the three best comics out this week

it's been a while since i've done any comic reviews, but i thought these three needed to have something said about them. well, you know, by me. because this is my site. eat it.

first up, buffy the vampire slayer 6.

this is part one of brian k. vaughan's "no future for you" storyline starring my favourite slayer, faith. first, i have to say that vaughan really captured faith's voice. reading through, everything faith said sounded, well, faithy. second, giles was spot on. seriously. third, the majority of the issue is faith and giles. that was great. they played off each other so well, although i'm a little disappointed faith didn't say anything about the yellow submarine sweater giles was wearing when they first meet up. it seems like faith would've been all up in the mockage. or maybe she didn't get the ref.

one of my favourite exchanges betwixt giles and faith:

giles: the only chance you have at finishing this slayer is by getting close to her through subterfuge and cunning.
faith: hey, i likes me some kink, but if you think i'm going downtown on this chick, you chose the wrong chosen one.

the thing is, this issue really makes you feel for faith. back in season 4 of angel and season 7 of buffy, faith was well on her road to redemption. she wanted to be a good guy again, and she was making progress. when this issue opens up, well, she's been pretty much abandoned and relegated to slayer wetworks. sure, faith was never much of a team player, but to see principal wood having a slayer squad has got to bite. i mean, even andrew has a slayer squad! and that's where the interaction between giles and faith comes in. as the issue progresses, and especially the last page, it seems like giles starts to change his mind a little about faith. and i hope that's where this storyline goes. plus, so worth it that the last line on the last page is giles saying "five by five." you just know if that last panel hadn't been blacked out, it would've been giles cleaning his glasses.

next up, y the last man 58.

also by brian k. vaughan. there are only two more issues of this series. and this issue, well, honestly, i was crying at the end. i started reading y about two years ago. i picked it up on a whim, and i was hooked. i went back and bought as many back issues and TPBs as i could. and i've read and re-read everything several times now.

ahem. so this issue continues winding down the series and tying up a couple of the subplots left in the series. first, we have the israeli army tracking down yorick to paris, which has some severe consequences for one of cast mainstays. the other plot is yorick and 355 finally admitting their feelings for each other. the way they do it is just, well, perfect. i mean, one of the main plots throughout the series was yorick wanting to track down his fiancee, beth. last issue, they finally find each other, and he realizes, hey, he doesn't love her anymore. he's fallen for 355. and he's known it for a while, and he's ready to own up to it. and so is 355. the way yorick compares their admitting their feelings for each other to moonlighting was great! and meta. and especially with yorick saying he's cybill shepherd and 355 is bruce willis. also, i love that 355 finally tells yorick her real name, and that he sarcastically says that it's a disappointment, yet perfect. (kinda like how in the series finale of sex and the city when we find out mr. big's real name is john, only that was just just disappointing and in no way a perfect name for him.) i just really, really hope we never find out what 355's real name is.

and the last few pages. damn. i mean, damn. there's no words. literally. and it's perfect. because there are no words for what happens. it's fucked up and sad and you just knew it was going to happen. and that's why i cried. it was perfect and sad. that's all.

and lastly, there's she-hulk 21.

this is the last issue with dan slott as the series writer. he's written 33 issues of she-hulk, and this was kinda the perfect ending for his run with the character. with this issue and the last, he's tied up basically all of his running subplots in the series, and fixed some marvel continuity to boot.

the fix? simple, really. essentially, for the past several years, every time a character has done something out of character, it wasn't them; it was their counterpart from a mirror universe (known in the comic as "earth a", which also seems to poke a little fun at dc comics's multiverse numbering). one of the running gags in the series has been jen getting mad at everyone that says she slept with the juggernaut (which took place a couple of years back in an issue of uncanny x-men where jen was juggernaut's defense attorney in a canadian trial.) so this issue, we find out it wasn't her, it was "earth a" jen. and there's a nice page of people getting mad at their "earth a" counterparts. and jen singing that really awful chumbawamba song (yet another running gag) with "earth a" jen at karaoke.

it was just a great issue, and it makes way for peter david's run starting next issue.

and that's all i got for now.