Have you ever wanted to live on the wild side? If so, you may enjoy the final DCspotlight by Jasmine Walls and Manous Azumi.
Summary
The Big Apple has been no stranger to drawing out its fair share of go-getters and hustlers. But I don't think they've seen anyone quite like Mari Jiwe. Fresh off of visiting her extended family in Ghana, Mari hopes to take her new college life by storm while decked out in her mysterious family totem.
Little does she know, though, that her current jewelry carries far more history and power than anyone ever bargained for enough to shake the foundation of the animal kingdom. And to also have every two-bit baddie come out of the woodwork to claim it. Realizing the legacy, she's been given, Mari decides to adopt her position in stride, becoming New York's premier superhero: Vixen.
Characters
Mari Jiwe: Our fabled heroine, Mari, can go from girlfailure to girl boss at the drop of a hat. She is easily excitable, friendly, fun-loving, and disorganized. However, once she gets this superhero thing down, her compassionate nature, strong determination, and fierce temper come out to protect her friends, family, and innocents. Using the power of the Tantu Totem, Vixen can access the ability of any animal close to her.
Karen Beecher: Mari's super genius roommate, Karen is the best friend one can ask for being super supportive and understanding. However, when the lives of Mari and Vixen intersect with her, she starts to take matters a little bit into her own hands.
Grace Choi: Half human. Half Amazon. All hero. Serving as a force of nature both in and out of battle, Grace is Mari's main partner and mentor. She's gruff, aggressive, combative, antisocial, and intimidating. Yet she's also an incredibly protective soul who seeks to prevent others from experiencing the same hardships, outlining her heroic underbelly.
Overview
In hindsight, it's a little crazy how out of all the DC stories, Vixen is the most conventional "superhero" of them all. But hell, that's not a con in my book. Vixen, much like Zatanna, is one of those characters I feel has flourished more in animation than comics, appearing in the DCAU, Batman the Brave and the Bold, and the Arrowverse for me.
This series has a lot of charm. Azumi (Inks), Toby fan (Background), BBM (Renders), and Hailey Stewart (Flats) harmoniously create a webcomic with almost anime-like expressions and a fun tone. Mari's bubbly personality combined with the cast makes a lot of pretty funny jokes and a light tone.
That doesn't stop NYC from tackling darker themes, though, with mentions of colonialism, human trafficking, classism, and discrimination against those less fortunate. A consistent theme remains prevalent as Vixen fewer battles are traditional supervillains and more street-level baddies who actively pray low-income neighborhoods. It's one thing to save on a small scale but to do so with Mari's more public and approachable status is appreciated.
The action scenes, while not the most elaborate or bloody, also do a pretty good job of presenting Mari's powers, despite not being the most flashy. Seeing her develop her abilities further through her training is also pretty nice. Though for all my praises, I do carry a couple of nitpicks.
As said before, I'm open to different takes from characters to adaptations, and let's not kid ourselves here. It's not like Vixen has the most material, but I don't really see why she had to be a college student. Outside of a couple of gags, I don't see how a couple of dialogue changes couldn't have Vixen be more so a young adult woman besides appealing to a younger crowd.
I'm also not the biggest fan of the series' wider cast of characters. My suspension of disbelief is always firm regarding comic book shit, but even if I call bullshit on some people, this woman can reach 20 chapters. With characters like Karen and Grace, who've always been pushed to the side, I'm more forgiven, but for the more famous characters, I feel it can sometimes take away from Vixen's spotlight.
More personal gripes aside, the pacing needs a little work. I think having more of a slower take on Mari's rise as a hero gets incredibly well handled. In certain aspects, we can focus more on the in-between stages of story arcs or character development. For example, the main opening villain has such close ties with Vixen, yet we focus more on his henchman than on him, which is a massive missed opportunity.
Epilogue
Despite my small criticisms, though, I enjoyed Vixen much more than expected. With some of the opening hurdles already vanquished and a bigger focus on African mythology on the way, I'm sure they are going to fade into the background. Till then, though, that's a wrap on all the DC webtoons.
We will likely see more indie comics or companies outside the big two. I'd love to see what Boom, IDW, Image, and Valiant comics could bring to the table, but we'll have to see what the future holds for both that and the Webtoon spotlight. So let's do what we always do and see where the spotlight hits us next.
YOU ARE READING
Webtoon Spotlight
RandomJust a simple person is trying to shine a little light on the beautiful world of webtoon. With a splash of sarcasm, narration, and spitfire along the way. And who knows I might have other segments just for the hell of it.
