Comic book reviews for Jem and the Holograms #16, Jem and the Holograms #17, and Jem and the Holograms #18 by Kelly Thompson, Sophie Campbell, and Jen Bartel
Average rating: 3.3/5 stars
Jem and the Holograms #16 by Kelly Thompson
Art: Sophie Campbell
Not feeling this ending with Silica. I loved the spirit of it: in that all the women had to cooperate in order to pull this off. They had to like each other enough to get on stage together. And trust each other, since Jerrica and her sisters really only gave the others a half truth. Of course, everyone got to get up on stage, except Jerrica.
I am definitely interested to see the next part where I assume we’ll be talking about what Jerrica’s going to do. Will Synergy’s purpose just be to perform as Jem? Will Jerrica ever get back on stage? How will she deal with that? Will Jem have less personality being fully an AI?
This was the first issue where Campbell’s layouts didn’t seem as sharp and crisp as normal. The stage scenes, with all those characters, felt messy. They felt a bit like those covers with floating heads. It was hard to see any of the characters individually and really appreciate them. I was so thankful for the white backgrounds with Silica falling apart just to give my eyes-to-brain comprehension a break.
Jem and the Holograms #17 by Kelly Thompson
Art: Jen Bartel
Really the Misfits should just not drive in the woods at all.
While I’m sad Campbell’s off the book, I do love Bartel’s art. The “girl gang” beanie that Aja’s wearing on the cover is on point. Bartel is pretty much the best possible choice for the next artist on Jem.
I’m not sure why Shana’s dragging this out, if she’s made her decision to go to fashion school. Everyone is far too stressed about her acting weird without asking her directly.
Aja cutting her hair was cute. Not to mention everyone thinking that it meant she was breaking up with Craig. I loved Jerrica calling out all her exes. That was a pretty great sister moment.
I feel like I’m over this whole Jerrica-Jem-Rio dilemma.
Jem and the Holograms #18 by Kelly Thompson
Art: Jen Bartel
“You made a bear!”
“I didn’t mean to.”
“Undo it! Undo it!”
Some dialog from Buffy the Vampire Slayer which could’ve been applied directly to this issue. I love that Synergy’s solution to chase a real bear off is to create a second bear. It added a differently layer of fun to this book and felt refreshing.
I’m glad Rio pinned a lampshade on the fact that Jerrica has asked him twice to help kidnap her sisters.
The more popular Jem and the Holograms and the Misfits get, the more Jem-like bands are likely to pop up. The Stingers are pretty great. Especially how they steal the show when Pizzaz is trying to kick Stormer out of the band. Of course, it’s only Clash who’s trying to stand up to that.
Shana finally telling her sisters that she’s leaving the band for Italy to study fashion feels like a weight off this book.
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