Stepping Out

Serenity #2

by Realbuzz Studios

Barbour Publishing was first to bring inspirational manga to the masses-and now tween and teen girls have another great read in Serenity, Volume 2: Stepping Out. The lonely teen with the blue hair is slowly warming up to the Christian kids who've made her their "project". . .but when Serenity wrecks Kimberly's car and refuses to take responsibility, the prayer club decides some "tough love" is in order. Can Serenity understand that their actions are really for her own good? This full-color graphic novel features a compelling storyline, realistic dialogue, and a solid biblical message for today's reader.

Genres: Manga, Graphic Novels, Comics, Christian Fiction, Christian, Fiction, Young Adult

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[kalyx]

i feel some need to explain myself. obviously this series is clumsy, unsightly, schemingly insincere, honestly kind of fetishistic propaganda but Profoundly Messed-Up Girl Troubled By & Deeply Vulnerable to Christianity is one of like two foundational alephcore archetypes so i'm a sucker. serenity's developing moral compass is constantly warped, progressive aspect, by the squeaky-clean evil of her near-villainously magnetic evangelical classmates, and by extension of the author-god who shares their mortally important and dashingly cutting-edge conviction that ontogeny does not recapitulate phylogeny. even outside of their immediate geographic influence serenity remains polarised into a standard evangelical conversion narrative, attempting her first prayer in early modern english before uneasily relaxing into the angular shadows of a slang that of course never existed outside these pages. somewhere in this prayer, as the author directs her through the motions of what will no doubt eventually become her testimony, her divinely-directed tsun (shut up it's a manga it counts) begins, as expected, to give way to dere—but it's a dere that unfortunately concisely & not entirely inelegantly expresses my own desperate existential desires (for god as objet petit a, some might say—or might have said, in 2012), and in the midst of all my fortifications my heart breaks at faces and phrases i recognise all too well. then serenity's tsun returns front and centre, and i realise, with some despair, that the cookie-cutter evangelical conversion narrative really is the story of being god's little tsundere. well, as cringe as it sounds, with what phrase could i—who still, to be clear, wishes nothing in the least to do with evangelicalism—ever better express my relationship with her? i guess i'm asking, in honour of a truly groundbreaking film-theoretical tweet: is it really necessary that a manga be good? is it not enough to see one's own pathetic vulnerabilities imprinted on a face, huge?

[Samantha Osborne · Rating 5 out of 5]

i really love these there my fav comic's

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I've read tons of better comics, this second volume is a vast improvement over the first outing. Hopefully, the series continues to get better as it continues.

[Aegelis · Rating 4 out of 5]

High Drama in High School

Overall message is good, I appreciate the Bible references in the end. Serenity flops through a series of problems and is extended a little grace... but just a little. I don't think the prayer group freezing her out was a good idea, isolation probably isn't the best way to try to get through to someone, especially when they're new to the school. Less blackmailing even in jest, less quid-pro-quo. Yeah, tensions run up and teens are teens, even adults seem to jump ahead to confrontation. Everyone needs to take a breather and relax a bit in this course. Life is hard enough without playing an intense chess match with people's lives.

[Water Viper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

[Mitchell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This actually wasn't terrible. It seemed to feature a sensitive portrayal of the twelve-step program and forced Serenity to go through a significant character arc as she took accountability for her actions, which was great. I do think it is really exhausting that Serenity is perpetually obsessed with Derek, but whatever.

As one might expect, the book did slip into a persecution complex mode. When Serenity doesn't understand prayer, she approaches her Christian history teacher, Mr. Grandy, at which point the devilish (her hair is pointy, like horns, lol) Ms. Baxter warns Mr. Grandy that "he can be severely disciplined if you practice religion during school!" Mr. Grandy gets out of this by stepping off school grounds, resulting cartoonish "foiled-again!" behavior from Ms. Baxter. (I don't know if they knew how silly it looked, but here we are.)

I think this setup could have caused some confusion for teenagers reading, particularly because the teacher himself admits he "can't talk about religion at school," which isn't entirely true. I ended up looking it up to double-check. Teachers are free to talk about religion in an objective manner and can wear clothing that expresses their religious belief (i.e. cross necklaces, hijabs, etc.), so the danger in this scene is that Mr. Grandy could be coercing Serenity or speaking as a representative of the state when sharing his personal beliefs. I think the situation was somewhat overblown, but, as I mentioned, Christian media likes to highlight how long-suffering Christians are.

Ah well.

[D.M. Dutcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly good. Serenity Harper is still a tiny bundle of bad habits, adjusting to her life at a new school where the resident Christians try to befriend her. This issue she starts taking tiny steps toward faith and trusting others, some forced. But will it all be for nothing when she wrecks Karen's car? Karen, the girl who is starting to dislike her for trying to pursue a one-sided score with her best friend Derek?

Chalk it up to Buzz Dixon's writing, but it feels much better than the first book. Less silly attempts at slang and a better plot. What's great about it is that it's not afraid to make the Christian characters fallible, nor the unbelieving Serenity sympathetic. It's also a little more serious in tone than the first one, and has some real character growth at the end. A nice little surprise.

The only downside is that the art is mediocre, sort of typical webcomic-style american manga. The cover art spoils you into thinking it would be much better. But it's a decent Christian slice-of-life manga that improves quite a bit over the first book.

[Toviel · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I had issues with "New Bad Girl in Town's" approach to troubled teenage-dom, "Stepping Out" succeeds much more admirably. In particular, the issue of substance abuse is addressed with an air of seriousness and understanding that I honestly didn't expect from a Christian anti-drug comic.

While Serenity herself probably needs see an actual therapist, the second volume of the series mostly shows her opening her eyes to the consequences of her lifestyle may have-- and more importantly, realizing that the "Bible thumpers" that she despises can have serious baggage from substance abuse, too. It's the first step to realizing that she isn't alone, even if she doesn't believe in prayer or the divine. Of course, the purpose of the comic is to educate above all else, so it also serves as a decent introduction to how 12-step programs work and how to approach them with a healthy mindset.

Alas, the "tough love" nature of the high school prayer group itself still feels too childish to take seriously, but at least they aren't taking up too much of the narrative anymore.

[Holly Letson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Serenity has a crush on Derek from "Prayer Club", but he only has eyes (and feelings!) for Kimberly. So, both girls have come to have strong feelings of resentment towards one another. However, they want to become more accepting of one another.

So, when pizza is needed for the Retired Seniors at church, Kimberly lets Serenity drive her car to get it. But, Serenity drives it into the back of a police car along the way instead. Needless to say, the pizza is never gotten and the car is destroyed.

After several days of *The Silent Treatment* from the *Prayer Club*, Serenity finally sees the light and does what is right. So, she gets a job at Pizza Puka to pay for the $1000 deductible on Kimberly's car.

[i have moments of nonthinkingness *miranda* · Rating 4 out of 5]

in this book serenity's mom wants her to get into a program 4 substance abuse and she is trying to put it off. when she finally gets into a program somethings are uncovered about Derek at the meeting that i was surprised to learn. (I'm fairly sure that is in the book, it's been a while since i read em.) Serenity crashes Kinberly's car and something i found surpising happens...SERENITY IS NICE!

[Christine B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really amazing! It was interesting and demonstrated great Christian values such as forgiveness and taking responsibility for your mistakes. It shows that Christians aren't perfect but need Jesus to cover all their inequities. The slow process of Serenity's journey in becoming hopefully a Christian is also nice. She depicts
many teens who don't want to trust God and follow His way.

[Amber Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Serenity wrecks Kimberly's car and doesn't want to take responsibility for her actions. Then at the end of the book Serenity gets a job at a pizza place probably so she can pay for the damages she caused on Kimberly's car.

[Jupiter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very great book! Great story, good lesson and morals, very good. Sadly, I have only read to from the series and out of order but I loved them nevertheless. Me being an avid and good reader at that age, I finished it in less than an hour.

[Hollie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read these in high school when I was going through my Christian phase. The art was terrible. The story was cringe. But I can look back and laugh about it, and I would read it again for that reason...just to laugh (which is why it gets two stars instead of one).

[Gabrielle Link · Rating 5 out of 5]

I also like this book too.

[Eileen]

I think itsawwwsome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Art is the best part of the series. Story is pretty good too. I like how you can see the main character slowly growing & maturing.