[ad_1]
The cult-classic series Gravity Falls is known for its smart humor, tight plot lines, and intricate lore, but in one comic book continuation, Gravity Falls becomes one of the most meta pieces of fiction fans would ever see–and it does this while the beloved main characters battle their version of the Avengers.
Gravity Falls follows twin siblings Dipper and Mabel as they stay with their great uncle Stan at his house in Gravity Falls, Oregon. In the first episode, Dipper discovers a mysterious journal–dubbed Journal 3–that contains information on the overall weirdness of Gravity Falls, including creature bios, observed occurrences, and summoning rituals. Dipper and Mabel would go on to use Journal 3 on their adventures throughout the series as it proved to be a great help when battling against odd entities or scenarios–though sometimes, the journal itself was the cause of those problems to begin with.
Gravity Falls: Lost Legends–written by series creator Alex Hirsch with art by Joe Pitt, Ian Worrel, Asaf Hanuka, Dana Terrace, Jacob Chabot, Jim Campbell, Kyle Smeallie, Meredith Gran, Mike Holmes, Priscilla Tang, Serina Hernandez, Stephanie Ramirez, and Valerie Halla–is a graphic novel telling a collection of Gravity Falls stories that took place during the events of the original show, but were never told until now. In the short titled “Comix Up”, Grunkle Stan gets sucked into the world of comics after placing a stack of them in a mysterious chest while insulting the entire artistic medium itself. Grunkle Stan was belittling and disrespectful towards comics, so when a mystical chest opened up the world of comic books, Grunkle Stan was trapped there as punishment–and naturally, Dipper, Mabel, Grunkle Ford, Soos, and Wendy had no choice but to go in after him.
Dipper, Mabel and the gang travel through a number of different comic book worlds that are reminiscent of those many fans would be familiar with, including one similar to Hellboy, an homage to classic newspaper/magazine comic strips, and even a romance manga. However, it isn’t until the gang ends up in a comic that looks like an Avengers issue where they face off against the parody superhero team. When these ‘Avengers’ challenged them, the Gravity Falls squad didn’t stand a chance. The superheroes had amazing powers, and they did not–until Soos decided to break all the rules. As it turned out, Dipper, Mabel and the gang could interact with their speech bubbles and narration boxes. Mabel even used a speech bubble to stab one of the heroes while Soos rewrote one of the narration boxes to say that he and his friends were granted ultra-powerful superhuman abilities. The Gravity Falls gang literally wrote their own comic while inside it–and the meta narrative doesn’t stop there.
Obviously, this story is taking place in a comic book, so all the arguments Grunkle Stan is making in the early pages of this story that comics aren’t real ‘art’ or are a sorry excuse for entertainment is an argument Gravity Falls: Lost Legends is making about itself. This kind of self-critiquing makes sense in this case as Gravity Falls has gone from being a television show to a one-shot graphic novel, and with that there must have been some anxiety about the pressures of being able to tell a story just as well in comic book form as it would have been on the screen. In the end, Grunkle Stan admits that he’s secretly always loved comics and says they are a valid medium of entertainment–a validation that this Gravity Falls comic technically gives itself. This one is a strange story, and the way it’s told is even more so, as not only do the heroes of Gravity Falls have a superhero battle with their version of the Avengers, but they do so in the most meta way possible.
[ad_2]
Source link
(This article is generated through syndicated feeds, Financetin doesn’t own any part of this content)
