Angel & Faith #21, by Christos Gage (writer), Rebekah Isaacs (artist), Dan Jackson (colorist), Richard Starkings and Jimmy Betancourt (letterer) - I wonder if Faith's necklace there on the cover has any significance? Can't say I've noticed her wearing one in-story, so perhaps Isaccs just liked it as an additional detail, to go with Faith's hair and the sword.All right, time to bring Giles back to life! About time, I'm ready for this to work or not so they can get on with killing Whistler. Problem, how to resurrect Giles when spells don't work? Solution, steal Whistler's idea to convert magic artifacts into raw energy to power a spell. Makes me wonder what Angel was gonna do if Whistler hadn't blabbed about his big plan. Alasdair initially objects to the idea of destroying his relics, much guilt-tripping and accusing is thrown around, he eventually relents. Sophie and Lavinia are there as a touchstone of sorts, also as backup spell casters. Handy, since Whistler, Pearl and Nash show up to rob the joint, and the old man gets wounded during the fight. The artifacts are stolen, and there's a decent chance the aunties screwed up the spell. I'm left wondering whether it would have been intentional. Did they see everything was going wrong and decide it was better for Giles to be permanently at peace? or did they make their honest best attempt, and just flub it? Or maybe it worked.
Oh, and Spike bailed because the spell that created Dawn appears to be wearing off, seeing as Angel and Faith no longer remember her. I'm disappointed he's leaving, but pleased he cares enough about Dawn to want to help her. Yes, it's probably about Buffy, allow me my illusions.
Some of Isaacs' faces were looking a little rough this issue. Mostly Faith. Not all the time, but in certain spots her forehead would be too large, or the head in general would be oddly shaped. Still, the art was mostly its typical high quality, which is why the occasional stumble stood out. I do wish that in the panel where Faith is standing up to Angel, he didn't tower over her. The perspective even looks slightly tilted so that he's leaning in and she's leaning back. Maybe that's just a product of her having to tilt her head back to look at him, and yeah, he's taller, but you can work around that. But given that she's scoring some points on him, and making him consider his actions, she could get a little more powerful positioning.
For the record, there were a couple of flubs in the fight scene. In the panel before Faith throws the axe, her voice balloon comes from off to one side, but you can see her silhouette in the background between Pearl and Nash (the aunts are illuminated over by Giles' body, so the long hair can only be Faith.) Also, whatever Aramaic saying Sophie is telling Lavinia not to say, she didn't actually say, at least not in any of the speech bubbles we see. I don't know, doesn't mean much, just something I noticed.
Atomic Robo Free Comic Book Day 2013, by Brian Clevinger (words), Scott Wegener (art), Anthony Clark (colors), Jeff Powell (letters) - My question of whether Jack would order Real Science Adventures without me specifically putting on my Previews orders appears to have been answered. I'm waiting for the trade, it seems.Robo's been called in by some young scientists because their robot has gotten out of control. For an out of control robot, it certainly seems interested in punching Robo, so it does that repeatedly. Robo's either badly off his game, or just sorely underestimating the thing. I would understand the latter. It looks as clunky as graceful as some of the Transformers toys I had way back in the day. You'd be forgiven for being surprised this thing could move at all. Anyway, Jenkins sees the explosions, rushes in, and fires the thing with his lightning gun. It turns out the whole was a trial run by the scientists to get a defense contract with Majestic 12. For new readers, Majestic 12 isn't exactly described, but the fact they have a base underground, want robots that can crush Robo, and have the money to acquire them, gives you a pretty good picture of what they are.
This one wasn't as funny as last year's Dr. Dinosaur story, but it's still pretty humorous, especially when Robo starts talking in single words like the robot. "Charge." "Oh yeah? Gun." "Bullets." "Reload." "Punch." Also, I'd like to see the eco-friendly robots he was wanting to see. Origami algorithms sound pretty cool. I do like how economically Clevinger gets the exposition out of the way. It takes one panel to explain what Robo's there to stop, one panel to explain lightning guns, all told, less than a page to get all the basic information out of the way so the punching can begin.
Which gives Wegener plenty of chances to draw punching, and Robo flying through the air and bouncing off things. I like the flare effect when it raises the Buick over its head, and the third punch (the backhand, with the PUNCH sound effect). It looks almost casual, but the explosion effect, plus the big solid letters, and the sight of Robo's little robot shoes and feet as he goes flying out of the panel really sell it. I don't know why it surprises me Robo doesn't wear socks, but it does. I figured if he wore shoes, he would wear socks, too.
OK, tomorrow, maybe more comic reviews. Unless I finish this book I'm working on tonight. I probably won't, but I might.
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