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Trade Paperbacks
| Blue Monday, Volume 2: Absolute Beginners | The Legend of Drizzt | |||
Blue
Monday, Volume 2: Absolute Beginners
Blue Makes Black and White Vividly Colorful
Blue Monday: Absolute Beginners is the second trade paperback for the series written and illustrated by Chynna Clugston-Major. The series is about a group of teenagers, growing up in the eighties and mostly the titular character Blue. I have yet to read the first trade of the series, but was easily able to pick up with no knowledge of the series and get right into the second trade.
We start off with Chapter One: Something About You. Alan Walsh has finally come to grips with the fact that he Likes Blue Monday. He passes her outside of the school and shouts to her, causing her to drop her stuff. When he helps her with it, he comments on the way her hair smells. She thinks that it is a trick, but he actually likes it. She explains that it is the same gel that she always uses and runs off.
In class, Blue and the rest of her friends have all received invitations to a costume party at a friend’s, Patrick, house. She talks to her friends Rissa and Clover who agree that they are going along with a few other people. The one thing that could be tricky is that they have to wear 1930’s apparel. Luckily for the girls, though, Blue has quite a collection of costumes, so they are good to go. However, the guys, Alan and Victor Gomez, are in a bit more trouble. They have nothing from the period that they could wear, so they go to a friend, Erin’s house. She is wearing not much of anything, a bra, panties, and see through gown of sorts when the boys knock on her window. She doesn’t seem to care about her apparent exhibitionism and tells the boys that she will help them. They are confused by her immediate acceptance, since there is no way that she would have three period piece outfits for guys in her room, but she tells them that she has a key to the local theater, including the costume room.
So, people start showing up at Patrick’s house. Alan and Victor get there first and start playing with a video camera that Victor has somehow acquired. Once Blue and Clover arrive, this includes messing with Clover’s butt on the camera lens. After a quick smack, this ceases and Clover realizes that Alan is completely lost, staring at Blue’s butt. After a moment she mentions this to the embarrassed Blue. At this point, Patrick puts on a mixed tape from a show that they all watch and the boys run upstairs. They quickly find the parent’s bedroom, where Patrick is allowing the girls to change into their outfits and they hide the camera under the bed, facing the bathroom. So, the girls go up to change, but before the boys can get any good footage, Patrick finds out about the situation and warns them. Clover tosses the camera over the balcony and it takes a desperate lunge by Victor to save his camcorder.
At this point, Erin and Rissa arrive and the boys change with the recently arrived Monkeyboy. Then the girls make their entrances. Blue regally enters in a long silky, Asian style gown with barely visible stocking and garters from a long slit in the side. She is in gloves, heels, and has long dangly earrings. Clover is much more hesitant when she comes out in a tougher fabric dress that goes straight down and then flares out about a foot or so from the floor. She is wearing light colored heels and dark lipstick. She is nervous, but when she catches a couple of dumbfounded looks, she gets a bit more confidence and even smiles.
They all sit down to eat a large meal when towards the ending, Blue begins to laugh loudly. We come to find out that the punch they were drinking had been spiked… by three different people. They then quickly retire to another room, where Patrick has set up a clue like game where they all have scripts which they are only supposed to read certain parts at certain times. However, the guys start skipping ahead and Monkeyboy goes so far as to read off the conclusion. Patrick is devastated and while trying to stop Monkeyboy, spills some of the punch on Blue’s chest. Blue states that she is going up to the bedroom to clean up and the boys take off. She chooses the bedroom bath because it is the only one that is not on ground level or across from a hill where the boys could film her.
However, as she begins to undress she hears them laughing. She assumes that they are on the ground, but in actuality, they are across from her window in a dark garage. Therefore, they can see her clearly, but she cannot see them. So, they film her as she takes off her dress, then her bra, and finally her panties. She then slides into a bath and begins to shave her legs. At this point, Alan is struck by how much he likes Blue and would like for her to go out with him, so he takes off, on his way to ask her out. Victor continues filming when Patrick arrives and can’t believe that he is filming Blue.
They boys run into the house and lock themselves in a room as Blue exits the bath in a towel only, about ready to explode. Clover tries to help her and finally asks them if they erased it like they earlier said that they did. Victor tells her that they did and things calm down a bit. That is until Blue arrives at school the next day and everyone is staring at her. Clover explains, “Blue, I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that you were actually right about something. The weekend did go down in history. I think you can figure out the bad news.” Blue realizes that they all know about the tape and she passes out.
Next, we move on to Chapter Two: Favourite Shirts. This chapter starts off with Blue walking to school as she realizes that she is wearing only socks, shoes, and a backpack. She is caught running in the halls… and naked and sent to the principal’s office. Then, Clover, Erin, and the guys show up to support her exhibitionism. She explains that she wasn’t trying to do that, she just forgot to get dressed. Alan explains that she comes to school like that everyday and Erin tells her that if she hadn’t been so naked this year she wouldn’t have flunked (as we see a report card were she got a N-Naked mark in everything except art where she got F/N Failure/Naked). Her mother then wakes her up and we see that this is only a dream.
Blue is upset about the tape, which the slut of the group Erin cannot understand. Clover then comes up with a plan to get back at the boys. Clover, Blue, and Rissa will challenge Alan, Victor, and Monkeyboy to a soccer match in front of everyone so that they can’t wimp out. The plan works and Blue starts feeling a bit better until she learns that the teacher she is infatuated with, Mr. Bishop, has heard about the film as well.
We then go to that night at the soccer field, which they are able to use because Rissa’s dad is the Assistant Principal of the school. When the boys finally show, they find out that Clover’s older brother will be the referee and they know that they are in trouble. Immediately Monkeyboy gets his foot caught on a sprinkler head and is gone for the game. The girls get two quick goals, and the boys get kicked in the crotch and head butted. The girls score again after beating up the boys a bit more. Then the boys decide that there best course of action will be for Alan to tackle Clover and then Victor can get the ball and score. However, things don’t go as planned when Alan can only grab onto her shirt. She drags him around for a bit, but the shirt can’t take the strain and comes off. Clover is standing their in her bra and Victor freezes, locked in an intense stare at her slightly exposed breasts. Clover is infuriated and swinger her breasts at Victor, connecting well and knocking them out. She then attempts to squash Alan who is rolling down the field.
Everyone enjoys the show except Monkeyboy who is still stuck on the sprinkler head and even gets a bunch of soccer balls kicked at him by the soccer team. Alan eventually crawls over to Blue and asks her out. She thinks that he is making fun of her again and they have to pull her off of him. As they drag her away, Erin tries to tend to his wounds and says that she would go out with him anytime. He denies her saying that he would rather go out with a girl with some class. The second half is ready to begin and the boys fall out unconscious. The girls pick put their legs and start dragging them off to claim their prize, free pizza. Everyone leaves, except for Monkeyboy who is left on the sprinkler head as they come on all around him.
Now on to Chapter Three: To Sir, With Love. Blue is still having trouble dealing with the aftermath of the tape and has to be coaxed out of the bathroom stall by Clover. As her day goes on, Alan takes some advice he was given by Erin, to give Blue stuff to make her like him. Then includes a Pepsi during P.E., an Adam Ant CD, flower in her locker, slipping notes in her notebook, and making her a mixed tape with a couple of cuts she hadn’t heard before.
Meanwhile, Erin is trying to sabotage the whole affair when she tells Victor that Clover, who he likes, is a lesbian and that he should focus his attention on Blue. She tells him that all he has to do is ask her before she inevitably agrees to go out with Alan. He does, and Blue tries to attack him, thinking that this is part of the joke that she think was started when Alan asked her out. Erin this tells Victor that if Blue won’t go out with him than he at least has to sabotage Alan long enough to let Blue change her mind.
Back to Blue who is whining about her problems to Clover who snaps. She was hurt because she likes Victor a bit and he turned down her offer to come to diner to invite Blue to his house. So, when Blue whines about all of the nice stuff that Alan is doing for her, she tells her not to be so thick and think about it. It is possible that Alan really does like her and she needs to stop complaining about it. She has gotten herself all worked up and upset and so she runs off. After this, Blue cannot think about going back to class and decides to take a walk through the woods instead.
Before long, she starts being followed by a giant otter. He starts talking to her and she thinks that she is going crazy. Eventually, she gives in, though, and he asks her to buy him some beer and pork rinds. She decides to try it, even though she knows she’ll get busted, but to her surprise the guy seems to not even notice the beer and only charges her for the pork rinds. In thanks for her favor to him, the otter stole her some Nachos. After that, they buy milkshakes and then walk around enjoying the day together until it is late. The Pooka, as the otter calls himself, asks her if she has thought about going out with the Alan kid, but she isn’t ready to make that decision. She wonders if Clover will stay mad at her and falls asleep under the stars. After she’s out, the Pooka searches her pockets and finds a medical card with her address on it and carries her on his back to her house.
She wakes up the next morning to find out that her parents found her when they got him that night asleep on the porch. The next day at school, Blue looks up Celtic Mythology and finds out a bit about her Pooka friend; for one thing, his name is Seamus. She then breezes past Alan again who is about ready to give up on her.
Meanwhile, Clover’s dad finds her in her room after getting a call from the school and talks with her about Blue and how special it is to have a really good friend. So, Clover finally finds Blue hanging out in a graveyard with Seamus. However, Clover says that she cannot see the Pooka and they get into a bit of an argument about it, but they eventually calm down. Clover asks her what she is going to do about Alan and she says that she cannot date him; she is saving herself for Mr. Bishop. She goes on and on about him. Eventually, they stop walking for some drinks where Blue sees Mr. Bishop with an attractive lady about his age. At this point, she makes a B-line to Alan’s house and tells him that she will go out with him in exchange for the tape. Clover also lets on that she really can see Seamus.
In the forth and final chapter: Hands Off, She’s Mine, we find out that high school gossip is faster than the speed of light when seemingly everyone in the town knows about it before the sun has come up the next day. This includes Victor who goes to Erin for advice, who again comes to her window in merely a bra and panties. She quickly starts setting up plans to sabotage the date. Victor tries to find out Alan’s plans which include an Italian dinner followed by a Marilyn Monroe double feature. However, he will not tell Victor his mode of transportation, it is a surprise. At the same time, Blue is more embarrassed than ever, now knowing that everyone is aware that she is going out with a guy that filmed her naked. So, she tries to pass the day unnoticed and does pretty well until Alan gets on her bus for the ride home. As she jumps up to get off, he reminds her to be ready at six.
So, we see Blue, Clover and then Seamus in Blue’s room as she worries about the date. Clover reminds her that she needs to start getting ready and before long, Blue reenters fully made up in a black turtle neck with lighter colored jacket and skirt set, knee highs, and a strappy, pair of low heels. Clover states that she thought that Blue didn’t like Alan, but from her dress, it appears to be different. Alan soon arrives on his moped and they differ over whether or not it was a good idea to wear the skirt. Alan shows his approval by speeding up and quickly breaking every once and a while, so that she will bump into him. He eventually stops and Blue begins to enjoy the ride.
They show up at an expensive restaurant where Alan is a bit perturbed by the way that he feels they are treated. He is a bit rude with the waiter, embarrassing Blue. Then, Victor and Erin hear from the kitchen, where they were hiding, that Alan is allergic to shrimp. So, they hide a bunch of it in his pasta. He quickly realizes that he has eaten shrimp and begins to get irritated as he starts to break out in hives. He leaves for a moment and Seamus shows up and places a few dozen lobsters, which he thought Blue would enjoy since she stated that she wanted to save them. The place quickly erupts into chaos and the make a speedy exit.
So, Alan tries to stay calm and cover up his head, thus hiding the hives when they arrive for the second film of the Marilyn Monroe double feature. Blue is enjoying it until Seamus shows up. She says some things to him, which Alan thinks are aimed at him and starts things going in a worse direction. Seamus then farts, thus angering the entire crowd with the stench, who all think that it came from Blue. Also, while Alan is gone to the bathroom, Victor screws the door shut and he has to jump out of the window to get back to his seat. While he is gone, the crowd pelts Blue as she sings to the songs. The film finally ends, and Alan can barely keep from scratching his entire body. Blue is mad at Seamus for staining her father’s kilt, which he is wearing. So, he tries to fix things, he pours butter on it, thinking its soap and Blue yells at him. This ticks Seamus off and he storms away.
Outside, Blue sees Mr. Bishop, with who she finds out to be his sister. Mr. Bishop seems to be the first person to notice that it appears that Alan has had a bad allergic reaction to someone and Blue asks when it happened. He angrily tells her that he has looked that way most of the night. He explains that as much as he hates to say it, they should go ahead and call it a night. So, they go to his mo-ped, which won’t start and he therefore walks her all the way back to her house where he gives her the tape. When he gets back home, he finds Victor waiting for him who thinks that he has give away the tape. However, we find out that he has made a copy for the both of them. He then explains that he is surprised with all of Victor’s video and technical knowledge that he can’t figure out a way to show it onto the local station. So, later that night, Blue and Clover are talking about things while flipping through channels when Clover stops on channel 13, where the Blue show is playing. Blue breaks into tears as Clover smiles and promises revenge on Alan and Victor.
Man, this was a good read. I really like the characters, with the exception of Monkeyboy who just takes up space. It reminds me a bit of Teenagers from Mars, which was probably my favorite non superhero comic that I have read. The stories are crazy and out there, but there is a bit of heart and truth behind them. I wonder how much different I would think about it if it were in color, but alas, only the cover is, which is a shame when the title character has blue hair. Anyway, this was the best comic I have read in a while, which has led me to looking up all that I can find online on the comic over the past few days.
The writing in the comic is good and it is fun to look back on the eighties and some of the things that were cool back then. The dialogue is pretty fun too, with little new or possibly old slang words added in to make it unique. The art is excellent, it is not super detailed and there is no color, but the characters fit their images. Also, you can always spot little things on posters or shirts or the like. Such as the first time I picked it up, I noticed that Clover was wearing a Dexy’s Midnight Runners shirt in the book. This was funny to me, because I had a classmate named Eileen in a college class and we joked about her name and their song Come on Eileen a bunch. If not, I wouldn’t have probably even noticed the reference. There are tons of things like this throughout the book. One little thing that I didn’t like, especially in the small digest version, are the little pictures and thoughts in the margin or under the panels throughout the book. I could barely make them out and they added little to the book when I could, however, it does make it a bit different and didn’t hurt it at all, so it was no biggie.
Also, we get a bit of extras at the end. Apparently, at one point, they were going to do a five part animated shorts version of Blue Monday for their website, but things with it got shut down before the even started, so it ended up being scrapped. Luckily for us, though, they kept the screenplays and she added them to the end of the trade. It had some pretty funny stuff in it. They also had a few panels at the end as a bit of an introduction to the characters since she had supposedly gotten flack about not introducing them again at the beginning of the second trade. Screw that, I’m glad she added it, it was a good reference for a new reader, but she shouldn’t be forced to waste space due to people not starting at the beginning, where they should.
Overall, this was a great book and a great read. I have been thinking about it for two straight days and am strongly looking forward to the next trade coming in, whichever it may be. I give this great Trade, one of my favorites, a 10.