Warm, buttered, biscuits with real maple syrup and a pot of strong coffee by my side… Can anything be finer? Joss Whedon is a close second. I’m not a huge comic fan but between him and Neil Gaiman, you really wouldn’t know it. Those two will lead you on a very slippery slope that ends with standing orders at your local comic shop. The comic guy, who works there, is way too helpful and it doesn’t help that we have similar tastes. Oh well, I’m enjoying it.
And we really should get onto why I’m writing this. It has been so long since I’ve written one of these, it is almost difficult. Sort of like getting out of practice and it doesn’t help that I’m reviewing a new medium. Comics are very visual (obviously) but I’ve found that they can be just as complex as most books. Especially compared to the piece of crap I’m reading right now but that is for another time and place….
First up, is Joss Whedon’s, Fray. Based in the Slayer universe except this takes place hundreds of years into the future. We have a world where the rich are very rich and the rest of us are very, very poor. There are flying cars, and lurkers, and radies, people who have mutated due to the sun’s radiation. And most importantly, we have Melanka Fray, the first Slayer to be called since the big event at the end of the Buffy finale. It has the same action you would expect from an episode of Buffy without the limitations you face during filming. For example, the first two pages of panels detail Mel’s fall from a high story building and everything she hits on her way down. Of course this doesn’t kill her or this would be the shortest comic ever produced. It also has that offbeat humor you come to expect and love from the mind of Joss. He is nice enough to give you some laugh out loud moments.
Karl Moline, penciller, did an amazing job bringing his words to life in the design of this whacked out world. Between Karl and the rest of the art team, they were able to bring to life the most important thing about being a Slayer.... Hair to die for. Yep, Mel had really great hair and that is worth the price of admission right there. Added bonus is the wonderful job they (Joss included) did bringing to life a character like Loo. She is the greatest thing ever at pulling those good ole heartstrings. Sorry, can’t say more about that.
Up next is Serenity: Those Left Behind. This little three-parter bridges the gap between the last episode of Firefly and the movie Serenity. We get to see Inara leave and the return of Dobson, the guy Mal shot in the first two hour episode. He has a grudge against Mal and would like to be the one to take Mal out of this world in the most painful way possible. The Blue Hand Alliance Agents strike a deal with Dobson, he gets Mal if they can get River. Yeah for Cooperation!!
The artists must have been fans of the show because they did an amazing job on rendering the likeness of the actors to the graphic novel world. Nowhere was I brought out of the illusion to think that they were only doing vague representations.
The only problem I had with this one is that I found it too rushed. They had a lot to get in and while there was good build-up, the ending seemed abrupt. And the other problem I had was that River seemed a little off, word-wise. A couple of times, Conrad had her saying stuff that just didn’t seem very River like. But I suspect she might be the hardest one to bring to the page without Summer Glau’s magic behind the character.
And last but not least, we have Astonishing X-Men: Gifted, which is the first six comics in Joss’ series packaged into one graphic novel. This is the first X-Men comic I’ve ever read and it was pretty good. Jean Grey is gone and Professor Xavier has left the school in the hands of Scott (Cyclops) and Emma Frost. We also have Beast (my personal favorite X-Men character), Wolverine, and Kitty Pryde. It is announced that an agency has developed a new cure to the mutant gene that causes no small amount of turmoil in the mutant community, including Team X-Men.
This is my first introduction to the characters Emma Frost and Kitty Pryde so I feel that I’ve missed something in not knowing their history. It would have been nice to get some background but it looks like I’ll have to do my own research for that. So for the X-Men uninitiated, it might be a little hard going. If you can skip over anything you don’t understand, you will do fine and love the humor Joss puts into this world. He does an excellent job with Beast and it is obvious that Kitty is his favorite... I’m sure his foreword didn’t tip me off at all.
The only thing left to say about all of these graphic novels is that they leave you wanting more which I suspect, Joss takes personal glee in. I have no problem visualizing him running around his office, giggling like a little school girl, over the angst he has produced in his fans concerning our need to find out what happens next. Of course, this is completely done in private as he wouldn’t want to be known as a giggler.
He is too cool for that.
My rating: :D :D :D :D
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