This Week's Comics - BatO, Fables, Angel
Dec. 21st, 2007 07:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sdelmonteYes, I finally got issue one of the new Angel miniseries, so you get a brief review of the first two issues.
Batman and the Outsiders 3 - Ignore the cover. The Justice League isn't here. Hawkgirl, Black Lightning and Geo-Force are. And they really don't do much, other than ship Geo-Force to the Outsiders, and get in the way. This issue smacked of a "here's what we want you to write, Chuck" feel about it. It was just moving along the story, not telling one. A bad sign after two really good first issues. With any luck, the team will be assembled and Chuck can tell his own stories.
Fables 68 - Ambrose's plan unfolds more, Gepetto reacts, the end game nears. The bits and pieces are flowing better, but there is a strange lack of suspense at this point. Nothing about "The Good Prince" is either surprising or gripping. It's readable and fun, but compared to things like "March of the Wooden Soldiers," it's rather bland. I have to wonder if maybe Willingham should think about wrapping up this series instead of letting it run indefinitely.
Angel: After the Fall 1 and 2 - Following the end of the epic battle that came right after the TV show ends, Wolfram and Hart sent LA to Hell. Literally. Six months later, Angel is still in partial thrall to W&H, but trying to fix things. But how do you do that in Hell? If you can accept the premise - and it's a huge leap from where we were, even if Joss planned it for a sixth season - and if you miss the TV show, you should enjoy this dark, ironic and somewhat witty comic. Joss is not the scriptwriter - a man named Brian Lynch is, and while he doesn't quite get all the voices down, he does a great job with Angel, Connor and Spike. The art could be better, not just in terms of making the characters look like the actors, but also just in terms of conveying the action.
On the whole, though, this is a very interesting and entertaining trip to the other half of the Buffyverse. Clearly, Joss is not out of ideas for what to do with Angel any more than he is with Buffy. It's a good time to be a fan of these shows.
Batman and the Outsiders 3 - Ignore the cover. The Justice League isn't here. Hawkgirl, Black Lightning and Geo-Force are. And they really don't do much, other than ship Geo-Force to the Outsiders, and get in the way. This issue smacked of a "here's what we want you to write, Chuck" feel about it. It was just moving along the story, not telling one. A bad sign after two really good first issues. With any luck, the team will be assembled and Chuck can tell his own stories.
Fables 68 - Ambrose's plan unfolds more, Gepetto reacts, the end game nears. The bits and pieces are flowing better, but there is a strange lack of suspense at this point. Nothing about "The Good Prince" is either surprising or gripping. It's readable and fun, but compared to things like "March of the Wooden Soldiers," it's rather bland. I have to wonder if maybe Willingham should think about wrapping up this series instead of letting it run indefinitely.
Angel: After the Fall 1 and 2 - Following the end of the epic battle that came right after the TV show ends, Wolfram and Hart sent LA to Hell. Literally. Six months later, Angel is still in partial thrall to W&H, but trying to fix things. But how do you do that in Hell? If you can accept the premise - and it's a huge leap from where we were, even if Joss planned it for a sixth season - and if you miss the TV show, you should enjoy this dark, ironic and somewhat witty comic. Joss is not the scriptwriter - a man named Brian Lynch is, and while he doesn't quite get all the voices down, he does a great job with Angel, Connor and Spike. The art could be better, not just in terms of making the characters look like the actors, but also just in terms of conveying the action.
On the whole, though, this is a very interesting and entertaining trip to the other half of the Buffyverse. Clearly, Joss is not out of ideas for what to do with Angel any more than he is with Buffy. It's a good time to be a fan of these shows.
