GN Review -- The Plain Janes / Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg

I remember The Plain Janes being the first graphic novel I'd picked up by Minx, an imprint of DC Comics that advertised itself as a publisher for comics that would feature teenage girls as their protagonists.  Ironically, it wouldn't be the first I ended up reading--that honor went to Kimmie66.  But after finishing both, I thought the publisher was really onto something successful.

I found out shortly after that Minx had just recently folded.

The Plain Janes, like Good As Lily and many of its other publications, showed that it was possible to write good stories for as presumably niche an audience as teenage girls, and makes the demise of the publisher all the more tragic when you consider how popular that audience seems to be at present.  It begins with the story of Jane, a teenager who survives a bombing attack in Metro City, only to be hustled to Suburbia by her relieved but overprotective parents.  Jane struggles to fit in initially, but soon finds a group of girls--also named Jane--who she eventually befriends.

They stage a series of "art attacks" in their neighborhood, which gets the attention of the authorities, who view them as subversive defacement.  Despite several attempts at intimidation, the authorities are unable to identify Jane's group of vigilante artists, known as P.L.A.I.N. (People Loving Art In Neighborhoods), and Jane continues to experience a sense of fulfillment in challenging the town's perceptions of art.  Eventually she and her friends must decide whether it is more important to let the authorities have their way and stop the art attacks, or to continue them and be true to their artistic integrity and passion.

The message I ended up taking away from The Plain Janes underscores the idea that art and artistic expression is important in reminding communities about the passions and hopes of the individuals who make them up.  Jane plans and stages them with her friends as a way of challenging societal perceptions about the things that go on in their town, with the intention of getting them to think about what is truly important.  Not everyone sees it that way, of course, but that's not enough to deter P.L.A.I.N. from its mission, which I found to be heartening reminder of sticking up for what's important to you.

While the plot was enjoyable, I think one problem with the writing involved how the ending came about without any real resolution.  I mean, sure, the art gang will continue, but no attention is given to Damon's fate, or what P.L.A.I.N. will do about it.  The main and supporting characters were also pleasant and fun, but a couple of them ran the risk of being two-dimensional, like the overzealous police officer who's also a jerk.

Artistically, I think the style is simple, but overall very pleasant.  It reminded me slightly of Daniel Clowes's style in Ghost World, though it's a bit less detailed than that.  There are a couple of places where it seems a little flat, but they're pretty rare and often lost among the expressiveness of the characters or the larger action of the story.  It's not anything particularly special, but it's not bad either, and Jim Rugg does a fine job of visually supporting the narrative.

Overall, I enjoyed the story in The Plain Janes, as well as how it was told.  The main and supporting characters are interesting, the artwork is pleasant, and the overall message of the story regarding the importance of art to a community is well communicated.  Art lovers, rebels, and those seeking strong girl characters will want to give this a read.  Recommended.

GN Review -- The Guild / Felicia Day and Jim Rugg

Whenever I find a comic book adaptation of a show that I really like, I'm always excited and apprehensive: excited to find more stories from a mythology I've become fond of, and apprehensive that the people in charge of the comic will somehow lose the essence of the show in translating it to a new medium.  Thankfully, when I saw Felicia Day's--Cyd Sherman herself!--name on the cover of The Guild, I knew it would be good.  And I was right.

The Guild acts as a prequel to the popular web series of the same name, told from Cyd's perspective and relating the story of how she came to get involved in the online fantasy world of The Game, in which she and her guildmates spend so much time during the run of the show.  It also chronicles how she, in piecemeal fashion, comes to the acquaintance of Vork, Bladezz, Tinkerballa, Clara, and Zaboo, her eventual comrades in arms in their guild, The Knights of Good.

Things start off well enough, Cyd supposes.  She "has it all": she plays in an orchestra (way in the back), has a boyfriend (who ignores and takes advantage of her), and a perpetual schedule with a therapist (who doesn't seem to understand her).  So, she can't figure out why she's not happy.  While trying to support her boyfriend's band, she ends up buying The Game, and is almost immediately enthralled by it.  It gives her a semblance of control over her life: she can craft her avatar's look, name, and decide what she does in the game.  So she creates her online persona: Codex, a healer.

While gathering flowers in game, she meets Clara, with whom she strikes up a friendship when they chat live over their mics and speakers.  Others follow, and Cyd is further enchanted by the friends she's able to make and somewhat "manage" in game.  Her boyfriend and therapist do not share her enthusiasm, and deride her interest in the game, with her boyfriend calling her interest in it selfish, and her therapist chiding her interest in people who "aren't real" relationships.

Things come to a head when she finds her boyfriend making out with another man, and she invites all of her new game friends to work together in a contest for in-game loot.  Gradually gaining confidence in herself from her in-game performance, Cyd begins to assert her own independence in real life.  Unfortunately, that involves setting fire to music she wrote for her boyfriend's band, which also sets his cello on fire.  This gets her fired from the orchestra and in debt to her boyfriend for $100,000.  But, she has closure on the relationship, and finds her escapism into The Game to be just what she needs at the moment.

This was a supremely entertaining read, and felt very much like an enhanced group of episodes of the web series.  It uses a lot of the same scenes, situations, and humor from the show, along with the added bonus of actually seeing the characters as their online personas in The Game.  The dialog was spot-on, particularly Cyd's awkward humor, and the personalities of the characters were accurately reflected in this narrative.

The artwork is fabulous, by and large.  Jim Rugg does a good job of capturing the looks of all the characters, both in their online and real life personas.  There is the occasional picture of Cyd that looks a little off, but this is easily forgivable, as she's the one he has to draw the most often.  I also really liked the differing art styles between online and real-life environements: it's more traditional ink-on-paper in real life, and more of a painted appearance in the fantasy world of The Game.  Both settings look great, and add a visual dimension to the story that has never been present during the show.

Overall, a wonderful adjunct to the series.  Fans of The Guild will undoubtedly enjoy this work, as well as just about anyone who plays MMORPGs like World of Warcraft or Star Wars: the Old Republic.  Newcomers to the show might be slightly confused in some places, but overall the humor is pretty well handled and easy to get.  Non-gamers might not get a lot of the situations and references, and I do pity those poor souls.  Highly recommended.