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3.45 AVERAGE
3.45 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I was actually hoping this'd suck so I could sell this and make space on my shelves, but, sadly, I enjoyed it too much.
Nothing like the movie... NOTHING... but still pretty good.
An entertaining coming-of-age story of a young man named Gary who, with the help of his uncle, learns how to be a secret service agent.
I should probably leave a higher rating. The only reason I didn't care for it was due to watching the movie before reading the comics. I did this to myself with "Game of Thrones", "Outlander", and a few others I cannot remember.
The Secret Service is basically a stereotypical 13 year old boy's wet dream - being "chosen" for the chance of the lifetime, wrecking havoc on those who have wronged you and your loved ones, girls, guns, glory. The whole shebang. Which means that I should have loved it. To an extent, I did really enjoy this. And then my moral and common sense came back to me, and I found a few shortcomings.
Many of the items listed above were definitely indulged in, which made the story feel more like a cheap fanfic than a fleshed out plot. Some of the tests Eggsy (our hero-in-training) had to undergo felt like they could be legitimate, but also felt like they were what a middle schooler would think secret agents do every day. Examples of this would be shooting and killing drug dealers embroiled in an argument in order to "toughen" the subjects to murder. This is a trait that I assume would be necessary in order to succeed in the field, but the way that it was set up felt very mechanical and unrealistic. Working as an agent would not mean losing emotion. The idea that the government would be so reckless as to endanger its own citizens (you laugh, but I'm serious) - even if they are low-life criminals - was not plausible to me.
Another training session involved going to clubs and picking up women, because they're obviously the best targets for sociolinguistic trapping, right? Negging real people with real feelings is totally valid as long as it's for practice. Not to mention constructing a point system for how far you go with someone.
The representation of women in this was actually kind of gross. There weren't any strong female characters, not really. The closest would be either Eggsy's mother, who does stand up to her abusive husband a few times (though not much), or the evil scientist's girlfriend, who nobly takes a stand against him at the last minute, only toliterally be shot down by one of his henchmen . Not to mention that this girlfriend, after sleeping with an agent (who is using her for information, because SOs of the villains are sooo vulnerable and easy to break) is shown topless for a scene while they talk. This is not an issue of decency, it's an issue of "the guy was clothed and she was obviously just a pretty body." Make it equal, at least. Throw something in for the female readers. Stop making the comic industry such a bro-fest.
There were also a few racist inclusions that were not necessary to the plot, and therefore included because racist stereotypes are hilarious. I'm looking at the jabs at Asians (sexual reference) and Columbians (violence). There may have been others, but those were the ones that really stuck out to me. Completely irrelevant, both to the plot and the 21st century.
On a very basic level, I did enjoy this. I liked the way that class struggles were intertwined with a secret government mission. It was a fun read, though lacking some oomph for me personally. I only wish that I found it less problematic.
Many of the items listed above were definitely indulged in, which made the story feel more like a cheap fanfic than a fleshed out plot. Some of the tests Eggsy (our hero-in-training) had to undergo felt like they could be legitimate, but also felt like they were what a middle schooler would think secret agents do every day. Examples of this would be shooting and killing drug dealers embroiled in an argument in order to "toughen" the subjects to murder. This is a trait that I assume would be necessary in order to succeed in the field, but the way that it was set up felt very mechanical and unrealistic. Working as an agent would not mean losing emotion. The idea that the government would be so reckless as to endanger its own citizens (you laugh, but I'm serious) - even if they are low-life criminals - was not plausible to me.
Another training session involved going to clubs and picking up women, because they're obviously the best targets for sociolinguistic trapping, right? Negging real people with real feelings is totally valid as long as it's for practice. Not to mention constructing a point system for how far you go with someone.
The representation of women in this was actually kind of gross. There weren't any strong female characters, not really. The closest would be either Eggsy's mother, who does stand up to her abusive husband a few times (though not much), or the evil scientist's girlfriend, who nobly takes a stand against him at the last minute, only to
There were also a few racist inclusions that were not necessary to the plot, and therefore included because racist stereotypes are hilarious. I'm looking at the jabs at Asians (sexual reference) and Columbians (violence). There may have been others, but those were the ones that really stuck out to me. Completely irrelevant, both to the plot and the 21st century.
On a very basic level, I did enjoy this. I liked the way that class struggles were intertwined with a secret government mission. It was a fun read, though lacking some oomph for me personally. I only wish that I found it less problematic.
adventurous
dark
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I got really into this. Having seen the film, I knee the vague story, but it was good to properly read and see it. The graphics are great and it is a very suspense-filled story.
Ugh. It's so cringe-inducing to read stories that are trying so hard to be edgy and gritty because they fail almost every time, and it's not fun to see, just annoying. Profanity and violence are acceptable in reasonable doses, but adding in f-words and people getting shot in the head on every page doesn't make your book cool or mature; it does the opposite.