N2YCBD – Paradox Girl & White Widow
Before you rush through this review, maybe hoping for some sort of sexy team-up featuring the thigh wearing and spandex wearing female leads of either series; I have to say, you are out of luck. Instead, this is another chance for you to check out a couple of books that may have escaped your attention or your wallets attention, the first time around. That’s right; its New 2 You Comic Book’s time!
Paradox Girl – First Cycle
(W) Cayti Elle Bourquin; (A) Yishan Li;Â (Additional Art)Harley Williams, Suzanne Elisabeth Miller & Stuart Wallace Miller; (Fonts) Apostrophic Labs, Vernon Adams, Anja Meiners, Nate Piekos and MS & Canada Type; (Publisher) Image Comics / Top Cow
This book has a very simple approach; create mayhem with a likeable character. For those who have bought into Harley Quinn as a sort of zany off-the-wall character, Paradox quadruples that. Para, to her friends, has the ability to jump through time and space, perfectly. She also has little comprehension of the impacts of ramifications of doing so. The backbone of the book, is that there a strict no rules element to time travel. Sure, what happens in the past has impacts in the present or future; but with so many Para’s running around you can get a little lost. The brilliance of writer Cayti Elle Bourrquin is that there is always a plan, some sort of logic to proceedings, and with this great power, comes the responsibility to keep trying to solve the problem, no matter how many times it takes.
Yishan Li’s art has a Totally Spies feel, utilising the manga style facial elements to convey the various emotions the various Para’s feel, be it the done that already bored look of the future or the seeing things for the first time Para; the level of visual humour is excellent. For a book that reads and looks off-beat, the powers that be made a wise decision to keep the colors muted to some extent so not to get in the way of the storytelling.
Overall – 5 Stars
For the full review of this series, please click here, and for an interview with Cayti an her editor, conducted by The Random Dude Josh, please click here
Paradox Girl – First Cycle is available from your local comic store in trade format. Alternatively, single issues are available from https://www.paradoxgirl.com/. Click the the purchase link and you will be able to get single issues in both the US and the UK.
White Widow
(W) Benny R. Powell; (A) Iwan Nazif with James Tyndall; (Col) Fahriza Kamaputr, Brian Argel Magnaye and James Brown; (Creators) James Tyndall and Benny R. Powell; (Publisher) Absolute Comics Group
What is is about female spiders? Why are they so hot? First off, you got Jessica, then Natasha and of course Julia who inspired Spidey’s trip into fashion in Marvel Superheroes Secret Wars. Sure, there may be a couple of non sequitur’s in there; I don’t think anyone would call Madame Webb hot for an instant, (but it does take all types, right?), but for the most part, being sexy is kind of a female spider thing.
Step forward then ,White Widow from Absolute Comics, whose co-creator James Tyndall is probably known as a proponent of the J. Scott Campbell school of female anatomy. I seriously don’t have a problem with that; I love Campbell’s accentuated stylings. But look a little bit closer at this book and you discover a different kind of zany to that found in Paradox Girl.
The book features a top notch science student, who is great at volley ball! Now I am not saying that you can’t be both nerd and jock, but this pairing is a tad unique, though the latter does let Tyndall show our heroine, sans powers, in a bikini and cut offs. And there in lies the attraction. Maybe Powell and Tyndall will hope that the beguiling art of breasts and legs somehow makes up for the the over the top contrivances that make up large parts of this story.
You know what? They are right. When a book features art this good, with a pacy story line, any lack of depth kind of leaves the room as you are left with a roller coaster ride that is fun and engaging. Yeah, there are a ton of tropes in play, but this kind of adds to its charm rather than detract from it.
Iwan Nazif has a difficult job. He has to draw his story and panels around the various Tyndall splash / pin-up pages that appear throughout the book. Nazif does well for the most part; with only small niggles like inconsistent faces breaking into the super-heroine poses that are utilised well. The digital colors work well as does the lettering, adding enough accent to drive the functionary emotional aspects of the story.
If you are looking for a sexy super-heroine as an alternative to the Big Two’s output, from creators who aren’t afraid to emphasise rather than to minimise the female form, this book could be for you.
Overall – 4 Stars
To check out the full review for this book please click here.  Additionally, if you are a fan of White Widow, there is currently a backerkit running here.
Author Profile
- I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow
Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network
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