have big emotional stakes thrown in at the same time that really clashes with the overall flow and tone, ontop of nothing having any of the proper pacing or character development to make those moments work. Heck, the basic premise of the book, which is, "What if a streamer became a superhero?" It's barely a factor. Yes, Radiant Pink is both a streamer and a superhero, but those two aspects of her life barely intersect with one another much less are discussed in full. Is it the worst thing I've ever read? No. But I just found myself sighing and rolling my eyes throughout the entire thing. Easy pass.
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