Review: Agents of the Realm
LadiesCon 2016 may be over, but we're still thinking about what made it such a great time. One of the things that I was really excited about was the opportunity to speak directly to so many creators and artists about their original works. One of the creators I was most excited about was Mildred Louis, who writes and draws a comic called Agents of the Realm. I hadn't heard of her work before the con, but when she contacted us about having a table, I looked at her work and knew I'd be paying her a visit. I had the supreme good fortune (thanks to a huge assist from Smalerie) of snagging the last copy of her book, which collects the first volume of an ambitious work which, luckily for me, continues online.
The premise is a twist on the classic magical girl genre of manga (see Crystal Cadets for a more standard version): five young women discover that they are the protectors of our world, which is being threatened by strange beasts entering our realm from a sister dimension. In the classic magical girl style, Norah, Adele, Kendall, Paige, and Jordan have special brooches that transform them into uniform-wearing warriors, each with her own weapon, powers, and attendant element. Through the magic of the brooches, they find each other and begin to learn about their powers, the other realm, and why and how they were chosen to protect the world.
The twist comes in from the fact that in standard magical girl stories, there is an emphasis on girl - the protagonists are typically tweens or young teenagers, and part of the transformation is that they become an adult version of themselves. They're all Mary Marvel, if her posse were other girls instead of two boys and talking tiger. The Agents are all adults already - young adults, to be fair, but in college and of legal age. This immediately has different implications about how they make the choice to accept their roles and for how Louis is able to explore the relationships between the characters and the problems that they face. When you're watching or reading Sailor Moon, you know that while Sailor Moon is presented as an adult, Usagi Tsukino is really still a kid, and her concerns when she isn't saving the planet are appropriately childish. The Agents, on the other hand, are young adults, and they have concerns that an adult can relate to, in addition to fighting off giant spirit birds.
Another thing that makes the series great is the level of representation of both people of color and of LBGTQ folks. Most of the characters, including 4 of the 5 Agents, are not white. They also have a wide range of body types - and they keep them after they transform. They do not become "idealized" versions of themselves. This is a powerful message delivered with subtlety - that they are already good enough, already powerful just as they are. They are also beautiful, and feminine, without needing to all fit into the white, western ideal shape.
The orientations of the various characters are handled with that same grace - we're shown characters who have loving relationships of all types, completely integrated into the story. It doesn't feel like anything that's being called attention to, a lesson we're meant to learn - these are just people, and people have many different approaches to sex and love and romance.
Norah, Adele, Kendall, Paige, and Jordan feel like real people - they have strengths, but also flaws - and not just "oh, she's such a klutz." It's apparent even in the first issue that Norah struggles with social anxiety. Paige is driven and ambitious to the point of being rude at times. Kendall is a peacemaker. It's refreshing to see the trope of the "chosen ones" applied to characters who feel like more than a cardboard cutout.
Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the art. As you can see from the pictures here, it's gorgeous and dynamic. There's a clear progression as Louis' style evolves - I think that she continually improves her panel layout and visual storytelling - but the technical excellence is on display from the beginning.
Do you read Agents of the Realm? Tell me what you think in the comments!
Recommended age: Teen to adult. The content is far from racy, but the website does have a trigger warning that suggests that not all of it might be suitable for younger readers.
You might like it if: You like realistic ladies kicking fantastical butt.
Bonus features: If you're local, Mildred Louis will be at MICE! So if you missed getting a physical book at LadiesCon, you might have another shot.