Serenity: Better Days #3

Posted by Adam on May 25, 2008

(Dark Horse)

Ah, the noble spinoff. To what depths you have sunk. Well, OK, maybe not depths exactly, but there was a time when comics spinoffs were often the equal, and occasionally the better, of the movies, TV shows and cartoons that inspired them. Tarzan’s adventures in the comics remain a high watermark for newspaper strips. Part of the reason for the Universal movie monster lineup’s continuing endurance is their appearance in the comics, with Marvel’s Tomb of Dracula a particular highlight. And Donald Duck wouldn’t be much more than a corporate icon if it hadn’t been for Carl Barks’ amazing adventure comics featuring (and in several cases, introducing) the Duck family members. Then there’s the sometimes bizarre Star Wars comics of the late 70s, the well-done Aliens and Predator comics upon which Dark Horse built their brand name…the point is that for most of the time that comics have been adapting properties, they’ve done it with a free hand that has usually made for better stories.

Somehow, like so many things about comics past vs. present, this is no longer strictly the case. It could be the focus on continuity, or simply the protective nature of comics fans, but a modern comic spinoff is usually expected to adhere faithfully to the source material. Long gone are the days when the radio version of the Shadow could have a completely different secret identity from the comic book version, for example. And the usual result is that the comic spinoff ends up being considered an inferior, irrelevant appendage to the main story, an attitude that often ends up being self-fulfilling. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »

[Raided] Serenity: Better Days #1 (of 3)

Posted by Graig on March 15, 2008

(Dark Horse)

There is almost no point in reviewing this book, since the fans of the still much lamented Joss Whedon-spearheaded television program turned cinematic space opera Firefly/Serenity will no doubt pick up this new mini-series regardless of what any reviewer states about its quality. Unlike Buffy or Star Wars, Firefly market penetration remains fairly slim, no matter how vocal or loyal the Browncoats are, leaving this book a niche product amidst niche products and there’s only the slimmest of possibilities that this book will attract anyone new to the property. Thankfully, comics are all about satisfying niche demands, and a three-issue mini-series will no doubt sate the raving fanatic, even if it isn’t very good. “Better Days” sits within the gap between Firefly (the show) and Serenity (the movie), which makes it a quaint self-contained story, oblivious to the fate set to befall certain characters. I’m sure Whedon and crew are saving the post-film happenings of Serenity’s crew for the slim hope that they can do more theatrical/ direct-to-video/ made-for-TV releases, so the fans will really have to take whatever stories they can get. This story is co-written by Whedon and Brett Matthews, and is complete with violence, sex, thievery, clever quips and a theoretically game-changing cliffhanger. It’s truly your standard western-tweaked-sci-fi Firefly fare, which actually leaves me a little disappointed. The mini-series format leaves the writer unable to do long-form, serialized story arc building, and it’s three-issue size means it’ll wind up with more of a one-off episodic feel rather than a larger cinematic sensibility. I know, I know, comics aren’t movies or television, and I have to give Whedon tremendous credit for embracing and investing himself in the comics medium so wholeheartedly to continue the adventures of his other media characters, and in keeping with the theme and tone of the source (which comic book spin-offs, adaptations, and extensions so rarely did until recently). There’s nothing in this story that going to wow the Firefly fans (certainly it won’t impress any non-fans). It’s at best a decent placater, leaving hope that the franchise is still alive and that better days are coming down the pipe.

2.5 out of 5 Vikings

[Raided] Runaways #29

Posted by Jeb on February 27, 2008

(Marvel)

I don’t see Runaways come up very often in discussion of late books, but you’d be hard pressed to think of a title that’s been hurt more by the tardiness that’s getting to be sadly common at Marvel and DC. Runaways was Brian K Vaughn’s most lasting contribution to the Marvel Universe, arguably the best young-superhero title to come along since the glory days of the X-Men, but Marvel never seemed able to break it to a wider audience (as a monthly book, anyway–I think the digest-sized trades sell pretty well). The announcement that Joss Whedon would be taking over the writing chores seemed to offer the perfect opportunity to win over his numerous fans, and the story that he and artist Michael Ryan have concocted is a doozy, full of time travel, sharp dialog, gorgeous period settings, and a truly interesting and distinctive collection of allies and enemies for the Runaways. It’s just a darn shame that it’s taking forever to complete: by the time each new issue comes out, after months of delay and rescheduling, the story’s momentum just takes that much longer to rebuild. And since I’m not particularly a fan of the digest-size collections, I think it’s really unfortunate that Marvel and Whedon couldn’t manage a workable schedule for this comic. At any rate, it remains a great read, and in this issue, we get revelations, confrontations, and the assembling of the various forces of good and evil that will contend for the fate of the future… a future that’s probably not going to arrive much before summer. Really, don’t wait for the trade on this one… you’re not getting any younger.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer “Season 8″ #9

Posted by Adam on December 11, 2007

(Dark Horse)

I am a big fan of both Joss Whedon and Brian K. Vaughn–calling myself a ‘raving fanboy’ for their respective work would not be overstating the case–but even I am forced to acknowledge that their critics are not entirely without merit all the time. In particular, both these gentlemen, fanboys in their own right, have an occasional tendency to sacrifice narrative logic for the sake of the cool moment, the awesome one-liner, or the killer emotional beat. While Whedon’s and Vaughn’s work is rarely less than brisk, propulsive, and entertaining, I’d be lying if I didn’t usually (on my second or third viewing or reading) find myself noticing the authorial strings manipulating the characters. Fun, their work may unquestionably be, but natural it is not.

So why, then, does Vaughn writing for a Whedon-created character feel so damn seamless?
WAIT! There is more to read… read on »

Angel: After the Fall #1

Posted by Jeb on November 27, 2007

(IDW)

One of the surprise commercial, and artistic, successes of the past year in comics has been Joss Whedon“s “official” continuation of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer saga in the comic series he designated Buffy Season Eight. Though Buffy and her pals already have an impressive backlog of comics, from a couple of different companies, the new series was the first to become part of the official “canon,” through Whedon“s involvement, including writing the first arc of stories. And with Dark Horse filling their coffers from the marshaling of Whedon“s acolytes, IDW (current holder of the Angel license) has persuaded Whedon to try something similar with Buffy“s old boytoy. While he“s not actually planning to write the scripts (at least for the foreseeable future), Whedon has lent his assistance in plotting out the series, to tell the tales we“d have seen if the Angel TV series had continued.

Both the Buffy and Angel TV series came to their ends before Whedon had finished telling their stories (Firefly, too, come to that). In the case of Buffy, though, there was a strong sense during the penultimate season 6 that the natives were growing restless, and when Sarah Michelle Gellar made her announcement that she planned not to return to the role that made her a star, Whedon was able, with a bit of tweaking, to rush season seven through to a conclusion that, if somewhat abrupt, more or less took it where he“d always intended it to go.

With Angel, though, the plug was pulled midway through the final season by a network that figured it could get the same ratings it was getting from Angel at a fraction of the cost by putting on sitcoms and reality shows. As a consequence, Whedon crammed a season“s worth of development into the show“s last couple of months, and left an ending that was more cliffhanger than resolution.

And that“s more or less where After the Fall picks up. When last we saw our heroes, they were setting off against impossible odds to battle a demonic horde (and a dragon) about to overwhelm Los Angeles. I say “more or less,” though, because, while it would appear that most of them survived (some rather unexpectedly), issue #1 clearly jumps past that “last stand” into a world where Los Angeles has, literally, become hell on earth, but where Angel and his team are still trying to fight the good fight, this time in the very belly of the beast. And speaking of beasts, remember the dragon that Angel “always wanted to fight”? Well, let“s just say that Angel now has a super-sized version of Kitty Pryde“s Lockheed on his side. As for the other characters, some we know, some we thought we knew but aren“t sure now… and some are deliciously evil in that dry offhand way that Whedon manages so well. I won“t spoil the particulars, but any serious fan of the show is likely to have more than one “Ooooh!” of recognition as they read.

The fact that it would have been just about impossible to pull this off on a TV series budget has both its good and bad points. Certainly, Whedon“s vision of hell and its denizens, is visually striking (if a bit conventional for him, at least so far), and I“d rather see it lavishly illustrated on a comic page than cheaply realized on a TV series budget. At the same time, though, After the Fall thus loses a lot of what made the Buffyverse work so well: the sense that it“s grounded in a reality where the fantastic is only a slight step beyond what we see around us every day, and that evil can be not only mundane, but downright droll. Part of that was always the convention that, no matter how weird things got in Sunnydale, the truly bizarre stuff would escape the attention of all but our heroes and those in their circle (an idea that goes double for the self-absorbed citizens of Los Angeles). Here, though, Whedon“s given us such a radical change in the status quo that we can“t help but wonder just what“s happening in the world outside L.A. (particularly in a comic, where the strictures of TV broadcast don“t force the pacing). I shouldn“t be asking myself, as I read, just how and where this fits with the Buffy Season Eight series, but Whedon“s made his hell on earth so spectacular that the reader can“t help it—it“s distracting.

The actual writing and drawing of the book reunites writer Bryan Lynch and artist Franco Urru, the team from the Spike—Shadow Puppets miniseries. I had mixed feelings about that series: while the character voices usually rang true, that was largely due to the story being a sequel to one of the most popular episodes of the TV series, and it has the same retread feel that so often plagues sequels. It“s not hard to get Spike“s offhand cynicism down when you“re just riffing on the previous story. But this first issue breaks enough new ground for the characters that it feels much fresher than their previous effort, and the wisecracks and weirdness flow much more smoothly.

Urru“s art is at its strongest in the scenes of demons, monsters, and this Southern California circle of hell; it“s not so sharp with the individual members of the team. Angel appears fairly stiff, and his face, like that of many of the others, is often indistinct and inexpressive. While they“re not as outright wrong as some of Georges Jeanty“s depictions in the Buffy series, they“re bland enough to be forgettable: in several cases, only the dialogue makes it clear who some of them are supposed to be. As I say, though, he“s got his A-game on where hell is concerned.

If After the Fall it“s not off to quite as assured a start as Buffy Season Eight was, it is suffused with Whedon“s familiar blend of the fantastic and the funny. I don“t know that it would win many converts to the Whedonverse, but I“d say the same thing about the Buffy series. Both work best if you“re already invested in the characters, but if you need more than one dose of the Buffyverse per month, this“ll certainly do. The rating below assumes you“re just a comic fan; If you“re already a Whedon fanatic, add one full Viking.

[Raided] Astonishing X-Men #18

Posted by Jeb on November 16, 2006

(Marvel Comics)

OK, gotta admit, Whedon played fair. The clues to what“s going on with Emma Frost and the Hellfire Club really have been there all along, and I must say, while speculation has circled around and around the answer, I don“t think I saw anyone hit it on the head. Astonishing X-Men continues to be the reference book for future X creative teams, telling a gripping, twisty, funny mixture of spandex action and good old-fashioned soap opera. As always, the dialog crackles: after Beast goes into a long explanation of the scientific basis for his recovery from the madness that possessed them all, Logan responds with his own solution: “Had a beer.” Hank shrugs: “Same basic principle.” Whedon continues to make Scott Summers more interesting (and badass) than he“s ever been before, Cassaday“s art is its usual gorgeous self (with yet another cover that is as well thought out as it is executed), and just to amp things up a tad, the book“s climax sweeps the X-Men and all their foes off-planet for a final showdown that might well run all six remaining issues of this team“s collaboration. I know people who quit reading the X-Men altogether when Grant Morrison left, and if it weren“t for Peter David“s X-Factor, I“d probably feel the same way about the sadly immiment departure of Whedon and Cassaday. Get ‘em while they“re hot, folks. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »