Horror

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine #10

/ / Comics

btvs-season-nine-10-coverBuffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine #10 concludes the “Apart of Me” storyline which found Buffy‘s consciousness trapped in the body of a Buffybot and her body’s new personality under the brainwashing of psycho slayer Simone.

Although I think the arc has provided some nice moments it ends more with a whimper than a bang. Don’t get me wrong, it’s certainly not a bad issue, but it’s pretty much exactly what you’d expect (without a big Buffy vs. Buffy throwdown). Buffy gets reunited with herself, Simone gets away, and everything goes back to normal (or whatever Buffy’s version of normal is).

The only real lasting effect of the arc is Spike, realizing there’s no hope for vamp and slayer, deciding on his own to leave. Although it provides a nice moment for Spike it also removes yet another one of the comic’s most entertaining characters. Next issue marks the return of Kennedy who hopefully will breathe some new life back into the Buffyverse. For fans.

[Dark Horse, $2.99]

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Pro-MEH-theus

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Prometheus
  • IMDB: link

prometheus-posterIf all you want out of Prometheus is a great looking sci-fi adventure that asks big questions about the history of life on Earth (without the slightest interest in answering them), has a couple of disturbing Alien sequences the series is known for, and shows us where Aliens come from, well this movie was made just for you. If you wanted something more than the bare minimum, like an engaging story that doesn’t feel the need to talk down to its audience every step of the way, well, then this probably isn’t the summer flick you’ve been hoping for. But, hey, at least it’s better than Alien 3.

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Fatale #5

/ / Comics

fatale-5-coverHank wakes bloodied, chained, and with odd symbols carved into his chest. He’s a guest of the Satanic cult deep below the bowels of the city. Their Bishop plans to use him as a sacrifice to, as he puts it, “help me see my god again.”

Jo finds herself betrayed by her former lover Walter Booker who has found a way to lessen her hold on him and now it seems he plans to turn her over to the very people who he saved her from all those years ago, but appearances aren’t all that they seem.

Issue #5 concludes the series’ first arc “Death Chases Me.” And although Hank is saved from the cult and makes away safely with Josephine it’s clear evil has only been stymied, not stopped. As to whether Hank’s life is better today than before he met the woman he loves with all his heart, well, that’s a little murky as well.

Credit to Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips for delivering a noir/horror thriller that it appears is only getting started. Bring on Book Two. Worth a look.

[Image, 3.50]

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Gothic Melodrama

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Dark Shadows
  • IMDB: link

dark-shadows-posterLike most of director Tim Burton‘s work Dark Shadows, a humorous hyper-melodramatic update of the 1960’s television show of the same name, gives us an offbeat sense of humor and the macabre, Johnny Depp, and a big-eyed, pale-skinned, waifish young leading lady. Dark Shadows certainly isn’t going to rank among the director’s biggest successes (Sweeney Todd, Ed Wood, Edward Scissorhands), but for most of it’s running time it finds a way to entertain by showcasing a tale of an 18th Century vampire thrust into the 1970’s.

200 years after being buried alive by the witch (Eva Green) who cursed him and left him to rot, Barnabas Collins (Depp) is freed from his coffin by a group of construction workers making way for a McDonald’s. Confused by the nature of the new world, Barnabas makes his way to his ancestral home where he meets his descendants Elizabeth (Michelle Pfeiffer), Roger (Jonny Lee Miller), Carolyn (Chloë Grace Moretz) and David (Gulliver McGrath).

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine #9

/ / Comics

btvs-season-nine-9-coverAs Spike and the Buffybot track down a former enemy, and old friend, who is responsible for Buffy’s consciousness being trapped in the robot, Xander and Dawn help Detective Dowling hunt down his former partner turned zompire, and Buffy’s unprotected body finds herself at the mercy of crazy slayer with a grudge Simone.

Although I’m still a little disappointed but the abrupt change of direction the series took in the last couple of issues, there are some nice moments here. Andrew coming clean with why he put Buffy’s mind in a Buffybot has just the right mix of misplaced generosity and foolishness that the character has always been known for.

The callback to Xander slaying Jesse in the series opener “Welcome to the Hellmouth” was a nice touch and seems to be returning to more clear-cut version of vampires taking over (instead of taking on the character traits of) their human hosts than we saw in the last couple seasons of Angel.

The final panel suggests we’re going to get to see Buffy vs. Buffy in the next issue, which certainly works for me. Worth a look.

[Dark Horse, $2.99]

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