July 2012

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine #11

btvs-season-nine-11-coverLooking for a fresh start Buffy joins Kennedy‘s force of high-priced Slayer bodyguards but finds it difficult to shut off her normal instincts when faced with demons and the new Zompire infestation.

I like seeing the comic continue to incorporate more of the wider Buffyverse and Kennedy is an interesting choice as, although the weren’t ever enemies, she and Buffy were never exactly friends. The idea of several of the Slayers joining up for a private corporate security company also makes a lot of sense, although I’m not sure (from what we saw of her in Season Seven) I’d have picked Kennedy for the corporate head honcho. Although I do like the choice of a client fleeing from Wolfram & Hart.

A couple of other interesting tidbits: Spike‘s friend Eldre Koh of the Nitobe needs help in his quest for vengeance (which seems really hard to be setting something up that doesn’t really fit in this issue) and Buffy learns the police under Detective Dowling have started a special task force to deal with the Zompires. Worth a look.

[Dark Horse, $2.99]

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Captain America #14

captain-america-14-coverCaptain America finds himself fighting the new Scourge, but long before Sharon Carter can arrive to tell him it’s one of his friends under the mask Steve Rogers figures out who is trying to kill him.

Most of the comic centers around Cap’s fight with Scourge and the immediate aftermath involve Sharon Carter’s actions to save the man she loved. It’s clear Cap can forgive her for using lethal force to take down a former friend, but the question that lingers as the issue comes to a close is whether Sharon will ever forgive herself.

The episode is a weird mix of art by Patrick Zircher and Mike Deodato, Jr. The two styles don’t really mesh all that well giving the comic a somewhat unsatisfying feel. The story itself works well, setting up more conflict and guilt for Cap with the loss of another friend (although I’ve never been a fan of D-Man and didn’t even know he was even alive somewhere in the Marvel Universe so it’s not like Codename: Bravo did this to the Falcon). Worth a look.

[Marvel, $3.99]

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The Newsroom – I’ll Try to Fix You

  • Title: The Newsroom – I’ll Try to Fix You
  • tv.com: link

the-newsroom-ill-try-to-fix-you

On New Year’s Eve Mackenzie’s (Emily Mortimer) boyfriend Wade (Jon Tenney), an Assistant US Attorney, comes clean with Will (Jeff Daniels) about the government’s unwillingness to fund the prosecution of white-collar crime, and Maggie (Alison Pill) is mortified when Don (Thomas Sadoski) attempts to set-up Jim (John Gallagher Jr.) with Maggie’s roommate Lisa (Kelen Coleman).

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Batman #11

batman-new-52-11-coverThe “Court of Owls” storyline mercifully comes to an end here as Batman faces off against the head of the Court of Owls, a mad man who believes himself to be Bruce Wayne’s brother. Although Snyder backtracks a bit from last month’s reveal of the real identity of Lincoln March as Thomas Wayne, Jr. things are left far from settled as the issue, and arc, come to a close.

Most of the issue is little more than Batman and March (in some knock-off Iron Man armor the Court must have just had laying around) fighting around the rooftops of Gotham as March endlessly drones on about his right to the Wayne name, fortune and legacy.

Not surprisingly, the issue ends with Batman knowing that March was likely lying but unable to prove for certain. We also get scene between Bruce and Dick to smooth over the whole Batman cold cocking him thing and another chapter in the truly awful back-up story involving Alfred‘s father. Pass.

[DC, $3.99]

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