Jem and the Holograms Valentine Special Review

Gem here, and I've jumped inside the pullback

to discover the stories in my own comic, Gem

and the Holograms, from IDW Publishing. Listen

in as Mike, Amy, and Nicole give their thoughts

on the latest issue, who are all gonna have a

truly outrageous time inside the pullback. This

is Britta Phillips, the singing voice of Jem,

and you're listening to the Geekcast Radio Network!

Hey, this is Kelly Thompson, writer of IDW's

Gem in the Holograms, and you are about to have

a truly outrageous time here on Showtime Synergy.

Hello, and welcome to the pullback. This is Back

Issue Classics. This is, I think, episode 48.

And it's Valentine's Day, everybody. And so far,

in the month of February, we've had three releases,

or actually four. We've had After Dark, where

we talked about create our own comics versus

licensed comics with myself and movie role Dan.

Nicole and I did Pony Tales Volumes 1 and 2 for

the Feenship is Friendship February the model

of pony coverage and now Amy joins us with the

Gem Valentine's issue because it is Valentine's

Day and I'm breaking the rules for the pullback

and actually this is gonna air on Valentine's

Day so we've got the all All of us Mishits are

here and we're going to talk about the Jim comic,

the Valentine's Day issue. I got to say, I think

they really skimped on the covers for this. Not

the quality of covers, but how many there are.

There are only three and one is not a retail

incentive. It's a retail exclusive. There's nothing

different, but instead of white, it's blue. It's

blue, yeah. And as much as I enjoy Sarah Richards

designs on most of her other covers that she's

done for the series, I'm sorry. The regular cover

looks like Jim and Rio are stuck in the 70s on

acid. I mean, just look at Rio. He looks like

he's on something. No, they look like Sandy and

Danny from Greece. Oh, okay. I like it. That's

what it reminded me of. Was not even thinking

that okay He's fully rocking his Travolta uh

-huh he looks like John Travolta. I like it.

Yeah You heard it here first folks Nicole actually

like something about real. Yeah, cuz he's not

really real. He's daddy Well, you've already

admitted on this show you like Rio at this Yeah,

yeah This is kind of a ridiculous question at

this point because of what these covers are but

pick a cover ladies I'm gonna go for the retail

incentive Why because it's blue No, I mean I

asked my bad I went for the subscription cover,

sorry, okay Nicole there's really no difference.

I mean, yeah, yeah, you know the others blue

I I like it cuz it's such a cute little cheesy

Valentine, but I love it. I love it love it And

if you get the subscription cover or the retail

exclusive cover in stores basically, it's a It's

a front and back cover so you can write which

I I almost wish they did that as an insert with

the issue and had a separate cover I Don't know

But yeah, I'm gonna pick the subscription cover

as well because I'm sorry that that regular cover

just Creeps me out So We start off with the previously

page and Pretty much picks up with when the announcement

of Jim is going to be joining Jim and I was going

to be joining the Misfits on their tour And we

get the guest list of pretty much all the characters

who already know Jim Jerica Kimber Shayna Aja

Rio Pizzazz Jedha Stormer and Roxy We start off

the issue with Kimber going to see miss Cleo

Miss Cleo! Miss Cleo does not look like, no.

Miss Cleo was a Jamaican lady, wasn't she? Yeah,

but it's the whole tarot card thing, it's the

whole psychic thing that, yeah. The whole infomercial

trap. This is where it goes wrong at the very

beginning and it's all Kim's fault. It's usually

her faults. In the show it usually is in the

comic I mean she's had some things that are her

fault, but not everything is usually her fault,

but this It all came from the fact that she was

afraid that somebody was gonna be upset with

her and that stormer wasn't gonna be her girlfriend

anymore and as the scene goes on and on the the

fortune teller lady basically says well there

could be one you know because she's going through

this tarot card reading and Kimber's like reacting

like so over the top to every single card that

that she draws she eventually tells yeah yeah

Think that's gonna become the running gag and

it comes to Kimber. That's all instead of her

saying outrageous all the time. It's the mess

vets So she tells her about this other way to

make the person fall in love and whatever else

but Kimber being To conquer the obstacle before

it actually happens or soften it so that the

what was it? It's not a bad card admit context

of these others It does seem to represent some

kind of defeat or crisis possibly betrayal. She's

like now Yeah Okay, the it could be represent

by the reserves of reverse Queen of cups in the

obstacle position. Let's see what else Anyhow,

she thinks it's possessed the Kimbers doing her

own interpretation on what the problem is So,

based on that, this lady's like, okay, well,

I have a small something that can help ease the

resentment and ease the conflict. If you make

her drink it, that it will help her have a little

bit of an attitude adjustment. But only use three

drops, because if you use more than that, and

then Kimber leaves, and she says, oh dear. Because

if you use more than three drops, it's gonna

make it a love potion Yeah, and all I can think

of is that damn song love potion number nine

Do you remember that the movie Thankfully no,

I've seen it a long time ago, but thankfully

I do not remember anything from that movie Sandra

Bullock Don't know if I've ever actually seen

that one, but it was one of her first movies

It's cheesy. It's so cheesy. I bet it's very

80s cheesy. I Love it So Kimber gets home actually

she goes to the - no no no she's not at home

not at home she goes she finally gets over to

5x5 records because they have this meeting and

they're like oh kimber you're the worst and blah

blah blah blah and then they all make up um the

reason why they're - they're so caring for her

yeah they're so tolerant is where where i'd probably

put it so they're at 5x5 for this This actually

all of them are there for this meeting Both Jim

the holograms and the Misfits because of the

tour and trying to get things straightened out

with that and Thankfully this doesn't really

it Kind of but doesn't see why when we were gonna

do this coverage. I wanted to make sure and and

figure out where this falls because this this

came out after dark gem part one and dark gem

part one even though we won't cover it until

uh next month or so um in that it starts the

whole silica taking over the the bad musical

vibes taking over synergy so um i wasn't sure

how Jim slash Jericho was going to appear in

this because of what happened in issue 11. But

so far it seems like it's all right. It hasn't

taken hold yet. Not yet. It kind of looks like

it's it's I don't know ever since because I read

issue 11 before this but ever since I read issue

11 I well Ever since I read it, I'm like, hmm,

so now that I'm reading this and seeing Synergy

saying certain things and whatever else, it's

like, hmm, I wonder how much has taken over at

this point. So they're at this meeting and Kimber

wants a glass of, well, she's gonna get Stormer

or somebody a glass of water and she's gonna

put the potion in there. And all of a sudden,

Jetta wants a glass of water. She didn't really

think things through very well because she's

like, hmm, I think I'm just gonna get this for

Pazazz. Oh, it's really nice. clean water and

then everybody's like oh we'd like to have a

glass and then she's like oh I'd like to have

a glass too so it's like um they pretty much

drink the whole pitcher which happens to have

everything in it and all of them drink it not

just the misfits but the holograms as well except

except for Jerrica yeah Jerrica does not drink

it so and I don't think the people that were

let's see uh Greta Is it Grata? Basically all

the misfits in all of the holograms except Ryo,

who's not there, and Jerika, who's not, who is,

but Gem doesn't because she's the hologram, they

just don't know it. So we have this, I actually

can't wait because we're actually looking at

this focus on the IDW preview thing for it, but

I can't wait to see this next two -page panel

in Comixology and how the Guided View takes that

and does with it what it will, because these

panels are... it's almost like a spider web of

stuff. Um... Aja and Jedha. Okay, so the love...

because they're turning into a love potion. there

the the swami chick said oh you're gonna fall

in love with the first person or first thing

you see and she did make it a point to say either

person or thing as we'll find out oh you love

it yeah so the funny part is kimber drinks it

too even after she knows what she put in it's

such a dense Yeah, I don't know why Kimber drank

it at all honestly no clue So Jetta and Aja both

fall in love with the same guy At this restaurant

Shayna We're not too sure with her Because it

doesn't really show anything with it shows it

on these panels, but it doesn't really show She

has she's looking at oh, she's not looking at

it. I take the back never mind Yeah, she's looking

at duct tape, but she's not looking at duct tape.

She's looking past the duct tape She's got the

duct tape in her hands. We don't see where she's

into you know Eric and does as fall in love That's

gonna be so much drama later Stormer falls in

love with some barista or whoever she is and

of course Nicole falls in love with bagels which

really is as awesome as that of an idea that

is it really should I honestly going back and

looking at this it makes me think the love potion

should have worked in reverse for Roxy it should

have made her hate bagels for this issue because

she already loved bagels already But this shows

her true love that be see her love for bagels

transcends any kind of magic because that's true

love right there and In the end, like I said

Roxy wins in this this comic Roxy wins Because

once all said and done all of this is gonna wear

off first just kind of wears off but not really

Oh, I know why Kimber drank it now the the next

page she falls in love with Rio So now we have

trying to find stormer Yeah, right. All right.

She was trying to find stormer, but she runs

into Rio She falls in love with Rio. So now we

have a gem Jerrica Kimber Rio quadrangle Well,

technically in this he hasn't fallen for a gem

at all, so just be a love triangle between sisters

Yeah So yeah, and then and then Jerrica runs

into them and all that drama and He basically

kidnapped Kimber and throw her in the back of

the gem van And they go The story progresses

and Rio goes and gets Shayna. Cherica tries to

go and get Aja, which, because Aja and Jedda

both fall in love with the same guy, that causes

all kinds of drama. Oh my god, this is just so

funny. This really reminds me of a bad Jerry

Springer episode, which most of Jerry Springer

episodes are bad, but I mean, when it comes to

Jetta and Aja, it's like, oh my god, where's

Jerry when you really need him at this point?

I love this part, and I love how Jetta's hair

looks like little devil horns. That is kinda

awesome. Yeah, that guy has had the best day

of his life right now. Yeah pretty much They

don't know his name, but they're madly in love

with it I I love the scene here where actually

the whole panel where it starts at the upper

right or I was just like act and Jetta kisses

the guy, and then Aja goes pretty much all Amy,

I will kill you! I love the whole anime kind

of look to it. It's so much fun! Yeah, it is.

It is. Uh, so this is a - oh my god. I just realized

this. The kid here that they're fighting over,

he's too young. But because he works in a...

I think the other chick was a barista that Stormer

fell in love with. But this guy, he works in

a soup place. All I can think of is they're both

in love with the soup Nazi. No soup for you!

Oh, he's too nice to be the soup Nazi. Well,

true. And he just kicked him out anyhow. So Jerrica

gets Aja and They she then runs into Stormer

with the barista and She basically tricks her

because she has synergy create a hologram of

the barista to get her in the car to get her

into Indus to the barista gets Stormer into her

own car and they drive off And Roxy's just sitting

there eating bagels. I love that picture. No,

I gotta give kudos to Jerika right here. Because

she knows how important Star Wars Kimber is.

And she actually helps her out. And it's so sweet.

And I love Jerika. Yeah, I loved Erica's lie

to the last panel there in that page. I'm just

gonna let leave that one and see how it plays

out No, no Roxy in the bagels. Oh, yeah I love

the look of Roxy. She's just loving life. I also

like the fact that She's like, hands off when

it comes to Aja. She's like, OK, you guys are

just going to go for it. And OK, I better come

back and get this later. Because this is going

to take a little bit more than just a, oh, please

stop. It's going to be like, you're going to

have to haul them away from each other. So in

the process of this, we have the soup guy and

Aja, because they're trying to basically get

all the girls in the back of the van and tie

them up so they can't freak out anymore. As this

plays out, we see Eric and Pizzazz in a coffee

shop and both Jerica and Rio, no freaking way,

I'm just gonna let that one, I'm not touching

that one, agreed. What I love in this is the

next panel, the first panel on the next page.

with the two of them, Jerika and Rio, sitting

outside the closed van doors. They look like

two tired parents wrangling all these kids. That's

about right, yeah. I love it. Let us out, mommy!

I'd be like, no, you're going to stay in there

forever! And Shayna and Aja are both like, let

us out. Let us out before we murder our sister.

Before we kill Kipper, yeah. The final page here

is probably the best page when it comes to all

the sisters. Especially with Kimber and Aja going

back and forth saying what they had to do or

whatever else. Kimber's like, I had to kiss a

boy. I like that too. And they all react to Jenna

kissing Aja's boy. Eww. Shut up, Aja! And we

don't even, see, I hope they bring this, I hope

Kelly brings this back at some point. We don't

even know. What Shayna who what or who Shayna

fell in love with because it never shows it oh

Yeah, she fell in love with the guy at the hardware

store, but she did Yeah, yeah, that's that's

right. That's right And I think had something

to do with the tape duct tape That's true In

the end of the issue is Shayna basically saying

she doesn't want to talk about it and Aja says,

okay, geez, must be good. Shut up, Aja. It has

the end question mark question mark question

mark. Of course. It's not the end You know, it's

gonna get brought up somewhere. Oh That's what

I'm looking forward to Maybe just a little bit

of fallout with that that would be kind of fun

You know, I'm really surprised wasn't in this

at all tech rat Oh, come on. That guy has no

heart. He can't fall in love. Hey, you never

know. Oh, no, I got it. He could fall in love

with one of his gadgets or his robo -girlfriend.

Well, damn, you already took my idea. Tech rat

and synergy, or tech rat and silica. Be afraid.

Be very afraid. Overall, what do we think of

the issue, Amy? I thought it was pretty cute

yeah Nicole I loved it it was so much fun I mean

it's it's ridiculous I mean it's one of those

things this would never happen in a real life

scenario but it is so much fun I love it like

I said and Roxy comes out the real winner really

yeah because she never wore off she just went

back to eating and loving she loves her bagels

I guess she'd almost say that it didn't affect

her too much. She's already in love. She just

ate a few more that day than maybe she should

have. Because it's a very soft tone and I love

the little anime style that they have every once

in a while put into here. I think it's so much

fun. Absolutely. We should mention... Yeah, I

was going to say the same thing. I really like

the art. Yeah. Yeah, I didn't mention this in

the beginning. The artist for this one is Jen

Bartel. She did the Shane Awards story in the

annual. The colors are done by Paul Renwand and

letters by Sean Lee. Obviously, John Barber is

on editing. Absolutely. I thought this was really

fun. This is a little fun issue. If you read

this before you start reading Dark Gem, it's

not gonna matter. You could read this in the

middle of it. It really, really wouldn't matter.

But with the way that we're covering Dark Gem,

Kelly suggested to me that we do this first.

And it's just, it's such a fun little issue.

I'm wondering, oh man. I'm wondering if they're

gonna do a Halloween special this year. That'd

be awesome. Because I love Halloween. Yeah, that

would be interesting because we don't know what

the fallout is going to be after the Dark Gem

arc. Things are looking to get pretty hairy in

GEM when we eventually get to covering Dark Gem.

For this one it says, for the next issue or the

next month it's Dark Gem Part 3. Not only are

Gem and the Holograms not themselves, but whatever

is infecting them is now spreading to others.

Every time they play, Jerika, Ajah, Shayna, and

Kimber band together. But will they be forced

to destroy synergy to save the world from the

Dark Gem sound? Meanwhile Pazazz makes plans

to get back her band at any cost. There's a kitty

of the cover. Yep. Yeah, I like it. Yeah Miss

Graham Yep, pretty much Overall I really dug

the Valentine's issue. I thought it was a really

cool thing that they were doing here I thought

that was great and it's not you. I don't think

it's just Yeah, it's not just Jim that's doing

it the whole month of February this month IDW

is doing Valentine's issues for everything like

that I hope IDW keeps this trend with holiday

specials you know because I love the Christmas

specials and this was really fun too ah come

on St. Patrick's Day oh boy I didn't even think

about that I don't even want to know where anything

would go for St. Patrick's Day What would you

give this one Amy for a rating? Um out of five

Yeah, I give it a four. It was really fun. It

was really cute. I'm glad that Short -lived I

mean, you know, we had the short -lived effects

that come with it, but there are gonna be some

consequences I think in the end Especially when

it comes to pizzazz and Eric, so yeah Yeah, what

about you Nicole? Just enough to cause a little

bit of a hubbub, but you know Yeah I'm gonna

give this a four and a half because it's beyond

ridiculous, and I loved it that way And my girl

comes out as the winner come on That's what sells

me on it Roxy comes out the main winner in this

one because come on who doesn't like bagels I

prefer English muffins Yeah, you're wrong again.

Just like Mrs. No, I'm not you're wrong. No,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, Cuz I wreck, not roll. Yeah.

Nicole. That's Beatles, Steven. Beatles like

the band, not the bug. Alright, make it your

greatest game in the comics, and we hope everyone

has a truly outrageous Valentine's Day, and we

will catch you next time! You've just heard the

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