Robot Dreams – Sara Varon, First Second
I should know by now that if First Second publishes it, it’s good. This is a lovely, wordless tale about a dog and a robot who find and then lose friendship. Varon’s artwork is sweet and cartoony and the story has a poignant whimsy about it. Varon adds some delightful touches, like the dog and robot watching Castle in the Sky and a group of anteaters offering up a plate of ants to the dog.
This book is great for anyone from a sensitive 8-year-old who misses her best friend to a sensitive 27-year-old who likes comics about dogs and robots.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Long Way Home – Joss Whedon, Georges Jeanty, Dark Horse
While I was a fan of the Buffy TV show and among the 14 people who watched Firefly when it first aired, I am not one of those people who believe Joss Whedon can do no wrong. I like the idea of a “season 8” of Buffy in comic-book form, but I was pretty much bored by this. Or more left with the feeling of “so?” Part of it is the generic art – I ‘m glad the characters look (more or less) like the actors who played them, but it’s a little too polished and pretty for me. While it’s fun that the format allows Whedon to do things with the Buffy universe that he couldn’t do on TV, I didn’t feel the same sort of connection to the action in the comic as I did with the TV show. Despite some big dramatic moments, I thought these six issues were pretty slow and nothing happened.
I’m vaguely interested in what happens next, but I’m glad I wasn’t collecting these as they came out and I’m also glad that I, uh, read this in the bookstore.
(But I can appreciate that the Buffy comic is getting people who don’t normally buy comics to do so.)
