 Chaos Campus: Sorority Girls vs Zombies #9 ~ Last issue Jamie and Brittany faced off against Evil Paige in a demonic Pokemon dance-off - now, things get really weird, with the trio (Paige restored to her usual self) stumbling through an otherworldly realm of retro video games, pursued by resident slasher Kurtis as they dodge flaming barrels, jump across floating logs on a river, wrestle with Sudoku, engage in wordplay with a stand-up-comedy-inclined demon, and of course argue incessantly. It's been the driving force of this comic from the beginning that it hasn't rested on its laurels - rather than get comfy and start to get stale with a single subject, it's been a continual process of stumbling into new scenarios, from zombies to slashers to demonic possession to military idiots to god only knows what will happen next. Although, if the last page of this issue is anything to go by, it'll continue to be hilarious and quite, quite insane. There's also a change of artist this issue, with a lot more dynamism and effortless motion than in the previous issue - it's a good look. As always, all available Chaos Campus issues from Approbation Comics are available here on Indyplanet.
Justice Society of America 80-Page Giant ~ This is a weird one. The issue contains (as advertised) seven short stories, each focusing on a particular character, all woven together by the overall story of Something Weird Going On in the brownstone, causing everyone to... well, wander around having disconnected short stories, really. Truthfully, I'd have much preferred for this to be just an anthology - the mystic mumbo-jumbo necessary to 'unite' all seven shorts into a single story, when they're blatantly nothing to do with each other thematically, does nothing but highlight its own pointlessness - essentially, the framing material is just a waste of nine pages that could've been used to tell another worthwhile story. On the flip side, each of the individual shorts is good material, showcasing a variety of characters, artists, and storytelling styles, from straight-forward to flashback to surreal. (Plus, Cyclone gets a lot of attention, which is always cool with me.) If you're a JSA fan, buy this for the individual stories, and ignore the attempt to tie them together.
Farscape #1 ~ I don't really have that much new to say about the Farscape comics, but I wanted to put this in the 'Addictive' section based on, if you like, technical merit. A lot of TV tie-in comics - most, I'd say - aren't very good, which I tend to put down to writers not taking into account the difference between TV and comics: on the one hand failing to account for how much less story fits in 22 pages than 42 minutes, on the other getting carried away with the "we can draw anything" limitless scope of comics and indulging in visual spectacles that TV shows can't afford, and thus are inconsistent with the visual style of the TV show. The Farscape miniseries (miniserieses? Plural, whatever it is) have avoided both pitfalls, by and large, and if they haven't yet truly reached the heights the show used to on its best days, well, they're still good entertainment and worthy of being part of Farscape. This issue, the first of the non-miniseries ongoing title, carries straight on - apt enough, since the main-line miniseries (excluding the flashback minis focusing on D'Argo) were essentially just four-issue 'episodes' of an ongoing show, with a slightly more comic-oriented story structure, but very much in keeping with a TV show's structure at the same time. The art is good work - consistent with the show, not slavishly trying to copy faces and sets to the point where it interfered with artistic freedom, but nonetheless very faithful and easy to accept as the people and places we know, and the writing is confident and smart.
Fall Out Toy Works #2 ~ Long delay between issues not helping. The plot moves forward, with some interesting ideas, but jumping around erratically and slavishly devoting itself to what I can only assume is echoing Fall Out Boy lyrics saps away the coherency of the story; characters are inconsistent and dialogue is poorly phrased a lot of the time. I'll probably drop this.
Spider-Woman #3 ~ Still an enjoyable read, give or take, but I think I'll drop it - the photo-based art combined with murky colouring isn't doing it for me (I actually liked the rough storyboard of page one more than the finished art), and the pacing continues to be glacial, with the actual story moving at a snail's pace to accomodate lots and lots of dialogue. Plus, only 20 story pages, the other two being the aforementioned storyboard samples.
Nomad: Girl Without a World #3 ~ The school conspiracy gets a face this issue - one I've never heard of, but presumably long-time Marvel fans will recognise it - and, more to the point, more exposition on the why of it all, which is fairly satisfying and logical. Nomad herself is a bit introspective this issue, and although I'm still enjoying this story as told, the glimpse of her on her 'routine duties' makes me think that that, rather than the big conspiracy thing, might be the more interesting story, just seeing her doing her hero thing,
Outsiders #24 ~ I just got this for the included Violet Lantern Corps ring (or Star Sapphire Corps, or whatever) - which, incidentally, is about what you'd expect to find in a McDonalds happy meal, so not much to write home about there. The issue itself concerns Terra (Tara Markov) coming back from the dead as a Black Lantern, who are apparently intended to be the world's most emo zombies; there's some other stuff about a bunch of characters I've never heard of, and since their dialogue was way-out pretentious anyway I skipped that. Obviously I'm coming into this cold knowing nothing about the title or most of its characters, but if DC's intent was to get new readers to sample their wares to get the ring, the issue doesn't do much to make itself a good advertisement.
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