Looking at some books

Okay, let’s do a couple of blurbs on these comic book collections I picked up from the library. So, in not necessarily the order I read them in (so I may have forgot the order, so what?):

Vol. 7 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer “Season 8”
I picked up the first, I don’t know, 12-16 issues of this series for a friend- actually, I was just going to get her issue 1, but then I didn’t see her, so I picked up issue 2, then 3, etc. etc. so I got to read a fair amount of this series.

Volume 7 collects issues 31-35, so I’ve definitely missed a bunch. Mostly all the different things that Dawn has been transformed into, in a sort of running joke I guess (she started the comic series off as a giant!)

Eh. Buffy has awesome superman style powers in this book, which I take it most fans found sacriledge. I do agree that it changes the book too much, but obviously I don’t care all that much. Seeing Xander geek out over the powers was fun, and having a sour faced Dawn show up in panels repeating the idea that these powers are going to turn out to be bad was pretty funny.

The likenesses of the characters are captured pretty well- but sometimes not. Those are the stupid panels. And there’s an impossibly long sex scene in the book, so maybe go buy it for that.

The Goon vol. 10 Death’s Greedy Comeuppance
The Goon is an amazing series that I’ve somehow read entirely out of order. And by somehow, I mean I kept grabbing random collections out of the library. It’s written and illustrated by Eric Powell, and illustrated is definitely the right word, because his books are beautiful… which is an interesting counterpoint to the horror and dark (dark) humour of the books.

It’s that humour that sets the book apart. The Goon himself is so quiet that his sidekick (okay, I forget his sidekicks name at the moment…) does most of the talking, thereby elevating the silliness level. Again, I’d like to stress the darkness of the humour- this book series ain’t for the easily offended.

The backup story is about this deathless death-seeker named Buzzard, sort of an anti hero in the Goon books (uh, Goon is already an anti hero… so Buzzard is a super anti-hero? Buzzard is sort of a mostly good zombie, so take from that what you will.), travelling around with this kid on a quest to kill this monster that’s been terrorizing a village or somesuch.

In the end, Buzzard doesn’t die (which means he failed in his goal) and his travelling companion kid does get killed. It’s pretty sad. The kid’s last line is “I prefer to not know what it’s like to not be in awe of the stars.” On account of Buzzard mentioned that you get old enough things lose their shine and interest for you, the stars being the example he gave earlier in the book. But then Buzzard ends the tale looking up and “remembered a time when I was in awe of them.”

So those are two books, I’ve got a bunch more, but that can wait until tomorrow.