Las Cruces’ beloved Day’s
Hamburgers is closing down at the end of the month. I rushed over to the Downtown Mall for a last
meal. (I’d actually just been there a
couple of weeks ago, so don’t say I didn’t support the place.) Unfortunately, a good deal of Las Cruces had
the same idea and I had to wait a half hour for the burger. It was worth it. That was the best burger I’d ever had there
with a super fresh bun and extra meat on the burger. They are going out in style. I chatted momentarily with the owner. She didn’t preclude the idea of reopening
someday, but in another location.
Afterward, I went to nearby Coas Bookstore and Zia Comics before going to work. I picked up a sweet 500-page Sabrina omnibus at Coas. I’m still reading that (no surprise), and I’ll review that later. At Zia Comics, I discovered that essentially their entire comics rack is all gay comics. Their rack has always been on the swishy side, but this time, I felt like I really had to search to find something that would appeal to me. (Next time, I should get a trade paperback, but even that selection isn’t too much different, unless I want to spurge on a $100 hardback treasury tome.) I found two comics to take a chance on.
I picked this up for the great cover and that I have some
familiarly with the character. I saw the
1968 Barbarella
movie a long time ago. While I have a
severe distaste for Jane Fonda, I have to admit she’s rather appealing in it. (The opening credits will
keep your attention.)
Simply, Barbarella is a sci-fi secret agent. She’s a lot like classic James Bond,
especially how often she ends up in the sack with everyone she meets. She can’t help it; she’s irresistible. This particular issue has Barb and her
friends rescuing her fox-ish companion, Vix.
Yes, there’s an angel (Talan) and a buff rabbit-man (Jack). And, she’s fighting evil little fox
creatures.
Is Jack an upgrade on Jaxxon? You be the judge.
I read this when I had some time waiting to leave for
somewhere. After being burned any number
of times by buying independent (non-Marvel
and DC) comics, I was expecting
disappointment. Though it was a sliver
of a larger story and featuring a character I only had passing knowledge of with
some silly-looking companions, I found myself sort of engrossed with the comic. It was a bit sexy, but not overtly so (darn
it). There wasn’t a lot of action,
though certainly danger was present. The
artwork was pretty good, but felt kind of workman like. The tech, backgrounds, and fantastic
creatures were better than the renderings of our titular heroine, who is the
main reason why people would be buying this.
This issue felt like an interlude that was setting up a
future climax. However, it worked for me
because of the setting. It set up a lot
of interesting concepts, even sort of philosophical. If it hadn’t been kind of fascinating, it
would have just been talky. I enjoyed
this comic enough that I’m hoping there’ll be another issue on stands the next
time I’m at Zia Comics.
Here, I’m gonna cheat.
I went to a comics “archive” site to look up the past issues. (I’d link to it, but that might not be
prudent unless you’ve got some spyware protection. There’s a couple of them and they’re not hard
to find. I wasn’t even looking for them
and stumbled on them.)
This is the second series of this current itineration of
the character. There is an overarching
plot. There is more action and sexy
stuff (and, frankly, the first series was much better illustrated). I was also able to check out some classic Barbarella material from her creator, Jean-Marc Lofficier. The old movie and this new comic are well in
keeping with his original vision.
I was honestly worried seeing up front that a woman wrote
this comic. Barbarella is an active
heroine, but not a modern feminist. I
was relieved that the character was not “updated for a modern audiences,”
perhaps only a bit more modest, but still a romantic. Sarah
Hoyt did a good job of staying true to the original character and that made
the comic enjoyable.
And I’ll review the other comic next.
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