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I have never been a member of a cult. I was never a Trek-kie or a Star Wars knob. I have never really attached myself to any cultural (or sub-cultural) trend in earnest, unless you count an unholy devotion to the forces of heavy metal between 1988 and 1995. One might assume then that I would manage to successfully side step the whole issue of fanboy-ism and progress in a mature and responsible fashion to adulthood, without getting sidetracked into conventions and the whole sick sad world that this entails.

But I hadn’t bet on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Slavish devotion followed. Total emotional dependence on the scoobies led to a crushing sense of defeat when both Buffy and Angel were cancelled within a year of each other. The sense of loss when I watched the final episode of Buffy was tangible and space was cleared for Buffy in the small box of things I take seriously in my heart.

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Yes, I signed petitions, and sure I felt a small start of excitement when the rumour went around that there was going to be a Season 8 movie, but it all came to nothing. Until 0ctober 2007. Now, because I am an ill-informed chap I didn’t find out about the Dark Horse comics continuation of the Buffy saga until Christmas of 2007 but the good news was like an aneurysm of joy in my brain. Dark Horse, the uncompromising comic-publishing heroes of my youth, had teamed up with Joss Whedon to bring the story to fruition. Maybe there was a God after all ?

But anyone who knows the mythology of the resurrected cult icon knows that failure is a more commonly travelled road than success. Think Doctor Who, Aliens vs Predator, Terminator 3, Jason vs Freddy. Maybe not the most lucid selection but all epic fails in my eyes. So does Buffy measure up ?

Oh yes. Volume 1 of the Long Way Home is an absolute success in every respect. The art is fairly standard comic book fare, but when dealing with such a well established Buffy-verse, anything too experimental or abstract would only be a distraction. So it knuckles down to taking us from the point at which we last saw the gang (at the edge of the smoking black pit formerly known as Sunnydale) to “the present”. Most of the major characters make an appearance in a pleasingly low key style, rather than the reader being smacked in the face with a succession of “…look it’s X …haven’t you missed them…” scenarios. But that doesn’t mean it’s all low key, after all it’s not a “weepy episode” of Buffy, it’s the triumphant return, and as such there are there are an assortment of surprises, some great fights and dialogue so in character that I wanted to hug Joss Whedon for being so very good at what he does.

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The most compelling thing about this first installment though, for me, is how close this comic feels in spirit to the TV show. The dialogue, art and early plot all merge into an experience that is very close in spirit to the TV show. It is primarily this which made me want to write the review, because I suspect that there are Buffy fans out there who haven’t discovered “The Long Way Home” on the basis that they are not comic fans. Indeed, a couple of close friends (and fellow Buffy gimps) who are just as obsessed as me, have still not read “The Long Way Home” a year after I got hold of it. I can only put this down to a distrust of the medium of comics, or maybe it is slightly more complex. Maybe it is the niggling worry that a mere comic can’t possibly hope to carry the weight of the Buffy-verse or accurately convey the warm wit of Whedon ? If these worries are afflicting you, fellow Buffy nerds, cast them aside, and re-immerse yourself. Satisfaction is guaranteed.

Daddytank

Scott Carelli loves comics and other geek-related stuff. He talks about it weekly on his podcasts Two Geeks a Mic and a Podcast and True Believers on Geekshow.us. He also created and produces an audio series called Geek by Night also on Geekshow.us. Check them out!

 

After two comic reviews for series heavy in supernatural elements (Preacher, Lucifer), I thought the best choice would be to review a comic that’s much more realistic and profound. The kind of story filled with thought provoking social commentary that causes you to question the very fabric that makes up our society. Something that is so somber and disheartening that you’ll never look at humanity the same way again. Naturally, only one subject immediately came to mind: Zombies.

Yes, you read that right. Zombies, when used correctly, should make you see humanity in a different light. It might not be pretty, but it’s real and it’s honest. The best zombie stories aren’t about the living dead, but instead use that as the setting for a story about people and how they live and deal with an impossible situation. Not since Romero have zombies been used this well. Not until The Walking Dead.

Created by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore, The Walking Dead chronicles the life of police officer Rick Grimes as he wakes up from a coma to a world he doesn’t recognize. He later happens upon a group of fellow survivors and the series continues to follow these characters as they live and die in a world overrun with the living dead. 

The most important thing to note about this series is its realistic approach to the situation they suddenly find themselves in. The circumstances might not be realistic, but the reaction the characters have to it certainly is. A zombie apocalypse is the ultimate extreme situation. I’m not sure that it can really get any worse than that. What Kirkman does here, though, is gives us a natural progression of events that are completely believable. This is what a zombie outbreak would be like to live through. This is how your friends and neighbors would change in reaction to the new world order. It’s the kind of story that makes you seriously reflect on yourself as you wonder what you would do in their situation. It’s really fascinating stuff.

The characters themselves are eerily real. Not only in believability, but I sincerely feel that I’ve met them all before. I’ve passed them on the street, sat next to them at the movie theater, stood behind them in line at McDonalds. They feel like real people. So whenever one of them dies it always grabs you, and I find myself reacting to it in a similar way that I would in reality. It’s usually sudden and really shocking at first, and then it’s sad as it begins to sink it. Death is something that is dealt with very effectively in this series, and it’s dealt with often. If there’s one thing that I want to stress more than anything about this series it’s one simple fact:

No one is safe.

It doesn’t matter who they are. Whether it’s the new character that’s just shown up, the mother of two kids that’s been there since issue two, the main character, or even a newborn infant, no one, I mean no one is safe. And they know it. As you read the series you’ll see how the characters’ hope of survival or salvation is slowly depleted to nothing. They know they’re going to die. It’s not a matter of if anymore, it’s just a matter of when and how. That knowledge within each character grows and intensifies with every issue. You can hear it in the dialogue and you can see it in the artwork.

The artwork in this series is what paints the picture of this world for me so well. While Tony Moore is undoubtedly a fantastic talent, it wasn’t until artist Charlie Adlard came on board with issue 7 that the series really came into its own. Adlard brought the gritty realism that was lacking from Moore’s initial six issues. When Adlard started on the book, I’ll be honest; I didn’t even notice the change. That’s not to say that Moore and Adlard have even remotely similar styles, it’s just that his artwork worked so well with this story that I never questioned it. I think this was always meant to be Adlard’s book, and Moore was just holding his spot.

The choice to color the series with gray tones is an interesting one. One would think that having such a realistic story to tell, Kirkman and Moore would have chosen to do the book in color, after all, that’s how we see the real world. But, this is a series about shades of gray, and I think that the decision to do the book in black and white has a lot to do with that. I don’t think that the characters see the world in color anymore. That’s not the world they live in. Their world is dark and dank and dismal. It’s like a gloomy day that never lets up. 

The Walking Dead continues to be a favorite of mine, month in and month out, and I think that there’s something in this book for everyone. You don’t even have to like the horror genre, because that’s not what this is. The title isn’t referencing the hoards of zombies that limp and moan their way through this series; it’s about the people, trying to survive each day knowing that death is all they have to look forward to in life. 

That’d be a tough world to live in, but it’s a fascinating one to read about.

NEXT TIME: Ex Machina

When Scott offered up his first review, and it turned out to be Preacher, I cursed the skies for not calling shotgun on reviewing that classic series first! However, not to be outdone, I eyed up my own collection of oddball comics and imediatley landed on Lucifer….must be the devils work (drumroll please).

Now, you may be suprised to hear that I actually do not like Neil Gaimen’s Lamented goth-fest Sandman, in fact, a mere glimpse of it’s ‘Sisters of Mercy-esque’ covers bring bile to my throat. I might have to re-read the series, however, as my hatred spawns not just from the work per se, but more from the pretensious idiots that idolise it! I swear to god, if I see one more girl trying to dress like ‘Death’ from the book, I will actually go insane!

Anyway, bearing this in mind, I naturally avoided this long-running spin-off for many years, but the devil got the better of me (ow! they keep coming), and a couple of years ago I found myself flipping through the first book whilst trying to kill some time.  An hour, and a dirty look from the comic-shop’s manager later, I decided that I should probably invest in my own copies of this amazing series, and purchased books one to four.

Lucifer, somewhat obviously, made his first significant DC appearance in the aforementioned Sandman, resigning his lordship over hell due to what he felt was unfair treatment at the hands of God. So where would the Prince of the Darkness, the Morningstar, the Fallen Angel goto next? 

The story of Lucifer picks up with our anti-hero running a piano club in the heart of Los Angeles with his ‘lilim’ (a race born of ‘Lilith’) assistant ‘Mazikeen’, whos beautiful features are scared along one-side by hideous deformities. Everything seems fairly tranquil for the horned-one, until a messenger of God appears to make him an offer he cannot refuse. It appears that an unseen force has begun granting peoples wishes, which on the face of it, appears to be a good thing. The messenger argues, however, that human desire is a dangerous force, and that the humans will begin ripping themselves apart if left wallowing in it. Lucifer accepts the offer and, when asked to name his price to God, states that creator of all things will know what his former serf desires. This favour soon opens the gateways to a series of brilliantly told stories that do not slip as the series progresses.

The ‘theme’ of the series centres around Lucifer’s disdain with the universes predetermined nature, and gradually as the series unfolds, his rebellion against this fixed concept. The character of Lucifer is actually quite likeable, his relationship with Mazikeen is actually quite touching, you get the impression that she is the only charecter that he truly ‘likes’ in the entire series. However, some instances are thrown in that make us remember exactly who it is that we are relating to; often in some quite disturbing ways.

Essentially, the series is a tale of rebellion. Lucifer playing the Timothy Leary to God’s mainstream oppressor, and the attempt to steal a new, undetermined universe from the hands of the original creator. Heavy topics, yes. But told through some very entertaining plot devices and with a wicked sense of humour, that lifts the saga above some of its peers in my opinion.

Ken Eakins

Nextime: The Walking Dead