Reviews with content warning for Child death - Nubia: Real One

Literally fabulous! I cried and laughed and screamed and was so angry! Fucking white boys!!! This was well written and had amazing drawings. It is very focused on black trauma and the issues with police while also following the story of a young girl and her superpowers.

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mobymaize's review

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

A really interesting story with great characters and a diverse cast of fun characters! Nubia is great and she is my daughter.

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robinks's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

What a great addition to the superhero genre! This story tackles SO many important topics.

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sapphic_in_the_stacks's review

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adventurous challenging emotional 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? Yes

4.75

With all the same powers as Wonder Woman, Nubia has all the potential to be a revered superhero. Growing up in present day America though, all anyone sees is a young black girl, and no one takes her seriously. Her moms want to protect her from the world, but systemic racism and police brutality are impossible to avoid. Nubia struggles with her powers and potential, along with all the other problems that come with being a a black teenager in America.

I think this book provided fantastic commentary on how society treats similar people differently based solely on race. The story is captivating, and grapples with difficult subjects including sexual harassment, white male entitlement and privilege, police brutality, and school shootings. When I first read this, I thought it was a little dark for teenage readers, before realizing that it's dark because it's mirroring actual teenage experience in the present day. School shootings, racism, and police brutality are all topics that many kids, specifically black kids, have to learn about at far too young an age, just to keep themselves safe. It made me remember how when I graduated high school, it was partially a sigh of relief for my parents to know I had made it out of school without a shooting at my own school. Difficult but necessary topics covered in a beautifully designed comic that was also fun and lighthearted at times made for an amazing read.

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ehmannky's review

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I super hope that this becomes a long-running series because this was so good! I love that we got an origin story for a superhero that is rarely given the spotlight. I thought that the overall story, by showing the ways Nubia deals with racism from the police and classmates even as she literally saves the day and protects those around her, was powerful and heartbreaking. But McKinney also imbues the story with so much humor and nuance and warmth from Nubia's loved ones and the romance is so cute.

Not only is the story powerful, but the art is so vibrant and wonderful. It's just a lot different than a lot of the graphic novels I've been reading lately. Juts an overall delight.

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