Fay

a somewhat decent introduction to the queer sphere (yeah that's what i'm calling it lol), though it does show it's age in some aspects (the usage of the term "transsexual" is a hug signifier of when this book was first written). it is, however, by no means a comprehensive guide to all things LGBT+ (if it were this book would be the size of tolstoy's war and peace LMAO)

i do have quite a few nitpicks i have with the book. one is that asexuality / the ace spectrum is pretty much brushed off to the side after chapter 2, which kinda bummed me out since i feel like delving a little deeper into it wouldn't have hurt. i also wish polyamory could've been brought up in the section about dating and relationships (and no, open relationships and polyamory are not the same thing.)

some of (and by some, i mean about 90% of the slang the author uses throughout the book honestly makes me roll my eyes (which is another signifier of when this book was first written). i get the point of the whole tome is to make learning about LGBT+ things engaging and entertaining, but "cray"? "shiz"? i have literally not used these words since like 2013, couldn't the slang have been updated for the 2020s? i can imagine other people my age (or today's teens) having the same reactions as me when reading this.

there are some other qualms i have with the book that i can't articulate well enough right now, so i might come back to edit this review when i have the mental energy to. it does do a good job explaining the basics in a way a cishet person would most likely understand, i'll give it that.

bottom line, it's an okay introduction to the spectrum of things LGBT+, though it's certainly not a definite guide. i strongly recommend doing further reading (a good additional starting point would be A Quick & Easy Guide to Queer and Trans Identities by Mady G and Jules Zuckerberg [which i feel does a lot more with a lot less])

hopefully as the years pass, this gay rainbow colored book is updated to reflect the concepts and terminology (and slang!) of today.

I picked up this book from my local library because it had an interesting premise. I'll be breaking down my review into segments, focusing on different aspects of the graphic novel.

Starting off with the worldbuilding, I enjoyed what I got to see. The society on Mars gave off major solarpunk vibes, which I'm always up for in sci-fi stories. I like the details of stairs in the university being able to convert to wheelchair ramps when needed, and the library having robotic owls as assistants is soooo cute :3. I just wish we got to see more of the universe, like how humans came to colonize Mars and what life back on Earth is like. There was a tidbit with the museum timeline that mentioned capitalism was overthrown which piqued my interest. The element of human cloning being prominent is an interesting one as well.

The characters are more or less okay, I didn't mind the protagonist. I do feel like her story was under-explored in some aspects as was Kye's (who'll I'll get to in a bit). Like what happened to her mom that made her want a clone of herself to live vicariously through? What was her mom like before Clem's conception? Does Clem have friends or relatives back on Earth that she keeps in touch with?

I also feel like Clem and Kye's relationship felt rushed (even shoehorned in, dare i say, even though it's a focal point of the story). It progressed too fast for me to feel natural, which is something I always look for when it comes to M/F relationships. I get this is a romance novel but why not show more moments of their friendship before their feelings blossom? Honestly, I wasn't feeling the more intimate moments between them (especially the scene in Dr. Han's house).

Kye is also painfully underwritten. I wish we got to see things from his point of view more often, and not just moments between him and Clem and/or Dr. Lin. His personality is a bit flat to me, which is a given considering Dr. Ada raised him to be a lab/personal assistant and nothing more and probably didn't let him cultivate his own interests besides plants, but c'mon! At least give him something that doesn't involve his mom or love interest.

Speaking of Kye, the backdoor glitch being caused by him thinking about Clem is somewhat confusing to me. I can kiiiinda get the link between the photos she shared to him being comprised of plant matter and nature on Earth and the fact his past/human self had a special interest in plants, but why is Clem the cause? Is it solely because she was the one to share the photos with him? Wouldn't it make more sense for him to think about Earth? Idk i hate how vague certain elements of the plot are.

Additionally, how was Dr Lin able to program her late son's consciousness into Kye? Did she develop an AI based off her son's memories or did she somehow extract a physical component from him and implement it into Kye's code? Does Kye even know the boy he sees whenever he glitches is Dr. Lin's son/his past self? Yet another aspect of the story I felt didn't get enough time to develop.

Overall, I enjoyed the art and the world of the novel, but the characters and the relationship between Clem and Kye left much to be desired. I feel like if the story was longer and more aspects expanded upon I would have enjoyed this graphic novel a lot more.

SENA best boi though i will not deny his cuteness >w<

a fast read, finished it in one sitting. the art was alright, i liked the character designs and colors (although some pages did look dark / slightly blurry, probably a toning issue [which i've noticed with some print versions of webcomics]). Some of the faces/expressions come off a bit weird though, and the fact everyone seems to be wearing lipstick at all times doesn't help.

the plot/concept had potential, and it's a shame it seemingly never got the chance to develop (more on that later). it also felt rushed at times? some of the dialogue did feel a bit stilted, and the relationship between stella and oliva progressed too unnaturally fast for me to feel anything.

the protag is..... lousy tbh. she didn't really develop as a person at the end of the story (though tbf seeing as the ending hinted at a second volume, it would've been nice to see her become less angry and vindictive). If anything, i think the comic would've been improved by having jessica as the protag (bright and bubbly teen girl gets dragged into the gritty realm of underground virtual magical girl fights) and have stella as her mentor alongside olivia.

it's a shame we'll never most likely get to see where this comic could've gone, seeing as this was originally a webcomic published on the app stela in 2016, which has since been taken off the app store and google play. it doesn't help the company has not posted on social media since july 2020, and the security certificates on their website have expired. the links on the site are either kaput or lead to entirely different, unrelated websites.

as for the author, i checked her tumblr blog (jenbartel) for any possible updates on the comic, and the last thing she posted related to crystal fighters is an announcement for the dark horse comics publication. no mentions of any new chapters past ch. 5. jen herself has not posted to her tumblr since 2018. so either the subsequent chapters are now lost media or were never written, and it's safe to say she's given up on crystal fighters entirely.

overall, it's a mid comic if you're looking for something substantial. this is something you could hand off to a 10-14 year old who doesn't know any better and they'd probably be ok with it.

personally, i picked this up at my favorite indie bookstore for a discount. i wouldn't say i wasted 7 dollars on this, but i'm considering donating this to my local little free library lol.