Moonshot: The Indigenous Comics Collection, Volume 2 (Moonshot: The Indigenous Comics Collection, #2) by Hope Nicholson

Moonshot: The Indigenous Comics Collection, Volume 2 (Moonshot: The Indigenous Comics Collection, #2) Reviews

• 
  Rod Brown

  I was worried after reading the first two stories in this collection -- vague and weird tales by a few of the only authors who also contributed to the first volume -- but the quality picked up with the third story by a new author about the power of hair and friendship. The rest of the volume was mostly new writers also, and I generally enjoyed or admired their tales of indigenous people in the past, present and future.
  
  The ratio of indigenous creators improved with this volume to two-thirds, with the non-indigenous mostly providing art for a majority of the stories.
  
  I'll be picking up the third volume at the library this afternoon.
• 
  Karl

  In my opinion, this volume was stronger than the excellent Moonshot Volume 1. The creator’s roster was star studded and they created a wonderful array of indigenous stories from a variety of Nations. My favourite stories were the Anishnaabe thunderbird from Aamjiwnaang First Nation. I live a few hours from here and being Anishnaabe myself I was touched by the power of Elizabeth LaPensee’s writing and Richard Pace’s illustration. David Alexander Robertson (Cree) , Richard Van Camp (Tlicho Dene), Jeffery Veregge (S’Klallum), David Cutler ( Mi’kmaq) were my favourite contributors from the team of 30 who put these 15 stories together.
  
  Both volume 1 and 2 are incredible collections. The art, writing, colouring are all fantastic. There is so much love and care put into the production of these books and I feel as though the whole world should read them.
• 
  Jarrah

  When friends of mine are getting into comics, or I meet new friends who are into comics,
  the first book I've been recommending has been
  Moonshot: The Indigenous Comics Collection, Volume 1, for its imaginative storytelling, mind-blowing art, and important perspectives. I was so pleased that this follow-up while different, lived up to those aspects of Volume 1.
  
  If Volume 1 gave us multiple compelling visions of Indigenous futures, Volume 2 is more focused on the urgent problems of our world today. Several stories, like "The Boys Who Became the Hummingbirds", "Water Spirits" and "Bookmark" paint haunting picture of environmental and cultural devastation, along with the hope to be found in traditional Indigenous knowledge. Other highlights in the collection were the gorgeous, sci-fi-infused stories "Winter's Shell" and "Journeys." All the stories do an excellent job of both moving and informing the audience, and actively demonstrating the resilience and power of Indigenous knowledge and culture.
• 
  Csenge

  I would love to read some of these stories in a longer format, as their own separate volume. I think that says a lot in itself about how much I liked this collection
  This second volume lives up to the first, or even goes beyond it in some ways. It has longer chapters (or at least that's how it feels) that result in more rounded stories; they definitely struck me more and stayed with me longer told in this format. Visually the whole volume is gorgeous, and shows a wide ranges of styles and genres. It connects to current issues in many ways, and speaks in the present tense about various cultures, even when it works with ancient traditions, which is refreshing and intriguing. I especially loved the hummingbird story, which was visually amazing, and very touching.
• 
  andrea

  this was so cool and the art and stories were really beautiful!! my enjoyment was only diminished by how long this this took me to get through, i think i just don't do well with short story or comic collections :'(
• 
  Keenan Crone

  A must have for anyone who enjoys indigenous storytelling. The last few stories aren't quite as polished as the rest, but the majority of these are brillantly written and drawn.
  
  They take either indirectly or directly from stories passed down by oral traditions. Each one speaks directly to the heart and the modern interpretations give much commentary for our world today.
• 
  Lyn

  This is an excellent collection, and I'm delighted to have backed it on Kickstarter. I hope there are more in the future.
• 
  Lenore Kosinski

  
  https://celebrityreaders.com/2021/11/...
  
  OVERALL:
  4 stars — There wasn’t a single art style that didn’t wow me, I loved how different they all were…though I will admit that I was drawn to some more than others. Some stories were harder for me to get into, and I’m still not used to this medium I suppose. But there were also some stories that with just a few pages conveyed so much. Solid anthology.
  
  FOREWORD by James Leask
  This really connected me to how much these collections mean to indigenous communities, and there were a few sentences that just *hit* me.
  
  INTRODUCTION by Michael Sheyahshe
  Loved getting a glimpse at each artist
  
  THEY WHO WALK AS LIGHTNING by Elizabeth LaPensée, Ph. D., illustrated by Richard Pace
  3 stars — Short. Hard to connect with the characters or story. Thought the story of the Thunderbirds and the Protectors was really cool, and I did get broad strokes of what the story was trying to convey.
  
  WINTER’S SHELL by Sean and Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley, illustrated by Alexandria Neonakis
  3.5 stars — I got a bit lost in the narrative style of this one, which is a bummer. I might try reading it again. It was an interesting depiction of how little parents can know their children and vice versa…how we get wrapped up in our own stuff and fail to notice the strides of others. LOVED the art style in this one, just gorgeous.
  
  WORST BARGAIN IN TOWN by Darcie Little Badger, illustrated by Rossi Gifford
  4.5 stars — This one had everything for me: some snarky humour, sassy characters, an easy to understand narrative and lesson. Kickass girls saving the day. And super fun art style.
  
  KA’TEPWA: WHO CALLS by Alina Pete, illustrated by Trudi Castle
  3.5 stars — Super unique art styles in this one as well, I really enjoyed that. The narrative was harder to follow though. And yet I still felt things.
  
  BOOKMARK by David Alexander Robertson, illustrated by Natasha Alterici
  4.5 stars — Oh look, Mr. Robertson made me cry again. Very affecting. It took me a hot second to figure out the switches between past and present, but then I was all emotionally wrecked. I will admit that I didn’t get the bookmark though…maybe I’m just dense.
  
  THE AWAKENING by Armand Garnet Ruffo, illustrated by David Cutler
  4 stars — I really enjoyed the lessons in this one. They were presented in an interesting manner, with the little boy as a juxtaposition in some ways. I believed in Jake’s journey.
  
  THE MAGIC OF WOLVERINES by Richard Van Camp, illustrated by Scott Henderson
  4.5 stars — I kind of loved that this one felt very much like hearing a story around the fire from an elder. It had a magical quality to it. It was very different in so many ways.
  
  9 MILE LAKE by Tanya Tagaq, illustrated by Stephen Gladue
  4 stars — What a fascinating way to catch a glimpse of life way up north. I loved the imagery the story evoked, and I could feel how torn the narrator was between being a little girl and a big girl.
  
  THE BOYS WHO BECAME THE HUMMINGBIRDS by Daniel Heath Justice, illustrated by Weshoyot Alvitre
  4.5 stars — Wow. Another affecting story. I love the way it was told, and how the art style suited it…I mean, you can’t go wrong with rainbow. It was a really interesting portrayal of the power of fear, but that being true to yourself is powerful as well.
  
  WATER SPIRITS by Richard Van Camp, illustrated by Haiwei Hou
  3.5 stars — I enjoyed that we got to learn about things that have happened up in Yellowknife (that I personally don’t remember learning about), and having that tied into Indigenous beliefs with the water spirits.
  
  THE CREATOR TAMOSI by Gerard and Peta-Gay Roberts, illustrated by Nicholas Burns
  3 stars — I found this one a bit all over the place, and I guess it again felt short for the lesson it was trying to teach. I did enjoy the little creation story interstitial in the middle though.
  
  WHERE WE LEFT OFF by Steve Keewatin Sanderson
  4 stars — This one was surprising, and in some ways hit close to home because it’s a path that I can see open to us. I enjoyed the way things played out, how our hero changed as time went on — in bad ways and good.
  
  DO WILD TURKEYS DREAM OF ELECTRIC DRUMS by Michael Sheyahshe, illustrated by Kim Hunter
  4.5 stars — This was just amusing as shit. It was fun, I loved the art style, I loved that it brought human elements onto the animals…yeah, just fun.
  
  JOURNEYS by Jeffrey Veregge
  5 stars — Hands down my favourite. I mean, the art style is unbelievable, I ADORE it! It has a kind of retro vibe in some ways. I loved the way the ship was drawn, and later the canoe parts with the ancestors, and the musical notes… And there were small elements of humour in it, and it was just easy to connect with.
  
  AFTERWORD by Elizabeth LaPensée, Ph. D.
  This focused a lot on how someone could get into this medium, which I wasn’t expecting and isn’t exactly relevant for me personally. But I enjoyed yet another perspective of how wonderful it is to have self-representation.
• 
  Malcolm

  The Moonshot project has set out to raise the profile of ‘comics’ by Indigenous writers from those territories claimed by Canada and the USA. Like the first volume, this presents narrative illustration (hence the sneer marks on ‘comics’, even though I get the desire to rehabilitate the term) as shaped and grounded in Indigenous experience and world views although the genre vary each story has a powerful contemporary feel, and potent engagement with social and political issues of the day, although many do this in subtle, allusive ways. We get unemployment and queerness, environmental despoliation and historical reassertion, the presence of the past in nearly that happens alongside sharp insight to predators, spiritual and material.
  
  The editors have done an excellent job of matching writers and illustrators, where for instance Haiwei Hou’s richly detailed images enrich and empower Richard Van Camp’s wonderful ‘Water Spirit’ while Rossi Gifford’s manga-esque style unsettles the psychic predator in Darice Little Badger’s ‘Worst Bargain in Town’. The two that stood out for me stylistically were Alexandria Neonakis’s pale pastels supplementing Sean and Rachel Qitsualk-Tinsley’s haunting tale of shamanic symbolism in ‘Winter’s Shell’, and the almost monochrome world of Natasha Alterici’s work in David Alexander Robertson’s ‘Bookmark’, based in ideals of wellbeing and approaches to suicide prevention.
  
  It feels a bit unkind to draw out these ones, but that’s as much to do with the visuals and anything and highlighting the matching of illustrators and writers sidelines the wonderful post-apocalyptic ‘Where We Left Off’ written and drawn by Steve Keewatin Sanderson. Equally, is suggests that the others are not so strong – but I adored ‘The Boys Who Became Hummingbirds’ (Daniel Heath Justice and Weshoyot Alvitre) and ‘They Who Walk As Lightning’ (Elizabeth LaPensée and Richard Pace) for their power ad their hope.
  
  It’s a fabulous collection, and hopefully a series that continues (past the third volume recently published).
• 
  Carly

  This was such a fantastic collection! You can read them in any order (I read Vol. 2 before reading Vol. 1 by accident), because they both act as an anthology of short comics. In this collection my favorite was The Boys Who Became Hummingbirds , which is a beautifully drawn two-spirit parable. I also loved the art in Ka'Tepwa: Who Calls? The editors really should get so much credit for how amazing the flow of the collection is, as well as for how the wonderful introductions to the pieces are. The preface is also fantastic-- don't skip over it, because it will definitely enrich your experience and really helps to connect all of the stories together.
• 
  Fraser Simons

  Wow, way better than the first one. There were at least 4 stories that I considered to be completely perfect and a great marriage to the form of comics. Two duds, but the overall quality is staggeringly better. And the resolution was better, though still not exceptionally high dpi for whatever reason. Or maybe it was exported and then scrubbed for lower file size. Regardless, glad I kept reading. Excellent stuff. And on paper, of course you wouldn’t have that issue. Printers require a set high dpi (300) to print anything.
• 
  Jacob

  I enjoyed the structure of having the introductions for each of the comics, and the included biographies of the authors and illustrators. I also liked the diverse artwork and panel placement. Although most of the comics in this collection initially interested me, by the end, I was left feeling that many were not fully realized. In some cases, the comics ended prematurely, in others it was a matter of the absence of a plot. Of the comics in this volume, I enjoyed Winter's Shell, Worst Bargain in Town, Bookmark, and Creator Tamosi
• 
  feux d'artifice

  I had a lot of respect for the first volume collection so I was pretty excited to try volume two, and it still managed to blow all expectations out of the water. The story and art all levelled up, the emotional impact was incredible, would highly, highly recommend.
  
  particular favourites: Winter's Spell (CRY FROM FEELS) and Ka'tepwa: Who Calls (TEAAAAR)
• 
  Candice

  This is another great anthology of indigenous comics and stories. While I think Volume 1 was a bit more consistent, this book really have us a lot of stories that had only been told previously through oral traditions. Some stories seemed to translate better than others to this medium. Still a good book full of a variety of art from indigenous creators.
• 
  Vicky Maldonado

  Realllly disjointed; the collection, the volumes and the individual comics. Each comic has an introduction thank goodness, but they still aren't helpful enough to give the reader context. I'd say out of the whole thing, 2-3 stories felt complete or had a clear message. The collection is such a great concept but feels like it was put together by high schoolers just trying to turn something in.
• 
  Michelle

  I loved this even more than Volume 1 (which I also loved). There is something urgent in the stories here about, for lack of a better word in English, stewardship, and there is deep love in the stories about family and community.
  
  I hope there's a volume 3!
• 
  Catherine Fitzsimmons

  This was beautiful. I loved all the different styles in both the art and storytelling, and the indigenous myths were woven together with contemporary stories beautifully. The stories are so full of spirit, love, and hope.
• 
  Bri Turner

  I feel much the same about this volume as I did about the first: incredible artwork and some really stand-out writing, but the length of each contribution feels too short to do the talent and the content justice. Still a beautiful collection and worth a read!
• 
  Avery Delany

  Review to come - it's a phenomenal collection though and you should support it <3
• 
  Tammy

  Another stunning collection of old stories told in modern ways.
• 
  Aris Merquoni

  Also terrific, a great follow-up to the first volume with more terrific stories traditional and new.
• 
  Rachael Arsenault

  Another excellent collection! I was sad when I turned the last page and realized I had read all the comics in the Moonshot anthologies - I hope to see a volume 3 sometime soon in the future!
• 
  Jaq

  Timely and informative. Let us take the time to reflect on the lessons contained within this collection.
• 
  Leslie Ann

  Both the stories and art are varied and of high quality. We need more collections like this one.
• 
  Jordyn

  I liked Vol 1 a lot more
• 
  Tracy

  I must say, I didn’t “get” all the stories but I still appreciated reading them, the connections they make and the lessons they tell. The visuals were varied and interesting.
• 
  Katie

  Vol 2 of this collection was just as phenomenal as Vol 1. I highly recommend if you enjoy graphic novels. Now on to Vol. 3!!
• 
  Shannon

  Excellent collection yet again! I loved how the comics included an intro which provided context of the story. So many wonderful stories. Looking forward to reading the third volume.
• 
  Derek

  A great collection of stories. This volume was definitely stronger than the first volume.