I somehow missed reading and reviewing issue #10 of Coda, but that just meant I had the pleasure of reading two issues last night. And what a pleasure it was!
A quick recap from the last issue: Mal has been captured by Boss Moon, and the rest of the crew are on the run from the homicidal cult. So, we're basically on par of the usual level of shenanigans when it comes to this crew. Moving on to the present. Things pick up immediately from there, with the Serenity crew (with the addition of Chang-Benitez) still on the run, but an accidental fuel cell mishap saves the day. Elsewhere, Mal and Boss Moon trade barbs and blows.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart famously began composing music when he was only five years old. What was life like for him, being a musical genius at such a young age? What was it like for his family, having to put up with a five-year-old musical genius? That’s the premise of Young Mozart, a series of newspaper-style comic strips based on the composer’s early years.
For untold generations, the Moonstone family has protected the world from the unseen forces of darkness. But who will protect them, and the other members of The Magic Order when they become the targets of a powerful sorcerer assassin? In the collected edition of Netflix's first comic book publication, writer Mark Millar and artist Olivier Coipel create a compelling family drama against the backdrop of an expertly constructed urban fantasy.
Alien. Is there a more perfect name for the juggernaut of science fiction horror? The name conveys exactly what you need to know while remaining about as simplistic as you can get. I love the original Alien film. The Xenomorph remains my personal favorite design for an alien entity, and Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley is one of the most iconic female leads ever put to screen. As far as Alien's extended lore is concerned, it can be quite a mixed bag. A colleague of mine has been raving to me about the quality of William Gibson's Alien 3, but it seems for every victory there's an Aliens: Colonial Marines. With a bit of eager trepidation, I decided to pick up Aliens: Dead Orbit by James Stokoe and try my luck.
A quick recap: The last time we visited Invisible Kingdom, Vess (the new None) had stumbled upon some possibly shady dealings between Mother Proxima (the mother superior of sorts to the ascetic nunhood) and Lux (i.e., space Amazon). Elsewhere, Captain Grix had also stumbled upon a piece of that mystery; apparently, Lux has been sending large monetary transactions to someone. It's not very hard to put two and two together.
Well, Angel #0 is pretty much a surprise, with BOOM! Studios keeping things under wraps until about a week ago with their announcement. For readers of BOOM!’s Buffy reboot, you’d probably have caught sight of a particularly familiar handsome face peeking at the action in the last panel of Buffy #4. And that’s really how Angel #0 starts out, with the last few moments of Buffy #4 being seen from Angel’s perspective and his thoughts about how his past has led to his present state. If you’re concerned that Angel’s reboot has been scrubbed of Catholic guilt and self-flagellation, you really shouldn’t worry; once a brooder, always a frownier brooder.
It would appear that we’re at the end of the first arc, and all signs seem to point to a ratcheting up of the ante. For one, the final main cover is actually slightly different from the solicited version, which hints at some degree of secrecy on BOOM!’s part. For another, I’ll note that the entire final page of the advance review copy I received was redacted, so it really seems that BOOM! wants everyone to be surprised when the issue drops this Wednesday. For those of you who haven’t been keeping up with the most recent Buffyverse news, there will be a surprise book that you’ll want to pick up on Wednesday, as well. (Hint: He’s a big Buffyverse fan favorite, and methinks the redacted page is also meant to hide his backdoor reentry into this rebooted series.)
Black Badge #8 was a body slam to the soul. The most unexpected thing that could have happened did, and it was far more upsetting than I could have imagined it would be. It sat with me for a couple weeks. Why? Because Black Badge is not lazy storytelling. That’s probably the best compliment I could give to a creative team.
Little Bird was a comic book series I didn’t know I needed, and yet, there it was. A true artistic vision of a strange, yet familiar, world in comic book form. An experience that seemed to draw upon my love of Alejandro Jodorowsky and other surrealists like him.