Yep, this is only part 1 of my reviews. It was a pretty big week for me comic-wise and I was a bit busy helping a friend move last night so I wasn't able to read them all just yet. So I'll be reviewing Buffy, Angel, American Splendor, and Logan now, and hopefully I'll get Dark Tower and House of Mystery reviewed on the weekend.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 #14 -- I'm not quite sure what to make of this issue just yet. On the one hand, we have a good overall story of Buffy facing a war with a very dangerous foe. Buffy's adversaries haven't always been the smartest tools in the shed so it's interesting to see one that's staying one step ahead of her. And I'm curious to see where Buffy goes as a character as the war and the story beyond the war escalates. The Buffy/Satsu relationship is brought up rather briefly and again, I'm eager to see where it goes. But it's the book's climax that irked me suddenly. My initial reaction was a little bit of "NO" and disbelief. Looking back, I should have seen it coming. There were signs that her and Xander would actually make a go of it and that's always a sign of death in the Buffyverse. And that's the issue I have with it, it felt cheap because it's been done with these characters over and over. I know, it's war, people have to die, etc, etc. But with the initial death from last issue and the notion that these vampires could depower the slayers I felt the tension had already been mounting. Maybe I'm just disappointed because I like that character but now I just feel like "oh no, not again." And I mean that in two ways, "not again" as in a character I like is dying and "not again" because it felt briefly like we are taking the same path with these characters that we've taken before. I'm really hoping for a conclusion to the story that will turn things around for me.
Angel: After the Fall #7 -- To be honest, it took me a second to remember we were still covering the story of the first night in hell here. Oops! :) Getting past that, I guess this story just isn't meeting my expectations of it. The Wesley story was interesting and ties in to the whole "lies" theme but I felt the Connor part was pretty weak. I liked seeing Kate back though it took a little while before I knew who she was. I couldn't remember the character names so at first I thought she was either the police officer friend of Angel from the first two seasons (which she is) or Gunn's friend from the shelter turned Rambo (which she's not). But as nice as it was to see her, the whole tie in with Connor's story, appearing just when he needs her, having her impart Angel's wisdom, etc. seemed a little contrived. It's like they are trying to work in every character from the show now no matter what. And I'm still not a big fan of having different artists for each character's story. So yeah, overall, I wasn't particularly loving this issue. I was pretty intrigued by the initial glimpse of Gunn's story though and I hope this storyline has a strong conclusion with the next issue. And then I'll be happy to get back to the main storyline of the series.
Logan #3 (of 3) -- I had hoped that the conclusion to this series would turn things around for me but unfortunately, it didn't. I wouldn't classify it as a bad series but it didn't really impress me either and it felt like it's been done before. Maybe I'm missing elements such as why ripping out Logan's heart and eating it somehow made the guy whole again and Logan able to kill him, that whole part made me shake my head and go "yeah, whatever". So feel free to clue me in but on my first pass I just thought "meh". Looking back, I probably should have passed on this series as I didn't really feel it was all that strong. But hey, if you love the "Logan in Japan during WWII" stories where he meets and Asian woman who he immediately falls in love with and has her immediately fall in love with him only to have her killed shortly thereafter so he can avenge her death, knock yourself out.
American Splendor Season 2 #2 (of 4) -- I'll keep this one short, it's your standard Harvey Pekar stories drawn by an assortment of talented artists. I'm enjoying it but really, what more can I say? Either you're a Harvey Pekar/American Splendor fan or you're not.
And no, I still haven't seen Iron Man. Hopefully tomorrow.
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