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Writer: John Layman / Artist: Dan Boultwood / Image

To recap very quickly: I loved Chew. I liked Chu #1 and Chu #2 has served to reinforce this opinion. To the spin-off’s credit, the series very much feels like it takes place within the same universe as its parent series. The tonal audacity of the writing, the cartoonishly violent action, the over the top dramatics: all of these are series staples and you can very easily tell that Layman is having a lot of fun revisiting this hence unseen side of the sandbox he created. The Chew-inverse has never taken itself seriously beforehand and Chu starts the issue by introducing a character straight up named Mr. Murder and the ridiculousness just escalates from there.

The moment to moment of Chu I enjoy immensely. Layman’s absurdist humor is poignant and the different types of gags that Bloutwood plays with work. It’s a very animated series and the pages are filled with an almost kinetic energy as characters viscerally react to the world around them. Furthermore, Bloutwood pays homage to Guillory’s original art that I definitely still smile at. And on a writing front, Layman effortless introduces these new characters to the world and it feels like they could have very easily existed within the preexisting context.

However, Chu #2 falters for me in a couple minor areas. Firstly, some of the exposition isn’t as tight. In the original series, as character’s powers were introduced there were typically helpful annotations that explain some of the etymology. Here, words are just sort of thrown out, and I have to parse together what’s happening either via some vague context or by looking at the solicit which breaks me out of the moment to moment I enjoy. Secondly, the pacing feels a little off kilter. Part of this may be that it is a five issue limited series, so Layman has a lot of ground to cover in a short narrative, but one of the joys of Chew was the fact that it had such an expansive universe and Chu feels hyperbolically focused on the self-contained plot at hand. And this in turn means that I still don’t feel like I know what makes Saffron tick as well as I’d like because there is a lot to cover that just takes up page counts.

And I’ll acknowledge that maybe this nostalgia warping my memories of Chew, which was a series I got to read in larger chunks. As a standalone story, Chu is clearly cooking out some cool things, but it’s also making me wonder if I should wait till it’s a complete course.

8.0 “Things Siblings Share” out of 10

Enjoying Chu? Check out BNP’s other reviews here.

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The post Chu #2 Review appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.

Creators: Emma Kubert, Rusty Gladd / Image

I miss libraries. Or rather, I miss the concept of libraries. In the information age, I didn’t actually spend that much time in libraries given the preponderance of texts that I have readily available in my own house and online, but with libraries come a certain sense of comfort and mystique. There is something to be said about entering a building that is meant to house stories and tomes. There is something to be said about being surrounded by knowledge. And that same something is also why fantasy books live the concept of archives. Inkblot is the latest comic that is a story about stories, and one I remembered how to read cursive, I found myself playfully engaged with the Seeker’s inadvertent trigger to the story.

The first act of Inkblot is a lot of your standard world building affair. There is an introduction to your magical lands, vague allusions to an ancient evil, and a not so subtle shift to the present day as we find our reluctant, nameless protagonist. And our main character starts off the adventure by creating a cat made out of magical ink and thus the story truly gets started as this magical black cat is every bit as mischievous as your standard cat, except with some extraordinary abilities that make pet care a little difficult.

Kubert and Gladd work well together and the blending of creative control results in something truly stunning to look at. The art has a distinct flair comprising of Kubert’s pencils, Gladd’s inks, and finished with Kubert’s colors. Gladd’s words accentuate a lot of the work that the visual storytelling manages to accomplishes, and there are some truly marvelous panels that resonate with minimal text. The lettering of the narration is a little hard to read, but this is coming from someone who gave up on cursive years ago, and I acclimated quickly enough.

It takes a while for Inkblot to build momentum, but once the actual inkblot shows up, it’s a chaotic run to the end and reminds me of Pagemaster, a movie you may or may not remember, but I adore as someone who loved and loves libraries. Inkblot‘s a good starter fantasy and one with some stunning visual design. It evokes a familiar level of comfort and I’m hoping once we get to spend more time with the magical familiar, Inkblot will come into its own.

7.9 “Library Cats” out of 10

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Funko started to tweet out its Star Wars Celebration exclusives today. They are listed below for you and we will update them as more are revealed. As we know Star Wars Celebration this year was canceled due to Covid-19 but will return to Anaheim in 2022.

The post Star Wars Celebration Virtual Con presents: Coming Soon – Star Wars Concept Series appeared first on The Nerd Element.

A Love Song For Latasha showcases what the life of Latasha Harlins could have been had she not been murdered by a convenience store owner in 1991 at the age of 15. Latasha’s death was a catalyst for the 1992 riots in Los Angeles and feels even more important now as we reflect on the entire Black Lives Matter movement in our country.

The injustice surrounding the shooting death of 15-year-old Latasha Harlins at a South Central Los Angeles store became a flashpoint for the city’s 1992 civil uprising. As the Black community expressed its profound pain in the streets, Latasha’s friends and family privately mourned the loss of a vibrant child whose full story was never in the headlines. Nearly three decades later, director Sophia Nahli Allison’s A Love Song For Latasha removes Latasha from the context of her death and rebuilds an archive of a promising life lost. Oral history and memories from Latasha’s best friend and cousin converge in a dreamlike portrait that shows the impact one brief but brilliant life can have.

First time filmmaker Sophia Nahli Allison takes an artistic and poetic look at the life of Latasha with this 15-minute film.