Catholic-ometer: 3.5 of 5
Enjoyability: 5 of 5
I recently reviewed the first six volumes of PS238, and all of the general points that I made there apply to this seventh volume as well. It's an enjoyable comic, fun and positive; about superhero children who go to a school for superpowered beings. The concept has been done before, but unlike other comics that have approached this (most notably several "X-men" books,) this book embraces the old-school silliness of the Silver Age, without the poor writing quality that tended to come along with it. The stories are enchanting, entertaining and fun, and never depressing or angsty, like the aforementioned X-men books. Characters develop and change, and stories never become too dark to be enjoyable, even when bad things do sometimes happen. In short, it gets nearly everything right, avoids the major missteps that comic books have made over the course of comic book history, and produces quite possibly the finest series of superhero comics ever released in America. All that, plus you can read it with kids.
Again these comics are all in black and white, and they're supposed to be that way. Also, most of them can be found online as part of Aaron Williams' internet webcomic of the same name, though a few are only found in trade form.
Six issues of PS238 are collected in this volume, beginning with issue 34, in which Julie and Tyler's clone go to a cookout with Suzie's family; the nuclear family. The cookout is disrupted by both a dimensional portal, releasing some form of invading, crystalline aliens, and by the fake angels and fake demons who've been showing up over the last few volumes intermittently. However, the ones inside the head of Tyler's clone have made the decision to free him from Tyler's control, and to do this, they'll need to grant him superpowers...
In issue 35, Tyler's clone, who comes to be known as Toby, is still wrestling with the implications of his new powers, as well as the two pesky supernatural beings who've taken up residence in his head. Meanwhile, a plan is underway to use Julie's blood in an attempt to cure Tyler of the alien virus that may otherwise destroy the human race.
In issue 36, Malphast, realizing the horrible danger posed by the invading "angels" and "demons," recruits Tyler and Cecil Holmes to try to put a stop to it, but when their enemies take control of the minds of some of Earth's most powerful adult heroes, in an attempt to hunt them down, it looks as though they might be too late. Even if they can survive the attacks of the heroes, how can they possibly stop these tiny enemies that no one else can see.
Issue 37 is a charming little issue in which the various characters write papers, complete with child-scrawl-like illustrations, on recent events in their lives. It's cute, and it helps us get a window into what the kids have been thinking, planning and worrying about recently in the comic.
In issue 38, a soccer game between PS238 and the Praetorians. At first, it all seems to be going great, until the Flea discovers an invisible craft, flying above the field, and with some help from Cecil Holmes, and a recently-returned Moonshadow (secretly Tyler,) finally comes face to face with the man who the Praetorians have been referring to as "the Headmaster."
In issue 39, Moonshadow goes to investigate the brick wall that seems to have sealed up the office of Vashti Imperia since the invasion of the supernatural entities, a few issues back. However, in doing so, he finds himself in a world of dragons and magic, and must find some way to both rescue her, and to return home himself.
I have the same issues with the supernatural beings in this volume that I did in the last couple; namely, they're drawn like angels and demons, yet they're clearly not angels or demons. This, however, is a minor issue, and largely superficial. I was a little more bothered by the fact that "not caring" was apparently the solution to the conflict. In the great battle of order vs chaos, it's generally -not caring- that encourages chaos most. Nobody walks out their door with the -plan- of encouraging chaos. They support it as a -consequence- of some other thing they're pursuing; because they don't care about the consequences.
Well, whatever. I had problems with the angel/demon saga, but it wasn't a weak story, at least.
The humor of Tyler's clone having superpowers, and Tyler not having any is not lost on me, and I think a lot can be done with a character like Toby, if he's used right.
I probably enjoyed the "drawings" issue most. It seemed to draw attention to the fact, in sort of an offhand way, that most young kids aren't as imaginative as they'd like to think, while recapping recent events from their own perspectives in an amusing way.
Well, it had to happen eventually. In the soccer game issue, one of the praetorians cheats, and the others don't punish her for doing so, implying corruption in the ranks of the praetorian academy, and it's about time. I was starting to wonder whether they were even supposed to be bad guys at all.
If I'm going to be perfectly frank, though, I'm still kind of wondering. I mean, cheating at a soccer game is bad and all, but it's not against the law. The headmaster's been caught spying on PS238 as well, but frankly... so what? Revenant does the same thing.
I guess I just find the praetorians rather charming, for some reason; probably to do with the way they stress discipline, and maintain order in the ranks. It's sad to see corruption in those ranks, but apart from that, you could have fooled me into thinking they were good guys. I still have a hard time feeling threatened by them.
Probably my biggest issue with this volume is in the last issue, however, because there's a scene in which Vashti Imperia admits to having kidnapped a young girl from her home, for the purpose of bringing about a future event in her life. I don't know about her, but where I come from, you may not do evil, so that good might come of it, and kidnapping a poor, little girl is clearly an evil act, regardless of who she is, or what results from it. I may have a hard time feeling threatened by the Praetorians or the Headmaster, but I'm going to be looking suspiciously at Vashti for a while.
I really enjoyed this volume, and I think it's considerably better than volumes 5 or 6. It's not without its flaws, but it's still a far better comic than most.
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