The root cause revealed!
Creative Staff:
Story: Mike Carey
Art: Kenan Yarar
Colors: Mohan
Letterer: Crank!
What They Say:
Barbarella is lost in a maze of Radically Unstable Space-Time, with Pulver Glain, his boys, and his smarter-than-smart gun Sally-Anne hot on her trail. But what’s at the heart of the maze is a threat – and a miracle – that none of them are ready for.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The weirdness of this arc is something that has worked well for me with how it’s unfolded, though sometimes it gets a little too into the woods for my tastes. Mike Carey has definitely gotten a better handle on the character and the overall setting since the first arc, which felt a little too forced for me at times. Kenan Yarar is also getting a lot more comfortable since that first arc as there’s a lot more fun and silliness mixed into it when it comes to the designs of the characters and the way we go through the various settings. The weird is getting weirder but feeling more cemented and connected to everything, which makes for a much more interesting experience overall.
The adventure here is one that took a weirder turn the last time around as Barbarella and Vossamin essentially fell into the 1920’s or thereabouts. This makes for a lot of fun as the two of them plus Vix try to understand local culture while trying to track down what’s causing all these folded time issues. There are a lot of misunderstandings even with a translator and it’s just plain silly. I love Yarar’s look for the period with the costuming and the way that Voss and Barbarella essentially just grab whatever they think looks good and runs with it as an outfit to try and blend in with the locals. They have a hell of a time actually doing so since they’re so far disconnected from this period and its social culture but that’s part of the fun since a lot of how they are is disconnected from our present real day culture as well. The group has a lot of good little bits here before getting to the big discovery.
The Glain clan isn’t far behind as they’ve figured out how to get into the same spot after how Barbarella left them previously. Seeing them in this time period is similarly amusing, though they’re more like bulls in a china shop than Barbarella is, and the intent on taking Barbarella down is pretty strong. But it takes an interesting and somewhat unexpected resolution when you get down to it as Pulver is stopped flat in his tracks by Sally-Anne when she finds out what it is that Barbarella is trying to warn them about when they come across each other. It speaks to Sally-Anne’s history about not wanting to harm others like the creature that’s causing all of these RUST issues and it creates a surprising connection between the two women. I do wonder if we’ll see them again with how it’s presented here but at the same time I keep hoping that each arc is essentially its own standalone beast.
In Summary:
With a nice bit of reconnect to the start of the arc at the end here that gives the story as a whole a bit more emotional weight, Barbarella continues to be one of the more interesting new series I’ve picked up in the past year. I really like what Mike Carey is doing here and while initially I had hoped for rotating artists with each arc to bring different visions to it I’m really digging how Kenan Yarar is seemingly getting more and more comfortable with the project and what can be done. The team keeps coming together better and better with each issue and that makes for a really fun reading experience. I can’t wait to see what’s next.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 12+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: June 20th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99
