First of all I wanted to express my thanks to all of you who liked and shared the Jessica Cruz + Simon Baz Appreciation Post I wrote back in Octobor 22nd last year, and I certainly hope it was both as inspiring to some and maybe gave you an idea as to pick the series up. If not, well, I thank you anyway for your time for reading it. Today’s review can be as a “Part Deux” of it, so here we go.
The story is mostly a one-shot but it opens up with Jess on her bed in which I assume can be something daily for her:
Which hops into her thoughts as Simon and her are about to have pancakes in a small diner. Jess feels that she shouldn’t talk her struggles with Simon because it probably won’t help, that he doesn’t understand and would take it personally, making her feel guilty and it would only make everything feel worse. The Justice League later calls in for their assistance and they head out and after helping them out, they get other calls, like fixing a dam, helping civilians trapped by a landslide and a flash flood and the whole time, Jess is thinking to herself that helping civilians actually helps her as well. That focusing on other people and grounding herself in reality, her problems doesn’t seem so overwhelming.
And then a new villain shows up.
And it’s too much for Jess. The Gambler in all of his random doings, sayings, and outfit, Jess can’t seem to focus. She can’t focus. The Gambler sees an opportunity and knocks her down and Simon decks him. The two of them have a talk and Jess lays it all down.
When Jess gets home, she feels awful. She feels so angry, yet she feels embarrassed. So she gets back to her own routine, back to her own moment: Meditation, breathing and keeps herself grounded in the present. She later exercises, focusing her breathing and get a clear head. Her sister comes over and uses her time to rebuild her armor and sharpen herself, and ultimately…
But Jess is a Green Lantern, damnit. She can do this!
And it ends on a pretty positive note which we all can relate to, hopefully.
And that’s that. It ends on a message from Bats, giving them a new assignment in Gotham and a team-up. Hype!
Anyways. Once again, Sam Humphries has written another great issue and the daily life/struggles of Jessica Cruz. The only flaw (though a very small one) is that I would love to see what Simon goes through in his life, though we did see it a bit with his family and trying at least hide it from his family. But other than that, I really enjoyed this issue. The art is really good, especially the close-ups and the use of colors, especially the color green of the lanterns to good effect. I can only hope that Jess will overcome her greatest fears and become the greatest Green Lantern on Earth, but until then – we are all seeing that development as it progresses.
Final Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
As a closing words, I will leave with this quote from Stan Lee in 2012, “We tried to make our characters as human and empathetic as possible. Instead of merely emphasizing their super feats, we attempted to make their personal life and personal problems as realistic and as interesting as possible. We wanted to make them seem like real people whom the reader would like to spend time with and want to know better.”
Can I just say something that I really love about Terry Pratchett’s Guards! Guards! series? I’m really, really grateful for everything those books taught me about prejudice and justice and every person’s responsibility to Suck it Up, Stick it Out, and Be A Decent Human Being.
Even if it’s not fun or pretty, even if it doesn’t feel good to realize how ignorant and petty you were, even if you don’t want to admit being that awful, even if you didn’t mean it. Especially then.
Sam Vimes is forever going to be one of my favorite characters, because it’s just so real to have a character with such real flaws (grouchy, bitter, cynical, prejudiced) and so fantastic to see him overcome himself and his surroundings time and time again to Do His Damn Job and Be A Decent Human Being.
It’s just so refreshing and reassuring to have a character who isn’t perfectly ethical/moral by nature – who’s the product of a prejudiced society. To have someone who realizes, ‘Yeah, this isn’t going to be easy. Honestly, it’s going to hurt like hell and I’m going to take a lot of shit for it, but this should be the goddamn standard of being a rational non-asshole and I’ve got to stick with it. Why? Well, because someone ought to. No one else is and I’ll hate myself if I don’t. Because I want to leave a better place, or at least a less disastrous mess, for people to live in, even if they’ll going to be ungrateful about it. So I’m doing it, but oh hell, this is going to suck.’
It’s just so great to have a character who has those nasty little thoughts in the back of their head. The ones that say things like, ‘Ugly, dangerous, criminal, outsider, scheming, petty, crude,’ before he can help himself, but Sam Vimes tells those thoughts to Shut the Hell Up and Stay the Hell Away because they’re wrong and he’s not going to listen. He’s going to act like a civil, decent human being, damn it, even if the nasty thoughts might never fully go away. Because they’re Wrong. Full stop.
I mean, personally, it’s so much more inspiring to have someone who isn’t the paragon of perfect virtue. Who gets angry, who gets bitter, who gets tempted to give up or cross the line sometimes, but doesn’t because it’s not the right thing to do. Who gets suspicious, who gets wary, who sometimes needs a knock on the head to realize that all people are people, damn it, and then feels shitty about it. Because that feels real to me.
And I love the learning process over the course of the books, because Sam Vimes’ prejudiced thoughts all sound pretty reasonable at first. Like, that’s a logical thought to have, before… oh wait, no it’s not. Society just decided it was and now you’ve got to reevaluate everything. Shit.
Like Sam Vimes’ dislike of vampires throughout the series. In the beginning, it’s a bit, why wouldn’t he be wary of vampires? And they all seem like snobs, anyway. But then it’s just… hold on, no, vampires are just people. Sure, they drink blood, but most people eat meat. Yeah, they’ve got an aesthetic, but Sam Vimes has hardly got the data to judge and some people wear stupider shit. And fine, they’re way stronger than humans and have some freaky abilities, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to kill you any more than any other person. No one exactly expects a lumberjack to just go on an ax-murder spree at the drop of a hat.
They’re people, just like anybody else.
Or Sam Vimes being creeped out by golems in Feet of Clay. They’re expressionless, unstoppable, silent, robot-like things, of course they’re really freaky and unnerving and scary. But then it’s like, oh, they’re slaves who can’t disobey, have to work every hour of every day, don’t have any rights whatsoever, and don’t even have a voice to speak with. Of course they’re unnerving. Why? Because it’s wrong. It’s wrong and everybody knows it. Everybody is terrified that one day the golems will be able to fight back and avenge all the terrible things that are happening to them, and it’s scary because no one wants to be treated like a golem. They’re living, sentient beings that need a voice and the world to just stop stomping on them.
And, in the end, golems are people. Clay people, sure, but still people.
Then there’s Sam Vimes and his struggle with dwarves and trolls and Koom Valley. And at first, it’s like, why are these stupid groups being so pointlessly hateful? But then it’s like, oh, no. These people are scared and angry and defensive, being pushed around by fear-mongers who can’t let go of the past, diverse down to the last dwarf and troll, and most of them just want to live their ordinary lives without being harassed.
Most people do.
It is so important to me to have Sam Vimes as character. Someone to recognize that, “Shit, this is wrong,” and, “Shit, I was wrong.”
You were ignorant before, but you know now, and now it’s time to Suck it Up, Stick it Out, and Be A Decent Human Being.
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