Nimona (6 points)

 I think I might have read Lumberjanes a couple years back, but I have yet to read Nimona before this class. Nimona is a bit of a deconstruction of the traditional fairy tale/fantasy story. The main character is a teenager appointing herself as an evil sidekick, the villain actually has a really good reason why he's a villain (and is sort of more of an anti hero more than anything). The comic starts off pretty fun and lighthearted, but slowly starts getting darker as the comic progresses. I think my biggest surprised in reading this came from the allegories of the Institute, Nimona being a shapeshifter because of experimentation, and that the "villain" Nimona becomes the sidekick for is against killing people. The Institute is very much representative of a traditional army of sorts. Ballister being kicked out after losing his arm is representative of this, illustrating an organization that doesn't value those with disabilities. It makes sense that Nimona wanted to become his sidekick because of this, as she herself is a victim of these types of organizations. The ending was fairly happy, but a bit somber. I really didn't expect Nimona to eventually leave, but the emotional impact that came because of that was powerful. The character designs didn't stand out to me as much as Noelle's style, since it's so distinctive. They were fairly simple, but effective in conveying the character's personalities and their roles in the story.