Customer Reviews

Freshmen Volume 2: Fundamentals Of Fear (v. 2)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have a hard time getting past the Amish boy.

Freshmen, a comic series co-created by actor Seth Green and writer Hugh Sterbakov, is bursting with potential. Set on a college campus, it revolves around a group of students who were exposed to a malfunctioning science experiment that granted each of them powers based on their thoughts at the time of the accident. Some got lucky -- one can enter and control the thoughts of others, another can seduce anyone she chooses -- while others fell victim to bad timing -- such as the boy who turns into a squirrel, another who can project intoxication onto others and a third hapless fellow who grew an astonishingly large and powerful, um, unit.

Liam Adams purports to be an Amish boy from Lancaster, Pa., but the creative team managed to avoid doing any actual research into Amish culture. Perhaps because I live close to the fabled (tourist-laden) Amish Country, I'm particularly sensitive, but I'm tired of the Plain society being played for laughs; for instance, Liam's power is the ability to cause earthquakes by "shuffling his belly," and he chooses the hero name Quaker even though the Amish and Quakers have no ties. The misconceptions and errors here could have been avoided easily with two minutes of research, but apparently the creative team didn't have the time, so Liam grows a beard even though he's unmarried and the Amish elder who appears as his conscience has a forbidden mustache; he looks more like a rabbi, frankly.

Otherwise, Fundamentals of Fear is a vast improvement over the previous book. The team, led by powerless Norrin, who calls himself the Scarlet Knight but is called Wannabe by everyone else, develops mightily in this storyline, and there are some real consequences for their actions. Faced with a relentless foe who wants their secrets, the team tackles issues of power, responsibility, romance, heartbreak, suicide and -- most touchingly -- the death of an innocent bystander.

This series is running in a good direction, and I can see it only getting better as it goes. Just do me a favor, guys: either lose Liam or pick up a book on Amish culture before you embarrass yourselves even more with cultural ignorance.

by Tom Knapp, Rambles.(NET) editor

The Freshmen II...what can I say!? I think I really have a soft spot for this comic because there's a vegan superhero in here. That being said if your into super hero comics, especially those along the line of Gen13 fashion, you should totally dig this book. Funny, clever, and just plain good. If you want to experience a little bit of the college life with a crazy twist, this is the book for you!

I am a vegetarian who loves comics. There have been few characters who have made me laugh out loud at myself. However, the outburst Charles Leve has at dinner to a salad entree ranks up their with Animal Man losing control of his powers at a PETA rally. Freshman II is funny, creepy good comics. There is much geek food to be had here with both a Mary Jane and Dark Phoenix moment to keep the dorks happy. It suffers from accessibility issues in that I had to reread the first trade because I thought I had missed some story threads. It turned out that it was uneven pacing and unpolished plotting. Overall, a four for good, not excellent.

The main reason Seth Green is on notice with me is because he has come out and said this one was going to be it. He is done with writing Freshman. If you read this, expect exactly what you got the first time around, quality storytelling, and fantastic artwork. It is their second semester as Freshman now, and they are all starting to have to learn to deal with their powers and how to control them and their overall academic and social lives. This one has what the first volume lacked a bit I think, which is more depth into their overall lives. It still has a strong focus on their superhero lives, but it also now has a bit more of a view into who they all are, and not just a few here and a few there. If you are thinking of buying this, do it. You read the first Volume already probably, so why not go the distance and read this one too. You won't be disappointed. When you finish it, you will be like me though, and want Seth Green and Hugh Sterbakov to start working on another one.

this comic in all is odd in a good way so far I am enjoying it part two less then part one. I noted they foucse greatly on five characters from seven, two are largely left over. but otherwise the book is good soild story.