Randy Reviews Week April 4

Greetings one and all

I do not have the plethora of books that Chris has this week, and I'm fine with that. Usually its the other way around. So TAKE THAT Chris!!

I have only a few books to review, and I will say that I was pleased with the entire group this week.

Without spoilers, and without further ado, here we go:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #2

The Long Way Home, Part II

This book is far better than issue 1. And no, its not just because I get me some Giles appearances. This one didn't just "BAM", here's where we are and what is going on. I have some backfill. This book really feels like the show. I have Giles. AND, we get the last page appearance. WHOA!!! is all I"m going to say to that. I lied. That was a GREAT last page. It made me very very excited for issue 3.

Quick summary-

• we get some Buffy training girls,
• we get Giles talking to girls,
• we get Dawn and Xander chatting,
• we get Amy doing her dirty work
• we get the whole "soldier/suit" discussion about magic/slayers/missiles.
• Then we get zombies.
• Then we get the last splash page.

I was quite taken aback at the Buffy/Xander sequence- boy that threw me for quite a loop when I started reading. It did, of course, go straight downhill from there, for the gang, as usual.We are getting to see what we saw of much in the show- not just Buffy et all whooping up on dead/demon things, but the lighter touches of sister issues, relationship issues, and all that kinda jazz. I guess this would be called the emotional stuff.

Did not care for the Kenny appearance. I would like to see him dropped altogether and never used again- except for maybe demon food. With a dual cliffhanger, I am quite looking forward to issue 3-- I'm going to be extremely interested on who they bring in to "fix an issue." It also plays off some fairy tales, which makes me chuckle. And I really can't tell you why. It just does.

Rating: 4/5. Improving, engaging storyline. The appearances keep coming. The art is still on par. I love the covers though. Can't we just get Xander his eye back though. I keep seeing Nick Fury. Also, I am tagging this one as my Book of the Week.

Warbird #14
The Deal, Part 2 of 2

So, there is good, and there is not so good with this issue.Starting with the good.

• It has a psuedo happy ending.
• It packs an interesting plot twist near the end, involving Julia Carpenter, her parents and her daughter. One I was not expecting. And brings up a good point (one that I"m sure has been played out before, but I haven't seen it, so I liked it.) It made me think some.
• Gives us why Julia Carpenter is in Omega Flight.
• More AIM bad guys.
• Warbird really kinda...plays the law into her own hands. MOre of, "I want this, so I'm going to do it." Real borderline there. Its basically Tony and Carol getting what they want, and finding the reasoning behind it. I like that. Gives her a little edginess.
• I"m intrigued by her SHIELD team.
• The last page reveal.

Now, the not so good:

• Makes Julia Carpenter out to be a pretty much wuss. And she's joining a "super-group?"
• Either use the sweet ass red-jacketed WonderMan, or just don't use him. Its not his book I know, but his appearances are kind of lame.
• Tony and Carol basically setting precedents for law. Isn't this going back to "superheroes taking the law into their own hands" again? Yes, I almost mentioned this above in the good. Its a good and bad.

So, granted, there appears to be far more good than bad in this issue. I still say Warbird is far far far better after that lame CW thing. I"m actually, overall, enjoying the book again.

Rating: 3/5. I"m glad that the Julia thing is finally laid to rest (basically). And now we can get back to down and dirty, starring AIM, Warbird and...wait for it....MODOK!

Jonah Hex #18

I Walk Alone

NO Photo, because apparently no one can get it right.

And because I have no scanner available at this time. This has been my favorite Jonah Hex book to date. Wait, except for the carnival issue. This has been my second favorite Jonah Hex book to date. I was actually thinking of dropping this title, to save a few dollars here and there. But honestly, I just can't, or maybe I just don't want to. Its little one shot stories like these that make me want to continue reading. And, I think I can finally say, it was nice to see that even Jonah Hex can be wrong. That's all I'm going to say- read the book if you want to find out why I say that.

But hey, I have a question for all of you. Jonah Hex makes bundles of money on bringing in his bounties, right? So, what the hell does he do with all that money? We always see him out camping. He doesn't have 8 bags of clothes with him. Does he own a lumbermill in Canada or something? We never see him gamble. Ammunition sure as hell doesn't cost that much, even if he goes through that much in just a single issue. I was just wondering.

Also, it was great fun to read through the conversation that Jonah had with his campfire "friend." And the end of this tale, its a little twisted. All the more reason I liked it.

Rating: 4/5. As I said, one of my favorite tales so far in the Jonah Hex chronicles.

Welcome to Tranquility #5

Too Much for the Man

And this book just continues to roll out the punches. This one really packs a wallop. And we start to get to some of the "whodunnit" revelations. Not people I was suspecting.

We get an unfair fight, partially depicted on the cover.

And, we finally, finally get Hecatean!!! Oh the poor poor man finally finds the solution, and its pretty impressive. Not telling, because that would spoil some of the fun from the first few issues.

This is pretty much a "wham-bang-smash'em up fracas", all the while revealing all the plot twists. It was very well done. There were a couple of character shifts I was not expecting. Actually, I was pretty shocked. The hospital fight was good, and I was glad it had the ending it did. It only made sense that it should go that way anyway.

Also, I loved these lines of conversation:

"Police Brutality"

"Shut up Boy!"

"He touched my Heinie"

I just had to laugh. This has so far been a great book, never a slow moment, but it is not one that you can just pick up with an issue, say #5, and know what the heck is going on. If you haven't picked this up from issue 1, then wait for a trade, or go buy the back issues. But I think you'll enjoy it.

Rating: 4/5. A marvelous read. And almost any book with the next title of "Dogfight" showing a plane in it is also something to really look forward to.

Savage Tales

Issue #1
Am I a Red Sonja fan- yep. Am I a fantasy world fan- yep. Why then, wouldn't I buy Savage Tales? Heh, I did, and I enjoyed all the stories.

1. Red Sonja tale was fun, as she ripped out an earring from a thief. Its nice to see that she can pass out in taverns too.
2. The Atlantis tale was actually my favorite though from this book. The King has his ideals, his vision, and his lackeys feed him the tales of Atlanteans on the mainland in a way that only would please the king, but the drawings sure didn't depict it that way. That was really fun to read and decipher.
3. A carryover story from the regular Red Sonja books, this involved the man-wolf-warrior (I forget his name) that revels in pleasing the older gods, and now has a sworn enemy in Khulan Gath. Even though he despises "the Red Devil", I can see them teaming at some point to rid the world of Khulan Gath.
4. The last story is a native tribe, beset by aliens, both good and bad. I didn't care for this story too much, but nonetheless a decent read. It was the last of the bunch, so I muddled through thinking back to the previous three stories.

This was a pretty good book about "duping" the old pulp magazines of past: multiple stories, all parts of stories, that you have to tune in next month to read. I did get that vibe, and it was fun.
Rating: 3/5. Not all the strongest stories, but you won't always get that, and that's ok. The art was very pretty though, especially the Atlantis story.