Superhero Celebrity - The Luna Brothers' Ultra
If superheroes were real, they would surely be celebrities and perhaps they would also need to be deputized so they could work within the bounds of the law. This scenario is what frames this trade paperback detailing the exploits of Ultra, whose real name is Pearl Penalosa, a Latina superhero celebrated for her brave fight against crime and for her upright demeanor. She is held as a role model for teen abstinence, and her squeaky clean image comes under fire over the course of the story from a tabloid expose. Ultra is depicted as an everyday person. She has an uneasy relationship with her mother and also wonders why she can't find a good guy to date.The narrative weaves together disparate features of Ultra's life, showing her on duty fighting threats and also at home in her civilian life. The title of the collection comes from a night out with her superheroine friends. Ultra is with Cowgirl (who is a humanitarian, like a super-powered Angelina Jolie) and Aphrodite (who embraces the wild side of celebrity life and is more like a supermodel), and they decide to stop at a fortune teller. She tells them that within the week Ultra will find true love, Cowgirl will receive what she has given, and that Aphrodite will suffer a great loss. If and how these predictions occur is woven through rest of the story, which also follows the heroines contending with a super-arsonist who is terrorizing the fictional metropolis of Spring City.
Seven Days was originally released as an 8-issue series by Image Comics. It was written and drawn by the Luna Brothers, Joshua and Jonathan, graduates of the Savannah College of Art and Design with BFAs in Sequential Art. It was the first series they created, and it incorporated lots of great touches to situate the story in a media-driven world. The covers of each issue are parodies/homages of publications such as Time, Maxim, Rolling Stone, and Star Magazine. Additionally, glossy magazine-type ads and the back matter articles of each issue ape these real-world publications.
Reviews of the book are mostly on the positive side, but do not appear overly gushing. Hilary Goldstein called it "a perfectly contained story that introduces a new world of superheroes that is immediately familiar and comfortable." Stephen Holland is attracted to the "sheer good will" of the book. Other reviewers, such as Alexander Zalben thought the book was attractively drawn but slow plot-wise.
A preview containing the entire first issue of the series is available here.
More links about graphic novels can be found at http://graphicnovelresources.blogspot.com/
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Kevin Dooley on
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Read the whole issue. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. Sorry, but NOTHING HAPPENS. It's ALL exposition. Yadda yadda yaddo. It's not until page 9 that they meet the fortune teller: the ostensible catalyst for the story. Did the Luna brothers ever take a simple writing process class? (I was a comic book editor and teach writing/English now.)
Let's see. Superheroes who don't wear seatbelts, drink, screw around, are bad drivers, leave accident scenes, and are overall irresponsible. All this under the "guise" of being "real." Please.
The dialogue was very natural, mind you, and the art was very, very good with well-used repeated panels and the colors set appropriate moods, but N-O-T-H-I-N-G H-A-P-P-E-N--E-D.
This is not the kind of graphic novel to use in class. Maybe when it's collected. -
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Permalink Reply by Stergios Botzakis on
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First off, I'm glad you checked out the preview and saw what you thought about it. That is why I try to include all these links. Different strokes and all that...
Ultra is collected, and I think it reads much better in trade. This series was the Lunas' first go at a series, and I think it is pretty rough (or slow) in patches, but overall it's a pretty good read. I don't know about you, but I could level the same critique for the majority of comics the past few years. The actions happen so slooooowly and the payoffs seem so telegraphed they aren't worth the wait.
In any case, I don't think Ultra works well for whole class, but I think it'd find some interest in a class library.
Any how, thanks for the thoughtful response. When you joined, I saw your name and thought it was familiar but maybe a coincidence. I really enjoyed a lot of the books you edited, especially the Justice League and Aquaman ones. I'm glad to make your (digital) acquaintance! :) -
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Thank you for your comments. Glad you enjoyed JL and Aquaguy. Working with freelancers certainly gave me some insight on how to deal with 8th graders. *wink*
One of the things I enjoy about literature--comics, poetry, prose, et al--is the vision of the creators and what they're saying about life. You know, that theme thing: the characters and the story. ULTRA definitely has a good heart. I might find the collected edition of ULTRA and see where it goes.
Glad we're connected. -
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Oh, something else I just thought about. There's a guy (Rob!) who runs a blog called the Aquaman Shrine (http://www.aquamanshrine.com/), and he's always email interviewing the creative folks who have worked on the characters over the years. It's all very positive, and he's definitely a huge fan of the character. I don't know if you'd want to revisit those times or not, but if you did, I'd bet he would be happy to talk with you.
Any how, I'll quit bugging you now. There's grading to be done... -
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College students can be remarkably like 8th graders as well.
Maybe we should have everyone be a mandatory middle school teacher so they can deal with people better in general :p -
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