Comics
Review: ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Willow-Wonderland’ #4
Christos Gage joins Jeff Parker once again, to deliver another plot driven issue of Dark Horse Comics’ Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Willow – Wonderland. And though it’s not the most riveting installment of the series thus far, a moment of highest dramatic tension, accompanied by a significant character reveal at the end of the fourth installment will forgive any predictability in the script. Unfortunately, the fandom will be less forgiving of the implications derived from the insinuated series’ end, as it fosters an undesirable future for both Willow, and the BuffyVerse.
WRITTEN BY: Jeff Parker, Christos Gage
ART BY: Brian Ching
PUBLISHER: Dark Horse Comics
PRICE: $2.99
RELEASE: February 6th
With the final issue set for release next month, Parker and Gage utilize Part 4 as a means to reignite Willow’s drive and focus concerning her quest to restore magic on Earth. No longer distracted by the beautiful Aluwyn and her “Mystic Opium Den”, Willow rejoins Marrack and embarks on the final stages of her journey in the Liminal Lands; a dimension which acts as a pathway to another, and where magic exists in its purest form. It’s there where our protagonist finally understands what needs to be done.
Earth needs an anchor to act as a source of magic to enable the flow of mystical energy between realms. What if Willow’s the anchor? What if she lets herself become one with the pristine magic of the Liminal Lands and transforms into the new Seed? Parker and Gage present her inner-musings in the form of a telling dramatic monologue that forces Willow to face some cold hard truths about herself and her struggles against Dark Willow. And with the reveal of who Marrack really is and what his intentions are, the timing couldn’t have been more significant.
There’s a blatantly, almost painfully, obvious clue on Megan Lara’s variant cover. The strawberry plant placed by Marrack’s feet is a huge giveaway as to his identity, because ‘Strawberry’ is an old nickname given to Willow by an influential past foe. But even without the straightforward symbolism, his true self is immortalized in the last 4 letters of his alias. SPOILER ALERT: Marrack is actually Rack, a warlock of the highest order, and supplier of addictive magic. This is a significant character return because it’s believed that Willow murdered Rack in Season 6. It took a while, but he’s finally back for revenge, and he won’t rest until he drains Willow of every last shred of magic she possesses.
Like last month’s installment, Brian Ching’s pencils and Michelle Madsen’s colours do not particularly meet the quality that we’re used to from these two artists, but the panels showcasing Willow’s inner-monologue and the entrance of Dark Willow are beautifully drawn and delicately coloured. Also like last month’s installment, Part 4 doesn’t live up to the high quality presented in the first two issues, but the set up for Part 5’s conclusion couldn’t be any more exciting and detrimental to the future of the BuffyVerse, so it’s an issue that can’t be missed.
3.5/5 Skulls
Reviewed by – ShadowJayd
Comics
[Review] Graphic Novel ‘Tender’ Is Brilliant Feminist Body Horror That Will Make You Squirm & Scream
Beth Hetland’s debut graphic novel, ‘Tender,’ is a modern tale of love, validation, and self-destruction by way of brutal body horror with a feminist edge.
“I’ve wanted this more than anything.”
Men so often dominate the body horror subgenre, which makes it so rare and insightful whenever women tackle this space. This makes Beth Hetland’s Tender such a refreshing change of pace. It’s earnest, honest, and impossibly exposed. Tender takes the body horror subgenre and brilliantly and subversively mixes it together with a narrative that’s steeped in the societal expectations that women face on a daily basis, whether it comes to empowerment, family, or sexuality. It single-handedly beats other 2023 and ‘24 feminine horror texts like American Horror Story: Delicate, Sick, Lisa Frankenstein, and Immaculate at their own game.
Hetland’s Tender is American Psycho meets Rosemary’s Baby meets Swallow. It’s also absolutely not for the faint of heart.
Right from the jump, Tender grabs hold of its audience and doesn’t let go. Carolanne’s quest for romantic fulfillment, validation, and a grander purpose is easy to empathize with and an effective framework for this woeful saga. Carolanne’s wounds cut so deep simply because they’re so incredibly commonplace. Everybody wants to feel wanted.
Tender is full of beautiful, gross, expressive artwork that makes the reader squirm in their seat and itch. Hetland’s drawings are simultaneously minimalist and comprehensively layered. They’re reminiscent of Charles Burns’ Black Hole, in the best way possible. There’s consistently inspired and striking use of spot coloring that elevates Hetland’s story whenever it’s incorporated, invading Tender’s muted world.
Hetland employs effective, economical storytelling that makes clever use of panels and scene construction so that Tender can breeze through exposition and get to the story’s gooey, aching heart. There’s an excellent page that depicts Carolanne’s menial domestic tasks where the repetitive panels grow increasingly smaller to illustrate the formulaic rut that her life has become. It’s magical. Tender is full of creative devices like this that further let the reader into Carolanne’s mind without ever getting clunky or explicit on the matter. The graphic novel is bookended with a simple moment that shifts from sweet to suffocating.
Tender gives the audience a proper sense of who Carolanne is right away. Hetland adeptly defines her protagonist so that readers are immediately on her side, praying that she gets her “happily ever after,” and makes it out of this sick story alive…And then they’re rapidly wishing for the opposite and utterly aghast over this chameleon. There’s also some creative experimentation with non-linear storytelling that gets to the root of Carolanne and continually recontextualizes who she is and what she wants out of life so that the audience is kept on guard.
Tender casually transforms from a picture-perfect rom-com, right down to the visual style, into a haunting horror story. There’s such a natural quality to how Tender presents the melancholy manner in which a relationship — and life — can decay. Once the horror elements hit, they hit hard, like a jackhammer, and don’t relent. It’s hard not to wince and grimace through Tender’s terrifying images. They’re reminiscent of the nightmarish dadaist visuals from The Ring’s cursed videotape, distilled to blunt comic panels that the reader is forced to confront and digest, rather than something that simply flickers through their mind and is gone a moment later. Tender makes its audience marinate in its mania and incubates its horror as if it’s a gestating fetus in their womb.
Tender tells a powerful, emotional, disturbing story, but its secret weapon may be its sublime pacing. Hetland paces Tender in such an exceptional manner, so that it takes its time, sneaks up on the reader, and gets under their skin until they’re dreading where the story will go next. Tender pushes the audience right up to the edge so that they’re practically begging that Carolanne won’t do the things that she does, yet the other shoe always drops in the most devastating manner. Audiences will read Tender with clenched fists that make it a struggle to turn each page, although they won’t be able to stop. Tender isn’t a short story, at more than 160 pages, but readers will want to take their time and relish each page so that this macabre story lasts for as long as possible before it cascades to its tragic conclusion.
Tender is an accomplished and uncomfortable debut graphic novel from Hetland that reveals a strong, unflinching voice that’s the perfect fit for horror. Tender indulges in heightened flights of fancy and toes the line with the supernatural. However, Tender is so successful at what it does because it’s so grounded in reality and presents a horror story that’s all too common in society. It’s a heartbreaking meditation on loneliness and codependency that’s one of 2024’s must-read horror graphic novels.
‘Tender,’ by Beth Hetland and published by Fantagraphics, is now available.
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