The three issues of Sebastian O were an impulse buy on Free Comic Book Day. I knew nothing about the series or Grant Morrison, but the promise of steampunk Oscar Wilde drew me in like nothing else. Unfortunately, the story didn't hold up to expectations.

In a Victorian London infused with clockwork technology, Lord Lavender, the Queen's advisor (fixer? prime minister?), has won. He's jailed or flipped all the members of the notorious Club de Paradis Artificiel. Part Hellfire Club, part scientific community, these scandalous club members were queer inventors and artists who rejected the "dirty natural" reality in favor of the "clean unnatural" lines of artificiality. And they're not taking their defeat lying down. The bulk of the comic is Sebastian O, the club's ringleader, breaking out of Bedlam and wrecking his revenge on Lord Lavender, despite Lavender's assassins and machinations. All while looking quite fashionable, of course.

From the first page, I felt a little off-kilter with this book. The bloody revenge story was a surprise, since the cover art suggested well-mannered triumph with perhaps a dash of boxing. Stuff reminiscent of Dorian Gray and Holmes vs Moriarty. I don't mind a story where queer people take visceral revenge on those who wronged them, but Morrison's was poorly done. The world-building is sloppy and uneven. A gay character is a pedophile. Sebastian is supposed to be our amoral gay hero, but he has his maids disrobe while he bathes, spouts toxic clasist trite, and shows little to no compassion towards the club members he says he cares about. Lavender is evil and insane. Other club members are brutally murdered and silenced. The only well-done characters are a lesbian couple, who provide the sole redeeming bits of humor.

Honestly, the comic feels like it was written, inked, colored, and created for and by straight people. Those creators may be fans of Oscar Wilde, steampunk, and the Victorian era, but fannish predilection isn't enough for a good story homage. I finished the comic with a bad taste in my mouth and feeling not a little insulted. I can't say I recommend Sebastian O to anybody.

When we were first getting into podcasts, my partner and I grabbed onto The Thrilling Adventure Hour like a burr grabs onto a sock. The rollicking stories and old-timey radio aesthetics brought us closer to entertainment our grandparents remembered. We deep dived into "Marshal on Mars" and "Beyond Belief" while dabbling in The Shadow, The Lone Ranger, and elderly Sherlock Holmes broadcasts. As time went on, however, we realized nostalgia's rosy glasses could only take us so far. The same experience happened in miniature with this comic anthology.

The anthology contains short comics for each of the The Thrilling Adventure Hour's series, including "Marshal on Mars," "Phillip Fathom," "Colonel Tick Tock," "Tales of the USSA," "Captain Laserbeam," "Amelia Earhart," "Ace American," and "Down in Moonshine Holler." The stories are funny and feel at once self-contained and part of a serial. The art is varied and adorable. The filler false advertisements for cigarettes and coffee have hilarious Depression Era charm. Charming is a good way to describe this book. It's meant to be a charming bit of pastiche nostalgia, at once a love letter and a satire of old storytelling tropes and forms.

However, I feel Acker and Blacker fail to fully transcend the problematic storytelling elements these old forms contained. Over hundreds of episodes, these not-so-happy-making elements wear a listener down, and the same happens in this anthology. It's easiest to see in "Sparks Nevada: Marshal on Mars" and "Tales of the USSA." "Marshal on Mars" is intended to be a parody of old radio Westerns like The Lone Ranger. Some of the problematic elements of Ranger stories were their poor treatment of women, LGBTQ folks, and Native American characters. As evidenced in the comic and the radio show, "Marshal on Mars" tries to poke fun and overcome these elements. Red Plains Rider is a talented bringer of justice in her own right and is respected planet-wide. Croach is treated like a character with his own concerns and character/plot arcs. Queer relationships are mentioned and presumably accepted galaxy-wide.

That's where the justice stops. Nevada's romantic pursuit of Red Plains Rider is supposed to be funny, but in the comic, his constant pestering of "hey do you wanna marry me" comes off at best as annoying and at worst as work-place harassment. Croach and his fellow Native-American metaphor Martians suffer worse. Like Tonto before him, Croach is abused and under-appreciated. He's the constant butt of jokes, and his culture is seen purely as a source of comedy. Any possible romantic relationship between him and Sparks is seen as gross, misery-inducing, and unsustainable, which would be fine if Mars had...literally any LGBTQ folks to offer positive rep. Mars is populated by only cis straight people (and robots), apparently.

I'm less familiar with the "USSA" stories, so I'm going just off the comic here. I'm putting it under spoilers because the thing is so short.

A similar trend of sort-of-but-not-really overcoming problematic elements is seen again in "Tales of the USSA" comic. This story is an obvious parody of Star Trek. One of the many progressive moves the original Star Trek series did was to feature a black woman professional, Lt. Uhura, and an interracial kiss between her and the Jewish Captain Kirk. In the "USSA" Captain Peeples's marriage to Zo, a black woman bridge officer, is a clear homage. They kiss and it is adorbz. I am ready to like this comic. One thing Gene Rodenberry couldn't do with TOS is feature an explicitly queer character. When an Asian- and queer- coded ensign is assigned to the landing party, I thought Acker and Blacker were going to build on Roddenberry's work and have that explicit queer character with a happy ending. Nope. With zero fanfare or remorse, the Ensign Brank Manlius is killed. Captain Peeples, who the ensign deeply admired, doesn't care about the ensign's death. He brushes it off as another sacrifice for empire and moves on. It's really rather dark.

To say my feelings were mixed about The Thrilling Adventure Hour's comic is an understandment. There are some humorous moments and an obvious love of the form. There are terrible moments like described above. It was more than okay. It was less than stellar. I guess read this anthology if you're a fan of the show, but don't make an effort to seek it out before finding your limit on the bad kind of old radio nonsense.

When I started reading Invaders, it was for Brian Falsworth aka Union Jack aka Marvel's first gay character (publication chronology speaking). With Volume 4, here is the end of the Invaders portion of that journey, as Roy Thomas hands the superhero reins over to other writers and artists. Unfortunately, the finale was more pop than bang.

Collecting Invaders (1975) #35-41 and Invaders (1993) #1-4, this volume has three major plotlines, and in all the Invaders join forces with the USA-based Liberty Legion. The first is the fight against Iron Cross, the second is the fight against Lady Lotus, and the last is against the Battle-Axis. There are some great moments. Miss America, the Liberty's Legion resident super-flyer, rebels against her male colleagues having her play secretary. It's a satisfying jibe against how the Justice League regulated Wonder Woman to a secretarial role. Classic baddies are back, including Baron Blood, Master Man, Warrior Woman, and U-Man. The evil doppelgänger vibe is strong. Spitfire and Union Jack have a classic sibling team-up. The Kid Commandos show up briefly. According the back matter, the Liberty Legion and Battle-Axis members are classic Timely Comics characters, which is a nod to the long time fans. With all these callbacks, the volume succeeds at feeling like a farewell.

Among this fanfare, however, there are a lot problems. It seems like Thomas wanted to explore what causes regular democracy-lovin' citizens to become fascists. The first leg of this discussion mostly checks out. The Liberty Legion are told to investigate the loyalty of German Americans, which totally disgusts them. Yay! When the Legion stumbles upon the Iron Cross, he insists that he's not a Nazi, but loyal to his home country of Germany...which happens to be Nazi. These idiotic mental gymnastics will be familiar to anyone who has that one racist family member who says they don't support the USA's loud yam, but it's important to be respectful of the President and his laws, even though the loud yam LITERALLY wants to make it illegal for you to work, adopt children, or basically be queer. Here's what tripped me up: the Iron Cross is gay. Supporting fascism when he's one of its victims is a much more complex kettle of fish. Iron Cross is not given page space to explore that, so the story fell flat for me.

The second arc was distractedly misogynistic, homophobic, and racist. Thomas had good intentions. Lady Lotus is a Japanese woman who, after escaping Internment, has taken a vow to dismantle the USA from the inside as revenge. Add some queer femme fatale vibes and we have the makings of a super interesting story. Instead, things derail. In the back matter, Thomas says Lady Lotus was his answer to Fu Manchu, and she doesn't stray far from this hyper-racist origin. She uses "Oriental magics and psychic ability" to control men. Her queerness turns predatory as she attempts to seduce Gwenny Lou to her side. She disguises herself as a Chinese woman for protection, but it comes off as a "two for one" exotic deal. It's just...bad.

The last arc is the worst yet. The Battle-Axis are a team of white Americans who sell out to fascism. Spider-Queen's husband was killed by Russians; the Nazis fight the USSR. Similarly, Human Meteor wants to get back at the UK for their mistreatment of his native Ireland. Doctor Death feels jilted by the scientific community. Strong Man is a bully and an idiot. Voltron...was given a sandwich by Doctor Death so I guess he's okay with genocide now??? Vision, who pops up, says he's neutral, and therefore fights for the Nazis. IDK. None of these reasons felt super compelling. In answer, the Invaders...punch them. Thomas doesn't go deeper than that. He doesn't call on Cap's own Irish heritage, have someone point out that the USSR is likely the USA's next target, or tell the men to get over themselves. There's none of the complexity and compassion of earlier volumes. Heck, a Jewish character returns and fights for the Battle-Axis and reading that felt like swallowing acid. The art itself is also dreadful, with lots of eternal male grimaces, panty shots, and ridiculous revealing costumes.

I have other petty quibbles. Brian and Jacqueline barely make an appearance. Namor and Jim's resentment of one another comes out of nowhere. If the Kid Commandos are meant to be fighting Internment, why are happily hosting a war bond rally? Why do we spend so much time in the USA when the Invaders are a European team? This volume is a mess.

I'm giving stars to the mess because Brian, Jacqueline, and Miss America refusing to play secretary. I can't say I recommend Invaders volume 4. Maybe my expectations were just too high after previous stellar volumes.

After falling in love with Moonstruck's first volume, I was more than ready to continue falling butt over teakettle for volume 2. And well, I did.

Our favorite anxious werewolf is back in her comfortable coffee shop, and things are going so well: Chet is happily introducing their favorite online game, Newpals (think Neopets), to their boyfriend Manuel; Selena and she are cuddles and rainbows; and Julie's managed to complete her Pleasant Mountain Sisters novel. But all that comes crashing down when the group attends a frat party and becomes caught in the middle of fairy feud. Everyone's relationships are tested and called into question as the fairies face off for the title of best party hosts on campus. And all the while, Cass is plagued by increasingly ominous visions....

The art continues to be cotton candy pastel soft, and, while the story is more rife with tension than volume 1's story is, the narrative is a balm to my soul. I was struck by the fact that, though the world is full of magical creatures, the real diversity of the world is there. Selena's awkward attempts at Spanish endearments, the huge array of body types/ability/gender, and Julie's sputtering confidence felt very true to life. The humor seemed even better than before. While reading, I was constantly smiling and laughing.

Overall, Moonstruck continues to be a treasure trove of good feelings. I recommend it to anyone who needs a break from the grimdark werewolf stories that populate urban fantasy. This comic is here to scratch that hopepunk queer werewolf itch.

Baba Yaga's Assistant is a cute middle-grade comic about family, love, and heritage. Masha is a young woman who was raised by her grandmother after her mother died and her father checked out. Once her grandmother dies, Masha is at a loss and finds solace in the fairy tales her grandmother told her. She decides she'd like to find Baba Yaga and become her assistant, which starts a magical journey of coming into her own.

I'm not super familiar with the Baba Yaga mythos, but the story was the perfect knife edge balance of horror and comfort. She is at once a kindly grandmother and a terror witch of the forest. As a fellow lover of fairy tales, Masha is relatable to the extreme, and her character is built up layer by layer wonderfully. The art is a similar balance of cool and warm colors; sharp and soft angles.

Baba Yaga's Assistant was a lovely, quick read and I heartily recommend it to adults and children alike!