Freefall ~ Part Four

Buffy Season Nine issue #4. Takes. The. Cake.

The final part to the Freefall story goes out with a bang! Three to be exact. I don't mean story wise, but the art in the comic. This is the first time this season that the art beats the plot to the finish line. The illustrations were absolutely 'electrifying' especially the throw down between Buff and the Siphon. Get it? The scenes were actually filled with sparks. But all the same, the panel compositions on each page, the colour and detail were all fantastic! Not saying that the plot wasn't great but it was not the star element. It honed in on the battle, the entire issue spanning only a few hours, giving emphasis to the challenge this opponent was, what thrill and excitement it was to the reader. Loose ends were tied up and another thread to the story leads us into the next arc to Buffy's story in Season Nine.

So... Cover One. What can I say, but that I love it! And is my favourite of Morris' cover work for Season Nine to date. I may be heavy on the bias here because I have a love for Escher's works, having used his art as a precedent in the past and ever since be tantalised by the likes of it. So back to it... We are in what appears to resemble Buffy's old basement in her house back in ol' Sunnydale but it must be some other old basement because "Sunny D went from being an outie to an innie" as Faith once put it. The balustrade of the wooden staircase leading down to the musky green room has a big piece snapped out and missing. Sitting between this gap is our Slayer, bewildered by the floating ribbon of paper she reaches out to hold and stares intently at it. The ribbon she holds coils in the air to form two linking sculptural busts, inspired by MC Escher's lithograph, Bond of Union (1956). Instead of two human faces of woman and man, one is human and the other is vampire. The two busts face each other, the human one aghast and eyes wide; the vampire one menacing with fangs bearing. In front of the staircase Severin stands, with a disdainful expression and I could be mistaken, but a sadden look, he tears apart the mobius strip of paper linking the two busts before him. So why the inspiration of Escher I was asking myself when I read the comic today, but not until I typed the previous sentence did it hit me. Vampires, demons possessing the human body, in a way dead but living - the undead. Eternally "bonded," (provided not staked, decapitated or burned) not unlike a mobius strip. But Severin, tears with his hands, he "rips the mystical energy from all he touches," severing the bond between demon and human leaving nothing but a corpse. This cover uses perfect symbolism and has stunning visual execution.         

Cover by Steve Morris

Jeanty's alternative cover doesn't out shine Morris' cover this time, in my opinion. The cover shows what's starting to be a new pairing - Spike and Eldre Koh to the rescue! In total action hero style, Spike and Koh jump into... well, action. Both with the same determination and eagerness in their eyes. Koh leaps forth in a wrestler's stance with both arms held up and fists clenched while Spike moves spryly with his black leather coat bellowing behind him.  

The comic issue starts with a two page segment of "Three months ago" in none other than.. you guessed it and.. I guessed it. Drum roll please. The back alley! The colours of the panels are tinted yellowy to represent the past. On page two there are two beautifully detailed panels. One where we see Severin in a dark alley sporting circular sunnies having just de-vamped a vamp with fumes billowing from his palms and the corpse he holds when a mysterious silhouette of a person appears behind him. The other, a close up shot of his devilish grin behind those circular sunnies. We recognise him to be the mysterious man who appears at the end of Season Eight issue #40 with the same circular sunnies and mischievous grin.   

Of course, I would love to describe my favourite page, however, that would be the multiple pages of fight scene. Again the use of differently angled panels enhance the excitement of the action in this issue.

Overall, the Freefall arc was great and Part Four definitely takes the cake for the imagery. To do a little comparison between the first arc of B stream and the A&F stream, I think I enjoyed Freefall more than Live Through This. That's just my thoughts.

That's all for now!

Live Through This ~ Part Four

I have been without a working modem for more than the last week and I have a cold as of late so do forgive the lateness of this post.

Angel & Faith issue #4

This issue was satisfying to read and does not disappoint. I can't write anymore without being way to vague or spoiling it ..or it's the headache I have so give me a break!

Cover One. Blue and gold is the colour theme! Beady blue eyes of an array of peacock feathers hang from above. The same beady blue eyes decorate a gold bangle around an extremely pale arm. Human skeletons fill the empty spaces in the background, foreground and in between. It's a mix of supremacy, posh royalty and human death. The evolution of the so called "higher beings". The same beady blue eyes appear again in the illustration, as two pairs belonging to two sombre looking figures. The man holding up a skeleton by the rib cage and woman rubbing her chin with the backs of her fingers, both unamused  looking down upon none other than... us, the reader and members of the regular human race. Nash and Pearl rendered life-like by Morris in an impressive golden glow complexion in the same colour as their hair, standing still as statues and appearing gaunt as the dead, look ever so creep-ey.

Cover Two. Like in a dream of an endless grave yard, tomb stones appear before us and into the rising distance ..or falling from the purple night? not sure. It's in a style similar to a Simpsons dream, ones you may have seen of Bart or Homer. Front and center of the million tomb stones is our beloved Watchers', engraved "RUPERT GILES - IN LOVING MEMORY". Like in a dream, Angel becomes part of the forming grave yard, his black trench coat is the pitch black night for the foreground tombs. Giles' tomb situated at his chest. Angel, all dark and brooding, red blood sprayed across his face, holds out before him, cupped in both palms a single glass flask of lime green Mohra blood. This is another neat composition by Isaacs.

Unfortunately, there was no most memorable page in this issue. But, there were still good use of colour and action scenes. The story had mild shocks/horror, and a nice mysterious glint at the end that leaves your imagination curious for more.    

Hey this was a short post. But that's good cos I need my rest. I hope you enjoyed Part Four, and in a less than a week the next last part of Freefall comes out.