Quick Reviews for Comics Released December 5th


Buffy the Vampire Slayer #9
"No Future for You" Part 4. This concludes the Faith-centric arc. It lays the groundwork for future roles for both Faith and Giles. There is a Final Confrontation with Genevieve and her anti-Watcher. The characterization of Faith feels like they ignored some of her development in the latter seasons, but they also move her forward, so it's a net gain. There's a bit of Ripper in Giles in this ish, and we see that he can find just the right page in a book faster than the Flash. The best villain in the show's history makes an appearance, and get a look at this season's Big Bad. Overall, quite cool, and a satisfying conclusion to this arc.

Resurrection #1
The premise: A roughly contemporary Earth was at war with advanced aliens for years until shortly before page one. This story is about the world after the invaders are driven away. I like where it's going. I like the lead character of Sara. It's cool that it's set in my neck of the woods. Some of the language is distracting. Some of the art choices are off-putting, in particular several scenes where eyes are shaded completely black. The storytelling aspect of the art is good, though. A good start.

Justice Society of America #11
The art is really strong. Lots of informative detail, good "acting". I didn't like the designs on the Japanese characters, though. What's the real point of this "Kingdom Come" Superman, though? It's probably just setup for Final Crisis, and that irks me. I want to read a story about the JSA, not an advertisement for some series coming out next year. There's also a moment where Starman breaks the fourth wall, and a comment from Citizen Steel that comes off very meta. That stuff bugs me too. It works in comedy, but... I'm cranky b/c there wasn't much JSA in this JSA comic. It does introduce a new Judomaster, who will apparently be part of a group of new JSA members next issue.

Dynamo 5 #9
Cool. We've got developments in Scatterbrain's and Visionary's personal lives, and Scatterbrain learns some neat new tricks with his powers. There are references to Faeber's other Image series, "Nobel Causes", in a way that builds the world but doesn't confuse or complicate the continuity. We a pair of fairly nifty villains, and end on a nice teaser. I look forward to this one. Like Blue Beetle and The Spirit, it's the kind of superhero book that i enjoy.

The Sword #3
Events take some big steps forward, forcing the story into its next phase. End of Act 1, in other words. I'm still intrigued by what's going on, but some choices don't work for me, and the visuals don't convey the tone that the words imply.

Atomic Robo #3
Very entertaining. The ending is abrupt, but the ride is a doosey. The action is brisk, the dialog is enjoyably snarky, and the wildly imaginative ideas are incessant. I really like this. We'll definitely need more after this initial six-issue run concludes. Recommended!

Fuller reviews forthcoming...

The Sword #2


I wonder how this series would read if the art were more expressive. The characters display emotion, but everything seems restrained. Maybe that adds to a feeling of the bizarre. Or, maybe it limits the emotional impact of the events.

If you're not familiar with the Luna Brothers' style of art, it's been described as pastel painting. To me, it looks like cells from an animated movie. I haven't read about what effect they're trying to achieve. The coloring ads a lot of lighting to the art, but the line work is kind of minimal. The lines are equally weighted, like in the "clear line" style, but there isn't as much detail. I find myself wanting more detail in faces.

The story (spoilers ahead): It picks up right where #1 ended. Three strangers had burst into Dara's house, insisting that her father was somebody named Demetrios, and demanding that he give them "the sword." Her father plead ignorance of all that, so the three strangers, displaying superpowers, killed the family and set the house on fire. The floor gave way under Dara and she fell into an unfinished basement or crawlspace. Since Dara was in a wheelchair, the killers assumed she'd be killed in the fire, and left. However, Dara spotted a shortsword (roman legionaire style) protruding from the dirt. She grabbed it, and her paralysis was instantly cured.

Dara climbs out of the basement. She places the sword in each of her family memebers' hands, hoping that it will restore them to life the way it restored her ability to walk. Though quick thinking, this doesn't work. Dara's shirt catches on fire and she runs to the pond behind the house to put it out.

When the fire department and police show up, Dara decides not to tell them about the sword, or the superpowers of the killers. She had tossed the sword into the pond just as they were arriving. I think her legs are still healed, but she pretends to be paralyzed. The police wonder how she got to and from the pond without her wheelchair, but they don't pursue it much. Dara stays with her friend Julie.

Cut to the three killers. They've seen the reports on TV and know that Dara survived. They figure out that she has the sword. They argue a bit about whether they should go after her themselves, but ultimately decided that the situation is too hot and the sword too dangerous. Apparently the sword is very powerful, but maybe only when wielded by someone of this bloodline? It's too early to tell. They decided to send mercenaries to kidnap Dara and force her to tell them where the sword is. This scene felt a bit long, as it was all dialog, but it showed that these villains are smart and actually think ahead, which is nice. Smart characters are good.

The guy they hire to kidnap Dara is a real sleazeball. He sells drugs for one of the three, and is also involved in prostitution. The second panel he appears in shows him snorting cocaine off a hooker's breast. I'm not sure what the authors were trying to establish with this sequence. Maybe they wanted to show us that this guy is very bad, and therefore scary? But he comes across as merely a sleazy loser, and while he clearly has no regard for other people, he doesn't seem at all competent.

At her family's funeral, Dara learns some interesting stuff about her dad. He was an English professor. Some of his students are at the funeral, and they mention how they loved the stories he told about some ancient warrior called Demetrios, who was four thousand years old. Maybe Dara's father really was the Demetrios that the three killers were looking for, but he had partially lost his memories? So, he didn't know who he really was (thinking he was just a normal person), but the memories of his immortal life were leaking out through fiction? Or, maybe he was just pretending not to know what the killers were talking about, and isn't really dead? That would make him a very despicable villain, since he let his family be murdered rather than give up the sword.

The issue closes with the mercenaries, armed with uzis and such, about to jump out of a van and kidnap Dara.

I'm less sold on this series after this issue than i was after the first. The visuals just don't convey the drama that the script implies. The sleazy villain is a big turn off, too. He's not even an entertaining villain, he's the kind you hope gets killed at the earliest opportunity just to get him out of the story. I'll pick up issue three, and decide whether to continue with the series based on how that one goes.