So as long as I’m on a nostalgia, Sailor Moon, and former fanfiction track, let’s talk about the recent Independence Day sequel.

Or not. I haven’t seen it yet. No spoilers.

It’s funny how easy it is to avoid spoilers for movies that don’t do well

The first Independence Day came out when I was 14, and I went with my entire extended family to see it on July 4. The theater was absolutely packed – the only tickets we could get were for the very front row (not the greatest place for a group of super tall people, but we got in) My uncle kept insisting someone would say “nuke ‘em.” It seemed like a really big deal, but I never trust nostalgia/kid vision with these things because even at 14, everything was big. Come to think of it, I recently asked my mom if Michael Jordan was as big of a deal as he seemed back when he was active in the NBA – she confirmed that it wasn’t just kid vision, or that we lived in close vicinity of Chicago.

Accurate depiction of some of my relatives

Still, regardless of whether or not it was as big as I remember or even a good movie, it was definitely worth a many rewatches in my family. So a magical girl series influenced both by Independence Day and Sailor Moon?

In your typical magical girl series, the protagonist’s living a normal life when some little minion monster comes along and starts messing things up. A mascot/guide gives the otherwise ordinary girl powers, she defeats the monster, and the day is saved. As the story progresses, it builds to bigger villains and usually an overarching plot to take over or destroy the world or something.

The Hues proposes this: what if the heroes weren’t ready?

What if the guide hasn’t even shown up by the time the villains execute their master plan?

Slacker.

This comic throws you almost right away into the action starting on the day of the invasion. For Sami, our initial protagonist, it’s not quite the first day of the story – she has always had dreams about the alien hexagram that appeared over the city a few weeks earlier. She soon meets other girls with elemental abilities as they group together and try to make their way through the chaos. As the story develops, it becomes clear that even though the girls don’t have full control of their power yet, they are well-suited to be protectors of the planet.

Me too, dude. I mean, I’m 34 and I’m useless now

The Hues features wonderfully detailed art and very diverse cast especially for a magical girl story. My only complaint about the story is that I don’t feel like I’m getting to know any of the characters very well because most of them don’t have backstory details yet. We’re starting to get bits and pieces on flashbacks, but I feel it’s kind of strange that most of the girls don’t talk about their lives before the invasion much. Hannah (my favorite character) excepted, she’s made it pretty clear that she was in a bad situation and doesn’t want to talk about it. But there’s still plenty of time for the story to expand. They still haven’t met their guide.

OK, to be fair, the guy seems to be in the hospital at the beginning of the story, so maybe I should ease up a little.

Also you tend to forget about that when you see awesome action shots like this.

Courtesy Hannah, you rock!

The Hues
Genre: Magical Girl/Sci-Fi
Rating: PG-13
Updates: Mon-Wed-Fri with extended breaks between chapters