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Writer: Brandon Thomas / Artist: Ronan Cliquet / DC Comics
Three issues in and it seems like we got some clues as to how and why Green Arrow and Aquaman have switched bodies. The answer? Time travel. Get your popcorn ready for Aquaman/Green Arrow – Deep Target #3.
Led to believe they were investigating different cases, Aquaman and Green Arrow separately surveilled a warehouse where criminal organization Scorpio had a time platform, where they would transport small yet influential items from the past to the present, effectively slightly changing the timeline each time. Green Arrow and Aquaman accidentally (to their knowledge) stepped onto the platform, switching identities in the process. Now, they’ve been captured by General Anderton (himself spliced with archaic lizard DNA) as he tells them Scorpio’s grand plan before he sends them to their deaths.
Villains never learn, do they? Why can’t these dudes just work through their plans in silence? They’ll be successful so much more of the time. But nah, their hubris always gets in the way, turning them into Icarus, and giving the heroes the breathing room they need to get free and thwart their plans. It be yo’ own fault.
What I liked a lot about Aquaman/Green Arrow – Deep Target #3 was the way that the panels were laid out. Cliquet did a good job of showing us both Aquaman and Green Arrow’s perspectives, giving us three descending panels on the left from one point of view, and three descending panels on the right from the other. Most of the issue was laid out like this. It was a bit confusing at first, as the dialogue was repeated in almost every panel, but as I figured it out, I could see the brilliance.
The issue breaks that six-panel structure a few times to give us some beautiful splash pages as well as some larger breathing room to convey an image or some form of action, but other than that, Cliquet is being very intentional with the way things are laid out, and it’s something that definitely adds some depth to the issue for me.
8 Villain Monologues out of 10
Enjoying Aquaman/Green Arrow? Check out BNP’s other reviews here.
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Writer: Brandon Thomas / Artist: Ronan Cliquet / DC Comics
Three issues in and it seems like we got some clues as to how and why Green Arrow and Aquaman have switched bodies. The answer? Time travel. Get your popcorn ready for Aquaman/Green Arrow – Deep Target #3.
Led to believe they were investigating different cases, Aquaman and Green Arrow separately surveilled a warehouse where criminal organization Scorpio had a time platform, where they would transport small yet influential items from the past to the present, effectively slightly changing the timeline each time. Green Arrow and Aquaman accidentally (to their knowledge) stepped onto the platform, switching identities in the process. Now, they’ve been captured by General Anderton (himself spliced with archaic lizard DNA) as he tells them Scorpio’s grand plan before he sends them to their deaths.
Villains never learn, do they? Why can’t these dudes just work through their plans in silence? They’ll be successful so much more of the time. But nah, their hubris always gets in the way, turning them into Icarus, and giving the heroes the breathing room they need to get free and thwart their plans. It be yo’ own fault.
What I liked a lot about Aquaman/Green Arrow – Deep Target #3 was the way that the panels were laid out. Cliquet did a good job of showing us both Aquaman and Green Arrow’s perspectives, giving us three descending panels on the left from one point of view, and three descending panels on the right from the other. Most of the issue was laid out like this. It was a bit confusing at first, as the dialogue was repeated in almost every panel, but as I figured it out, I could see the brilliance.
The issue breaks that six-panel structure a few times to give us some beautiful splash pages as well as some larger breathing room to convey an image or some form of action, but other than that, Cliquet is being very intentional with the way things are laid out, and it’s something that definitely adds some depth to the issue for me.
8 Villain Monologues out of 10
Enjoying Aquaman/Green Arrow? Check out BNP’s other reviews here.
Want to get Black Nerd Problems updates sent directly to you? Sign up here! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and Instagram!
The post Aquaman/Green Arrow – Deep Target #3 appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.
Writer: Brandon Thomas / Artists: Scott Koblish, Wade Von Grawbadger, and Adriano Lucas / DC Comics
In the aftermath of issue 3, Jackson deals with the revelation that he has a sister, and his mother isn’t the woman that he’s been raised to think she is.
Aquaman: The Becoming #4 was heavy on emotion as secrets were revealed, and Jackson is forced to confront things he’s had no idea about. Understandably, he’s not handling it well, and he shuts out everyone around him in an effort to try to rationalize things on his own.
We also spend the majority of the issue in Xebel, Atlantis’s rival city always prepared for the brink of war with the kingdom. And the creative team did the damn thing in showing the visual disparity of the two cities. Atlantis is bright, lively, and flourishing, while Xebel is dim, dead, and rusty. That’s really all you need to know right there. Xebel feels the disrespect and is always prepared for conflict because of it.
That’s where a majority of the emotional conflict of Aquaman: The Becoming #4 comes into play. Xebel takes children from a young age and trains them to be soldiers ready for the ever-impending war with Atlantis, stripping them from a childhood and from their loving families. Jackson’s mom, Lucia, a protestor turned anarchist, takes matters into her own hands to stop this cycle from continuing. Ultimately, she creates a very dark day for Xebellians that they haven’t been able to move on from.
Jackson is at a crossroads. Does he trust his mother, who he’s finding out isn’t the person he thought she was, or his newfound sister, while brash, but seems to want the right thing? Maybe he finds a way to build a bridge between the both of them. I don’t envy this burden one bit.
It’s a situation that’s more nuanced than what’s right and what’s wrong, but with Aqualad’s hero status, his moral compass sits far and away from most nuances. With his past unraveling in front of his eyes, it’s going to be interesting to see how he navigates this.
9 Secret Pasts out of 10
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Not only is Christine Platt a social media influencer with 74.1K Instagram followers, but this former Department of Energy senior advisor has also turned her unexpected life change into a source of healing through living with less. Platt has a M.A. in African-American studies, a B.A. in Africana studies, and a J.D. in general law, but after achieving everything she had spent her youth striving to achieve, Platt realized the cycle she was living wasn’t sustainable.
Platt left her job, her marriage ended, she exited the suburbs, and she returned to live in her 630-foot condo in the city with her young daughter. Through this transition, the Afrominimalist was born. The Afrominimalist’s Guide to Living with Less is much more than a system to get rid of old furniture and clothes; the author’s intention is to leave the reader with a path to authentic liberation.
Minimalism is a growing trend in America, from tiny houses to Pinterest pages filled with white-walled rooms and closets with seasonal capsule wardrobes, but the mainstream minimalist world can be strict, expensive, and hard to sustain in real life. The Afrominimalist’s Guide to Living with Less takes into account the nuances of people of the African diaspora who have a unique relationship with ownership, value, and worth.
Early on in the book Platt shares the four-step process to let go of the things we own that we don’t need. “This includes (1) acknowledging that you have too much, (2) learning how to forgive yourself, (3) approaching letting go holistically, and (4) paying it forward with any items that can be used to assist others in need.” Then she reveals a level of complexity often missed by non-Black minimalists. Black Americans “have significant power as one of the largest communities of consumers, yet our unique experiences are rarely addressed in the predominately white wellness and lifestyle industries.”
The difference with Afrominimalism a la Christine Platt is taking into account the unique relationship descendants of Africans who were enslaved have with physical possessions and consumerism when practicing a minimalist lifestyle. Throughout the guide, there are what Platt frames as “callouts” labeled “For the Culture” that speak directly to Black folks. Other marginalized groups can also relate to the “For the Culture” sections, and the author hopes that everyone else will gain insights that will increase empathy and compassion.
The Afrominimalist’s Guide for Living Less is divided into three sections: the principles, the process, and the practice. Platt is a gifted storyteller who weaves in her own real life experiences, which breathes life and relatability into this self-help book. It’s easy to tell someone to let go but much harder to actually let go because there is always a reason behind holding on. The book encourages the reader to take in the information slowly and warns that this is not a guide to quickly get rid of things.
In the chapter “Why You Have More Than You Need,” Platt shares how even the seemingly most insignificant experiences from childhood can impact our connection to physical things. She tells the story about a couple she knows. The wife confides that she gets super annoyed that her husband buys and wastes expensive dish soap. When he washes the dishes, “he uses so much soap that the bubbles overflow the sink.” When Platt encourages her friend to ask her husband why he uses so much soap, he reveals that growing up in the Deep South with his grandmother, he was only allowed to use a tiny bit of dish soap, “just enough to clean but not enough to make bubbles.” Now that he’s grown with his own money, it brings him pleasure to buy the most expensive dish soap and have an overabundance of bubbles when he washes the dishes.
Knowing the actual “why” behind the physical object before deciding whether or not it should go is vital to being able to authentically let go. Without processing that “why” the “letting go” may just be temporary. The wife in the prior paragraph may get her husband to stop buying the expensive soap temporarily, but the feeling of joy he gets from being able to afford the bubbles is priceless to him.
In the “For the Culture” section, Platt then gives the example of Black kids in the ’70s and ’80s who dealt with “constant guilt from caregivers being told everything from clean your plate because there were starving kids in Africa to reminding this generation we were the first generation with a real chance to make something of ourselves so we better not waste the opportunities our ancestors died for, especially gaining an education.” Throughout this chapter there are sections labeled “A Note for Caregivers” that give wisdom on ways to identify, process, and work towards changing negative inherited patterns of behavior.
Another part of this guidebook that is thought-provoking is the idea of sustainability. Platt has entire chapters dedicated to what happens when we donate old furniture and clothing. She explains how fast, cheap fashion is actually expensive. Cheap clothing worn for one fashion season ends up in landfills and doesn’t decompose, harming our environment. Cheap clothing also means that the person making the garment has less money to live on, which causes them, mostly women of color, to live in poverty all over the globe. No matter how inexpensive the garment is, we pay a price.
Platt shares her journey to letting go of the hunt for sales. So many Black women have connected with our female friends and family through bargain shopping. What is the actual reason behind buying that $200 bag that you don’t need for $25? Platt also breaks down how to let go of the politics of giving and receiving gifts. How brave do you have to be to tell family and friends that as a minimalist you no longer have space for gifts that are permanent and take up space? How wonderful will it feel after having that difficult conversation to never have to politely say yes to things you will never use again?
Living with less can mean we don’t have to be locked into the grind of making more money to maintain things. The Afrominimalist’s Guide to Living with Less is an outstanding book for anyone looking to start the process of living a sustainable liberated life.