“Breathless”
Creative Staff:
Story: Sarah Hoyt
Art: Madibek Musabekov
Colors: Ivan Nunes
Letterer: Carlos M. Mangual
What They Say:
Fresh off the chaotic conclusion to the riddle of Camelot, Barbarella finds herself out an ally but with no time to lick her wounds. A mysterious signal from space leads Barbarella to the water world of Encantado, where the remnants of a once-thriving situation lay hidden, as do much genetic shenanigans. And lest you think that’s all the Siren of Space must deal with, the armed forces of the deadly power behind the enslavement of Camelot is still hot on her trail—good luck outrunning lasers!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
There’s a part of me that’s always frustrated that the Barbarella property isn’t more popular and hasn’t gotten a proper live-action reboot. And this is even more so after what Dynamite has done with the character in the last few years, and now more so because of what Sarah Hoyt has brought to the page here with her. It connects with past works while still feeling connected to the film in its own way. Hoyt is again joined by Madibek Musabekov and it’s with this episode taking place underwater and under a heavy blue hue, it’s still a drop-dead gorgeous book. With Ivan Nunes coloring, the designs look great for the characters with a kind of presence and sensuality that really works and there’s a good look to the worldbuilding that’s going on here throughout.
With Barbarella having made it back and gone through the debriefing, there’s a common theme that comes up here that’s spread throughout the book. Her loss of Taln is really proving to be bigger than it seemed as he’s almost constantly on her mind. She’s assigned a new ship and a new helper in the form of Margaret, but neither of those things last more than a few pages since she’s being sabotaged again by outside forces. But Barbarella’s thoughts of Taln continue throughout the book with her wishing he was there to help. It’s made worse when Vix reveals that Taln taught him a lot of things (who knew he had the time!) and Vix invokes Taln’s name regularly as he goes about helping out Barbarella. But that just makes her miss him even more and while I like upbeat Barbarella, I also like seeing Barbarella work through a real emotional issue here.
What we get with the mission to Encantado, where Barbarella and Vix have just the clothes on their bar (or fur, in Vix’s case), is an all-water world where the residents are basically unknowing slave labor for “The Lady” who they work for, but view as benevolent. She’s got a deep and mysterious past and the reveal of who she is just asks questions instead of providing answers, but the book focuses more on Barbarella trying to figure out this world and who these people are – while sleeping with at least one of them along the way as well. It’s really nicely done as you get some happy Barbarella time but we also see her doing what she does best with no tools, just t help of an increasingly souped-up Vix. That they uncover as much as they do and discover what they do, it means some exciting issues ahead.
In Summary:
Barbarella continues to be an exciting and engaging book that handles all the things about the character well. From intrigue to sexytimes, emotional depth to action, diplomacy to just a solid bit of beatdown. She’s got all the goods to handle what’s thrown at her and seeing a stripped-down version of her here without much in the way of help outside of Vix definitely works, especially as she’s at an emotional low. I like the reveals that we get here and I want to know more about this mysterious Lady to see what the big plan is because I keep suspecting that it has to be a ruse of some sort to try and take advantage of her confusion. There’s a lot to like in the story here and a lot to love the artwork. Very recommended.
Grade: A
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: September 22nd, 2021
MSRP: $3.99
