Review: Secret Coders vol. 4 – Robots & Repeats

By Dustin Cabeal

This is a hard review to write because I think what this book is ultimately trying to accomplish is great. Teaching kids about coding while also giving them an adventure is fantastic. It’s just that it’s not quite working.

I noticed the problem on the second volume which I didn’t review. Then again on the third which I admittedly went easy on. I didn’t want to bring this series down, especially since Gene Luen Yang is one of the most talented and thoughtful comic creators to come around in ages. Not only does he manage to tell incredible stories, but puts thought into the audience and the material. After four volumes though I can’t just let this slide and pretend that I’m doing any one a favor by not reviewing Secret Coders.

The elements of the first volume that was charming and full of learning are lost in the volumes that follow. Such is the case in this fourth volume. The teaching moments go on for too long and are such a harsh break in the pacing of the story. Now, I appreciate that the kids fail and try again, but the overall process is far too long to read in a comic. Time stands still when I get to these parts, and suddenly I lose interest in the adventure. A bigger problem is that these moments always come at an intense moment of the story. Our trio is running, running, stop! Coding time… still coding… still coding… still.

The thing is, real coding takes a lot of damn time, and it, unfortunately, doesn’t fit the rest of the story in which our trio are getting into danger and doing what the adults can’t get done. That brings me to the other problem. The three kids are all relatively smart. Two of them are portrayed as being smarter, but overall, they’re not dumb or portrayed that way. They make at least one mind numbing dumb mistake per volume. It’s extremely hard to root for them when they break character and do dumb stuff. Granted, we all do dumb stuff, but their dumb stuff is always just to drive the story forward. It’s their story though, and that means they’ll always find a way out which isn’t very rewarding for the reader.

The artwork is something I’ve never had a problem with, but I would have been cool to have the monochrome coloring inside match the cover. It’s always green, and while that matches the bulk of the story, i.g. the turtles, it ends up looking sick. I mean like the entire story is a little sick because of the hues of green used. Otherwise, the designs and characters look and move wonderfully. Even the teaching moments are interesting to look at, but because of the art, you’re able to notice just how long the teaching moment is running. That and they eventually start taking over more and more of the page.

Sadly, this is my last foray into Secret Coders. I do sincerely hope that some kids are out there enjoying this book and learning from it. I would like nothing more than that. For me though, the teaching moments are breaking the story too often, and it feels like the experiment here was to have both be interesting and work together. They’re not and haven’t been which is a shame.

Score: 3/5

Secret Coders vol. 4 – Robots & Repeats
Writer: Gene Luen Yang
Artist: Mike Homes
Publisher: First Second Books

Reading Without Walls This April

We're delighted to be launching Reading Without Walls this April -- a month-long, nation-wide program to promote diversity in reading, inspired by National Ambassador for Young People's Literature Gene Luen Yang and his ambassadorial platform. Thousands of schools, libraries, bookstores, and comics stores are joining in to help celebrate Reading Without Walls. 

This month, Gene is challenging us all to: 

Read a book about a character who doesn't look or live like you.
Read a book in a format you don't typically read -- graphic novels, poetry, audiobooks, plays.
Read a book about a new subject you don't know much about. 

And we'll be sharing our thoughts with the #readingwithoutwalls hashtag on social media. 

You can find more resources to support Reading Without Walls here: http://read.macmillan.com/mcpg/reading-without-walls/. 

We're so excited for this program! We hope you can join us in Reading Without Walls this April.

Review: Secret Coders vol. 3: Secrets & Sequences

By Dustin Cabeal

After really enjoying the first volume of Secret Coders, I found that my enjoyment for the second volume wasn’t nearly as high. I kept reading though because the cliffhangers are interesting and add to the story rather than just being a cheap gimmick to entice you back.

There’s a lot of questions answered in this volume which was enjoyable, but it ends up feeling as if we’re not being told a big chunk of the story still. While that wouldn’t usually bother me, here, it feels as if the story is being stretched out. Professor Bee has been kidnapped, and our trio needs to rescue him. Something happens in the scuffle and Hopper catches a glimpse of something she was never supposed to see. Eventually, the real villain of the story is fleshed out, but the story leaves on another cliffhanger/problem for the reader to figure out.

While I praised the learning aspect of Secret Coders in my review of the first volume, it’s become a bit longwinded in later volumes. It’s not terrible, but it breaks the flow of the story. Not that a little kid is going to mind, which is the next issue I have with Secret Coders. It no longer feels as if adults are being included, but that the focus has shifted to just kids. Which is a shame because at times it feels written down to the kids rather than lifting them up.

The artwork is consistent and enjoyable. It’s simple, but the style conveys a lot, be it the tone or the sense of adventure. The art is the perfect fit for the story, and it makes it hard to imagine it working without Mike Homes’ talents.

While I would wholeheartedly recommend this series to young readers, it’s difficult to also extend that same recommendation to adults. Perhaps if you find coding super fascinating, then you’ll likely love the book, but if you only have a moderate interest in it, then the same will be true for Secret Coders.

Score: 3/5

Secret Coders: Secrets & Sequences
Creators: Gene Luen Yang & Mike Holmes
Publisher: First Second Books

Review: New Super-Man #3

The problem with the third issue is that it’s the third issue. It’s already been ordered by comic shops, pre-ordered by readers, the creative team is already working on the ending of the story line if they haven’t already moved on to the second arc. It’s settled into a comfortable formula that it’s made for itself. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that (unless you want to overhaul the entire comic book distribution system which no one wants to) unless you’re a reviewer. Oh, woe is me. You’re thinking with equal parts mocking and sarcasm. Yes, woe is me. Because after all, you’re here reading this aren’t you? And yet the first paragraph is all I have to say about the issue. Sure Kenan grows as a character, along with our supporting cast. Yes, there are new plot threads introduced and hinted at for the future of the series and of course there’s a cliffhanger to bring us back. But is any of it really any better than the first two issues? Not really. It’s pretty average, but it’s good average. It's where you want average to be. Even one of the best series in the last decade, Mind MGMT, had its average issues, and that was my five-star standard for its entire run.

Average comic books are a great thing because it lets you know that the writer isn’t just phoning it in. They are trying to razzle dazzle you to the point that the character is uncharacteristic or just going through the motions. You know, the problem everyone seems to have with a Superman story. Average is just fine by me because it’s below-average that chases me away, not average. This isn’t school, we’re not trying to get into a good college, we’re just reading a comic book. Average isn’t a dirty word.

The art still has its awkward moments, but I didn’t hate it. There’s a panel where Kenan is looking to the side, and we see part of his face that we wouldn’t be able to see. I get what they were going for, but Bogdanovic needed to adjust the rest of the face to match the mouth or just change the mouth. There are some great scenes, though, and Bogdanovic manages to capture a lot of emotion in the facial expressions when they’re facing the correct way.

Third issues suck to review. You’ll see a lot of sites drop them because of all the reasons I listed. I bother with them because that’s how a series is forgotten. We have so many comics competing for our attention now and whether the industry wants to admit it, a limited number of people buying them, meaning a limited budget to be spent. Every bit of exposure helps, even if it’s just an average scoring review for an average issue for one of the boldest comics DC’s publishing.

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New Super-Man #3 Writer: Gene Luen Yang Artist: Viktor Bogdanovic Publisher: DC Comics Price: $2.99 Format: Ongoing; Print/Digital

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Review: New Super-Man #2

After a stunning first issue the second issue follow-up is less than spectacular. It’s still an enjoyable issue and I’m looking forward to the series overall, but there is definitely its share of pacing problems plaguing the sophomore follow-up. The most interesting thing to me about this issue was the character development, in some cases it was adequate and other cases it was underwhelming. Kong had one good scene towards the end. The final pages are another story and while I won’t spoil it, I will say that it did more for his character than the rest of the issue, because it showcased his personality. Really it was a great moment in which Gene Luen Yang captures one of those human moments in which our bad habits outshine our logic. Otherwise the issue spends a great deal of time building the characters of China’s Justice League. Which I actually really enjoyed, but it felt to soon to be building that aspect when we're still learning about our title character. Yang somewhat goes out of his way to establish the differences and similarities between China’s Justice League and the other Justice League. It’s quite smart, but it’s just a bit too obvious that it’s happening. That and a lot of it is telling via dialogue, rather than showing it through their actions.

In the issue itself a fight breaks out between Batman Wonder Woman and Superman. Which is kind of a dream come true if they were the original characters. Here it’s kind of curious as to why they’re actually fighting when no one’s taken the time to talk to Kong about what he’s doing. They assume he’s lost control and attacking, but he’s just freaking out due to the process they used to give him powers. What’s worse is that Kong’s arrogance is a lot like Peter Parker’s in that he only cares that someone is trying to fight him, not that he should stop and think for a moment about what’s going on with himself. When I say Peter Parker I’m referring to the origin in which Parker doesn’t stop the thug that would eventually kill his Uncle. Not that it’s the same thing, but the same thinking of “not my problem.” Kong loses his powers and basically spends the rest of the issue calling Batman “Fatty” and asking what he did to him.

Again, the issue isn’t bad at all. The art continues to be very good, but there were definitely a lot of weaker panels in this issue. I didn’t stop my overall enjoyment, but looking at a few of them again there’s some really glaring problems that I hope doesn’t end up plaguing the series. Facepalm Batman in particular is really hard to look at.

What continues to be interesting to me is Kong. In some ways he reminds me of Booster Gold, but with this really dark element to him that we haven’t seen fully exposed yet. He doesn’t seem like the type of person that you would feel safe with having Superman’s powers which is still an incredible feeling to have. Why? Because I’m sure that’s exactly how Lex Luther feels about Superman… makes you wonder what Yang is going for or just how good of a writer he is. It’s messy, but it’s still one of the best DC books to be buying.

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New Super-Man #2 Writer: Gene Luen Yang Artist: Viktor Bogdanovic Publisher: DC Comics Price: $2.99 Format: Ongoing; Print/Digital

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Review: New Super-Man #1

I’ve checked out nearly all of the new DC titles. Obviously, if you follow the site, I haven’t reviewed them all and if you follow the podcast, I haven’t talked about them all. The simple fact is that I haven’t enjoyed them all either, but really that’s to be expected of any new launch. It’s incredibly rare to get a reader that reads it all and likes it all. Outside of The Flash, New Super-Man is the first book I’m really excited for… and I didn’t think I would be. Sure, I had faith in Gene Luen Yang because I’ve read his other work, but I’ll totally admit that I was scared to check out his work on Superman before “Rebirth.” What this had going for it was the fact that he convinced DC to let him make a Chinese Superman and that alone was groundbreaking and interesting enough to check it out.

After a few pages though… I felt like I was reading my first DC Comic ever. You know what I mean. Actually… you probably don’t. Do you remember the first DC Comic you ever read? Probably not, neither do I. I know one of the first ones I ever read and it was right after Jason Todd died. Sure, kind of a dark issue, but up until then I had only read some Marvel comics. Suddenly I could see the clear distinction between the two companies and it was magical. It was always like this, you could read a DC book and it would feel like a DC book and vice versa with Marvel. With the New 52 DC stopped feeling like DC.

Because DC was fun! DC had Plastic Man, a grown up Robin who sometimes dated a former Batgirl in a wheelchair. I mean when you really think of all the ridiculousness of comics a lot of it comes from DC and that’s okay. Because it’s fun. It’s strange and different and you can’t get that anywhere else. Where else will you find a character called Mister Msyzptlk whose entire gimmick is to make you, make him say his own name?

What does any of this have to do with New Super-Man (pay attention to the hyphen!)? I got that same sense of joy from reading this. This is something that Yang could have very easily have done on his own. He could have made a Chinese Superman and never said that it was Superman because countless indie comics do it all the time. And it doesn’t have the same effect unless A) you’re a talented writer (think Mark Millar) or B) you can actually create the story at the publisher that owns the character… well, Yang is definitely A and got to do B.

The story is an origin story, but our main character, our future Super-Man of China is nothing like Clark Kent. And that’s fine by me. No one wanted to see a carbon copy version of Clark Kent because that be a disservice to everyone. Gene created a character. A new character for DC and made him flawed, gave him a tragic background and even managed to set his story in China without getting political. Everything Yang did with the story was meticulously thought out and paced wonderfully.

Of course this is a comic so it’s a collaborative effort and that means that Viktor Bogdanovic (pencils) and Richard Friend (inks) get a lot of the credit as well. Bogdanovic’s designs are diverse and different from what you’ve seen from a DC Comic. For the most part, no one in the book looks like a superhero. They’re just average looking people going through life. Bogdanovic’s facial expressions are really what’s in tune with Yang’s writing style and really an extension of Yang’s own art. I for one enjoy the fact that I’m seeing more and more inkers on comics again. Inking is to film, what digital art is to digital in the film industry. I don’t know how to explain that better so enjoy that SAT style of statement. The answer is “B”, the algorithm no longer favors “C”. Basically inking gives a comic a certain look and while most people can’t really tell from looking if it was digital or not, at the end of the day it does give it a different vibe. A classic vibe.

New Super-Man is one of, if not the best DC Rebirth title I’ve read. As I said on this week’s podcast, I want to support the hell out of this book so that I can continue reading it for years to come. Yang and the rest of the creative team have delivered the first truly different first issue from “Rebirth” and that alone had me excited. This issue gave me hope that with Rebirth, DC can go back to being DC and not worry so much what the rest of the industry is doing. Be DC, just like Kenan is going to be Super-Man.

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New Super-Man #1

Writer: Gene Luen Yang

Penciler: Viktor Bogdanovic

Inker: Richard Friend

Publisher: DC Comics

Price: $2.99

Format: Ongoing; Print/Digital

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