Connect with us

Comics

Review: ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9’ #24

Published

on

Andrew Chambliss’ slow and intentional process leading to the epic finale of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9’ is just about ready to culminate in an inevitably cataclysmic affair. With the last installment of the season set for release next month, issue #24 builds up the action and circumstances to a presumably hair-raising climax, but not without a brutal cliffhanger send-off to set the fandom a-blaze.

WRITTEN BY: Andrew Chambliss
ART BY: Georges Jeanty
PUBLISHER: Dark Horse Comics
PRICE: $2.99
RELEASE: August 14, 2013

Commendable storytelling is pretty much guaranteed when the use of drama flows naturally around critical moments in the narrative, effectively keeping the readers’ attention, as opposed to merely grabbing it. Delivering another lively and plot-driven chapter which features infallible representations of cherished characters and exciting story developments, the creative team successfully manage to hold the continued interest of the fandom. Chambliss writes a very engaging script that is brimming with dramatic tension, conflict, and awesome displays of extraordinary power. The story moves at a good pace, and is loaded with moments of great timing, and these moments are perfectly executed by Georges Jeanty’s clever panel placements.

That’s not to say that his artwork is anything but what readers have come to expect from the hit-or-miss artist, but his choices regarding panel shape, size, and overall layout produces somewhat of a visual rhythm to smoothly aid narrative progression. His most impressive illustrations are those which depict scenes of extreme action and feature his drawings of demons. So, the anticipated face-off between the mystical council and Maloker, the newly resurrected Old One, is super fun and visually stimulating. Jeanty portrays the level of chaos and disorder in these scenes in a really convincing and thrilling way.

His artistic style makes it easy for readers to distinguish space and distance—forgoing major detail, or adding more depending on the scope of the panel. And Dexter Vines follows suit with his inks; heavy for close-up shots, and extremely light for far. Last issue, Karl Story successfully took over as inker, and it is slightly disappointing not to see him be featured again this month, but readers will make due. Especially considering Michelle Madsen’s exceptional contribution in regards to colours. She has been delivering great work for months now, and is a great asset to the creative team.

In terms of story, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9” #24 continues right where the last issue leaves off; with a freshly turned Simone exerting her new and improved power and strength over an unyielding Buffy and Xander; with the mystical council battling against the giant-sized ancient demon who sired the first vampires; and with Willow’s solo investigation of the Deeper Well, in hopes of acquiring the sealed magic trapped within the ancient tomb to save Dawn’s life. The second last issue also sees a tangible opportunity to potentially re-juice their magicless world, and it is simultaneously secured, and threatened, by Severin’s master plan to turn back time.

Overall, Chambliss and co deliver an entertaining issue that will successfully ensure the fandom’s thirst for the final installment. Assuming the brutaly graphic last page doesn’t put them in a rage coma.

4/5 Skulls

Reviewed by – ShadowJayd

Comics

[Review] Graphic Novel ‘Tender’ Is Brilliant Feminist Body Horror That Will Make You Squirm & Scream

Published

on

Tender Beth Hetland Graphic Novel

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.

4 out of 5 skulls

Tender graphic novel review

Continue Reading