mercedes's Reviews (299)

I knew almost nothing about this series when I bought it—just that it had good ratings and that it was a slice of life romance series, of which I hadn't yet gotten myself into. I became a little apprehensive about reading it once I saw some of the reviews slating this as misogynistic and over-sexualised, but personally I have to disagree.

That's not to say it isn't a product of its time, because it absolutely is, but I still found this comic charming. I know people also think the tone and genre-swapping is disjointed, but I didn't feel that way. I liked each arc even more than the one before it and I think the blend of comedy, drama and romance with the crime/thriller story in the middle about Katchoo was perfect! It kept my attention and with each page I didn't want to put it down, I was gripped. 

The art, too, is really lovely to look at, the women are gorgeous (and as someone who is definitely critical of over-sexualisation when it's unnecessary, I didn't feel it here. Characters are sexualised through the eyes of obviously gross male characters and have a lot of agency themselves), and easily intersperses a comedic, more cartoony look during comedic moments. 

I'm now totally invested in the lives of Katchoo and Francine (and David), and I can't wait to read the next pocket book. I can see this becoming a favourite series of mine when I want to read something funny and relaxing, with some crime/thriller going on in there a little too.

 I've been meaning to read Lazarus for a long time now, and since I've recently been seeing hype for this series resurging I thought I'd finally dip my toes. So far, I'm impressed!

Volume one only collects four issues, and they're definitely light on backstory and explanations—this seems to be a common complaint and I understand, but for me I found it just fuelled my want to continue the series than it did fuelling any aggravation. I'm really interested to learn more about Lazarus' and the world outside of the two families.

The art was dark and gritty and I really enjoyed it, I think it fits the tone of the comic perfectly and I like how Forever is drawn, she's all muscles and frowns and she looks (and acts) like a badass. I found her really likeable and I can't wait to see where her story goes. 

Yeahhh... not sure how I feel about this one. Warning for spoilers below! 
I loved the first issue—a solid 4 stars, got me invested into both the story and the characters and felt really solid. I was prepared to write-off all the complaints about this comic not holding up or not actually being that good. But then it continued, and... yeah. I have to agree.

The story itself isn't necessarily bad or mediocre, it's just little moments that ended up lessening my enjoyment considerably. That's not to say I hate it, or even dislike it—I just think it's average and falls victim to poor tropes. I do think, though, that for its time it's fairly decent, I just can't overlook the treatment and non-existent characterisation of Barbara, Gordon's wife. 

Right from the beginning, Gordon's apprehension about his wife being pregnant is brought into the story, and is a recurring point. How does Barbara feel about it? We don't know! She exists solely to be pregnant, get cheated on, and then get attacked. This was, honestly, one of my main problems with the story. Gordon cheating on his wife (while she is very, very pregnant), with a woman he notes was in high school not long ago, serves nothing to the plot. At all. We never see Barbara's reaction, or learn how she feels about it, and the only thing it results in is a comment about going to marriage counselling. It's utterly pointless other than driving home the fact Gordon is also a flawed human being.

Despite all that, this was still a somewhat enjoyable read and I can definitely see why people like it, it's just not for me. The art was simplistic but very nice to look at, and possibly some of my favourite art of Bruce Wayne. Another thing I will say, though, is that the cursive writing present in the Bruce parts of the story is unintelligible at times and that kinda ruined my experience also. I get what they were going for, but sometimes I don't wanna spend a few minutes trying to make out a sentence so I can follow the story.

The art is so good but the story... the dialogue nor the panels seemed to flow properly and a lot just didn't make sense to me. I like when a story leaves a little mystery and intrigue as it makes me want to read the next volume, but this left me with 0 information and felt incredibly unsatisfying, so I'm not sure I'll continue.