Metaphase (Family Comic Friday)

For this week's Family Comic Friday, I'm tackling an important subject: diversity in comics. The graphic novel I am reviewing this week is called Metaphase. The story is by Chip Reece, whom I know from being a fellow admin with over at Stashmycomics.com. Chip's son Ollie was born with congenital heart defects and Down Syndrome. Inspired by Ollie's heroic struggle and motivated by the lack of superheroes with special needs, Chip created Metaphase: the world's first superhero with Down Syndrome. 

Metaphase was originally published in graphic novel form in 2015 by Alterna Comics. The 73-page story was made possible with help from backers at Kickstarter. Next week, Metaphase is finally being released as it was intended in multi-issue comic book format of two parts. So I though now was the perfect time to share this important all-ages story with you.

Metaphase

Written by Chip Reece
Art by Kelly Williams
Published by Alterna Comics

Ollie is a boy with Down Syndrome. He longs to become a superhero like his father. But due to his heart conditions, Ollie's father is afraid of his son getting injured in someway battling the villains. So Ollie turns to a shadowy clinic called Meta-Makers in hopes of gaining powers like his pop? But is Meta-Makers hoping to create heroes or villains?

Disclaimer:

Readers, just because I know and have worked with Chip, I have in no way been asked by Chip Reece, Alterna Comics or Kelly Williams to review this book. Nor have I been paid or solicited by another party to provide a review. So what I am about to say about this book comes deep from my heart: Metaphase is one of the important comics to be published in the past decade. In my opinion, it's books like Metaphase that has helped open the flood gates to diversity in comic books! But unlike most comic book creators, Chip Reece has done it right. 

Diversity in comic books is a great thing. But it should not be formulaic in that writers sacrifice quality in order to fill a checklist to make all varieties of readers happy. For example, I have crippling social anxiety. Despite the fact that there are very few characters in comics that deal with this ailment, I am not angered by it. In fact, I would get not only pretty bored but weary if every comic book I read had a character with anxiety disorder in it. 

Sometimes you need to see yourself reflected in the entertainment you consume, warts and all. However, there are times when I just need to get away from the insanity of my life and instead lose myself in a good comic. Thus while I appreciate that Chip Reece is bringing awareness to those with special needs, I love that he stuck with only Down Syndrome for the first Metaphase adventure. I think had Reece tried to add a character on the autism spectrum and another with cerebral palsy and a third with Treacher Collins Syndrome, it would have crowded out the impact Chip was trying to make with the introduction of Ollie. But I hope in future Metaphase stories that we'll see those types of characters I just mentioned!

There is one aspect of Metaphase that doesn't translate so very well on paper and that's the syntax. Having worked and volunteered with people with Down Syndrome, I can attest that when they speak, they have a very specific dialect with it's own verbal pace. So, I had some trouble in my mind capturing Ollie's speech correctly while reading this story.
I also find it a tiny bit hard to believe that if Ollie's father was so concerned about the heart condition, why would he allow Ollie to skateboard throughout the town unattended... Does Ollie's father have attuned super-hearing in that he is always listening to his son's heartbeat? Is this an element of Metaphase that I missed?

You might have missed out on Metaphase when it first debuted in 2015. However, with Alterna Comics doing a re-release, there's no excuse to be further left out in the rain. Plus, with each issue of Metaphase being only $1.50, a third of the price of most other new comics, it's the steal of the century! Why, I encourage all of you to buy at least two copies. Keep one for your family and share one with a friend, or teacher, or librarian in hopes of getting the Metaphase word out. That's how passionate I feel about the importance of this groundbreaking work that the entire family, and even readers with special needs, can enjoy!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Metaphase #1 (of 2) debuts in stores on July 11th, 2018. Copies of the complete graphic novel can still be purchased on Alterna Comics' Etsy online store.

This review was published concurrently on Outrightgeekery.com.