This week in Marvel and DC… who cares? The latest issue of Buffy the Vampire Slayer came out from Dark Horse Comics, wrapping up the current “Faith & Giles” story arc. For those few fans who aren’t aware, Joss Whedon is doing season 8 of Buffy not on TV or in movies, but as an ongoing comic book. Joss himself wrote the first few issues and will continue to oversee the series so we don’t get any crappy storylines like.. oh, I don’t know, the devil wanting to break up Spider-Man’s marriage, or Superman wearing a black costume to show he’s just as badass as Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man 3. Anyway, this week’s issue is a treat for fans, with Faith having a catfight with a grade-A bitch villain, and Giles getting all “Ripper”-creepy. Also, Joss just started up Angel again with the first issue of Season 6 showing the aftermath of that series’ finale. Can Serenity be far behind?
Now, I’ve started to get complaints from readers that I’m being too harsh on the superhero books. Supposedly, I should be giving this current “X-Men: Messiah” series a chance as it’s revitalizing the whole X-line of books and every issue is like waking up with a naked PJ Soles circa 1979. Apparently the X-Men are trying to save a mutant baby from the forces of evil, including a character called “Mister Sinister”. This guy’s name would only work if he was on the PowerPuff Girls; to make matters worse, he looks like Colossus in drag. The baby is being protected by Cable —- now, I read the entry on Cable in The Marvel Encyclopedia and it was more convoluted than an Armenian sex-pretzel. Supposedly, this character was killed off, but came back from the dead to play super-powered baby-sitter. Well, that’s pretty much half the Marvel Universe right there, so he’s in good company. I’ll pass, but thanks for the offer.
This is my acid test for a comic series, by the way — would I be able to talk about it with someone who doesn’t read comics, and not sound absolutely ludicrous? Try this, and you’ll see why I mostly stick to indies.
The other book that came out this week was Northlanders, a Vertigo book about Vikings. No super powers, no magical whatsis, just a good solid story about people struggling to survive when it’s too damn cold out.
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