“Double Trouble”
Creative Staff:
Story: Sarah Hoyt
Art: Madibek Musabekov
Colors: Ivan Nunes
Letterer: Carlos M. Mangual
What They Say:
The penultimate issue for this current installment! Beauty meets beautiful (and highly defended) beast as Barbarella takes the fight right to The Lady’s doorstep. Doing so means tracking down The Lady’s hidden home world and doing that means fighting through the masses determined to keep it hidden! If it’s that hard to make planetfall, what the heck awaits our hero? And what is the incredible, tragic connection between The Lady and Taln?! All this, and cringy one-liners, too!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Good and fun science fiction in comics is hard to find which is why I’m lamenting that the next issue is the final installment of this run. Hopefully, there is more ahead and that this team gets another shot at telling stories as it really has worked out exceptionally well. Sarah Hoyt continues to bring to the page here an engaging story that explores this galaxy and its inhabitants but also the familiar concept of love and just how many barriers it can break down when Barbarella is involved. 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 great to have their work again as they produce such 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 now getting some backup in dealing with the Lady – plus George – the ship is now headed to where she is to confront her directly. This is a situation where both sides are clear about things happening so there aren’t distractions and overwrought battles of epic forces here. Just the planned eventually face-to-face confrontation. The world where she’s set up is pretty much a grim place as expected, with most creatures wearing white face masks and blue robes, and the group sans George explore looking for clues on how to meet the Lady and figure out how to end this. It takes a pretty grim turn along the way as we see one of her frankensteined creations used as a lure here, though it does give us a rare mention of Pylgar which I really liked. It further cements what kind of terrible and twisted person the Lady is and pushes Barbarella further to end this problem.
With a bit more discovery or clarity in who and what the Lady is, that leads the group to an underground cavern where she lays her eggs, which is all part of the trap. Barbarella’s confrontation with her is kind of awkward as it’s sort of one-on-one with the others proven to be captured, and the Lady simply intends to take over Barbarella’s life and from there slowly work her way toward rule over the galaxy. Which others point out can’t happen because Lady truly can’t replicate who and how Barbarella operates as. It’s not exactly an unclear situation when you get down to it here, but Lady again comes across as a power player without the clearest of plans. Or perhaps, one that is overly complicated in a way that doesn’t distill down well so that you can have the aha moment and think that it makes sense. Especially after seeing all that she’s capable of.
In Summary:
Barbarella sets up for a solid ending here and I’m curious to see where all the fallout goes from it (and hoping for news of another series as well). Hoyt has crafted things well here and while I may not be all on board for how good of an opponent that Lady is, I really enjoy how Barbarella is presented in dealing with her and others. A lot of it is in the scripting to be sure but it’s also how the script is brought to life as Musabekov really delivers on the expressiveness and emotion of our leading character. Through that we feel more that is in the script that might not come through otherwise and that’s really key to making this as strong as it is. I’m excited to see how it plays out but already fearful that this top-notch team may not get another shot at more because Barbarella deserves such a high-quality creative team like this.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: April 27th, 2022
MSRP: $3.99
