Kate Kowalski Comic Reviews

Willow is not only a love letter to an influential character, but a powerful reimagining of an icon to women and girls across the LGBTQIA+ spectrum. Representation through characters is important, but representation in the realm of creatorship and art is vital. Willow Rosenberg has been placed in more than capable hands. (I like to think Willow herself would be pretty psyched about the team telling her story.) The ownership and future of everything Buffy the Vampire Slayer isn't fixed"it's fluid and dynamic. This is definitely a magical moment for fans.

The choice to publish such an ambitious introductory chapter first instead of revealing Owen's past through flashbacks (or a subsequently released tangential comic) is notable. Fire Power: Prelude is unconventional in its release strategy, unconventional even in its seemingly straightforward approach to storytelling. The punches thrown by Kirkman & Samnee have a familiar rhythm, but there's no way to defend yourself from all the talent that's clearly on display. Fire Power is peak artistic power that lands a roundhouse kick directly to the temple of myth itself.

I certainly feel the 90s nostalgia in this comic and the inherent teen yearning for something else, bigger, better, scarier, whatever. It's been a rough time. Many of us have been haunting our own homes, looping through the same motions like ghosts, grasping for shreds of interest to differentiate our days. If you're looking, Home Sick Pilots is a jolt, a momentary buzz amidst the monotony. The imagery is strange, the conceit even stranger. It's got some odd nooks and crannies, but the structure's sound and the weirdness really works. And I have a feeling it's only going to get even weirder.

So maybe it's telling that the gory murder of the two careless and cruel Lancelin women feels less like a tragedy and more like an inevitability. (I think) I'm not the only one who might get a sense of satisfaction from this retelling of the famous case. After all, Skelly's focus isn't on the crime and punishment of these young women, but rather the bondage and suffering that cultivated their shared psychosis and sparked the flame that ended up burning the whole house down.