Jem and the Holograms #2 Review

Written By: Kelly Thompson
Art By: Sophie Campbell
Colors By: M Victoria Robado
Price: $3.99
Release Date: April 29th 2015



*Spoilers ahead, score at the bottom*

BATTLE OF THE BANDS!

The second issue of Jem and the Holograms starts off with the introduction to our rival band, The Misfits. It shows the band performing their new song for the news station. Then in an interview the lead singer Pizzaz tells more about the battle of the bands contest they are holding. Pizzaz shows agitation during the interview and then shows us she is a real bitch. We see a man named Rio doing a Buzzfeed type article over the Misfits so he has been tailing the band around messing with Pizzaz because she is easily tempered. We see our first debut of Jem and Holograms in the music video they made for the battle of the bands contest that is getting a ton of views that scare the Misfits. Rio then goes to track down the mysterious Jem. We then see our favorite four sisters visiting the orphanage their father left them and they help with the children. Rio shows up and interrupts Jerrica music lesson for the kids to tell her about how much he liked the video and wanted to know who Jem was. Of course Jerrica is Jem and dances around it until Rio asks Jerrica on a date, which is way sweeter then cartoon show Rio ever did. We see Kimber interact with one of the Misftit band members on a date then the Misfits find out and now she is in big trouble.

The story in this book is really good, the pacing picked up more than last issue and had more setup than trying to establish this story. The best things about the writing in this book are the subtle details that tell us more about our characters, like Kimber displaying some attraction towards Stormer instead of trying to make a big deal about her sexual oriantation. We also see compassion coming out of Stormers character which the Misfits greatly lacked any depth in the cartoon.

Artwork in this book absolutely fantastic, the opening with a Misfit performance. The lyrics were also crazy and kind of freaked me out. To me it probably sounded like White snakes "Still of the night" it was good and the shading was nice. Then we saw a video of Jem and Holograms performing, it was also spectacular to look at, but I felt like there should have been a difference in the two music sequences and we could have gotten more contrast between the two bands. Other than that the characters still looked great and the colors are a spectacle for the eye.

Bits and pieces:
This issue picks up the story more for our outrageous Pop stars, while we see the story going further we also see the characters develop subtly which I enjoyed. Interactions between everyone is still entertaining and does not drag much. The art work is still amazing to look at as it goes hand in hand with what is unfolding for this story.

8/10