Rainbow Brite #2 – A Guest Review

Lady Ganache here!

Yep, I’m back again to review Rainbow Brite Issue #2 and because in the lyrics of the Flight of the Conchords, there are “too many dicks on the dance floor… Five to One is a brodeo…” and I’m going to Star Sprinkle all over this sausage-fest. Boy, that escalated quickly… I mean, that really got out of hand fast… next thing you know, I’ll be throwing a trident.

I figure as part of my reviews, I’ll also give you tales of real life with the Jo(h)ns from the perspective of a “normie”. I’ll consider it therapy without the *co-pays and deductibles. (*as a HR professional, insurance jokes like this are effing hysterical. Don’t worry – I’ll keep these to a minimum).

This season, I decided that I was going to be festive AF and deck the mutha-effing halls. I kicked this off by going to Disney with my best friend to celebrate 37 years of friendship and enjoy Christmas Mickey-style. I also saw Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas along with *The Bells of Fraggle Rock in the theater and decorated the fuck out of a gingerbread house. *Uncle Traveling Matt puppet builder, Tim Clarke, was featured on the Radio Show.

When I got back from Disney, we attended the Kellustration Christmas party (as referenced in my previous review and my review origin story). Hubby Ganache and I went to the CT Cult Classics Christmas movie event where we met up with The Manster and many other friends of The Pint… including Whalley, Silent Tony (who wouldn’t shut up! Ha! Just kidding!), Scary Larry Dwyer and many more… the two movies shown were Gremlins and Die Hard.

Okay – let’s pump the brakes and take a moment to enjoy an exaggerated, yet reality inspired Normie story… is Die Hard a Christmas movie? Yes! No! Maybe! (Lots of loud and passionate opinions being argued by all… Meanwhile me: mentally reviewing my grocery list and wondering if Greg Focker could, in fact, milk Robert De Niro’s nipples…) Oh no, it got quiet suddenly… yikes, they are all looking at me expectantly… Then the question was repeated: What do you think about Die Hard and its’ relevance as a Christmas movie, Lady Ganache? Me: Smile and Nod. Offer a snack… Phew, that was a close one!

The Friday before Christmas, the guys got together for Stone Watch 2018, to exchange Christmas presents, eat food and review the game Spank the Yeti [ed. note – read the review on the site now]. The game was super fun and there was a ton of arguing about the Hellboy trailer… we even viewed the trailer as a group (yay! Normie sarcasm). The Jo(h)ns proceeded to festively yell at each other about Hellboy for around 10 to 600 minutes… while the Manster, Kingpin, Lou Skywalker [ed. note: these are all names of PoC friends and contributors – we’re like that.] and I politely tuned them out and ate cake until we reached an Elf level sugar coma to dull the Hellboy argument migraines that were starting… Have I ever mentioned how much the Jo(h)ns could talk/argue?

I got Sir Jon an Optimus Prime ornament and the Grinch’s heart grew three times that day. Nope, no it didn’t… but he did point out the gun on the figure and told me some sort of fact about said gun that my brain didn’t allow me to comprehend. Meanwhile me: Smile and nod.) His tone seemed less cranky than usual – so, #nailedit on the Sir Jon present! [ed. note: Sir Jon don’t like no gifts]

Okay, time for the review:

Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment

Writer: Jeremy Whitley

Artist: Brittney Williams

Colorist: Valentina Pinto

Letterer: Taylor Esposito

Editor: Kevin Ketner

Hubby Ganache brought home Rainbow Brite issue #2 and taunted me with the… “bet you’ll never read this… but you better because I’ve added it to my standing order.” Subtle threat aside, I gotta give this man credit for adding Rainbow Brite to his comic order and potentially be on the receiving end of some name calling and jesting.

I received Cover B which is the Classic Art cover. It shows Rainbow Brite and Twink riding on the back of her horse, *Starlite. In the wagon behind them are the Color Kids. *There has been a ton of discussion about Starlite being a narcissist. As a kid, I thought he was amazing and beautiful – so in my opinion – his boundless confidence is totally warranted.

This issue introduces the villain, Murky Dismal. He looks different than the 80’s version, but I really like the changes that were made. He seems to be higher tech than I remember the Murky to be as a child. Murky’s monster, Lurky, is introduced and he still makes me giggle.

The back story of Rainbow Land, colored power prisms and the role of the Sprites is explained. Twink further explains The King of Shadows plan to steal all the color from all the worlds – in turn, stealing the joy, fun and diversity of Wisp’s world. Only white light can defeat the shadows. He explains that they need “to find the legendary hero who can wield all of the colors and create white light. In our legends, that hero is known as “Rainbow Brite”.” (Squeal! Goosebumps!)

I really appreciate the humor and use of intelligent vocabulary that is added to the dialogue between Twink and Wisp.

The art and coloring continues to impress me. Especially with the amount of details present in the lack of color frames.

The story continues with Wisp and Twink looking for the star scepter and rainbow belt. Will they find it? Is Wisp the legendary Rainbow Brite? Read to find out!

“And with the color will go all the joy, all the fun, all the diversity that makes your world so great.” -Twink

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for review #3. I think the Jo(h)ns created a merry monster.

Rainbow Brite #2 was released on in mid-November of 2018 and is available at Dynamite Entertainment or better Friendly Local Comic Stores near you!