Comic Guy of Fairbanks Reviews

We got a special treat this weekend that surprised even us retailers. Buffy the Vampire Slayer #4 had a brand new series, Angel #0, stealth shipped alongside it! For those of you unaware, BOOM! studios has been printing a new series based on the popular Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV show. Cleverly calling it a "reVAMP" of the TV series, the new comic series is a modern retelling of the popular show. Buffy Summers herself remains the most recognizable of the original cast. Like the TV show, she moves to Sunnydale with her mom after being expelled from her old school for fighting (defending the student body from vampires still doesn't earn you points with faculty, it seems). Like the original series, Buffy befriends Willow and Xander on her first day, despite popular-but-mean Harmony warning her against it. Also like the series, Buffy struggles to find a "work/life" balance between her schooling and her slaying, a point of contention between her and her Watch...

Image Comic's newest title, Fair Lady , is an interesting blend. A detective-noir series in a post-war fantasy setting filled with beast-men and mages, it promises a unique take on real world issues. Fair Lady  takes place after an event known as "the War of the Harshland" that, at its conclusion, left its standing soldiers with the responsibility of integrating into society. As the intro to the comic claims, "some found employment. Some turned to crime. Some became the first licensed investigators: the first Fairmen ." Our comic follows the only Fairlady: a woman named Jenner Faulds. Jenner pretended to be a man in order to fight as a soldier in the war, and was able to obtain employment as a security adviser for a wizard when the war ended. On the side our heroine works as a Fairlady, investigating different cases for individual contractors. The first case we see Jenner work involves the disappearance of a woman who stole from her employer, a case she ...

Anybody who's been keeping up with Kieron Gillen's latest project, Die , has been treated to a rich world and story. A meta, dark fantasy roleplaying experience, the story has been described by Gillen himself as "Goth Jumanji."  Die follows 5 adults as they're called back to a world that swept them away as teenagers, a world where they become the characters they created for their own roleplaying game. One character calls themselves "the Dictator," and has the ability to control people who hear their voice. Another character plays a "God Binder," a Cleric-like character who doesn't worship gods, but barters with them for different effects. All of the characters are powerful on this world, but just regular (somewhat traumatized) people in ours. As kids, the characters are implied to have lived up their fantasy adventure. They had romances, affected regional politics, and took part in large scale battles and wars. They treated the advent...

The opening of the new Sabrina the Teenage Witch series (by Archie Comics) might give you some serious Chilling Tales of Sabrina vibes, but don't confuse it with its horror comic counterpart. This new Sabrina series is a part of the new rebranding Archie Comics has been doing since 2015. The rebranding has been a mostly successful effort to modernize Riverdale and its residents. So while Archie may still be a kindhearted walking-disaster, he's been spending less time agonizing over the Betty/Veronica debate and more time dealing with modern high school problems. Sabrina the Teenage Witch #1 follows that same vein. While the story may appear less campy than the older Sabrina comics, at its heart it's still about a girl stuck between two worlds and trying her best to fit into both of them. You learn early in the comic, via banter with her familiar Salem, that Sabrina has sworn off using magic to solve her problems. At least, that's what she's told herself, as she qui...