And end, for now.
Creative Staff:
Story: Mike Carey
Art: Kenan Yarar, Jorge Fornes
Colors: Mohan. Celeste Woods
Letterer: Crank!
What They Say:
“A Place Called Overkill” The event horizon of a black hole is a bad spot to have your ship break down — especially if the breakdown isn’t an accident. But who wants Barbarella dead? And why have they chosen to bury her so very, very deep?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The Barbarella series is one that came out and took a little bit of time to find its bearings but once it did it clicked in a wonderfully delicious way. Mike Carey captured the feel and intent of the old works well while Kenan Yarar put together some fantastic pages and designs, giving us a wonderful Barbarella in all her confidence and sexiness. With this issue we get the end of the run with a one-off story that leaves plenty open for more and I’m hopeful that we shift from an ongoing to a series of miniseries and one-shots instead because there’s so much fun to play with when it comes to this property. And this team certainly proved it and have left me wanting more.
This issue is a little different than the rest of the run as it’s chaotic in weird way that does work as a whole. After the storyline we just had we now have Barbarella waking up and feeling like she’s back where she started in a dreamlike kind of way. What the book does for the first half is work through what’s basically a look at various stages of her past being brought back for her to interact with, which is problematic considering some of those she encounters died. The way Yarar and Fornes lay things out we get a lot of alternating pages with the different experiences, sometimes changing panel to panel, and it’s a lot of fun watching her trying to figure out what’s happening and who is really behind it. She’s got plenty of people after her so there are a considerable number of choices.
What helps is that it all shifts to a place called Barbarellaland that’s actually real to the touch. With tormenting words through the loudspeaker, she gets to start using her wits to figure out who is behind it and how to survive the various booths and what they have in them, which again touches on her past. Admittedly, I want the Vix sledding booth to be real, or just to be able to have a Vix. While this is fun it does get us to the real person behind it that didn’t ring a bell for me so it kind of lacked a real connection and impact. But the concept works nicely once you put in the whole future science would eliminate the problems with playing around a black hole. I know Carey puts in just the right trick to make it work but I just got done a few days before reading this watching an entire NOVA episode about black holes so my mind is all poking holes.
In Summary:
When Barbarella was first announced I got pretty excited for it even though my only frame of reference was the film itself and a smattering of the original work. It took a bit to find its groove but Carey and Yarar found it and worked some really enjoyable storylines and one-off issues as well. This one plays with a few different things and while it’s not quite as strong as some previous issues it’s a fun way to close things, putting Barbarella in a place where she can return easily and pick up where we left off. I’m hopeful for more as this is a very fun title ripe for more exploration and adventure where anything goes. If nothing else, I hope that we get a big hardcover omnibus for the run so that it looks great on our bookshelf.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 12+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: November 28th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99
