Week-In-Review: Adventure Time #2 / Conan The Barbarian #2 / Saga #1 / X-23#21

Adventure Time #2 (BOOM! Studios)

Story: Ryan North + Lucy Knisley and Zac Gorman (backup stories)

Art: Shelli Paroline and Braden Lamb

(Review by: Rijul Raut)

Hoo boy. Let me start off by saying that Adventure Time is one of my favourites of all cartoon TV shows, nay, of all TV shows. Its mixture of bizarre action, surreal humour and the best friends anywhere, ever, makes me watch this show for hours and hours. So when I heard that it was getting a tie-in comic, I was ecstatic. I had extremely high expectations of this comic, and boy, does it deliver. Some pressing issues prevented me from reading the first issue, and so I must bring before you a review of Adventure Time #2.

The main story continues on from the first issue, with the Lich having captured Finn, Jake, Dessert Princess and Ice King inside a mysterious bag. Marceline, Bubblegum Princess and Lumpy Space Princess (boy, this comic has a LOT of royalty. Marceline's a vampire queen) are also caught during the events of this comic, and the plot deals with them trying to find their way out. There are tiny, three-panel mini-comics on the bottom of some pages, and they are hilarious. My favourite moment has to be the Ice King's pet penguin Gunter reading Ice King-penned fan-fiction.

There are two backup strips, the first being a six-pager called "Laundromarceline" where, gasp, all of Finn and Jake's laundry has been coloured red by an errant sock. The second is a single-pager called "After the Show" which has Bubblegum Princess consoling Marceline after a failed concert, and is rather meh..

Overall, this is a brilliant comic book that stays true to the source material. Probably one of the best all-ages comics on stands now.

SCORE : 9 / 10

Conan The Barbarian #2 (Dark Horse Comics)

Story : Brian Wood

Art : Becky Cloonan

(Reviewed by Akshay Dhar)

Sheer raw, brutal action from start to finish – hands down one of the most intense comics I've read in a good long while. Arguably the most intense single Conan issue I've read ever in fact.

When I first heard that Brian Wood would be helming the newly launched Conan ongoing from Dark Horse (who's work with the Conan and other Howard properties has been exceptional!), well suffice to say that I was giddy with pleasure – the main reason for this being that apart from being an excellent writer in general, I've been an avid fan of his series Northlanders which, for those who've not read it, is nothing but a testament to the skill this man has to write medieval sword adventure sagas.

The first issue was a fantastic intro that jumped right into the deep end and this second issue takes that intensity and pacing even further and really hits the ground running, with the Cimmerian travelling with his newfound friends but caught between a rock and hard place as his previous transgressions prevent going one way and the dreaded pirate queen awaits somewhere on the other. From the moment I saw the first story arc bringing up Belit, Queen of the Black Coast – I knew this was going to be sheer joy! Plus, being a first step to Conan's pirating adventures with the Black Corsairs (which was one of my favourite parts of the Conan b/w stories by Roy Thomas way back when.

And Wood does not disappoint. Brilliantly violent is the majority of this issue with Conan pretty much single-handedly taking on Belits crew, Wood and Cloonan finding a great stride here with the action packed pages and traditional literature style narration that almost made me feel like I was reading an exceptionally vivid story from among Howard's library.

Cannot wait for the next issue and fully expect this to be one of the best runs on this already mega-iconic character, if these first two issues are any example.

SCORE : 9 / 10

Saga #1 (Image Comics)

Story : Brian K. Vaughn

Art : Fiona Staples

(Reviewed by Akshay Dhar)

Wow. Just Wow.

The anticipation for this new series by living legend Brian K. Vaughn has been beyond palpable – I don't think I'd be remiss in saying that this is one of the most highly anticipated in a long while by a huge cross-section of fans who have been waiting since he wrapped up the brilliant finale of Y the Last Man and then ended Ex Machina.

Well this new #1 was in this reviewers opinion, well worth the wait! Sure, there are things that people are already nit-picking at like the woman breast-feeding on this cover right here, but come on, I think we are past that and its not like this is any more explicit than many mature comics out there, in fact his cover art and the book as a whole treads very mature ground but toes the fine line of cleverly suggestive and explicit very nicely, both in the art and the story where needed.

At its core it is the story of Marko and Alana, two folks who are from different races that have been at war for forever. She comes from a planet of winged folks and he from that planets moon where they all have large ram/goat-like horns. Sure, the cleverer among you might have picked up on some of the under-currents in that setup – well it gets more interesting as we find an AI species of a sort having some hugely significant role in all this as they are allied with the winged people.

The issue starts at full tilt with our narrator being born. You heard that right – you see the narrator is the child of our protagonists who are on the run from both sides because they are doing the forbidden by parenting this child. A most interesting choice of narrative device as it gives a retrospective approach to her narration and gives little details that I think will serve the story beautifully.

And though I was unsure how she would do, Staples has really laid my doubts to rest with her work on this first issue: TV-headed people, fairy-like human sized folks, giant hairless cats and man-sized talking monkeys are clearly just the tip of the bizarre, free-for-all iceberg that this creative team has us sledding down with this series.

Think I might die waiting for the second issue...

SCORE : 10 / 10

X-23#21 (Marvel)

Story : Marjorie Liu

Art : Phil Noto

(Review by: Anubhav DasGupta)

This issue is the last and final issue of this volume of X-23. Marvel, in their infinite wisdom, is cancelling this over the much less remarkable Daken. But, what the heck, there’s no point in complaining. X-23 will be back soon in another comicbook (whose name I cannot remember) alongside Rulk and Ms. Ghost Rider.

X-23 has been a hugely entertaining book, boasting of some brilliant art. It’s been one of my favorite X-books since the Heroic Age relaunch. And this issue doesn’t break tradition. While it’s not the phenomenal bombastic farewell it should have been, but it’s a silent, but hugely entertaining goodbye.

No words are spoken, much like the last issue of Ultimatum : Ultimate Spiderman.

It has a good story, one that deals with X-23’s dilemma (in the last issue she was asked to choose sides in anticipation of the AvX storyline) boasting of some great art. Phil Noto is excellent at drawing women, and he’s really good at drawing everything else, too. There’s a scene where X-23 runs naked in the snowfall, with the wolves by her side, and it’s very well drawn. There’s another scene where the panels alternate between a cave painting and X-23 fighting with someone and that is done REALLY well, despite some sloppy pixilated colors in some panels.

Major props to Liu for making Noto the real star of this comicbook and trusting him to handle a comic such as this with no dialogue. And major props to Noto for carrying it so well.

So goodbye, X-23. You will be missed.

SCORE : 7 / 10

See you all again tomorrow for more new comics!