| Title | : | Moonshot: The Indigenous Comics Collection (Vol. 3) (Moonshot: The Indigenous Comics Collection, 3) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 022870622X |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780228706229 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 144 |
| Publication | : | First published June 16, 2019 |
Moonshot: The Indigenous Comics Collection (Vol. 3) (Moonshot: The Indigenous Comics Collection, 3) Reviews
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The theme of the volume is Indigenous Futurisms, which results in a lot of sci fi or fantasy tales that don't really have the space to fully develop their big ideas. Most of them are pretty dark or heavy, but an indigenous spin on Dr. Who at least tries for a lighter tone. Overall, the art is more engaging than the writing.
This is my least favorite of the three Moonshot volumes, maybe because a couple of my less favorite authors of the previous volumes have become co-editors? I was disappointed to find that three of the thirteen stories they chose to include are actually text pieces accompanied by one or three full-page illustrations, not really comics. I do like though that for the first time, almost all of the creative contributors are indigenous people. -
What kinds of keywords did this anthology bring to mind? Space, technology, relationships, future and past.
And flipping the volume over, it is officially described as "Explore realities unseen and unknown in this exciting follow-up to the award-winning Indigenous comics collection!In Indigenous storytelling, the concept of Indigenous Futurisms - a term coined by Anishinaabe scholar Grace L. Dillon - tells of the past, present, and future as being a nonlinear reality. Using the knowledge of the ancestors, it is possible to experiance history, be int he present, and witness the fturue all at once.
The stories in Moonshot volume 3 illustrate the Indigenous Futurisms concept in striking intriguing, dramatic, and dynamic ways. Space and time travel, parallel dimensions, advanced technology, post-apocalyptic settings, robots, aliens, and more. It's all here! But this is not fantasy, and time is not a straight line with a definitive beginning, middle and end..."
As a collection of short stories the wordiness and art does vary a lot. Although I would argue that they are all very good. It's a colour anthology, which did set it apart.As far as the intersections go, the variety does cover almost everything.
Race (understanding that that word is a settler social construct) is obviously central to the collection. Beyond just representation, these stories do illustrate a variety of ways of knowing and tells stories that richly communicate truths from distinct communities across so called North America.
Gender and Sexuality also saw a fair bit of diversity both in creators and story. There's also a couple stories that center community over individual in a way that was nice.Issues of class felt well respected throughout.
Ability vs disability representation went in some interesting directions. People's bodies are fairly central to a couple of stories and one story featured a protagonist in a wheel chair. Which was a refreshing change.
Wrapping things up, I will be rating this volume five out of five stars. Although I promise you I am very biased and have loved this anthology series since it first appeared on the scene. It really balances out a lot of the other Indigenous comics I read that are more nonfiction or nonfiction adjacent. It's not strait up genre fiction, but it plays with a lot of genre tropes in ways fun and interesting. -
This is the futurist issue, which I was looking forward to the most, I think. But I actually loved the second one more so. This is hit-and-miss. Sci-fi, spec fiction is difficult in comics, I find, because it so often goes to a gonzo place, which I personally don’t love. A middling collection. But the export issues aren’t present either, so the art hasn’t looked any better.
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An excellent collection of short comic/stories in which the quality holds up to what the first two volumes provided. It is refreshing to see indigenous people in roles where we don't usually see them in media, such as heroes, scientists or space travelers. The stories are insightful and provide a window into cultures that we are exposed to not often enough. Special mention to the Waterward story which was my favorite.
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The latest in this series of comic anthologies written and illustrated by indigenous creators drawing upon their cultures to create SF/F short pieces.
As with any anthology, some entries resonate more than others, but this is a good selection, and I really enjoy reading storytelling from backgrounds other than my own. -
One of my favorites is "Xenesi: The Traveler"... as in time and space traveler.
"I knew I should have taken that left turn in Albuquerque."
Bugs Bunny reference!
"Well, it's not a tree. It's a fantastic spaceship that travels through space-time and space. Plus... someone already got that Blue Box model before I got there..."
Doctor Who reference! -
Moonshot explores Indigenous Futurisms in their latest collection, which like the first two showcases a broad range of Indigenous comics writers and artists and promises to expand readers' knowledge and imaginations. All the pieces are solid but a few are absolutely stunning, like Jeffrey Veregge's "Sisters," about women who work on a shellfish mining asteroid and "Sky People" by Richard Van Camp with art by Kyle Charles. One of my favourites was more of a sparingly illustrated story than a comic: Sean and Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley's "Waterward" with art by Sadekaronhes Esquivel. Even though it doesn't fit a standard comics format, the pages of white text on black background do their part to build up suspense and emotion, and the illustrations pack a punch.
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This is the third volume of indigenous comics, written and illustrated by dozens of Native writes and artists, from an equal number of nations. The art work is varied and often stunning, the stories memorable--and often too short. The high quality of the work leaves the reader craving more. There's an interesting introduction by Anishinaabe scholar Grace L. Dillon on the concept of Indigenous Futurisms, and the creators of these comics take that idea and run with it.Whether it is clam hunting on a distant planet, or travelling through time in a tree-shaped space craft; fighting a zombie horde or learning a traditional value like generosity, these stories will leave you wanting more.
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ehhhh. i liked "emmie and the starweb" and "they come for water." "in our blood" was decent and had a really interesting premise (what if there was a cure for generational trauma) but the writing and the art were competing. the writing definitely needed to be edited down--there were so many speech bubbles that it was crowding out the pictures. there was one panel of a single person that had six speech bubbles in it, crowding around the character's face. :// anyway, "sisters" had incredible art, but the story was like. nothing. no narrative, just the characters chatting. which is fine, i guess, i just didn't find it super engaging.
kind of an uneven anthology. -
A worthy follow-up to the previous volumes, with some excellent stories. The standout for me was Sean & Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley's unsettling tale, "Waterward". It's a tragic and deeply affecting tale of desperation and loss.
Every volume in this series is worth checking out, not only for the great storytelling but also to be introduced to so many artists you can follow up on later.
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A wonderful community member sent me this to thank me for the Decolonizing work we are attempting in BSD. It had some amazing stories and wildly beautiful art. Some amazing tidbits of wisdom shared through the stories as well. Also, Indigenous Futurism is a new genre for me and I totally dig it!
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Another great collection of comics and stories!
Personal favorites of mine: "Waterward by Sean & Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley & Sadekaronhes Esquivel, "Sky People" by Richard Van Camp & Kyle Charles, and "Future World" by Jennifer Storm & Kyle Charles. -
Like most anthologies, some stories are stronger than others. But this might be the best Moonshot anthology for me to read. I rather enjoyed it.
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Book Riot Read Harder Challenge 2021 Task #10: Read an SFF anthology edited by a person of color
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Yes this is good, all I can say.
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Phenomenal comic collection. A must-read for all graphic novel fans!
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3.75
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Not as strong as the second volume but there are still great stories in here and Jay Odjick's In Our Blood was possibly my favorite story of the entire series.
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I don't usually comment on anthologies, but I absolutely LOVED Xenesi: The Traveller. A Doctor Who reference and a Coyote origin story all in one, it was delightful!
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“Future World” and “In Our Blood” were especially powerful pieces to me. I think this may be my favourite Moonshot anthology yet!
