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Steven Universe and the Crystal Gems #4
Steven Universe and the Crystal Gems #4
Final issue! Steven and the Gems try to defend themselves against the Glass Ghost.
23 pages, ebook
Published June 29, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 18, 2021
Everybody needs a friend!
June 30, 2016
Steven Universe and the Crystal Gems is a comic series not to be confused with the previous run of Steven Universe comics. Unlike the previous set of eight (or nine, if you count the Greg Universe special), this is not a collection of short adventures and picturesque inserts; it's an ongoing story that develops through four issues, allowing the storytelling to feel more robust and the stakes to feel higher.
The paper issue I own has the cover by Kat Leyh!
Plot: This issue's full-color 20+-page story picks up where the previous issue left off: Steven and Greg have just survived an encounter with the Glass Ghost, and now there's a big hole in Greg's wall (which he frets about while the Gems burst in and destroy even more of the wall). They follow the glass trail the Ghost is leaving and find it in the forest, and attempt to sneak up on it (with Amethyst flying off in bird form to maybe catch it unawares). Steven observes that the Ghost is admiring a flower, and that it gets frustrated when touching the flower turns it to glass. Just as he realizes the Ghost wants to be able to interact with the world without destroying things, Amethyst barrels in with a sneak attack, but the Ghost retaliates and traps her in crystal. Garnet, attempting to play it safe, uses her remote rocket fists to attack the Ghost, but she is distracted by Amethyst's transformation into glass, and it manages to trap her too just as she thinks she's got the upper hand. Pearl and Steven burst in with spear attacks and a bubble barrage, and this time Steven is distracted by Garnet being trapped in the Ghost's glass. Pearl, while trying to encourage him to fight with her, gets attacked herself, and then it's just Steven facing the Ghost himself. He realizes the Ghost cannot control what it's doing and that it would like to touch people and things without ruining them. Steven thinks about how sad it would be if he couldn't hug his friends, and offers himself to the Ghost while protected in his bubble so it can finally have a hug. The Ghost is satisfied, and wraps itself around Steven's bubble in such a way that it triggers the bubble to explode . . . taking the Ghost's physical form with it. Once everyone is freed from its physical remnants and turned back into people and Gems again, Steven realizes it was a Gem all along--a corrupted Gem with an ability it couldn't control--and Steven happily bubbles it and takes it back to the Crystal Temple basement. They reflect once more on the power of scary stories as they all head back to Steven's house.
Notable bits for fans:
1. Greg muttering about insurance probably not covering monster attacks and Gems bursting through the wall is pretty nice--one of the best things about the show is how rooted in reality it can be, with real people worrying about stuff like this.
2. Pearl squawking "WAS THE GHOST HERE? DID IT TOUCH YOU? ARE YOU HURT?" is so true to the neurotic Pearl we all love from the show. Steven calms her down with a problem to solve, describing the way his bubble pushed the Ghost back and then it phased through the wall. I liked watching Pearl and Garnet being nerds trying to figure out how that power works and what it means for whether trapping the Ghost would be possible.
3. Owlmethyst is back. Amethyst becomes an owl to scout the area from the air.
4. Steven was also using his adorable "stealth mode." It's cute when he gets into the character he's playing, and then gets all congratulatory on himself for how well he snuck around. He's even wearing the coat he was wearing in "Arcade Mania" from the last time he was asked to participate in a stealth mission.
5. When Amethyst is first to get turned into glass, she comments that the story was true after all, which is great because it reminds you how much time she spent scared of this thing, and makes you think about why she was so eager to attack it.
6. Steven sympathizing with the monster because he knows what it's like to not really be able to control your powers makes a lot of sense. And of course he would want it to have what it wants, even if it puts him in danger. I'm not sure what his plan was if the Ghost had just hugged his bubble and left, but I guess he was caught up in sympathizing with it.
7. Pearl is interested in the weirdness of the Gem after it's poofed, now that she knows it's a Gem. She acknowledges that she doubted Steven's assessment from one of the earlier issues, and Garnet points out that corruption can do odd things to Gems--just like scary stories can do odd things to people's minds.
8. Steven refers to the poofed Gem as "she" after he realizes the Glass Ghost was a Gem. This is similar to how they were using the pronoun "it" for the Centipeetle in "Monster Buddies" but Steven started using "she" after they spent some time together. I guess he just assumes anything that's of Gem origin is a she, and has no problem thinking of them that way.
9. Seriously one of the cutest moments is the end where Garnet and Pearl are so impressed that the Glass Ghost retained its phasing ability even though it was so corrupted--and that it must be a very strong Gem, "like a Quartz," says Garnet, and Steven proclaims, "LIKE ME!" He's so cute when he's proud of stuff he knows about his Gem heritage.
10. Amethyst shape-shifting into the Glass Ghost to scare the poop out of her family was funny--it felt like a callback to several times when Amethyst did such things, like when she shifted her head into a fly to freak Steven out during "Island Adventure," and when she startled Steven in "Catch and Release" by pretending she was Peridot back to kidnap him. She continues to not know what's appropriate and this comic matches up with that well. Of course, only Steven and Pearl were startled. Garnet just stood there with no reaction. Typical. When Amethyst says it's payback for scaring her with that story all those years, Garnet agrees that that's fair.
11. As they conclude the comic talking about other scary stories, it's adorable how Pearl pipes up something about Frankenstein's monster. She WOULD be the one staying accurate to terminology and not accidentally just calling it "Frankenstein."
12. They never do explicitly return to address why Nanefua and Sadie were not wearing terrified expressions in their frozen state. We can now conclude that maybe they realized the monster just wanted a hug too. Both characters have been sympathetic to others and able to catch onto nuances in interactions that others are oblivious to, so maybe that's why that detail was included.
This issue felt really authentic to the heart of the characters and was great fun to read. I hope there are more miniseries that feel so close to the show, because I think this series has been the best comic adaptation yet.
The paper issue I own has the cover by Kat Leyh!
Plot: This issue's full-color 20+-page story picks up where the previous issue left off: Steven and Greg have just survived an encounter with the Glass Ghost, and now there's a big hole in Greg's wall (which he frets about while the Gems burst in and destroy even more of the wall). They follow the glass trail the Ghost is leaving and find it in the forest, and attempt to sneak up on it (with Amethyst flying off in bird form to maybe catch it unawares). Steven observes that the Ghost is admiring a flower, and that it gets frustrated when touching the flower turns it to glass. Just as he realizes the Ghost wants to be able to interact with the world without destroying things, Amethyst barrels in with a sneak attack, but the Ghost retaliates and traps her in crystal. Garnet, attempting to play it safe, uses her remote rocket fists to attack the Ghost, but she is distracted by Amethyst's transformation into glass, and it manages to trap her too just as she thinks she's got the upper hand. Pearl and Steven burst in with spear attacks and a bubble barrage, and this time Steven is distracted by Garnet being trapped in the Ghost's glass. Pearl, while trying to encourage him to fight with her, gets attacked herself, and then it's just Steven facing the Ghost himself. He realizes the Ghost cannot control what it's doing and that it would like to touch people and things without ruining them. Steven thinks about how sad it would be if he couldn't hug his friends, and offers himself to the Ghost while protected in his bubble so it can finally have a hug. The Ghost is satisfied, and wraps itself around Steven's bubble in such a way that it triggers the bubble to explode . . . taking the Ghost's physical form with it. Once everyone is freed from its physical remnants and turned back into people and Gems again, Steven realizes it was a Gem all along--a corrupted Gem with an ability it couldn't control--and Steven happily bubbles it and takes it back to the Crystal Temple basement. They reflect once more on the power of scary stories as they all head back to Steven's house.
Notable bits for fans:
1. Greg muttering about insurance probably not covering monster attacks and Gems bursting through the wall is pretty nice--one of the best things about the show is how rooted in reality it can be, with real people worrying about stuff like this.
2. Pearl squawking "WAS THE GHOST HERE? DID IT TOUCH YOU? ARE YOU HURT?" is so true to the neurotic Pearl we all love from the show. Steven calms her down with a problem to solve, describing the way his bubble pushed the Ghost back and then it phased through the wall. I liked watching Pearl and Garnet being nerds trying to figure out how that power works and what it means for whether trapping the Ghost would be possible.
3. Owlmethyst is back. Amethyst becomes an owl to scout the area from the air.
4. Steven was also using his adorable "stealth mode." It's cute when he gets into the character he's playing, and then gets all congratulatory on himself for how well he snuck around. He's even wearing the coat he was wearing in "Arcade Mania" from the last time he was asked to participate in a stealth mission.
5. When Amethyst is first to get turned into glass, she comments that the story was true after all, which is great because it reminds you how much time she spent scared of this thing, and makes you think about why she was so eager to attack it.
6. Steven sympathizing with the monster because he knows what it's like to not really be able to control your powers makes a lot of sense. And of course he would want it to have what it wants, even if it puts him in danger. I'm not sure what his plan was if the Ghost had just hugged his bubble and left, but I guess he was caught up in sympathizing with it.
7. Pearl is interested in the weirdness of the Gem after it's poofed, now that she knows it's a Gem. She acknowledges that she doubted Steven's assessment from one of the earlier issues, and Garnet points out that corruption can do odd things to Gems--just like scary stories can do odd things to people's minds.
8. Steven refers to the poofed Gem as "she" after he realizes the Glass Ghost was a Gem. This is similar to how they were using the pronoun "it" for the Centipeetle in "Monster Buddies" but Steven started using "she" after they spent some time together. I guess he just assumes anything that's of Gem origin is a she, and has no problem thinking of them that way.
9. Seriously one of the cutest moments is the end where Garnet and Pearl are so impressed that the Glass Ghost retained its phasing ability even though it was so corrupted--and that it must be a very strong Gem, "like a Quartz," says Garnet, and Steven proclaims, "LIKE ME!" He's so cute when he's proud of stuff he knows about his Gem heritage.
10. Amethyst shape-shifting into the Glass Ghost to scare the poop out of her family was funny--it felt like a callback to several times when Amethyst did such things, like when she shifted her head into a fly to freak Steven out during "Island Adventure," and when she startled Steven in "Catch and Release" by pretending she was Peridot back to kidnap him. She continues to not know what's appropriate and this comic matches up with that well. Of course, only Steven and Pearl were startled. Garnet just stood there with no reaction. Typical. When Amethyst says it's payback for scaring her with that story all those years, Garnet agrees that that's fair.
11. As they conclude the comic talking about other scary stories, it's adorable how Pearl pipes up something about Frankenstein's monster. She WOULD be the one staying accurate to terminology and not accidentally just calling it "Frankenstein."
12. They never do explicitly return to address why Nanefua and Sadie were not wearing terrified expressions in their frozen state. We can now conclude that maybe they realized the monster just wanted a hug too. Both characters have been sympathetic to others and able to catch onto nuances in interactions that others are oblivious to, so maybe that's why that detail was included.
This issue felt really authentic to the heart of the characters and was great fun to read. I hope there are more miniseries that feel so close to the show, because I think this series has been the best comic adaptation yet.
August 11, 2017
The final issue sees the crystal monster being ambushed, but not even the powers of Amethyst, Garnet or Pearl are enough. Can Steven defeat it and save all the rest of the humans who were entrapped? Great story with very decent art.
August 14, 2017
Una historia sencilla pero con mucha imaginación. La puedes leer en menos de 20 minutos, son cuatro cómics.
June 30, 2016
I picked up the fourth Steven comic the day it came out, like always, and finally got to see the conclusion of the Glass Ghost arc. We join up with Steven and his dad after they've just narrowly escaped being turned into glass--and Greg is very worried about the wall being busted, while the Gems blast on in and make it worse--but they've got bigger problems now. The Ghost is running through town leaving a trail of broken glass and transformed townspeople, forcing the Gems to pursue until they clash one last time in the forest. The Gems attempt to crush their foe while protecting Steven, only to find themselves at its mercy. But Steven's keen observation skills and sympathetic mindset lead to a typically Steveny conclusion; he learns to understand what the Ghost really wants, and discovers how to pacify it, returning everyone back to normal.
The story did a great job keeping all the characters' emotional center accurate to how they're portrayed in the show, and I was satisfied with Steven's decision at the end. It's lovely to visit with these characters in comic form during times when the show is not coming out with new episodes.
The story did a great job keeping all the characters' emotional center accurate to how they're portrayed in the show, and I was satisfied with Steven's decision at the end. It's lovely to visit with these characters in comic form during times when the show is not coming out with new episodes.
August 16, 2016
Gah I just love Steven Universe, but I do think I prefer watching the show to reading the comic books.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews