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Steven Universe and the Crystal Gems #3
Steven Universe and the Crystal Gems #3
When Amethyst and Steven show proof of the glass ghost to Pearl, she recalls that Rose was the one who first told her the story.
23 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 27, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 26, 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 30+-page story picks up where the previous issue left off: Amethyst is ready to defend Steven against the Glass Ghost, confirming the truth of the story she'd been told all those years ago. Revealing that actually Rose Quartz originated the story as if it were a real experience, Amethyst says she never stopped believing it. The ghost is invulnerable to Amethyst's whip attacks, so she and Steven grab the crystallized Ronaldo and run. Soon they show Ronaldo's helpless form to the other Crystal Gems and debate on what to do, but before they can take any course of action to help him, screams erupt from all over town. More townspeople are being turned into glass! Following a trail (and observing that Sadie in particular doesn't look like she had been scared of the ghost at the time she'd become petrified), Steven is terrified to hear his own father screaming for help. Steven arrives just in time to stop Greg from becoming the latest victim, using his shield and his bubble to defend, but now he's very confused about what this "ghost" actually is and why it's targeting humans now.
Notable bits for fans:
1. The Glass Ghost's eyes and hand gestures clearly look sympathetic almost all of the time; if you look closely, you can see it's confused or dismayed about being attacked, and that it seems to be reaching for help somehow. Its expression is drawn very well despite not having traditional features.
2. There's a strange panel on the first page where Amethyst's hair is not covering her face where it usually is, but her other eye doesn't appear to be under there. Subsequent frames show glimpses of her left eye appropriately when her hair moves, so it looks really weird to see no eye in this one frame.
3. Amethyst claims that Rose finally told her the Glass Ghost story once after she got in "real big trouble." I wonder what she did to deserve that kind of talking-to. It's implied that she talked about the Ghost out of love for Amethyst, though, not as a boogeyman to make her behave. I like the one drawing of Rose talking to young Amethyst.
4. There's a cute moment when Amethyst drops her half of Ronaldo's glass form to yell at Pearl, and Steven is left holding Ronaldo all by himself. When Garnet takes him off his hands, he sighs with relief.
5. Garnet's "I thought violence would be the answer!" mentality comes up hard and fast when Steven's distressed about how to fix Ronaldo and she whips out her gauntlets to smash him. Luckily they stop her, but this is some good continuity. Garnet is occasionally the opposite of level-headed when she's panicking, and this is a good expression of it.
6. Pearl has her science nerd face on again when she says they can't "melt" the glass to help the frozen Ronaldo because he's not made of ice, and the temperature needed to melt glass would kill a human.
7. Steven, in his typical way, is worried about what he's going to tell Ronaldo's family. He specifically mentions Ronaldo's brother, Peedee. The very peculiar thing is that in the next shot, they find that Peedee and Mr. Fryman have already been turned into glass by the Ghost, and when Garnet remarks "Looks like the Ghost found him first," Steven hugs their frozen forms and says "Don't worry, Sour Cream, we'll find a way to get you out of there." That is clearly not Sour Cream in there. Sour Cream is actually not pictured anywhere in this comic, though all of his friends are. I wonder if notes got crossed somehow and Peedee/Mr. Fryman were drawn in the frame but the dialogue still said "Sour Cream"? It's really confusing.
8. Steven notices two frozen people whose pose appears to puzzle him. Everyone else looks terrified (Ronaldo, Mr. Fryman/Peedee, Kiki/Jenny, Kofi, Buck, Mayor Dewey, Jamie, and Lars), but Nanefua and Sadie are reaching up and looking calm or sympathetic. It's only commented on in Sadie's case, but Steven does utter "Huh?" looking at Nanefua.
9. I did think it was a little weird that when the screaming started coming from more than one direction, the Gems let Steven go one way and all three of them went the other way. Doesn't seem like the safest choice, especially with Garnet saying "Steven can handle himself" (even if she's right)--he probably would have appreciated some reassurance.
10. When Steven repels the creature with his bubble and it smashes into the wall, it looks actually really angry for the first time. It's pretty unsettling.
The final showdown is likely to be great in the fourth and final volume, but I was just a little less impressed with this volume versus the previous two. It mostly just felt like more of the same thing that happened last time because we already saw the Glass Ghost turning a human into glass, and now it just did more of it while Steven discovered the story originally came from Rose. There's just not a ton of forward motion in the story here. Hoping the last one knocks my socks off!
The paper issue I own has the cover by Kat Leyh!
Plot: This issue's full-color 30+-page story picks up where the previous issue left off: Amethyst is ready to defend Steven against the Glass Ghost, confirming the truth of the story she'd been told all those years ago. Revealing that actually Rose Quartz originated the story as if it were a real experience, Amethyst says she never stopped believing it. The ghost is invulnerable to Amethyst's whip attacks, so she and Steven grab the crystallized Ronaldo and run. Soon they show Ronaldo's helpless form to the other Crystal Gems and debate on what to do, but before they can take any course of action to help him, screams erupt from all over town. More townspeople are being turned into glass! Following a trail (and observing that Sadie in particular doesn't look like she had been scared of the ghost at the time she'd become petrified), Steven is terrified to hear his own father screaming for help. Steven arrives just in time to stop Greg from becoming the latest victim, using his shield and his bubble to defend, but now he's very confused about what this "ghost" actually is and why it's targeting humans now.
Notable bits for fans:
1. The Glass Ghost's eyes and hand gestures clearly look sympathetic almost all of the time; if you look closely, you can see it's confused or dismayed about being attacked, and that it seems to be reaching for help somehow. Its expression is drawn very well despite not having traditional features.
2. There's a strange panel on the first page where Amethyst's hair is not covering her face where it usually is, but her other eye doesn't appear to be under there. Subsequent frames show glimpses of her left eye appropriately when her hair moves, so it looks really weird to see no eye in this one frame.
3. Amethyst claims that Rose finally told her the Glass Ghost story once after she got in "real big trouble." I wonder what she did to deserve that kind of talking-to. It's implied that she talked about the Ghost out of love for Amethyst, though, not as a boogeyman to make her behave. I like the one drawing of Rose talking to young Amethyst.
4. There's a cute moment when Amethyst drops her half of Ronaldo's glass form to yell at Pearl, and Steven is left holding Ronaldo all by himself. When Garnet takes him off his hands, he sighs with relief.
5. Garnet's "I thought violence would be the answer!" mentality comes up hard and fast when Steven's distressed about how to fix Ronaldo and she whips out her gauntlets to smash him. Luckily they stop her, but this is some good continuity. Garnet is occasionally the opposite of level-headed when she's panicking, and this is a good expression of it.
6. Pearl has her science nerd face on again when she says they can't "melt" the glass to help the frozen Ronaldo because he's not made of ice, and the temperature needed to melt glass would kill a human.
7. Steven, in his typical way, is worried about what he's going to tell Ronaldo's family. He specifically mentions Ronaldo's brother, Peedee. The very peculiar thing is that in the next shot, they find that Peedee and Mr. Fryman have already been turned into glass by the Ghost, and when Garnet remarks "Looks like the Ghost found him first," Steven hugs their frozen forms and says "Don't worry, Sour Cream, we'll find a way to get you out of there." That is clearly not Sour Cream in there. Sour Cream is actually not pictured anywhere in this comic, though all of his friends are. I wonder if notes got crossed somehow and Peedee/Mr. Fryman were drawn in the frame but the dialogue still said "Sour Cream"? It's really confusing.
8. Steven notices two frozen people whose pose appears to puzzle him. Everyone else looks terrified (Ronaldo, Mr. Fryman/Peedee, Kiki/Jenny, Kofi, Buck, Mayor Dewey, Jamie, and Lars), but Nanefua and Sadie are reaching up and looking calm or sympathetic. It's only commented on in Sadie's case, but Steven does utter "Huh?" looking at Nanefua.
9. I did think it was a little weird that when the screaming started coming from more than one direction, the Gems let Steven go one way and all three of them went the other way. Doesn't seem like the safest choice, especially with Garnet saying "Steven can handle himself" (even if she's right)--he probably would have appreciated some reassurance.
10. When Steven repels the creature with his bubble and it smashes into the wall, it looks actually really angry for the first time. It's pretty unsettling.
The final showdown is likely to be great in the fourth and final volume, but I was just a little less impressed with this volume versus the previous two. It mostly just felt like more of the same thing that happened last time because we already saw the Glass Ghost turning a human into glass, and now it just did more of it while Steven discovered the story originally came from Rose. There's just not a ton of forward motion in the story here. Hoping the last one knocks my socks off!
January 18, 2021
I have even more questions now...
May 26, 2016
As per usual, I picked up the third Steven comic the day it came out so I could continue the adventure. I kind of expected it to be really packed to the gills with action--and in a way it was, because a lot of bad stuff was happening to the townspeople of Beach City at the hands of the Glass Ghost--but except for the fact that we found out the original Glass Ghost story came from Rose Quartz (who claimed in seriousness to have seen the creature), this one didn't feel as exciting as the previous one. It's still done plenty to drum up the excitement, though; Steven has to save his dad from this mysterious creature and figure out what they're going to do to fix all the Beach City citizens who have been turned into glass. Why is it attacking humans, anyway? It's supposed to be after Gems! And why are a couple of the everyday folk--the matriarch of the Pizza family and Sadie of the Big Donut--in distinctly different poses inside their crystal prisons? They don't look at all like they've seen a ghost. And we only have one more issue for them to get to the bottom of it.
Definitely looking forward to the conclusion!
Definitely looking forward to the conclusion!
July 14, 2017
Amethyst couldn't save the day... who will stop the glass monster now?
November 23, 2019
A cute story.
February 10, 2023
again, these books feel like watching these characters get to just live and be happy with each other. super good and i can't recommend them enough.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews