The Arts in Space

The two stories in this issue flow so naturally from the one story to the other. It feels so continuous and real. It’s actually kind of beautiful. I think this entire story is actually quite beautiful. Immediately at Gabby’s first steps on a new planet, in the first two pages of actual comic, this sentiment is conveyed. It’s not a: “OMG THIS IS CRAZYYY” or a “I can’t believe this”. It’s just a tear and a smile. A silent appreciation of the wonders of the universe. No need to convey anything extra outwardly to the audience. This feels like Gabby’s personal experience, and it comes across fully.

Ok. I think I’m going a bit too fast. Have i even finished talking about the previous story? I mean, what is the previous story and what is this one? Okay, no, shut up, that’s stupid. It’s pretty obvious where one ends. There was a whole cover gallery between the two stories. But like, it felt more like transitioning from part one to part two, you know? These two stories are very different setting wise and tonally, but they feel like parts of the same story. It genuinely took me a while and looking around a bit to realize I had started story two and not part 2. Because they just fit together so incredibly well for Gabby’s character development. They are together a part of her first adventure. Kind of like Rose and The end of the world, but more connected and also better (srry i love both but…). RoT is still very introductory, but because it’s amazingly written, manages to not have it hinder too much. Here in The arts in space we still get a lot of Gabby info, but it’s more elegantly told through the story, more integrated into the plot itself, instead of being something separate that needs a bit more force to get intertwined into the action. It’s the logical next step that feels right after story one. Like these two just work so well together arghh im gonna scream.

There’s another reason though for why it took me so long to realize. Because like those little diary entries, i thought they were just some fun in between pages. I wasn’t actually planning on reading The arts in space on the moment that I read it. I thought that I’d read this little extra fun companion part and then continue later.

This… diary. I-

I don’t know man, it’s just so, so, … wonderful.◊ It’s so special and so smart and so weird and so incredibly Doctor Who but also so personal to this character that we literally just got to know.

It’s a very interesting framing device. It’s something that works only in this medium. Comics are like the movie versions of books one might sometimes say (i do) but it has so many things unique to it too. It does not just simply combine pictures with text. It is the 9th art, as they say in France. It can do things no other form of media can.

This kind of diary is something so purely visual. Gabby’s scribbles. But also the lettering.

1. It’s inconsistent and
2. a bit difficult to read.
3. It shows so much personality.

The letters almost look a bit hastily written down. Like look at those a’s. Girl, that’s how i write a z.

                            Oh yeah the diary is very much a visual thing but it’s not like it is a comic. It’s an actual sketchbook of a person. We’re looking into someone’s sketchbook. It’s just plopped in there in a comic. Peak comics storytelling i’m telling you.

• And these are not random extra pages, these are essential to the narrative of our story. It’s just as much a part of the comic as the actual comic panels. Which are also literally just like combined into these pages as well?? Hello??? Are we just doing what we want now? Using actual creativity?

It's good, he quoted.

 Have i yet made clear how like fun and special this is? Especially for a first book this is really experimental and actually quite risky.

                                                                          ⋅          The comic panels and the sketchbook pages flow together so so beautifully i keep saying that word. -----

Sometimes the sketchbook/diary doesn’t even describe anything that’s happening on screen (or on panel, if you will). Gabby’s notes are then actually about something else entirely, but they work together thematically.

More often they are a way of showing what Gabby is thinking and feeling at a moment. Sometimes it also feels like she herself is reflecting on what we are still experiencing for the first time. It’s all written in past tense after all. So we get a surprised reaction plus a more thought out observation. - I’d like to see a movie do that! (Good luck tryingvthouhj bad voiceovers)

Not every single use of the scribble notes is perfect. I know, very sad. Sometimes they are just used as normal first person description boxes. Not that there's anything wrong with that in particular, but it doesn't really fit in this specific case.

They are pretty poetic, in the sense that it feels like a real human observation of an alien world. What would someone think if they got on there. And in Gabby’s case it’s only a sense of wonder. Her descriptions of the things she encounters, sometimes almost incomprehensible but oh so beautiful things. But you want to try. Try to comprehend and get it on paper. If only so your friend can get even the slightest glimmer of it as well.

It gives us (and the writer even more) the chance to go deeper into Gabby’s character. How she talks in these notes is very different to how she talks in the usual speech bubbles. See how she expresses herself. In her own art and writing (how does Casagrande do that? The contrast between styles… wait nvm we’ll talk about the art later). In all the little drawings and jokes she makes. Every part artistically and so creatively reflects her character. We are not just onlookers from outside, seeing what is happening in the story. We now also get to experience it through her metaphorical eyes. How does that differ? And how does a comic differ when you are reading it while so distant, still from such a personal perspective.

Makes sense too, this is her story after all. The Doctor isn’t very important. Gabby realizes the events and gets in talks with the main ‘villain’. The story is about her perspective on art. And that’s why it’s so smart that we experience it through precisely that.

⊗ End of diary entry. I forgot when i wrote this. I'll date it like... A few months before the rest is published? Maybe somewhere in August. Or even before... Or September. hm. This isn't relevant to the review, i'll just strike it through

Right. I got so caught up into sketching about the sketchbook that i lost what i was even doing. Let’s try to ground ourselves a little. Get lost in the interplanetary museum together with Gabby and the Doctor instead. Actually, let’s skip over that before I talk about how well done that sequence is thanks to the sketchbook. Let’s go to Zhe. The mysterious isolated artist.

Of course we’re going there by magical glass elevator controlled by ancient robot, while zipping among the stars. To land at Zhe’s home. A place that wouldn’t feel out of place in a fairytale. Typical ‘castle’ on the hill (is that Ed Sheeran? -13). Big big garden. Not filled though with colourful Roses and other fancy greenery, but with statues, who give the setting just that little vibe of Doctor-Who-weirdness.

Weird, and dangerous, because looking at statues goes to running quickly. Not that Doshin the giantandfriends get far. Closer to the house it’s calm again, and we’re let in by a nice (not(kinda(ACTUALLY they’re just MISUNDERSTOOD))) someone.

Just kidding they’re not nice, who’d’ve thought.

“Gabby isn’t here just to visit. She wants to be an apprentice of Zhe!” They say. And we can’t have that. Because not nice person is the only apprentice. Can be the only apprentice. And it will stay that way. So Gab and Doc are separated. As lampshaded by Gabby herself.

And ohhh the Doctor. Even worse he is. The guy who thinks he knows everything. Can spout about on all what’s good and bad about creative expression. But doing it yourself? Nonono.

Not nicer knows what he is. A reviewer. A critic. The worst scum in the universe.

Hey it’s me you know who’s art I’ve always liked from a young age? Stuff from Maurits Cornelis Escher. I know, i was a weird kid. Still am probably. We’ll chalk it up to the autism. Anyways look up some Escher.

…

Yeah now you probably get why I like the action here.

Oh, I’m running through the recap am i not? We’re going quite quick. I’ve already arrived at… hm. An atelier?

Right, not nice person is an artist. Almost forgot it with all the monster chasing.

Gabby seems a fan. Huh. That makes not nicer warm up to her. Maybe she ain’t that bad after all…

Because not nice person is starting to slowly realize something.

They were so scared of someone else becoming an apprentice. Of someone else ‘taking’ Zhe from them. Because if someone else is a better apprentice, then what are they? If someone else exceeds them. If they can’t ‘win’ art, what was it even for?

Because as later revealed, is not nicer an artificial intelligence. And I know this was written way before, and wasn’t commenting on recent happenings around AI art, but the idea has been there in fiction way longer, and it is very relevant now. Can an AI understand art? And not understand in, does it know colours, and can it make the shape we want, but can it understand the intent behind it? Because our AI in this story can easily make beautiful shapes and figures. Can make wonderful drawings and sculptures, but doesn’t understand the idea behind it. They see it as a competition. They want to be the best, not for the sake of self improvement, but because they want to be above others. They don’t see the joy in creating. They understand how to create, but it’s without meaning. It’s why today’s corporations use such AI. To have an advantage. To ‘win’.

But our AI not nice person is better than greed. They’re not that far yet. They’re still just insecure.

Because as they talk with Gabby, a realization comes.

Someone is complimenting their work. Genuinely enjoying and appreciating what they’ve made.

And so they share more. More of what they’ve created, and they find a sparkle inside of themselves.

And so they decide that they want more of this. Because this feels good. Not just show their creations, but create together with this other person. But then self doubt number two comes in.

And self doubt can be a real killer. In this case, literally. But you don’t have to face your fears alone. Because not nice understands now. Gabby has been sharing her perspective on art. How much joy she finds in it. And not nice does the first thing they have found joy in. The joy of sharing.

Because sometimes you see something so beautiful, or you have an idea that brings so much joy, but it’s so difficult to bring out, to describe and to create. But you want to. You want to share. Share that magic, that joy with others. And sometimes that is singing math to create the most beautiful things to stop a huge statue from crushing you. And sometimes that is writing a review about a story that you liked.

After that there’s the rest but I don’t really have anything meaningful to say about it besides: Nice and calm, they talk about things but like you can read the comic yourself to get that there is no need for me to say that SO i’m moving on to talking about the art.

ELENA CASAGRANDE IS OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR HER ART IS SO SO SO GOOD HERE OH MY GOSH. Just like look at the page where not nicer (yes i’m gonna keep just calling the creature that) shows Gabby the wonders of math-singing. How they start off still standing in the room but the wall in a swirl of BUTTERFLIES MADE OUT OF PNG MOUTHS gets turned into outer space which turns into a vortex which loops back around to surround the page which shows us the reading order.  And Gabby is then not standing anymore but falling through time and magic and seeing the past and the future and picking up ood signal’s or something and you can just get this without even reading the speech bubbles. (And then space is drawn all granulary and it blends back into being a wall and and and)

Or when we go into not nicer’s studio full of little details showing the messiness of the artist with papers and paint on the floor and the ceiling windows showing the starry night sky i want to be there.

Oh yeah and then there’s the sketchbook drawings which are just in a completely different style, delightfully cartoony and obviously a dimension away from the rest of the comic but still feeling so real in its own way of representing what it should.

Some full body drawings are a bit stiff, but eh.

Oh and now that I’m already going into negatives, let’s just fully commit to becoming the terrible creature that is the critic and list some more.

There’s the action running through Zhe’s house, which I do quite like, because the atmosphere of the place in the night is so great and the chosen set pieces just really appeal to me personally, but it is just a bit of mindless running. Like really, do we need another scene where the Doctor fights shapeshifter person aka not not nicer? Doesn’t add anything narratively. It’s kinda there to fill it up with more Doctor, even though we all know he isn’t really that relevant.

And even though as we all know by now, the scribble diary sketchbook is the best thing ever made in ever, it is a bit hard to read. I’ve already said why I think it’s actually great, but fact is that your comic book is hard to read, and that’s not really good. And the style chosen for the sketchbook isn’t really my thing, but like, that’s not a proper critique. Not nicer was right all critics do suck.

But in the end i really don’t care about those small things that i don’t vibe with because for the rest, i think this comic really is a masterpiece considering everything. For such an early installment, making something this daring should be applauded, and I hope that you, dear reader, were able to find a little more appreciation for this comic, after reading through my terribly convoluted and long review. 

Vwoorrrp vwoorrrp vwoorrrp. Mwah!

— The Arts in Space

Fully admit this one is biased by my own gender-f**kery I’ve got going on. I like the setting, the diary sections are brilliant, I love the insight it gives into Gabby as an artist, in terms of her art, her self image/insecurities, etc. It also expands on the relationship between her and Cindy which I like. I know about future things that at least one of them is gay for the other, can’t remember which, but this is definitely either showing that Gabby is or why Cindy would be, and I like that. I also really enjoyed the apprentice and Zhe’s gender f**kery, one being both, one being very fluid, which as a queer person with a lot of gender f**kery going on, was really nice to see.

"Special snowflakes we all might be, but there really are giants of art," is a line used so well in the context of The Arts in Space. That was nothing but an exception read. I've been putting off reading these comics so this was a great story to return to.

There's so much I love about this story. Specifically it feels like what Doctor Who should be more often, like when Gabby first sets out on an alien planet and is moved to tears by the experience. Or the way the story is framed around her diary and experiences travelling with the Doctor for the first time. It's all really good stuff and really showcases what is great about Gabby.

Her identity as an artist is used thoroughly here and comics are such a great medium to explore a character like this. She might be one of my favourite companions I've encountered so far, though I've really only seen her in a few stories. The way she is able to bond with the artists she meets in this story is so cool, plus I loved the references to Logopolis. It fit with this whole idea of this artist named Zhe who is able to sort of create sculptures entirely through singing math. It's a concept that works well with Doctor Who and I really enjoyed this comic because of that stuff.

Little things hold this back from a 10/10 from me. Gabby's initial reaction to her first trip off of Earth is initially very realistic and well paced, but then she kind of just doesn't react as much when monsters start chasing her and she is isolated from the Doctor. These monsters are pretty scary shapeshifters so it is a little odd she is so unperturbed when she is attacked. Still, I love how they ulitmately resolve that conflict that is drawing on core parts of Gabby's identity to do so. I think that's a really good touch in the writing.

The only other downside is that I don't love this book's lettering. It felt unnecessarily hard to read for some of the diary parts that had a handwritten feel to them. There are two credited letterers from The Arts in Space which I found weird, so I'm not sure what was going on there. Either way, these minor faults only just barely detract from the overall experience. It's a **9/10** for me on the cusp of a full 10/10.

While not as good as the first part, Revolutions in Terror, this arc was imaginative. The plot is simple with, again, a quick set up and resolution. If this story was in live action it would need to be expanded a lot, but for a comic it uses the medium to its advantage. Some of the lines from the 'diary' section were genuinely laugh-out-loud funny. The art was good and the contrast between the two styles worked well. My only real issue was that the 'handwritten' narration was sometimes hard to read. Overall a solid quick read.