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Steven Universe
Steven Universe: Anti-Gravity
Electromagentic disturbances cause objects and people around Beach City to hover off the ground, and the gang goes to the Gem Temple to figure out what’s happening.
Beach City has always been proudly weird, but when objects and people all around town mysteriously begin levitating...well, that’s outright odd. To figure out what’s happening, Steven and the Crystal Gems will literally have to travel to the moon and back! Writer Talya Perper and illustrator Queenie Chan come together for this way-out Sci-Fi tale featuring everybody’s favorite Beach City Heroes.
Beach City has always been proudly weird, but when objects and people all around town mysteriously begin levitating...well, that’s outright odd. To figure out what’s happening, Steven and the Crystal Gems will literally have to travel to the moon and back! Writer Talya Perper and illustrator Queenie Chan come together for this way-out Sci-Fi tale featuring everybody’s favorite Beach City Heroes.
144 pages, Paperback
First published November 7, 2017
6 people are currently reading
215 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
August 10, 2020
I love the Steven Universe show, but it's main fault was giving too many highlight episodes to some truly weak-ass side characters like Kevin and Mayor Dewey. This graphic novel is about one of the worst of those guys, Ronaldo Fryman, the narcissistic conspiracy theorist. I hate him. At least there are a few nice character moments for the Gems as they try to stop an old piece of Gemworld technology from causing everything in Beach City to float away into space.
The art by Queenie Chan looks a bit amateurish and struggles to stay on-model for the characters.
Not a great Steven fix overall.
The art by Queenie Chan looks a bit amateurish and struggles to stay on-model for the characters.
Not a great Steven fix overall.
January 26, 2018
I've read a lot of Steven Universe comics and I think this might be the best of the offerings (and there are some very good ones)! I'm a little confused by the cover image they went with, but I loved the art and the story. Captures both the epic world-buildy lore stuff and creates a heartwarming portrait of one of the citizens of Beach City.
March 21, 2021
It's a good one, both the book and the show.
November 23, 2017
Contrary to what the book cover says there’s no Connie on this story; it’s a good story focused on Aliens and Ronaldo playing with Gravity on Earth, it has all the elements to a good Steven Universe story.
June 4, 2024
Wanted to read a few short graphic novels to get rid of my book slump and I found this one on Libby!
Love love Steven Universe, and this was really cute 🥺 I'm not usually the biggest fan of Ronaldo, but I do think he's interesting 😆 His part here was just written well!
I think just some of the art feels inconsistent to me, especially when thinking of the art in the actual series. Other than that, this was such a good short read 🥹
Love love Steven Universe, and this was really cute 🥺 I'm not usually the biggest fan of Ronaldo, but I do think he's interesting 😆 His part here was just written well!
I think just some of the art feels inconsistent to me, especially when thinking of the art in the actual series. Other than that, this was such a good short read 🥹
December 31, 2017
This was better than I expected, even though Ronaldo is not my favourite character, this was great. I love how Steven always worries so mich about Earth, and that moment with Garnet was just completely adorable. I love her, she is so wise.
November 27, 2017
The second original graphic novel for Steven Universe–meaning, a story that was not previously released as individual-issue comic books–is an excellent story with incredible art, fan-favorite callbacks, plenty of feels, and basically everything fans of the show could want in a comic. It’s also much better edited than its predecessor, with better storytelling.
In this graphic novel, Ronaldo Fryman, a conspiracy-obsessed local fry cook at his family’s business, finds that the cheap radio telescope kit he modified appears to have received a transmission from space. He books it to Steven Universe’s house to tell him, knowing that Steven has been supportive of his antics before, but his guardians the Gems are a bit more dismissive. (After all, they ARE aliens, every instance of alien wackiness that’s occurred in town so far has been their fault.)
But even though the group thinks Ronaldo is incorrect about his discovery, they are suddenly dealing with an unexplainable problem: gravity suddenly isn’t working right. Sometimes things and people are floating.
After the Gems kick Ronaldo out and try to make a plan to figure out what’s going on, Ronaldo starts floating away and the Gems scramble to keep him from slipping into the sky. Ultimately Steven catches Ronaldo and brings him back down–thanks to Garnet throwing him–and Ronaldo protests that he was being abducted by aliens and had always dreamed of going. But they return him to his fry shop where his brother was worried about him. Steven blows up at Ronaldo for wailing about going to space and not being sensitive to how his brother would have felt if he’d just floated away.
Steven feels frustrated and sad that Ronaldo reminds him of how he used to feel about Gem stuff–it was sort of a game, and he wanted to help, but he didn’t really understand and now he knows how serious and scary it is.
Once they’ve talked Steven’s issues out, the Gems help around town putting people and things in bubbles if they’ve been affected by the anti-gravity. Steven tells them not to listen to Ronaldo’s rumors about aliens, and Ronaldo feels ashamed. Then the Gems discuss what could be causing the problem and conclude it might be an old Gem satellite breaking down. They determine they’ll have to go to the Gem moon base to check it out, and Lion (reluctantly) teleports them there.
They quickly find the malfunctioning satellite and jump over to it from the moon base: Garnet jumps on her own, Pearl and Amethyst perform their fusion dance to become the much larger Opal, and Opal throws Steven to Garnet before jumping over herself.
Pearl then finds that a computer regulating the satellite’s operations is running tons of applications in the background and she’ll have to shut them all down. While she tinkers, Amethyst and Steven check out other areas of the satellite to make sure nothing else is awry, and Garnet follows Steven down to a place where he can see the warp core. They have a quiet moment where they discuss being responsible for protecting the Earth and how scary that can be.
Before Pearl is finished with what she’s doing, an alarm goes off in the satellite and they find that a phaser is charging to shoot at Earth. Strange phenomena begin on Earth and Ronaldo concludes the aliens are not abducting–they’re ATTACKING. He uses his radio telescope and tries to communicate with the aliens, and miraculously, the Gems hear him on the satellite. He makes a couple suggestions that inspire them on how to turn the systems off. The anti-gravity on Earth is over.
When the Gems return to Earth, they acknowledge Ronaldo’s help and the town celebrates him. Daily life resumes as usual, and an epilogue through Ronaldo’s blog marks a return to the status quo.
Notable for fans:
1. Inside the Temple, for some reason Garnet is much smaller than the door when interacting with Ronaldo. Usually she’s big enough that she has to duck through doors.
2. When Ronaldo says it’s the first-ever alien encounter, Amethyst is barely keeping her laughter in, while Garnet has no reaction and Pearl looks like how dare u.
3. Jane’s picture is next to Ronaldo’s computer.
4. At one point they mention “neuron stars.” I’m guessing they meant neutron.
5. Ronaldo makes a reference to having a career in intergalactic diplomacy, which is a callback to him using the same phrase in “Rising Tides, Crashing Skies.”
6. Amethyst corrects Ronaldo on the meaning of light years, which is something she did once to Pearl in “Chille Tid.” In the episode, she said “light years measures light, not years.” But this time she points out the accurate meaning of light years.
7. Garnet throwing Steven is precious. (Especially after Pearl is like WHY DID YOU THROW HIM and she’s just like . . . shrug)
8. The whole scene with Ronaldo thinking they were being cruel to him for saving him was pretty heartbreaking, especially since it got so serious after that, with Steven scolding Ronaldo for how he’s acting.
9. Steven’s realization that things are serious is not new, but it’s really interesting how it came back to him when he saw how Ronaldo treated the entire situation like a game.
10. Continuity! At the Moon Base the control panel is broken. That’s because Garnet broke it in “It Could’ve Been Great.”
11. Wow, new information. Satellites existed as mobile headquarters for Gem scouts collecting core samples on potential colony planets.
12. It was so cool to see Opal! But she looked a lot bigger than usual. She was holding Steven like she’s the size of Sardonyx, but during her first appearance in “Giant Woman” she didn’t look that big and Steven came up to her knee. Opal can stand up in the house and Sardonyx can’t. I know the sizes are deliberately inconsistent sometimes but if a person comes up to your knees you probably can’t hold them in your hands like that.
13. It’s hilarious how Garnet keeps resorting to the idea of breaking computers to fix them. Violence is the answer!
14. Garnet’s discussion of being responsible for Earth with Steven is just so touching. I love that she cuddles him while in space.
15. We got a FLASHBACK of Garnet training with Rose!!!
16. Garnet and Pearl holding each other while looking at the technology that came from their people’s terrible invasion of Earth . . . it’s just a really striking image for someone who knows their history and background.
In this graphic novel, Ronaldo Fryman, a conspiracy-obsessed local fry cook at his family’s business, finds that the cheap radio telescope kit he modified appears to have received a transmission from space. He books it to Steven Universe’s house to tell him, knowing that Steven has been supportive of his antics before, but his guardians the Gems are a bit more dismissive. (After all, they ARE aliens, every instance of alien wackiness that’s occurred in town so far has been their fault.)
But even though the group thinks Ronaldo is incorrect about his discovery, they are suddenly dealing with an unexplainable problem: gravity suddenly isn’t working right. Sometimes things and people are floating.
After the Gems kick Ronaldo out and try to make a plan to figure out what’s going on, Ronaldo starts floating away and the Gems scramble to keep him from slipping into the sky. Ultimately Steven catches Ronaldo and brings him back down–thanks to Garnet throwing him–and Ronaldo protests that he was being abducted by aliens and had always dreamed of going. But they return him to his fry shop where his brother was worried about him. Steven blows up at Ronaldo for wailing about going to space and not being sensitive to how his brother would have felt if he’d just floated away.
Steven feels frustrated and sad that Ronaldo reminds him of how he used to feel about Gem stuff–it was sort of a game, and he wanted to help, but he didn’t really understand and now he knows how serious and scary it is.
Once they’ve talked Steven’s issues out, the Gems help around town putting people and things in bubbles if they’ve been affected by the anti-gravity. Steven tells them not to listen to Ronaldo’s rumors about aliens, and Ronaldo feels ashamed. Then the Gems discuss what could be causing the problem and conclude it might be an old Gem satellite breaking down. They determine they’ll have to go to the Gem moon base to check it out, and Lion (reluctantly) teleports them there.
They quickly find the malfunctioning satellite and jump over to it from the moon base: Garnet jumps on her own, Pearl and Amethyst perform their fusion dance to become the much larger Opal, and Opal throws Steven to Garnet before jumping over herself.
Pearl then finds that a computer regulating the satellite’s operations is running tons of applications in the background and she’ll have to shut them all down. While she tinkers, Amethyst and Steven check out other areas of the satellite to make sure nothing else is awry, and Garnet follows Steven down to a place where he can see the warp core. They have a quiet moment where they discuss being responsible for protecting the Earth and how scary that can be.
Before Pearl is finished with what she’s doing, an alarm goes off in the satellite and they find that a phaser is charging to shoot at Earth. Strange phenomena begin on Earth and Ronaldo concludes the aliens are not abducting–they’re ATTACKING. He uses his radio telescope and tries to communicate with the aliens, and miraculously, the Gems hear him on the satellite. He makes a couple suggestions that inspire them on how to turn the systems off. The anti-gravity on Earth is over.
When the Gems return to Earth, they acknowledge Ronaldo’s help and the town celebrates him. Daily life resumes as usual, and an epilogue through Ronaldo’s blog marks a return to the status quo.
Notable for fans:
1. Inside the Temple, for some reason Garnet is much smaller than the door when interacting with Ronaldo. Usually she’s big enough that she has to duck through doors.
2. When Ronaldo says it’s the first-ever alien encounter, Amethyst is barely keeping her laughter in, while Garnet has no reaction and Pearl looks like how dare u.
3. Jane’s picture is next to Ronaldo’s computer.
4. At one point they mention “neuron stars.” I’m guessing they meant neutron.
5. Ronaldo makes a reference to having a career in intergalactic diplomacy, which is a callback to him using the same phrase in “Rising Tides, Crashing Skies.”
6. Amethyst corrects Ronaldo on the meaning of light years, which is something she did once to Pearl in “Chille Tid.” In the episode, she said “light years measures light, not years.” But this time she points out the accurate meaning of light years.
7. Garnet throwing Steven is precious. (Especially after Pearl is like WHY DID YOU THROW HIM and she’s just like . . . shrug)
8. The whole scene with Ronaldo thinking they were being cruel to him for saving him was pretty heartbreaking, especially since it got so serious after that, with Steven scolding Ronaldo for how he’s acting.
9. Steven’s realization that things are serious is not new, but it’s really interesting how it came back to him when he saw how Ronaldo treated the entire situation like a game.
10. Continuity! At the Moon Base the control panel is broken. That’s because Garnet broke it in “It Could’ve Been Great.”
11. Wow, new information. Satellites existed as mobile headquarters for Gem scouts collecting core samples on potential colony planets.
12. It was so cool to see Opal! But she looked a lot bigger than usual. She was holding Steven like she’s the size of Sardonyx, but during her first appearance in “Giant Woman” she didn’t look that big and Steven came up to her knee. Opal can stand up in the house and Sardonyx can’t. I know the sizes are deliberately inconsistent sometimes but if a person comes up to your knees you probably can’t hold them in your hands like that.
13. It’s hilarious how Garnet keeps resorting to the idea of breaking computers to fix them. Violence is the answer!
14. Garnet’s discussion of being responsible for Earth with Steven is just so touching. I love that she cuddles him while in space.
15. We got a FLASHBACK of Garnet training with Rose!!!
16. Garnet and Pearl holding each other while looking at the technology that came from their people’s terrible invasion of Earth . . . it’s just a really striking image for someone who knows their history and background.
November 28, 2017
Something weird is happening in Beach City--as usual. Objects and sometimes people have stopped obeying gravity. Ronaldo Fryman, local conspiracy theorist, is POSITIVE this can be explained by aliens, but Steven Universe and his extraterrestrial guardians the Crystal Gems do not agree. After all, THEY are the source of most of the weirdness around these parts, and this time, it wasn't them. But upon investigation, the Gems do find a satellite left by their people ages ago is malfunctioning and causing aberrations on Earth, so they have to go into space to fix it. And it turns out they may need a little trust in someone they underestimated. . . .
This was so much better than I expected--the first original graphic novel was fun but had a lot of editing issues and some character problems I was kind of disappointed in, so this was a huge breath of fresh air. There were so many callbacks to episodes from the TV show that I recognized; there were plenty of feelsy moments; and there were definitely some awesome fan-favorite moments (Opal has an appearance! We flash back to see a glimpse of Cotton Candy Garnet!). This volume contains all the elements of a great episode of the show. I recommend it!
This was so much better than I expected--the first original graphic novel was fun but had a lot of editing issues and some character problems I was kind of disappointed in, so this was a huge breath of fresh air. There were so many callbacks to episodes from the TV show that I recognized; there were plenty of feelsy moments; and there were definitely some awesome fan-favorite moments (Opal has an appearance! We flash back to see a glimpse of Cotton Candy Garnet!). This volume contains all the elements of a great episode of the show. I recommend it!
June 28, 2018
I didn't like this volume quite as much as Too Cool for School, but that's because I'm not a huge fan of Ronaldo, who gets a lot of page time here. A mysterious force is causing gravity in Beach City to fluctuate. Ronaldo thinks he's responsible, but the Crystal Gems do the actual investigation. While it rises to a tense climax, the stakes never feel quite as high as the situation seems to claim. The Crystal Gems play a larger role here, which I liked, but there's also a strong Beach City contingent playing background, above and beyond Ronaldo. It's not bad, by any means, and if you're a fan of Ronaldo, you'll definitely enjoy this. Otherwise, it's merely a good addition.
November 25, 2017
Black Friday was a day of graphic novels. This was the third one. Not as good as Steven Universe: Warp Tour, this was still a really well told Steven story. I've enjoyed reading a bunch of stories that involve Steven and secondary characters. Anti-Gravity is (pun coming) a little heavier, and fits more in a season 4 story line.
Like Warp Tour, Anti-Gravity fits well within the universe that the show has created. And again, to me, that's a high form of praise.
Like Warp Tour, Anti-Gravity fits well within the universe that the show has created. And again, to me, that's a high form of praise.
August 4, 2018
I didn't like this one as much as 'too cool for school.'
This was the same kind of story we'd get in the main series. I appreciated the different art style, especially since it's the adorable one from the games. It's just that 'too cool for school' was a story that would never have happened in the show, and reading it was like a secret you got to have with Steven and the gang. This one...it's more of a lost episode, at best.
This was the same kind of story we'd get in the main series. I appreciated the different art style, especially since it's the adorable one from the games. It's just that 'too cool for school' was a story that would never have happened in the show, and reading it was like a secret you got to have with Steven and the gang. This one...it's more of a lost episode, at best.
December 14, 2019
Another really nice story that lets fans spend some more time with Steven Universe and the Crystal Gems. This one was a little Ronaldo-heavy, so if he annoys you like he does me... this is still enjoyable, but not necessarily a favorite. I also liked that this story took place when Steven was a bit more mature (and less annoying himself). This story also had some nice Garnet-Mom moments. Definitely worth a read if you're a fan.
January 26, 2024
This is a nice little side story about old Gem technology causing issues in Gem City. It features a lot of Ronaldo, which could annoy some people, but I didn't mind in a story like this - it was nice to see him have a win for once without also causing massive destruction. There was also some more lore about the past, which is always nice.
The art style was a little wonky and didn't quite work for me, but overall I didn't mind too much.
The art style was a little wonky and didn't quite work for me, but overall I didn't mind too much.
September 4, 2019
Generally I’m not excited to see a lot of Ronaldo in an episode, but this comic made me kind of love him. Having said that, part of what makes him Ronaldo is his inability to understand what’s really going on. People don’t have much respect for him. The writers didn’t quite stay true to that in this. But I loved the long form, and seeing Opal is always 😍😍😍
December 31, 2017
A cute addition to the Steven Universe canon. Characters rang true, art was interesting - thick sketchy lines making the story feel as one of the more stand alone episodes, rather than a plot driving one. Excellent Lion poses.
September 25, 2023
Steven Universe is one of my comfort shows. I love this show with all my heart and watched it over a million times. Which makes this extra story so special because it is new and also because I hear their voices in my head while reading.
November 30, 2017
It was an alright lil story
January 20, 2018
Decent story bogged down by art that made me feel like I was reading a really bad fan-Tumblr comic at points.
April 6, 2018
Ronaldo is my least favorite SU character and he features prominently in this graphic novel - however it’s all worth it for a flashback page of Cotton Candy Garnet training with Rose Quartz.
April 9, 2018
Great read! Very faithful to the TV series!
December 15, 2018
This is a cute, quick Steven Universe read. Ronaldo finally gets his story heard. It's about the length of an episode and shows us some more of the Gem's past.
January 4, 2019
A fun little visit back to Beach City with Steven and his friends.
March 1, 2020
Ronaldo...fricken love him.
March 8, 2020
It was very interesting. I liked that it was a little sci-fi and that everyone ha their own problems that they solved.
December 29, 2018
First read 12/27/18
Reread 12/29/18
This was my first Steven Universe graphic novel and I loved it. It read just like an episode on tv and the art work was beautiful.
Reread 12/29/18
This was my first Steven Universe graphic novel and I loved it. It read just like an episode on tv and the art work was beautiful.
December 9, 2017
super cute and heartwarming!! I wasn't sure about the art style at first, but I actually came to really love it. it's kind of goofy, just like the characters. :'))
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October 5, 2018Fiction S9472a 2017
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews