Review of Jem and the Holograms #1 – ShowTime Part 1 (Spoilers)

Jem and the Holograms #1

“Gak, 30 thirty years.  Too long, much too long.” – Christy Marx said to me in an email. With Jem celebrating her 30th Anniversary this year IDW Publishing has launched the first ever Jem and the Holograms ongoing comic. Here’s TFG1Mike’s Spoiler Filled Review of issue #1!

Here we go all you Holograms and Misfits fans! The Jem and the Holograms Comic from IDW Publishing is finally here! Kelly Thompson is on writing while Sophie Campbell is the brilliant artist!!!!  I know there has been a lot of debate amongst the Jem fan community about this comic, but back when it was announced, and even now I’m still very excited for it. After reading the first issue I can clearly tell Thompson and Campbell have a love for what they are doing. One of the reasons why I marked this a SPOILER FILLED REVIEW, was that I wanted to address the whole thing about Jerrica having stage fright. I remember reading comments online like…….

“This isn’t how Jerrica is SUPPOSED to be” and “Jem should not have stage fright.”

Well here’s the thing… Jerrica Benton HAS Stage Fright! It adds to this incarnation of the character, and it’s a stepping stone to when she discovers Synergy. There have been times, and I’m not ashamed to admit this… That I have pulled the Nostalgia Card… saying “this isn’t how it is supposed to be” So I believe we are all guilty of that. However even after reading the multiple interviews with the creative team leading up to this comics’ debut… I was always fine with the stage fright angle. Because it built up the Jerrica character.

Writing: 

Kelly Thompson takes such care with the writing, yet she is not shying away from the deeper issues. This shines through in the fears Jerrica has, and also in how the other Holograms react to Jerrica’s state of mind. I really enjoyed how Thompson gave each of the Holograms a very distinct personality.  I’m not saying that they didn’t have this before, but I moreso mean how different they all are from each other. With Kimber, Shana, and Aja…. they each embody a very unique personality. Kimber kinda reminds of Pinky Pie from MLP Friendship is Magic….. she is very bubbly and outspoken, Aja seems to be angry all the time… maybe she will be the Hulk of the series…..? I mean seriously she is constantly frowning in this first issue, and Shana is by fa the one with a cool head. We see this when Kimber and Aja are arguing about the whole situation with Jerrica’s stage fright. After the fight I did see Kimber go to her sister, and give her positive reinforcement…. So that was a wonderful thing. I love the 867-5309 joke Kelly threw in there once the girls meet Synergy. That was a laugh riot right there for me. Speaking of Synergy… WHAT AN ENTRANCE! That was awesome!!! The way Kelly writes the Holograms reactions to Synergy being there is also hilarious and intriguing all at the same time! This issue does a great job giving the origin of Jem a fresh yet familiar feel. Anyone who loved the cartoon in the 80s is sure to love the story here! For me there is nothing but excellence right outta the gate on the writing. There was nothing that felt out-of-place. It was a great first issue intro to the core four characters. If I really had to stretch here and I do… at first I thought Kimber was gonna be a brat… Like she is in the cartoon series. However Thompson really rounded her out in just a few panels. SURE she gets upset with her sister, because they have this deadline, but overall they all love each other!

Art:

Sophie Campbell’s art is wonderous! It’s not what most were expecting, but I love that they are thinking outside the box, and making the women in this series of all different body types. That’s one thing that hit home with the art for me. It’s a celebration of ALL WOMEN… Not just the models of the world. This adds to the dynamic personalities Kelly Thompson has created. I honestly do not think there could be a better creative team that what we have right here! What I noticed about Sophie’s art here is that all the backgrounds are so vivid and bright. This might be the brightest shiniest comic I’ve seen in a long time. There seem to be a lot of pastel type colors here from colorist M. Victoria Robado. They all pop in just the right way. I can’t wait to see the color palette for issue #2!

Final Thoughts:

Jem and the holograms young and old will love this for several reasons. The number one reason on the writing side is that the origin is fluid, yet familiar to those that have seen the classic animated series. The second reason would be the art. It’s not quite what we expected when IDW teased the book’s launch last year. However it is a fresh new take on the characters of the Jem Universe! I can’t wait for issue #2 next month… So stoked to see how Kelly and Sophie write and draw the Misfits!

One last thing I’ll bring up is the 12 covers…. WOWZERS!!!! They are all great!!!!! Amy Mebberson is my new fav cover artist!!! Her designs on Jem and the Holograms in the covers that she did are awesome!!! Also shown in the image below are all the Convention and Retail Exclusive Covers! Take a look below: