Wayward Vol 2: Ties That Bind by Jim Zub and Steven Cummings

Wayward Volume 2: Ties That Bind written by Jim Zub and illustrated by Steven Cummings is the second collected volume of the ongoing comic book series. I have previously reviewed Volume 1, which ended on quite a dramatic note.

After the traumatizing finale of volume one, everything has changed for our supernatural teens. Who is Ohara and how does she fit into the great pattern of destiny and power that will change Japan forever? Jim Zub (Conan/Red Sonja, Samurai Jack) and Steve Cummings (Deadshot, Legends of the Dark Knight) continue their supernatural spectacle that combines the camaraderie and emotion of shows like Buffy with Japan's engaging culture and mythic monsters. This volume includes design artwork by artist Steve Cummings and profiles on mythical creatures by noted monster researcher Zack Davisson.

I enjoyed Volume 2 much more than Volume 1 — and Volume 1 was far from a drag. What I think makes Volume 2 so much more compelling is the way in which in brings a lot of separate story threads together into a cohesive whole. Vol 1 ended on a cliffhanger, which I thought was a little overwrought. Vol 2 doesn't resolve it straight away, instead introducing us to a new character, Ohara, who I liked just as much as Lori. Although this arc starts off focussing on Ohara, the other characters we loved in the first volume quickly make a reappearance (and so many cats, even more cats than before).

Although I don't disagree with the general pitch of "Buffy but in Japan", Ties That Bind takes Wayward in a more unique direction.  The ensemble cast is very different, with a different set of skills and personalities and more cats, and the background mythology, of course, is much more Japanese. In Ties That Bind a lot of the worldbuilding backstory comes together in a way that there wasn't room for in Volume 1. I highly recommend reading the two volumes as a single unit. At the very least, if you were on the fence about volume 1, I suggest giving volume 2 a chance.

I enjoyed Wayward Vol 2: Ties That Bind a lot and not just because there were many cats. I am definitely looking forward to the next instalment. This is a great comic series and I highly recommend it to comic and fantasy fans. And fans of Buffy.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: August 2015, Image Comics
Series: Wayward Volume 2 containing issues #6–10 of the ongoing series
Format read: Trade paperback
Source: Purchased from a real book shop!

Wayward Vol 1: String Theory by Jim Zub

Wayward Vol 1: String Theory written by Jim Zub and illustrated by Steven Cummings and John Rauch collects the first five issues of the ongoing comic book series. I previously posted a short review of Issue #1 and when I saw Volume 1 on Netgalley, I couldn't resist.

Rori Lane is trying to start a new life when she reunites with her mother in Japan, but ancient creatures lurking in the shadows of Tokyo sense something hidden deep within her, threatening everything she holds dear. Can Rori unlock the secrets of her power before it's too late?

After a half-Irish, half-Japanese girl moves to Japan to live with her mother, she quickly crosses paths with weird supernatural happenings and discovers that she herself has some supernatural powers. In her quest to try to understand what's going on, she teams up with some other powered teens (or are they really teens? I'm not sure about one of them). On almost a whim they decide to seek out some weird supernatural happenings, not content to wait around.

I quite liked Rori and her friends. As well as Rori's ability to see some sort of magical strings (hence the title), there's a girl with an affinity to cats and anime hair, a schoolmate with powers, and the fourth member of the band who seems to be a random bystander/victim, but I'm assuming there's more to him than we've seen so far.

The story stars to deal with some heavier issues, like Rori's mum having to work long/strange hours to make ends meet and self-harm. Obviously, Rori's struggles to fit into a new school in a new country also come up, but those kind of take a back seat to the supernatural stuff going on. I've read elsewhere that the Japan presented in Wayward is en pointe, but having visited the country only once almost a decade ago, I can't really comment.

The story in this volume has a pretty definite arc with a significant climax and a bit of a cliffhanger ending. I'm definitely going to want to read the next volume in the series to find out what happens. It's tempting to just get the next few issues that are already out, but I will be strong and stick to my rule of reading comics in collected volume form only. I would definitely recommend Wayward to anyone interested in the setting and/or stories about teenagers with superpowers. I suspect that covers a reasonable portion of my readers.

4 / 5 stars

First published: April 2015, Image Comics
Series: Wayward Vol 1 of ongoing series, collecting issues #1-5
Format read: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

A pocketful of issues

Mostly thanks to Free Comic Book Day downloads on Comixology, but also thanks to a few other sources, I recently read a bunch of free-floating issue #1 comics. Also because I was jetlagged and Comixology suddenly seemed like a good idea. I might not want to give the evil empire money, but where's the harm if it's free downloads?

Anyway, so I'm posting short reviews of the issues I read. I'm also dividing them into three categories of interested-in-reading-on-ness.

Definitely going to buy the trade paperback

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #1 by Ryan North and Erica Henderson (Marvel)

This was an issue #1 that a friend bought as a floppy and let me read while we were hanging out. It is awesome. Squirrel Girl can talk to squirrels and has a tail and super strength (the proportional strength and speed of a squirrel)! In this new comic series she is off to college, disguising her tail by tucking it into her pants. Everything about this series looks awesome, including the voice and the art. I am very much hanging out to buy the trade volume when it comes out (though it looks like I'll be waiting till September).


Bitch Planet #1 by by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine De Landro (Image)
 

This has been on my radar for a while but I wasn't sure whether it would quite be my thing. It definitely is. I don't think describing it as "Orange is the New Black in space" is inaccurate. There's a lot of very positive female representation, especially from a body-positivity sense, although the setting is aggressively misogynistic. I mean, women are sent to a prison planet (hence the title) for minor crimes such as not being perfect wives or daring to age. It was quite horrifying, actually, but I'm confident this is going to be a great series and I look forward to the trade coming out in July.

Considering Reading On

Wayward #1 by Jim Zub and Steve Cummings (Image)

An Irish-Japanese girl moves to Tokyo to live with her mother. While still very jetlagged, she wanders around the city, runs into a band of ruffians and also a swarm of cats. The ruffians turn out to be evil turtles and our heroine is rescued by a superhero girl and also discovers super powers of her own. It caught my fancy and I am definitely interested in reading more, just not quite as urgently as the two books mentioned above. Mind you, the first volume is already out, so I might pick it up impulsively if I see it reasonably-priced. Also cats. I want to know more about the cats.


Trees #1 by Warren Ellis and Jason Howard (Image)

Set a decade after aliens come to Earth and leave mysterious cylindrical towers all over the place ("trees"), this series looks like it will be looking at the ongoing consequences in a variety of places around the world. Just in issue #1 we see Rio de Janeiro, Manhattan, somewhere polar, and a weird Chinese artists' enclave. So it seems like it will be a fairly diverse story and, of course, the premise is pretty interesting and I'd like to see where they take it. I'm leaning towards wanting to read this one on more than an impulse buy level.



Batgirl #1 (New 52) by Gail Simone, Ardian Syaf, Vicente Cifuentes (DC)

Promising and whether I keep reading will come down to laziness (or lack thereof). I know they've just rebooted this character too with a new costume (better, though the old one's not that bad) so I'm a bit torn as to whether I'd want to keep reading this version or start with the new one. That said, they did a pretty good job of dealing with the fact that the character spent three years in a wheelchair. Insofar as you can ever magically cure a disabled character well, this could have gone a lot worse. She remembers and acknowledges her time in a wheelchair (and gets rightfully annoyed at her new house mate for suggesting that being in a wheelchair is the worst thing ever) and also suffers from PTSD from the incident which caused her injury, another nice touch. Having written all that, I am definitely interested in continuing this story.


Shutter #1 by Joe Keatinge and Leila Del Duca (Image)

A woman whose father was some sort of possibly-supernatural/superpowered Indiana Jones type character (except an explorer) is lamenting her father's death a decade previously and gets attacked my supernatural monsters. Promising but no idea where it's going. I am intrigued and would be interested in finding out. If anyone has read more of this series, feel free to chime in. It's another one where the first trade is already out, so I might impulsively buy it if I see it, but I'm less certain than with the above two.

Not Interested in Continuing

Alex + Ada #1 by Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn (Image) — Not the worst thing ever but not for me. Dude whose grandmother gives him a female robot for companionship. Eh.

Roche Limit #1 by Michael Moreci and Vic Malhotra (Image) — Too much man pain (even though turns out one of the main characters is female) and baffling physics. Might have potential, but I'm not going to bother to keep reading.

Planetary #1 by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday (DC) — I feel less strongly against this one than the two above. I didn't actively dislike it, but I didn't feel it brought anything particularly new or exciting to the table, so I'm not interested in pursuing it.