{"id":27530,"date":"2023-02-09T09:00:17","date_gmt":"2023-02-09T09:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=27530"},"modified":"2023-02-06T18:15:00","modified_gmt":"2023-02-06T18:15:00","slug":"ares-aphrodite-love-wars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2023\/02\/09\/ares-aphrodite-love-wars\/","title":{"rendered":"Ares & Aphrodite: Love Wars"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" \"\"
\nBy Jamie S. Rich &Megan Levens<\/strong>, lettered by Crank!<\/strong> (Oni Press)
\nISBN: 978-1-62010-208-4 (TPB) eISBN: 978-1-62010-209-1<\/p>\n

It might be hard to believe for people like us, but not all love stories are about hunting the villain who murdered your \u201cOnly One\u201d or fighting dragons, or even seeking out the ghosts of those who are gone. Sometimes it\u2019s just mutual attraction, Meet-cutes, Getting-to-know-you\u2019s and taking some chances\u2026<\/p>\n

Author, editor, comics scripter and film fan Jamie S. Rich (12 Reasons Why I Love Her<\/strong>, You Have Killed Me<\/strong>, Cut My Hair<\/strong>, Lady Killer<\/strong>, Archer Coe and the Way to Dusty Death<\/strong>, It Girl and the Atomics<\/strong>, A Boy and a Girl<\/strong>, Justice League: Endless Winter<\/strong>) is a big fan of classic romance and film fiction and here unites with his collaborator on Madame Frankenstein<\/strong> to celebrate the genre and all its trappings. Best yet it\u2019s all drenched in the heady miasma of modern life in Hollywood\u2026<\/p>\n

This tale was a breakthrough venture for Megan Levens, who went on to score big with Buffy the Vampire Slayer<\/strong>, Star Trek<\/strong>, Spell on Wheels<\/strong>, Mysticons<\/strong>, Wonder Woman: Black and Gold<\/strong> and more\u2026<\/p>\n

The similarities with cinematic RomComs are both deliberate and delightfully effective as we meet successful Tinseltown divorce lawyer Will Ares<\/em>: a dedicated singleton doing his job well but paying for it through the malicious and destructively vindictive acts of a mystery stalker targeting his car, home and private life\u2026<\/p>\n

As a result, his dating profile is bleak and his love life is non-existent but he clings to the dream that somehow somewhere love conquers all\u2026<\/p>\n

The client taking up most of his time these days is legendary (and geriatric) Producer\/serial romantic Evans Beatty<\/em>. Ares handles all his divorces and is currently deeply involved in the necessary legal motions to accommodate his next walk up the aisle – with recently matured & legal former child-star Carrie Cartwright<\/em>.<\/p>\n

All that remains for Will to do is finalise Beatty\u2019s split from extremely unhappy wife #4 Eileen<\/em>. She, however, is not playing ball\u2026<\/p>\n

The impending bride-to-be is sweet but tough. Raised in Hollywood, she\u2019s trying to be everyone\u2019s friend, but in the unblinking spotlight of Hollywood\u2019s news cycle, her only real ally at this moment is jaded yet ultra-competent wedding planner Gigi Averelle<\/em> who owns Goddess of Love Nuptials.<\/p>\n

Averelle\u2019s really good at her job, but the daily grind and manufactured dream game has convinced her that there\u2019s truly no such thing as Love. When marital mastermind and legal beagle meet and clash in Beatty\u2019s office, all the wrong sort of sparks fly\u2026<\/p>\n

Will\u2019s barely-acknowledged interest in the tough-cookie facilitator is soon sidelined as the targeted vandalism escalates and completely forgotten by the time Evans drunkenly reveals that he\u2019s already secretly wed Carrie – despite still being tethered to Eileen\u2026<\/p>\n

With his client\u2019s entire fortune and now liberty at stake, Will frantically strives to crisis-manage a catastrophe, whilst Gigi continues orchestrating an utterly unnecessary but so fabulously flashy Hollywood glamour-fest. Interest in the affair reaches fever-pitch when news breaks that Carrie\u2019s next movie role will be as ingenue in classic fantasy Crown Princess<\/strong>\u2026<\/p>\n

The forthcoming blockbuster\u2019s lead is Allison Queen<\/em> and the salivating press-pack clearly anticipate fireworks aplenty with the next Mrs. Beatty picked to play second fiddle on set to Evans\u2019 formidable, star-powered and apparently happily-divorced second wife\u2026<\/p>\n

Repeatedly forced into close contact, Will and Gigi witness the worst that LaLa Land\u2019s scandal mill can generate, and as speculation, malicious rumour, misinformation, unvetted and illegal photo-scoops and ex-wife mischief mounts, the love-wary professionals foolishly contrive an ill-considered wager\u2026<\/p>\n

Arguing that the outcome will validate one or the others\u2019 ideals, they bet on whether the upcoming wedding will actually happen. Fixing the prize\/penalty as a date with the lawyer if Will wins and his having to publish a full accounting in the papers of every marriage he\u2019s ruined if Gigi gets it right\u2026<\/p>\n

Forced into close proximity, both sides warm and mellow, and before long that penalty is watered down to Averelle rebuilding Ares\u2019 online dating profile if she wins. Of course, she\u2019s still unaware that the process is completely sham as Carrie and Evans are already hitched\u2026<\/p>\n

As the big day approaches, all hell repeatedly breaks loose with rogue reporters, spies, runaway brides and a tissue of lies drawing the distanced, smugly aloof and superior-feeling outsiders ever closer, even before \u201cThe Date\u201d can happen. Then, when Carrie Cartwright delivers a shocking bombshell announcement, Gigi and Will are forced to reassess their opinions\u2026<\/p>\n

Wry and playful, this appalling yarn has engaging echoes of movies like Destination Wedding <\/strong>or the 1950 Father of the Bride, <\/strong>gently prodding all the established accoutrements of an evergreen plot and genre. It\u2019s undemanding and might well give your comics-indulgent significant other an unexpected treat – or at least a brief break from Batman<\/strong> and Star Wars<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Bonus material includes a faux Trailer for Crown Princess<\/strong>, an appreciative Afterword <\/em>from Jacque Nodell of romance comics site Sequentialcrush.com and a rundown of the full art process from script to final pages.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a previously unseen vignette by Rich & Levens about disentanglement. Short and sweet, it involves bridges, potential strangers, relationship insecurities and the eternal war between cyclists and pedestrians: all prime fantasy fodder for mismatched marital mayhem. \u2018Two Wheels, Two Feet\u2019<\/em> plays out here with subtlety and whimsical wit, proving love is all around\u2026
\nAres & Aphrodite is \u2122 & \u00a9 Jamie S. Rich and Megan Levens 2015. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jamie S. Rich &Megan Levens, lettered by Crank! (Oni Press) ISBN: 978-1-62010-208-4 (TPB) eISBN: 978-1-62010-209-1 It might be hard to believe for people like us, but not all love stories are about hunting the villain who murdered your \u201cOnly One\u201d or fighting dragons, or even seeking out the ghosts of those who are gone. … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Ares & Aphrodite: Love Wars”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[113,125,148],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comedy","category-humour","category-romance"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-7a2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27530"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27533,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27530\/revisions\/27533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}