Close at the heel of Dark Horse’s Angel & Faith comes Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 9, continuing the story left off in the Season 8 comic book continuance of the popular television show. Season 8 left a lot of fans with mixed feelings about how the characters were being treated and where the story was going. Does Season 9 get us off to a start that will put the Buffyverse back on track? Um, maybe?
It’s hard to read through a superhero’s biography without counting multiple secret identities. The DCU is notorious for changing up who wears which mask. The Batman cowl has passed from person to person, multiple signature Green Lanterns, and there’s like nine thousand Flashes. The recent relaunch of Batgirl has a familiar face donning the suit. Should Barbara Gordon be Batgirl? Did she ever stop?
One of the more obvious controversies of the DC re-launch is giving Barbara Gordon back the use of her legs and having her become Batgirl once again. Brian may have loved issue #1 of the new Batgirl title with Babs reprising her role, but I’m not attacking the series. The story might be great, the art fantastic – the problem is: Barbara Gordon should not be Batgirl.
Like many others I could not see Stephanie Brown as Batgirl when she first took up the cowl. All the previous Batgirls I knew and loved just seemed so much better than this inept blond who appeared to be more of a wannabe heroine rather than an actual heroine. But after reading the ongoing Batgirl series I quickly accepted and grew to love Stephanie Brown as Batgirl. She became – by far – my favorite Batgirl. I love how her character developed, especially when this character development culminated in my favorite issue of the “Road Home” one-shots, Batgirl #1. This issue solidified Stephanie Brown as Batgirl and it felt like a slap in the face to me – if at first only in a blind Stephanie Brown fan-girl rage – when I heard that Barbara would resume her role as Batgirl, kicking Stephanie (and all that character development) to the curb. Also, seeing as Barbara was her mentor, it makes Barbara, regardless of the circumstances, look bad for stealing her student’s suit from her when her time with the cowl has clearly past.
Another day, another arc completed— and with the strong (yet subtle) conclusion to Criminal: The Last of The Innocent, Ed Brubaker has officially converted me to the series. With Brubaker’s excellent writing, accompanied by Sean Phillips artwork, the duo truly delivers. And while it may not be the most exciting issues of this short run (which doesn’t say much anyway), it played its role and served the rest of the series justice, and it is sure to please those who have been keeping up with the four issue mini-series. For those who haven’t read this excellent run, be warned: spoilers lie beneath.
It’s been two months since Riley Richards had finally murdered his wife, got the wrong man committed for said crime, received a fortune from his in-laws, brought his rehabilitated best friend back onto drugs, and started hooking up with his high school sweetheart (who says nice guys finish last?). But with a private investigator on his tail, Riley finds himself in need of tying some up loose ends.
The very successful third issue of Barbarian is ruined slightly by this fourth issue. The story is solid, if slightly rushed. The art is only average, but the tone and origins crafted in the third issue are wasted in this final chapter, which could have been constructed differently. It’s not bad, but pales so much in comparison to the third by trying to connect with it and fails worse than it would have without the third issue coming out as good as it did. It finally creates a very entertaining and coherent battle that made the final chapter satisfying, even if it did not offer as many new elements as the third issue.
Scott Amundson writes the adventures of a silent warrior known only as the Barbarian who, with his allies, must break free and defeat the alien tribe of the Romisians. But the Romisians give the Barbarian an option to kill his allies, and the choice he makes will determine the fate of everyone around him.
Hello readers, faithful and otherwise. This is “Bring It or Keep It?” the series in which we take a look at a comic from beyond our borders and decide whether it should embrace multi-culturalism or stay a creepy xenophobe. Up for judgment this time is Mx0, a series that ran in “Weekly Shonen Jump” from 2006 to 2008. That’s right all, this is the first series I’m looking at that is not brand new. There’s been plenty of time for publishers to bring this title to our shores, but it seems there are no plans to do so. Have we been wrongfully deprived of a winning series or have the publishing powers that be made the right call in keeping this one away?
Wildstorm has many titles that had huge followings before the company went under in 2010. Before their unfortunate end, Wildstorm produced very adult content that took the superhero genre in a new direction. All of these titles were published with help from other companies, including DC Comics, Image Comics and Wildstorm’s imprint America’s Best Comics.
Featuring the very public issue that had Superman knock-off Apollo and Batman knock-off Midnighter come out of the closet, The Authority was a continuation of the series Stormwatch which featured a superhero team always willing to cross the lines between good and evil with no problems killing their enemies. The entire series was solid with great stories and impressive art. It’s entertaining and introduces new elements to the superhero genre while expanding on other previously explored territory, like when the team uses their powers in the political world.
