Line #36 ComicBook/Primer2020


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/18779326_ee6a_4ec0_964c_759715904749.jpeg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:''"Rainbow Dash!"'']]
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4	''Primer'' is a 2020 Creator/DCComics graphic novel for kids. It is written by Jennifer Muro (''WebAnimation/StarWarsForcesOfDestiny'') and Thomas Krajewski, and illustrated by Gretel Lusky.
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6	In Washington D.C., troublemaking daughter-of-a-criminal Ashley Rayburn seems to have found her most recent set of very temporary foster parents, Yuka and Kitch Nolan. Unlike the others, however, the family quickly comes together like the perfect picture. But when Ashley finds Yuka's secret collection of superpower-inducing bodypaint, trouble may be after ''her'' this time...
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8	Followed by ''Primer: Clashing Colors'' which sees her trying out to be in the ''ComicBook/TeenTitans''.
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10	Not to be confused with the film ''Film/{{Primer}}''.
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12	!!Tropes in this comic include:
13	* AbusiveParent: Ashley's flashback shows she lived in poor conditions with a dad involved in crime. He had no problem getting her to help him kill a policeman and it's later shown he's been {{gaslighting}} her to believe he's the only one who can love her.
14	* BigNo: Young Ashley's reaction to her dad killing a cop with the gun she handed him.
15	* TheCameo: Ashley mentions ComicBook/{{Batman}}, and Kitch has a Batman shirt. Ashley is also a fan of the Gotham Knights football team.
16	* ChildrenAreInnocent: When she was younger, Ashley listened to her dad when he told her to give him his gun, not understanding what was happening. Only after he shot the cop he was struggling with did she realize what she had done.
17	* ComboPlatterPowers: After applying a special spray, three colors of the super body-paints can be applied, so you can have three powers at a time. Any more than three, and you overload. You have the powers as long as the paints are on you, so water can wash it off. The paint containers refill but only over time, requiring the user to pick what paints they wish to use carefully. The powers include super-strength, flight, super-speed, invulnerability, [[PlayingWithFire pyrokinesis]], [[AnIcePerson cryokinesis]], [[MindOverMatter telekinesis]], {{healing factor}} and regeneration, {{power copying}}, {{teleportation}}, [[MakeSomeNoise sonic blasting]], [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shapeshifting into other people]], [[RubberMan elastic stretching]], [[IncredibleShrinkingMan shrinking yourself]], [[{{Sizeshifter}} growing]] [[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever large]], {{emotion control}} over others, super-intelligence, heightened senses, [[MesACrowd self-duplication]], animorphism, controlling plants, reactive and environmental adaptation, matter absorption, precognition, absorption/storage/redistribution of kinetic energy, dimensional storage of items (...or something?), electrokinesis, power nullification, technopathy, force fields, mind control and mind reading, illusion creation, and ghosting/intangibility.
18	* DarkAndTroubledPast: Ashley lived in squalor conditions with her crook father. As a young obedient girl, she gave him his gun to kill a cop that he was fighting. He was eventually caught and sent to prison while Ashley was bounced from foster home to foster home.
19	* FreudianExcuse:
20	** Ashley's rebellious/mischievous attitude and knack for troublemaking comes from her DarkAndTroubledPast caused by listening to her father and butting heads with various foster families that ended up not wanting her.
21	** Ashley becomes paranoid that the Nolans may not want her, just like with her other foster parents.
22	* {{Gaslighting}}: When Ashley visits her dad in prison, he tries to get into her head that he's the only one who loves her and he's her real family. Evidently, this has been going on for a while, but after being taken in by the Nolans, Ashley finally tells him that he's not her family anymore and she won't see him anymore.
23	* IHaveNoSon: Parental version with Ashley. After being lovingly taken in by the Nolans, Ashley finally stands up to her biological father, saying that as much as he may claim otherwise, he isn't her "real family" anymore and she wants nothing to do with him.
24	* IHaveYourWife: After Ashley escapes from him with the teleportation paint, Strack lures her back by holding Kitch and Yuka hostage.
25	* KidHero: Ashley is a middle-schooler, but also the heroic Primer.
26	* MundaneUtility: Ashley considers using the super-intelligence paint for tests.
27	* MythologyGag:
28	** [[ComicBook/{{Superman}} "It's a bird!" "It's a plane!" "It's...]] [[SubvertedCatchphrase a falling plane!"]]
29	** The superpowers in the paints originate from genetic samples of superheroes and supervillains. Some of the subjects can be narrowed down to judging by some of the more specific powers.
30	* OnlyFriend: Luke is the only person Ashley seems to have befriended at her new school.
31	* PhlebotinumOverload: Ashley discovers for herself that putting on too many colors can hurt the user, so Luke suggests she only use three at a time. [[ChekhovsGun Comes in handy later]] when she dumps a fourth color on Strack to stun him.
32	* SequelHook: The comic ends with the government approving of Primer's heroic career and giving her a supersuit, and Ashley's father recognizing Primer as Ashley, sinisterly vowing to see her again soon... Not to mention Primer's still got ''plenty'' of other colors to show off.
33	* ShoutOut:
34	** Ashley and Luke's school is Angelou Middle School, presumably named for Creator/MayaAngelou.
35	** A young girl thinks the new Primer is [[Franchise/MyLittlePony Rainbow]] [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Dash]].

Context ComicBook / Primer2020