The Verdict:
Mysticons Volume 2 TPB was a fun read and in my humble opinion a little more interesting than volume 1. It’s a great read for children and anyone interested in the magical girls niche.
Background:
Mysticons published by Dark Horse, is a companion graphic novel to the Mysticons cartoon series that aired on Nickelodeon from August 28, 2017, to September 15, 2018. The show lasted for two seasons and consisted of 40 episodes. The graphic novel appears to pick up where the show left off.
The series, set in the urban fantasy environment of Drake City, follows four girls who transform into legendary warriors called Mysticons to fight evil. While the episode story arcs are somewhat accessible, a familiarity with the show and characters is almost required to understand the character dynamics and relationships. They don’t spend a lot of time backtracking through the show’s history.
Review:
Mysticons volume 2 follows Em, the Mysticons resident techie, and builder. Missing her boyfriend who is away, Em ends up competing in a robot fighting contest after being invited to join by the reigning champ Felix during a trip to the mall. First glance at Felix makes him out to be a nice guy with an ogre of a mother. However, the tables turn when Felix turns out to be a real jerk and his Mom is actually the decent one.
Felix is attracted to powerful women but only if he can overpower them. He turns into a sore loser who feels entitled to Em and wants to prove he is the one in control after she defeats him in the competition. The Mysticons have to battle him in real life when Em rejects his advances. In the end, they turn him over to his mother after kicking his robot army’s butt.
First impressions of the comic are that it screams Kids WB. The artwork is colorful and flat. Combined with the writing it brings back memories of shows like Winx Club and since it is aimed at six to eleven-year-olds, that isn’t a bad thing. The timeline of the story runs a little fast, but it’s also what you’d expect for the genre.
It’s a really fun comic and the storyline of volume 2 is very relevant to current media trends about women standing up for themselves. I especially appreciated Felix’s mother. Not only does she portray an extremely successful woman, but also a successful and intelligent single mother. Not only that but, when someone tells her that her son isn’t treating girls with respect she believes them rather than making excuses for him. This type of imagery is extremely important and I have to applaud them for pushing more of it out into the world.
The professional respect between Em and another contestant named Sakie was also appreciated by this reader. Rather than creating a love triangle or catty dialogue and competition between the two girls, they chose to run a story with positive female relationships. For a series aimed at young girls, this kind of imagery is also really important.
Mysticons volume 2 TPB is set to be published on May 8, 2019. It’s worth checking out if magical girls and fantasy are your thing.
