"It's as if I enter another world." - Catherine Abigail Daniels
As I sat down to write this blog piece, I was inspired to try an experiment. I wrote the following into a Google image search:
WOMEN WHO BLOG
This was the first image that came up -
So, yeah, there's that.
Since joining the ranks of the bloggers of the Internet, one of the greatest and most pleasant surprises for me is how this means of communication has brought me into contact with some truly amazing people. Fortunately, none of them - that I know of - maintain a blog about DKNY fashions.
I've been criticized - and, heck, so has the whole concept of blogging - about the nature of this kind of forum, that it's not really for communicating anything, that it's for self-aggrandizement. I think people who feel that way often don't understand what an isolating force it is to be in any way an outsider in everyday society.
Yes, it's certainly gratifying, and a liberating experience, to get my words out on the page for everyone to see - but not because I want to be praised. It's because it can be torture for any human being to feel so silenced, to feel so voiceless, to feel like the world that everyone else takes for granted instead attacks - terrorizes, even.
I know this very well. In addition to my transwoman identity, I'm also autistic. I have Asperger's Syndrome, a so-called "high-functioning" neuro-type along what's referred to as the autistic spectrum. Click the link in this paragraph to learn a dry & clinical definition of it. Or, simply read my blog and do some actual mental work to understand it. I'll help.
One of the traits of many people with Asperger's Syndrome is that they're very honest in our dealings with other people in the world around us. We don't tend, taken as a group, to trade in social niceties. We don't tend to sugar-coat criticism, and we don't hand out "compliment sandwiches" or work within social constructs. If we like something, we tell you. If we don't like something, we tell you. And we tell you the same way, either way, depending on how we react.
I mention this because I'm writing my first-ever review of any comic book on this page, and I want to make sure people out there understand how my reviews will work. If I like something, I'll say so. If I don't like something, I'll say so.
If the comic book is written by someone I consider one of those friends I've met on the internet through my blog postings - as is the case here - it will make no difference whatsoever in the review, because my friendship with the person and my opinion of the work are two totally separate compartments of my mind. They don't occupy the same "filing cabinet," as it were, so there's no cross-over. There's no conflict of interest.
Likewise, if someone I consider reprehensible writes an amazing comic book, and I review it, the same holds true. I would expect people to understand the distinction of the compartments as I have described them - and I will expect that. To deal in anything less would be dishonest to my audience, and I won't tolerate dishonesty in myself any more than I tolerate dishonesty in other people around me.
So, now that we've worked out the disclaimer - let's get to the review, itself.
Yes, it's certainly gratifying, and a liberating experience, to get my words out on the page for everyone to see - but not because I want to be praised. It's because it can be torture for any human being to feel so silenced, to feel so voiceless, to feel like the world that everyone else takes for granted instead attacks - terrorizes, even.
I know this very well. In addition to my transwoman identity, I'm also autistic. I have Asperger's Syndrome, a so-called "high-functioning" neuro-type along what's referred to as the autistic spectrum. Click the link in this paragraph to learn a dry & clinical definition of it. Or, simply read my blog and do some actual mental work to understand it. I'll help.
One of the traits of many people with Asperger's Syndrome is that they're very honest in our dealings with other people in the world around us. We don't tend, taken as a group, to trade in social niceties. We don't tend to sugar-coat criticism, and we don't hand out "compliment sandwiches" or work within social constructs. If we like something, we tell you. If we don't like something, we tell you. And we tell you the same way, either way, depending on how we react.
I mention this because I'm writing my first-ever review of any comic book on this page, and I want to make sure people out there understand how my reviews will work. If I like something, I'll say so. If I don't like something, I'll say so.
If the comic book is written by someone I consider one of those friends I've met on the internet through my blog postings - as is the case here - it will make no difference whatsoever in the review, because my friendship with the person and my opinion of the work are two totally separate compartments of my mind. They don't occupy the same "filing cabinet," as it were, so there's no cross-over. There's no conflict of interest.
Likewise, if someone I consider reprehensible writes an amazing comic book, and I review it, the same holds true. I would expect people to understand the distinction of the compartments as I have described them - and I will expect that. To deal in anything less would be dishonest to my audience, and I won't tolerate dishonesty in myself any more than I tolerate dishonesty in other people around me.
So, now that we've worked out the disclaimer - let's get to the review, itself.
Written by: Will Brooker
Art by: Suze Shore
Art by: Sarah Zaidan
Art by: Sarah Zaidan
THE FOREWARD:
Anyone who's read my blog for any length of time before reading this article knows how much time I spend looking for strong and heroic women in comics, but what doesn't often get discussed is how often I come up empty in this regard. This is primarily because I made a promise to myself when I started the blog to keep things, for the most part, positive. Given my aforementioned honesty, this pretty much means that if something doesn't measure up to my expectations, then I don't bother to talk about it. Why focus on the negative when there is so much positive material to celebrate?
With a review, though, there's a different approach that I have to take. I have to talk about the big picture, what I liked and what I didn't like. With My So-Called Secret Identity, there's a LOT to like, but there are also some problems I had with the book, problems that aren't so much issues of quality as issues of decision-making and not being sure where those decisions originated from or where they're intended to go, what they're intended to achieve.
THE DETAILS: I believe in reviews that DON'T give away plot points, so I'm going to be vague about the actual details of the action of the story. I will say that this first issue revolves primarily around a young woman named Catherine Abigail Daniel, who has a particularly useful talent that has caused her no small amount of grief in her life.
She lives in Gloria City, a place that I refrain from describing because such a description - about what makes this city unique to this story - would inevitably contain spoilers. Go click the link where this review starts and read it yourself if you want more details than that about the city; it's essential to the story and I'd much rather you discover it there. For now, though, here's an image of Catherine and Gloria City.
I'd like to point out some things about the art in the images above - the cover and this selected page. I asked and got permission to pick three sections of the comic - the cover, and two art pieces - and picked them all because I think they reflect some of the key points I want to get across in the review.
One of the things I really enjoyed about this comic, both in terms of the writing and the art, is how the creators aren't going for the simplest choices.
There's a tendency, for instance, in a lot of science fiction, to classify everything into a single box about a "future world" or "another planet" or an "alternative history." It drives me crazy, about as crazy as when I see aliens or fantasy creatures of a particular group all defined as having the exact same characteristics. "Elves are stern, severe creatures of ancient myth and legend." To me, that's like saying that all people of a particular gender or ethnic group are the same. It smacks of the ugliness in human writers, to me. I've heard it hand-waved as an excused short-hand, that people don't have time in a book or inclination to get into the details of that world, or that they're trying to tell it from the perspective of an outsider - but it still reeks of the kind of categorization I find so hideous in the real world.
What's interesting about My So-Called Secret Identity, then, is its unwillingness to do that. In the span of the first issue, we see several different sides of various elements, positive and negative. You can see it in the image above. The clean lines of the cityscape contrast with the littered papers on the ground. The sky isn't shown as being choked with pollution, but there are still elements that speak of a cramped industrialization. The little bit of green from the plants contrasts with the talk of more building on the sign at the top of the page. The sexualized advertisements contrast with Catherine's stance and demeanor.
I don't want to just say "Gloria City is a city of contrasts." I'm not going for that. What I'm trying to praise here is that there's such a tendency, with comics especially, to overstate things - to take things to an extreme, to try to "outdo" what has been done before, which in my opinion is a big part of where comics lose touch with the real issues they need to discuss. That's not the case with My So-Called Secret Identity, which recognizes in this one panel - perfectly - the reality of many cities in the real world, that they can be gleaming and clear and beautiful representations of human achievement while ALSO being filled with corruption and Orwellian oppression. Note the two references to "WAR WITHOUT END."
That, in itself, displays a level of sophistication that tells me that this title is for mature readers. I say that with no small degree of sardonicism, given what usually passes for "mature" content in most publications. For some, this news might be sorrowful. You won't find miniature bikinis on the hero. Look elsewhere for that. I'm sure, once the character becomes popular enough, you'll be able to find what satisfies you. It's a sad fact that respect for the humanity of both fictional and real-life women is a commodity in the comics world. It's virtually non-existent, in fact.
But don't blame the creative team here. Brooker, Shore and Zaidan have displayed not only an admirable respect for themselves and their character but also the reader. Details are pointed out in the art, yes - but even with explanatory technique of first-person narration, the story doesn't put its building blocks of world-building out in the open so plainly that the mechanics of necessity become distracting from the details.
And it's in those details that the work shines - both in the art and in the story. I've mentioned how the art brings depth to what could be plain stereotypes, but this is also true in the writing. Brooker is in no hurry to scream & shout at the reader about what's important here. Are you more intrigued by the events of the first half of the book or the second? Are you more interested in the goings-on in the city, or in Catherine's place in it? Really, the book marries those two circumstances hand-in-hand and walks them down the street in front of you, but there's been a careful crafting here to make sure both elements play off each other without it being two different stories. Thus, Catherine's story becomes the city's story, the world's story - and Catherine serves as a legitimate gateway into the world instead of merely a figurehead cypher in a tight costume.
With a review, though, there's a different approach that I have to take. I have to talk about the big picture, what I liked and what I didn't like. With My So-Called Secret Identity, there's a LOT to like, but there are also some problems I had with the book, problems that aren't so much issues of quality as issues of decision-making and not being sure where those decisions originated from or where they're intended to go, what they're intended to achieve.
THE DETAILS: I believe in reviews that DON'T give away plot points, so I'm going to be vague about the actual details of the action of the story. I will say that this first issue revolves primarily around a young woman named Catherine Abigail Daniel, who has a particularly useful talent that has caused her no small amount of grief in her life.
She lives in Gloria City, a place that I refrain from describing because such a description - about what makes this city unique to this story - would inevitably contain spoilers. Go click the link where this review starts and read it yourself if you want more details than that about the city; it's essential to the story and I'd much rather you discover it there. For now, though, here's an image of Catherine and Gloria City.
I'd like to point out some things about the art in the images above - the cover and this selected page. I asked and got permission to pick three sections of the comic - the cover, and two art pieces - and picked them all because I think they reflect some of the key points I want to get across in the review.
One of the things I really enjoyed about this comic, both in terms of the writing and the art, is how the creators aren't going for the simplest choices.
There's a tendency, for instance, in a lot of science fiction, to classify everything into a single box about a "future world" or "another planet" or an "alternative history." It drives me crazy, about as crazy as when I see aliens or fantasy creatures of a particular group all defined as having the exact same characteristics. "Elves are stern, severe creatures of ancient myth and legend." To me, that's like saying that all people of a particular gender or ethnic group are the same. It smacks of the ugliness in human writers, to me. I've heard it hand-waved as an excused short-hand, that people don't have time in a book or inclination to get into the details of that world, or that they're trying to tell it from the perspective of an outsider - but it still reeks of the kind of categorization I find so hideous in the real world.
What's interesting about My So-Called Secret Identity, then, is its unwillingness to do that. In the span of the first issue, we see several different sides of various elements, positive and negative. You can see it in the image above. The clean lines of the cityscape contrast with the littered papers on the ground. The sky isn't shown as being choked with pollution, but there are still elements that speak of a cramped industrialization. The little bit of green from the plants contrasts with the talk of more building on the sign at the top of the page. The sexualized advertisements contrast with Catherine's stance and demeanor.
I don't want to just say "Gloria City is a city of contrasts." I'm not going for that. What I'm trying to praise here is that there's such a tendency, with comics especially, to overstate things - to take things to an extreme, to try to "outdo" what has been done before, which in my opinion is a big part of where comics lose touch with the real issues they need to discuss. That's not the case with My So-Called Secret Identity, which recognizes in this one panel - perfectly - the reality of many cities in the real world, that they can be gleaming and clear and beautiful representations of human achievement while ALSO being filled with corruption and Orwellian oppression. Note the two references to "WAR WITHOUT END."
That, in itself, displays a level of sophistication that tells me that this title is for mature readers. I say that with no small degree of sardonicism, given what usually passes for "mature" content in most publications. For some, this news might be sorrowful. You won't find miniature bikinis on the hero. Look elsewhere for that. I'm sure, once the character becomes popular enough, you'll be able to find what satisfies you. It's a sad fact that respect for the humanity of both fictional and real-life women is a commodity in the comics world. It's virtually non-existent, in fact.
But don't blame the creative team here. Brooker, Shore and Zaidan have displayed not only an admirable respect for themselves and their character but also the reader. Details are pointed out in the art, yes - but even with explanatory technique of first-person narration, the story doesn't put its building blocks of world-building out in the open so plainly that the mechanics of necessity become distracting from the details.
And it's in those details that the work shines - both in the art and in the story. I've mentioned how the art brings depth to what could be plain stereotypes, but this is also true in the writing. Brooker is in no hurry to scream & shout at the reader about what's important here. Are you more intrigued by the events of the first half of the book or the second? Are you more interested in the goings-on in the city, or in Catherine's place in it? Really, the book marries those two circumstances hand-in-hand and walks them down the street in front of you, but there's been a careful crafting here to make sure both elements play off each other without it being two different stories. Thus, Catherine's story becomes the city's story, the world's story - and Catherine serves as a legitimate gateway into the world instead of merely a figurehead cypher in a tight costume.
I should mention I love her outfits, too. While it certainly SHOULD be expected that comics creators would allow characters who are women to dress like real human beings, it's not expected. In fact, I usually expect the opposite. That Catherine is the hero of the story and gets to dress in people clothes instead of those of a show-dog like most comics is as rare as the respect they show to her humanity both in terms of positioning of imagery and facial expressions. She has a real figure, too, and that's also very welcome.
All of this said, there are - in my opinion - a few problems with the book that I would also like to address. One element I disliked in this book is that much of the action happens TO Catherine.
She doesn't drive a lot of the story.
That's not truly a fair criticism to levy against a story based on a single chapter, but it's something that concerns me often in stories about women. Too often, writers resort to this tactic in order to show their hero as strong too quickly - throwing events at them without remembering that strength can come from self-directed events of less impact and magnitude.
While it's not a certainty that this story, should it continue, would fall into those traps, it's definitely something that came to mind for me in the writing in this first issue.
Likewise, I didn't enjoy the brief scene in the bar, because of how easily Catherine settles in comfortably with someone she barely knows complimenting her. I reacted badly to it, and it felt like Catherine was succumbing to someone she barely knows a little too much and a little too quickly - especially given the traits she'd displayed earlier in the issue. Having her notice more detail about the other character and giving us an indication of how she's feeling in those moments might have helped me. As it was, I felt like the character I met at the beginning of the story wouldn't have done some of the things she did at the end of the story. Of course, that goes with the territory in a writer establishing a character, but it felt at odds with the narrative voice previously established and that, in itself, could be the problem I'm having with that sequence at the club.
Those two issues are minor, though - and shouldn't detract from people checking out - and supporting - this new comic book. I urge you to click the title at the end of this sentence and offer pledges to help support My So-Called Secret Identity.
THE SUMMARY:
There are mysteries here, hidden in the little details of this collage of city life and self-discovery. This is a story about the consequences of pride, about the fear of being accomplished, about the often-unspoken worries of great minds that perhaps they are too special for the world in which they live. When that world is populated with the characters found in the first issue of My So-Called Secret Identity, a reader can't help but be intrigued. Recommended!
And that's my first comic book review. Enjoy! And, most of all, remember to always read and to always aspire.
All of this said, there are - in my opinion - a few problems with the book that I would also like to address. One element I disliked in this book is that much of the action happens TO Catherine.
She doesn't drive a lot of the story.
That's not truly a fair criticism to levy against a story based on a single chapter, but it's something that concerns me often in stories about women. Too often, writers resort to this tactic in order to show their hero as strong too quickly - throwing events at them without remembering that strength can come from self-directed events of less impact and magnitude.
While it's not a certainty that this story, should it continue, would fall into those traps, it's definitely something that came to mind for me in the writing in this first issue.
Likewise, I didn't enjoy the brief scene in the bar, because of how easily Catherine settles in comfortably with someone she barely knows complimenting her. I reacted badly to it, and it felt like Catherine was succumbing to someone she barely knows a little too much and a little too quickly - especially given the traits she'd displayed earlier in the issue. Having her notice more detail about the other character and giving us an indication of how she's feeling in those moments might have helped me. As it was, I felt like the character I met at the beginning of the story wouldn't have done some of the things she did at the end of the story. Of course, that goes with the territory in a writer establishing a character, but it felt at odds with the narrative voice previously established and that, in itself, could be the problem I'm having with that sequence at the club.
Those two issues are minor, though - and shouldn't detract from people checking out - and supporting - this new comic book. I urge you to click the title at the end of this sentence and offer pledges to help support My So-Called Secret Identity.
THE SUMMARY:
There are mysteries here, hidden in the little details of this collage of city life and self-discovery. This is a story about the consequences of pride, about the fear of being accomplished, about the often-unspoken worries of great minds that perhaps they are too special for the world in which they live. When that world is populated with the characters found in the first issue of My So-Called Secret Identity, a reader can't help but be intrigued. Recommended!
And that's my first comic book review. Enjoy! And, most of all, remember to always read and to always aspire.
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