I made the mistake of bringing this to read at the airport while I waited for my flight from Newark to Washington, D.C. Mistake because it is a short graphic novel and can be read in twenty minutes and my plane was delayed SEVEN HOURS. And then I was stuck with 
only one other book, which it turned out I didn’t like. Fortunately, the twenty minutes I spent reading this were very happy indeed. I really enjoyed the illustration style, not to mention the story–somewhat outcast girl who’s been traumatized by a terrorist bombing bands up with other girls named Jane at her new suburban school. The Janes being doing random community art projects/statements around their town in the dead of night. Instead of the community appreciating the whimsy and beauty, town officials freak out and cry “vandalism!” and take stringent measures to stop the art from happening. I think, hope, that this is the first in a series, which is great, because I can’t wait to read more about the Janes and all that they do. By the way, this is a great graphic novel for people who don’t like graphic novels. I can’t see anyone not enjoying this!
Archive for Comics
The Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci
The Long Way Home, Pt. 4 (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) by Joss Whedon
I eagerly, eagerly awaited this next installment of Joss’s “season 8″ of Buffy. As I’ve said for Pt. 3, my main complaint is that I read it in about 5 minutes and now I have to wait until August to read the next installment. I feel like it will take an entire year to read what would be one or two episodes on tv.
That said, the action picked right up and continued right through to the next cliff-hanger. Still too much Dawn for me (in that she exists, and I don’t care that she is a giant), and overall it was a little hard to follow some things. Mostly because of the time between issues, but also because of references to things long ago on the tv show. Skinless Andrew is a pretty awesome enemy, if disgusting to look at, I just wish Amy wasn’t his ally. I continue to like Xander in his new role and the tight bond between Buffy and Willow. One quibble–apparently Willow is getting lobotomized and having her eyeball sliced, yet when Buffy rescues her there is no blood and her body is intact. What gives??? In this arc Buffy’s enemy is the military (utilizing Amy and Andrew), which I find delightfully believable. The letters at the end leave us with the news that the next issue will have Faith in it-good thing or bad thing? I can’t quite decide.
The Long Way Home, Pt. 3 (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) by Joss Whedon, etc.
This series of comics just started coming out and takes place after Buffy the show ended. So Sunnydale has been destroyed and then what? I read parts I and II a couple weeks ago and just picked up III today. It’s immensely satisfying to basically have the show continuing-written by Joss so it’s ok in this Buffy fan’s book. However, because they are serialized comics you can read each installment in 5 to 10 minutes and are left with a cliffhanger. Argh! So this one continued along–you definitely need to read in order and let’s hope they publish a paperback bound of all the issues so you can just read it as one big graphic novel-with Willow coming in to battle Amy. Alas, she gets captured by whoever has hired Amy. And who is that? Well the final page is a revolting skinless creature bent on getting Willow. I’m thinking it’s whats-his-name. Jonathan. I guess I’ll find out in a month! As far as the other Buffy characters go, I really like how Xander is portrayed. Matured, one eyed, but still funny and smart-assy. He really does seem as I would imagine him to be one year after the Sunnydale destruction. Dawn on the other hand? Well, I still wish she hadn’t survived. Another pleasant visitor from Sunnydale’s past would be Ethan Raynes! He pops up in a brief appearance in Buffy’s dreamworld. Dreamworlds and magical fighting action sequences are a bit difficult for me to follow in the comic format-it’s not always clear what’s going on-, but all in all I highly recommend these.
