Cold Bananas Movie & TV Reviews
Reviews of movies, TV, comics and books by John Hansen, Michael Olinger and Shaune Redfield.
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ngel & Faith” Season 10 should really be called “Angel. And Faith,” at least for the first 10 issues. The co-leads have completely different story arcs, although both benefit from the moodier, noir-style look from artist Will Conrad and colorist Michelle Madsen.Continue reading “‘Angel & Faith’ flashback: Season 10, Issues 1-10 (2014-15) (Comic book reviews)”
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ver in the pages of Season 10, things are going well in Buffy and Spike’s relationship, so in true “Buffy” fashion, it’s time to throw a monkey wrench into the mix. It comes in the form of an old flame of Spike’s, who pops up in Issue 21. But who would that old flame be? Drusilla doesn’t work because she and Spike are in decidedly different places in terms of soul-having. His first love is intriguing, because no one gets over their first love, but he actually does get over Cecily (more than a century later) in “Spike: Old Times.” (And he gets immediate revenge on her in the non-canon but excellent “These Our Actors.”)Continue reading “‘Spike’ flashback: ‘Into the Light’ (2014) (Comic book review)”
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riter Andrew Chambliss and artist Georges Jeanty stick the landing to conclude the character-driven yet suitably epic “Buffy” Season 9 with the five-issue “The Core.” It’s a crying shame that this marks Chambliss’ finale in the Buffyverse. He gets the saga back on track after the uneven Season 8 and keeps threads percolating for Season 10, to be written by “Angel & Faith” Season 9’s Christos Gage — who is really good, but not quite as good as Chambliss. Also in this post, I take a look at the season’s special issues.
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hen Spike and Willow duck out of the main “Buffy” Season 9 series, their solo adventures are told in a pair of five-issue miniseries, with Spike brooding over his purpose in life without Buffy, and Willow seeking a way to regain some of her magic powers.
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n this next batch of 10 issues, Season 9 becomes slightly less Buffy-centric, somewhat to its detriment, but Andrew Chambliss continues to be a sharp writer and I trust he knows where the wider narrative is going. The only major misstep in this batch, surprisingly, is when “Buffy” veterans Jane Espenson and Drew Z. Greenberg step in for two issues to tell the origin story of side character Billy.Continue reading “‘Buffy’ flashback: Season 9, Issues 11-20 (2012-13) (Comic book reviews)”
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fter Season 8, Dark Horse’s canonical “Buffy” comics do what the TV series did more than a decade prior: split into two series. While “Angel & Faith” go off to do their own thing, “Buffy” Season 9 sets up shop in San Francisco and welcomes excellent new lead scribe Andrew Chambliss, who had written for “Dollhouse.” Here are my reviews of Issues 1-10 of the 25-issue Season 9.Continue reading “‘Buffy’ flashback: Season 9, Issues 1-10 (2011-12) (Comic book reviews)”
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y reviews looking back at “Buffy” Season 8 continue as we enter the final stretch of the 40-issue season. We finally learn the identity of Twilight, which only raises more questions. So many questions.Continue reading “‘Buffy’ flashback: Season 8, Issues 31-40 (2010-11) (Comic book reviews)”
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n addition to the 40 main issues and three one-shots, “Buffy” Season 8 also features five “MySpace/Dark Horse Presents” e-comics from the waning days of that social media platform. None of these short stories are essential, but a few of them reinforce this new era where vampires are celebrities instead of monsters.
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n addition to the 40 regular issues of “Buffy” Season 8, three one-shots flesh out specific aspects of the saga: what it’s like to be a street-level vampire in this new era, how Willow gets her superpowers between Seasons 7 and 8, and how and why Riley joins Twilight’s organization in order to spy on him. SPOILER WARNING: I will discuss Twilight’s real identity in the “Riley” section.Continue reading “‘Buffy’ flashback: Season 8 one-shots (2009-10) (Comic book reviews)”
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y reviews looking back at “Buffy” Season 8 continue as we enter the second half of the 40-issue season with several standalones (to borrow TV show parlance), which nonetheless move the narrative forward, and one epic five-parter. SPOILER WARNING: If you are reading these issues for the first time, I will analyze the character of Twilight based on my knowledge of Twilight’s true identity, which isn’t revealed until later in the season.Continue reading “‘Buffy’ flashback: Season 8, Issues 21-30 (2009) (Comic book reviews)”