Reading throught the last of Season 2 of the Winx Club comics was easy reading, but also a lot more additional story than expected. All of them deviated from the OG series, and there’s multiple stories which connect with each other as well as previous comics which I enjoyed.
Darko the Black is the first comic in the Darko and the Trix story arc. It introduces us to Darko, a childhood friend of the Trix’s and an all round bad guy. This is also a bit of a start to the romance between him and Icy.
This story is a lot of telling instead of showing, which is unfortunate for a comic. It’s focus is setting up Darko as a character, and giving us some backstory to him and the Trix.
The girls attend a club, which is strange to see in a comic catered to a younger audience (although it does fit the legal age for Europe? I wonder if this comic was published in America too).
A cool added addition is that the Trix have motorcycles in their specific colour schemes. I think this detail shows off how they get into town more often before the Winx girls in other issues.
The comics again explore Bloom needing a job again. Where she re-explains why she has her job to be independent and not relying on her parents. I like this added details as it shows off the importance of being independent.
Witch Love is what the title says, and the Trix fight over Darko for the majority of the story. I’m a bit disapointed that the majority of conflict for them is over a boy.
On the other hand, Darko is probably one of the more developed bad guys. He gets a bit of a redemption arc as he doesn’t want to be like his father.
Witch Love also includes another assasination attempt. The comics really love this plotline (although no one EVER dies) and I’m interested to see if we see a “bigger bad” from behind them show up.
Magic Tournament introduces the start of a possible civil war within the Council of the Wise which sits within the Fortress of Light. It also gives us a bit more insight into how the Fortress of Light works.
The addition of the Fortress of Light story adds a lot to the world, especially with little tidbits of informaton here and there. For example, it’s confirmed that those with magic live longer than humans, whilst not unique to the series is a good lore builder.
The story relies on a lot of a tropes, even down to a big magic tournament for the girls to prove themselves with riddles and battles. It also includes many different morals to the story, which again are trope-like. This includes getting to the root of the problem facing your fears and moving mountains.
I really enjoyed this comic for the added world building, and showing the girls as working together to improve one another.
Love for Layla is mostly about the pixies finding a new boyfriend for Layla as she’s alone. Unfortunately he doesn’t turn out to be great, but I’m also unhappy with the assumed need for a young woman to find a man. It’s a trope in most young fiction, but I still don’t like it.
The comic also covers all the parents visiting Alfea, and expands on Stella’s relationship with her mother. I love this storyline as I understand the resentment and selfish nature of not liking the person your parent has chosen, especially to replace your other parent. But Stella was given a chance to grow and mature, and she did which I hope is carried forward in the series of comics.
Parents visiting means it’s another comic where Tecna’s parents don’t quite approve of Timmy. Her father uses a computer to judge Timmy, and this leads to more character building for Tecna to be more emotional and bring her father into a more human world outside of tech.
As the title suggests, this comic brings back Diaspro but it’s not as bad as you expect. Diaspro actually shows no initial ill will towards Bloom, however. the Trix want to use her in their plans which is what goes wrong.
What I loved about the magic in this story was that it insinuates that heartbreak makes you physically ill. Whilst it does affect us in the real world, it’s definitely not the side effects Diaspro has in this story and so it’s just extra lore around magic.
Overall it’s a super quick story that doesn’t add much to the overall series, except re-sets up Diaspro as a possible threat to Bloom and Sky’s relationship.
The titles of this set of comics really explains each one well. We re-meet the dragon Bloom met previously in the comics, and have a bit of training to do. One thing I didn’t like is the dragon is more traditionally illustrated than any other dragon in the series.
A quote that stands out is “A wild animal should never be kept without taking precautions” as well as “Animals are not toys, but living beings that have rights and needs!”. Whilst obviously about a dragon, it’s still a great lesson to any kids reading.
The story links back to the Shaab stone storyline, with the henchmen looking out for themselves. It also includes Riven being a good hero, which contrasts that story. I’m liking the continuation of the comics for smaller parts of the story.
Overall I enjoyed this set of comics, and I thought it was a good end to Season 2 of the comic run. It also adds a lot in between Seasons 2 and Seasons 3 of the TV series if taken as cannon, which adds to the overall story and world.
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