Buffy Season Eight #1

First of all, I feel I should preface this review by saying that I am a huge Joss Whedon fan. I love Buffy, Angel, Firefly, and pretty much everything Joss has ever done. So that being the case, there is a slight chance of some bias entering into this writeup. That said, I fully intend to be as fair and objective as ever - just so you know.

Buffy season eight was created to pick up where the television series left off, with Buffy's home town of Sunnydale a smoking crater, and the Scoobies (her gang of friends) scattered across Europe. Buffy herself is in charge of an army of newly awakened slayers, and together they're taking the fight to the bad guys.

This introductory issue brings us quickly up to speed on some of the developments since the end of the TV series. As I mentioned, Buffy now leads an army of slayers, who operate in squads, coordinated by Xander from a castle in bonny Scotland. The opening scenes bring us Buffy, along with her squad, infiltrating an abandoned mansion in order to kill a nest of particularly large and evil-looking demons. Xander seems to have taken well to his role as coordinator/commander, no doubt thanks to his army memories (see Buffy season 3), and we are also reintroduced to Dawn, who is inexplicably massive. But at the same time, some aspects of the intervening time are left purposefully vague, such as the whereabouts of Giles and Willow, exactly how Dawn got so big, and just where all their funding comes from. We are also (re)introduced to what will probably come to be the 'big bad' of the season, although Whedon is known for his propensity to surprise his audience.

This issue, and from what I read, the next few issues, is written by Whedon himself and, well what can I say? It's Joss Whedon!!! Expect his trademark dry, 'ironic' dialogue that we (should) know and love. This is driven home by great use of boxes containing the main characters' internal monologues, and he also manages to show off a little of his geek cred. Saying all this though, at times the 'Whedonishness' (what a great word) can seem a little forced, as if someone is trying to say "I know it's a comic, but it's still Buffy, see?", but this is only a small criticism.

Georges Jeanty's art is capable, though perhaps a little more cartoony than I would have expected, and somewhat reminiscent of Fray. After seeing the cover art, I somehow expected the rest of the book to follow a similar, realistic tone. Despite this, I liked it. The characters were easily recognisable, and the colours were great and really suited to the mood of the story.

Overall, this was a decent book. It suffered a little from being an introduction in my opinion, in that not too much happened, and there was a great deal of exposition and 'catching-up' to get through, and this is the main reason for the slightly low rating I'm giving. But have no fear, I fully intend to follow this series, and have absolutely no doubt that it will only get better. If you're a Buffy fan, I'm sure you don't need any encouragement to pick this book up, but if not, it probably won't hold much appeal for you.

Rating: 3/5

Scalped #3

Issue 3 of Scalped marks the conclusion of the introductory story arc of the series, called 'Indian Country'. And I'm still not sold on it. The concept seems sound: it was promoted as 'The Sopranos on an Indian Reservation', which sounds awesome as a tagline, but in my opinion it falls down somewhere in the execution.

The main character of the series is a man named Dashiell Bad Horse, and he is one angry bad-ass (what else?), who left the reservation as a young man, only to return inexplicably years later, and find a place on the corrupt local police force. What we know, but no-one else does, is that he has been sent back by the FBI in order to bring down the local Chief (of the tribe and police), Red Crow, a major crime-lord, and all-round bad-guy.

This issue sees Dash narrowly escape death at a drugs-bust, which looks suspiciously like a set-up. His partner (humourously named Falls Down), almost isn't as lucky, ending up hospitalised in the encounter, but Dash, in an unlikely show of Max-Payne style dives and dual-pistolling takes out the whole gang. This prompts him into a tense confrontation with his new boss, who manages to placate him for the time being, but it's clear that our hero is treading dangerous ground.

Aaron writes competently enough, providing plenty of action and introducing us to a wide variety of characters, all with believable and understandable motives. His dialogue is terse and gritty, showing a hint of a Tarantino influence, and it's all set against a background of downtrodden people living well below the poverty line. He also teases us with some more background on Dash, via a short flashback.

Guera's art is where I feel this series is let down the most. His use of detail I find confusing and nowhere is this more apparent than in action scenes, where I am almost constantly confused as to who is shooting at who, who has been hit, and so on. This is such a problem that during the shootout at the beginning of the book, it wasn't until the last panel of the scene when Dash is the last man standing, that I figured out what had happened. He (or I) seems to have a similar problem with faces - to such an extent that often the only way I can recognise the main character is by his bald head. When he wears his wide-brimmed police hat at the same time as another character, I've got no chance at all.

Scalped is a passable series, but I'm finding the artwork a real turn-off. This being the concluding part of a story arc, the decision of whether I'll keep reading really rests on whether my local comic shop (whose subscription service can be a bit hit-and-miss) manages to reserve me the next copy. If you've read the first two issues, and are craving some resolution, pick it up, otherwise, I wouldn't bother.

Rating: 3/5

Newuniversal #4

This series tricked me. When I picked up the first issue, I thought it was going to be about ordinary people from a realistic world in extraordinary situations. Turns out, it's actually a remake of a raft of Marvel comics from the '80s which all came out under the heading of New Universe, and all featured - you guessed it - the ubiquitous 'brightly-coloured namby-pambies'. By the time I figured this out I'd bought the next two issues, and was actually quite enjoying it for the most part, so I figured I'd stick with it till at least the end of the first story arc, and this issue in particular made me glad I did.

This issue focuses heavily on Ken Connell, a redneck teenager who has been given the power of the 'starbrand', making him basically Superman, with some added explosive/telekinetic mindpowers. We see him start to come to terms with his newfound powers, as well his grief over his girlfriend who died in the incident in the first issue where he gained those powers. This guy looks quite a bit like Sawyer from Lost, and also seems to be pretty dense, taking the whole comic to figure out something that attentive readers will have easily guessed by the halfway point. Also thrown into the mix are some pretty cool time travel and alternate universe bits (which are like crack to sci-fi fans) - and a rather laboured Star Trek reference.

Ellis's dialogue in this book is not bad, and manages to adequately convey the snowballing urgency of the events taking place. My overall impression of the writing is raised somewhat by the inclusion of the aforementioned geek-crack - though I was slightly disappointed to find no trace of Detective Ted Swensen, a very cool character from previous issues, who is driven to find and punish criminals using invariably bloodthirsty means, but I can see the necessity of focussing on Connell for the time being.

Salvador Larroca also does an admirable job, as he has done consistently so far in the series. His art keeps a much more realistic tone than is usually seen in superhero comics, and this helps to give the sense that the action takes place in a world closely related to our own. And when it comes to the action, Larocca can more than hold his own, as he displays to great effect near the end of the book.

This series so far is a difficult one to judge. It seems for every really interesting plotline there is one that struggles to justify itself. The issues themselves are similarly inconsistent, the first was very good, but two and three seemed to be almost killing time. Luckily, this one brings the series back on form, for now at least.

Rating: 4/5

The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born #2

If, like me, you are a fan of fantasy fiction, then Stephen King's Dark Tower series should need no introduction. But just in case, here it is: The Dark Tower is set in a world - Mid-world - remarkably unlike ours, but with some haunting similarities. The world has 'moved on', which means it is slowly drawing to an end, and the story itself is of a lone gunslinger, named Roland Deschain, on a seemingly impossible journey to the mysterious Dark Tower - the lynchpin that holds all worlds together.

The marvel comics series is set earlier in Roland's life, so it doesn't retread too much old ground for readers of the novels, whilst still not requiring prior knowledge of the characters, so new readers won't feel left out. The first issue told of how Roland defeated his master, Cort, and so earned his guns. In this issue, Roland is given his first mission as a Gunslinger. He is sent with his two closest friends to a small town to the east of Gilead (the capital of Mid-World), the town of Hambry, on what is meant to be a simple, 'safe' task to keep him out of harm's way. But unbeknownst to Roland, the man he is sent to meet is already dead, killed by the nefarious 'Big Coffin Hunters'. As well as these three wrongdoers, we are also introduced in this issue to Susan Delgado, the daughter of the man Roland was to meet, and the Witch of the Coos, a repulsive old hag, who wishes nothing but ill for everyone around her.

The series itself is written, not by Stephen King (who supervised the project), but by Peter David and Robin Furth (who wrote the concordance to the novel series), and they have done an admirable job here. The narration keeps the feel of the novels by using plenty of Mid-World colloquialisms, as well as frequently addressing the reader directly. And the dialogue is used sparingly, but in just the right amounts to keep the story moving at the perfect pace.

The artwork, drawn by Jae Lee and coloured by Richard Isanove is absolutely stunning. It seems almost too beautiful for a comic book, and is only added to by the black borders and precise panel placements. At this point the story is plot-driven, rather than action-driven, and this allows the artists time to portray a world that is moving on, something which they handle fantastically well. It remains to be seen if they will do as well with more action-heavy storylines, but something tellls me they will.

There was a lot of build-up and hype surrounding this series, and expectations were high from both comic book fans as well as fans of the novels. fortunately, Marvel knew this, and put a lot of time and resources into the project - and it shows. If you have any interest in fantasy, Stephen King, or the Dark Tower novels (and even if not), start reading this phenomenal series - you won't regret it.

Rating: 5/5

Okko: The Cycle of Water #2

This is the second issue of four in Hub's Okko, a Samurai fantasy tale set in the mythical island nation of Pajan, a setting strongly reminiscent of feudalist Japan, with a rich mythology and history. Like The Killer, it is a translation of a French series, but apart from quality, that is the only similarity they share.

The story centres around Okko the ronin, and his small band consisting of a huge masked warrior named Noburo who seems unkillable, a drunken monk named Noshin, and a young boy, Tikku, who has pledged his life to Okko. In this issue the group, who are in pursuit of the boy's older sister, a geisha who was kidnapped in the previous issue, are led to a casino in a small pirate port. They narrowly miss finding the girl, but discover in the casino's basement the evidence of the bloody fate that befell a number of other kidnapped girls, who for some reason did not meet expectations. Fortunately, after some persuasion, the establishment's proprietor points the band in the direction of the next leg of their journey.

Hub's writing in this book is well above the average for comic books, and is not limited to text within the panels, but also gives some background to the world's leading families in a page at the end of the comic. This is not necessary reading, but provides some additional backdrop to the story. My only complaint is that it would have been nice to see some more interaction between the members of Okko's band, in order for the reader to get a better grip on their characters, and the group dynamic overall.

The art style employed here is excellent, and very reminiscent of the best of Japanese anime. Hub makes great use of colour, dark blues for the port at night, strong red for the interior of the casino, and lush greens for the strange forested island the band lands on later in the book. All of the scenes show great detail, and they are never confusing as to what is taking place.

This is another great series from Archaia, an indy studio who, to my continuing bafflement, don't seem to recieve much public recognition. If you have any interest in fantasy, or Japanese culture or animation, this book would be well worth your time and money.

Rating: 4/5

The Killer #3

The Killer is one of my favourite comics currently running. A translation from a french series of graphic novels, it deals with the thoughts of a professional assassin as he rationalises his choices and actions.

In this issue, the killer has, after a seriously botched but ultimately successful hit, taken a vacation to a remote Venezuelan island where he owns a house, and hopes soon to retire. His intent is to get some R&R, and enjoy some quality time with his girl. What he does not realise is that following his last hit, he was followed from the scene, all the way to the island by an officer of the french Secret Police.

Matz's writing in this series is top-notch, and this issue is no exception. This is incredible when considering that most of it is a monologue from the titular main character. The actual dialogue between characters is minimal, but perfectly displays the killer's relationship with his friends and his lover. The script is deliberate, but well-paced, and serves as a great accompaniment to his equally deliberate actions as shown in the stunning artwork.

The artwork, by Jacamon, provides a perfect backdrop to the story, from the endless blue sky of the first panel, to the sweaty, claustrophobic darkness of the jungle, you almost feel as if you're really there. And when action does break out, a great shattering effect of the panels perfectly captures the killer's loss of control over his actions.

I simply cannot recommend this comic enough. Buy it.

Rating: 5/5

Comics your brain will thank you for

Welcome to the start of what promises to be a long and illustrious (and hopefully profitable) blogging career. I am your host, Mark Adamson, and this post serves as an introduction to my blog, including a description of it's wholesome ingredients, and oh-so-purposeful purpose, as well as my reasons for beginning it.

I started reading comic books only a few short months ago, and when I did, I knew before I bought a single issue what I was looking for. In comics, as in all the other forms of entertainment I consume, I wanted interesting, cohesive, intelligent stories.

What I did not want was superheroes - those annoying, brightly-coloured, upbeat namby-pambies who want nothing more than to save the day whilst killing as few people as possible. I also happen to be a voracious review-reader.

So with both these things in mind, I set off across the great wide intertube to find out what was good on the fringes of the comic scene - and soon discovered I was shockingly alone in this viewpoint. Sure I found plenty of comic book review sites but they were all, to a man, about the brightly-cloured namby-pambies.

This blog is an attempt to fill the void. In it I intend to review the comics I find interesting: mature comics, indie comics, comics where if there are superheroes, at least they arent pointless, 2-dimensional (you know what I mean), cardboard cut-outs of every other superhero you've ever heard of.

And so, without further ado, I give you:
The (mostly) Anti-Hero Comic Review Blog