THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY: DALLAS #1
Dark Horse Comics
Written by Gerald Way
Illustrated by Gabriel Ba

The first series was so good there were bound to be high expectations for the new Umbrella Academy mini-series by Way and Ba. Though it does ease its way into our minds instead of hitting the ground running, by the end the story we are off with their wicked, deranged selves and being every bit as fun. Each of the team is dealing with the ramifications of saving the world differently by either taking it out on emotionally crippled siblings, getting makeovers, becoming more violent toward the criminal underworld or simply freaking out and killing an army of dimensional hopping/time traveling soldiers sent to bring you in. (I adore all the characters but Number Five is just GOLD.)

The story picks right up following the last mini-series and gets us settled in quickly. I particularly like that we still get to see flashbacks to when the team members were kids (I nearly peed myself watching how they took down the Lincoln Statue), and that the introduction to the characters themselves showed progression of character from the last time we saw them, even if they’re sitting on their bums doing nothing at all.

The book is always beautifully designed and, as I’ve said before, this feels like the natural step forward for team books of this kind. Gabriel Ba has become one of my favorite artists and his work continues to be stellar here. The final pages with Number Five and the “altercation” in the parking lot is pure wacky bliss.

FINAL WORD: Welcome back Umbrella Academy. It’s been dull without you.

WELCOME TO HOXFORD #4
IDW
By the always insane and wonderful Ben Templesmith

Everything comes to an end in Hoxford and while there was little in the way of surprises I will say it was a fitting end to this fable of monsters, supernatural or of the man-like variety. It’s gruesome and bloody and rendered with a quiet love I believe any creature of the night would bestow.

Ray finds peace with what he is: a monster in a man’s body. His final showdown between the elder Wolf and himself is violent and striking. I guess we really could not have asked for a “happy” ending as it were, as all save the Doc were horrible villains in some manner or another. Still, all things being equal, I’d face off against the Wolves before Ray anytime.

The final issue will work better in the collection as it was quickly paced and upon getting to the end I was suddenly sadden to see it go. The only thing keeping me going is the hope of more Templesmith books. IDW deciding to sign him to an exclusive to make books like WORMWOOD GENTLEMAN CORPSE and WELCOME TO HOXFORD is a decision that borders on mad genius.

FINAL WORD: A bitter and violent end to one of the most original comics I’ve read in some time.

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #19
Dark Horse Comics
Written by Joss Whedon
Pencils by Karl Moline
Inks by Andy Owens

The end of the current arc finding BUFFY in the future with FRAY gives some interesting twists. Future Willow (dark and evil once again) is playing all sides against one another. She’s hinting that Buffy causes something horrible in the past and in doing so will make Fray’s world nonexistent. Fray does not want to kill Buffy but she also does not want her friends and family to fade into nothingness. Meanwhile Xander and Dawn, together with the other slayers and beginner witches, thwart the attack by Amy and the mystery villain. Buffy manages to get away back to her own time but to do so she has to kill her best friend, albeit the evil, future one. Fray and her sister bask in the knowledge that everything is "ok" once Buffy leaves as they’re still there.

For the most part I liked the ending to this one. It throws the possibility of Buffy’s future failure into the forefront while giving us some more Fray, which I love. I didn’t like the interlude with the masked villain though. It looked like one time soldier boy boyfriend of Buffy’s, Riley, is now with the enemy, but I couldn’t tell for sure because of the art and because his name wasn’t said by anyone. I doubt anyone not looking for it get the "surprise."

The art was good but I think it did look a bit nicer in the previous issues of this arc, proving perhaps the artist got stuck on deadline. The first half looks less rushed than the second half. Still it’s nice and nothing struck me as amateurish. I like Moline’s art. His original Fray mini-series with Whedon was beautiful and this arc had looked great. Here it’s merely good.

Not a bad ending but I’m starting to get bored of the mystery surrounding the “Big Bad” of Season Eight and finally just want to get to it. Also I think it’s time for Dawn to get normal looking again. Some of these ideas that were interesting at the beginning are starting to get old now, nineteen issues in.

FINAL WORD: Nice final for the arc. Waiting to see things pick up speed now please.

BATMAN #681
DC Comics
Written by Grant Morrison
Pencils by Tony Daniel
Inks by Sandu Florea

Looking back on RIP, including this final issue here, it is clear Morrison’s ideas were standing in the way of the story. Little is resolved at the end. We’re not even sure about the true identity of the Black Glove leader. And of course we’re not sure Bruce Wayne is alive and kicking either.

We all know that there will be a few months of fill-in stories before the grand “Battle of the Cowl” which presumably means Bruce isn’t coming back anytime soon. I’d be more at ease with this ending if I knew Morrison was going to return. He said he planned on being on BATMAN through 2009 but all signs point to “No” in this regard. (Unless Didio changed his mind.) I say this because all of Morrison’s run has tied into each other and I’d be more excepting of an ambiguous ending if I knew the writer was going to return to finish it.

The whole issue isn’t bad. For a minute you believe it’s all going to work out and Bruce is going to emerge victorious. There are some fantastic scenes with the Joker where he’s betting against the villains that even facing death Batman will come out on top. Batman is always warning others about the Joker, I found the role reversal really interesting here.

Sadly however the story just falls, as Batman does from a flaming helicopter. Things are left unresolved and disjointed.

Daniel’s art has vastly improved over the arc but I still think he was a bad decision overall. I find it oddly unnerving that no superstar artists were attached to Morrison’s run except for Kubert who left after not being able to maintain a schedule. It’s decent superhero art with a clean style and some interesting choices in layouts but it doesn’t cry “Event” like RIP was supposed to be.

I thought the final issue would make or break the story. I thought there would truly be no in-between. I was wrong. It kind of just leaves you hanging. It read like this final part needs a “To be Continued….” In the back. It all hangs on what comes thereafter now, leaving Morrison’s story threads dangling for perhaps another writer altogether.

That’s kind of lame.

FINAL WORD: Um. Ok. Now what?

-SJD