Wow, I can’t believe this is the tenth edition of the comics mini reviews already! That means after today I have reviewed 30 comics for you all. I still feel very much like a comic newbie, but I like seeing I’m slowly reading more and more of them. Hopefully you all enjoy them too! For today I have a very new comic and two not so new ones haha. Let’s get into it quickly.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer vol. 1: High School is Hell – Jordie Bellaire, Joss Whedon, & Don Mora

Go back to the beginning as the critically acclaimed pop culture phenomenon Buffy The Vampire Slayer is reimagined under the guidance of series creator Joss Whedon!

This is the Buffy Summers you know, who wants what every average teenager wants: friends at her new school, decent grades, and to escape her imposed destiny as the next in a long line of vampire slayers tasked with defeating the forces of evil…only this time around, her world looks a lot more like the one outside your window.

Eisner Award winner Jordie Bellaire (Redlands) and Russ Manning Award winner Dan Mora (Go Go Power Rangers, Hexed), along with series creator Joss Whedon (Marvel’s The Avengers), bring Buffy into a new era with new challenges, new friends, and a few enemies you might already recognize. But the more things change, the more they stay the same as the Gang faces brand-new Big Bads, and the threat lurking beneath the perfectly manicured exterior of Sunnydale High confirms what every teenager has always known: high school truly is hell.

This new Buffy comic was only just released and I’m happy I preordered it! I didn’t grow up with Buffy but watched the first season last year, and I do really plan on watching the rest. The new comic has the feeling of the show and most of the characters you know and love, but it’s also fresh and more up to date. There are some minor detail changes, Willow has a girlfriend now. But in my opinion it’s still the Buffy you know and love.

If you’re new to the world of Buffy I think this first volume could potentially be a bit confusing. There isn’t that much explanation about what is going on so you might feel like you’re left guessing. I do think you will still enjoy the story and can probably gather what is going on.

I loved the art style in this one. The characters are drawn like the actors that portrayed them in the tv show, a good choice in my opinion. I also enjoy the colors that were used. It all brings the story together and you really get this modern vibe from it. I will definitely be continuing this series!

Space Boy 1 – Stephen McCranie

A sci-fi drama of a high school aged girl who belongs in a different time, a boy possessed by emptiness as deep as space, an alien artifact, mysterious murder, and a love that crosses light years.

To Amy, everyone has a flavor. Her mom is the flavor of mint–sharp and bright. Her dad is like hot chocolate–sweet and full of gentle warmth.

Amy lives on a mining colony in out in deep space, but when her dad loses his job the entire family is forced to move back to Earth. Amy says goodbye to her best friend Jemmah and climbs into a cryotube where she will spend the next 30 years frozen in a state of suspended animation, hurtling in a rocket toward her new home. Her life will never be the same, but all she can think about is how when she gets to Earth, Jemmah will have grown up without her.

When Amy arrives on Earth, she feels like an alien in a strange land. The sky is beautiful but gravity is heavy and the people are weird. Stranger still is the boy she meets at her new school–a boy who has no flavor.

I wasn’t completely sure what to expect from Space Boy but I had heard some great things. It took me awhile to get into this story, it’s pretty slow paced. I don’t mind a slow-paced story at all, it also ensures you learn more about the world and the characters. This feels very much like a slice-of-life sci-fi and gives me The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet vibes.

I really enjoyed this story and the art style of it. Like I said, it’s pretty slow paced so there isn’t much I can say about the plot. This definitely isn’t a plot-driven story. You need to connect with the characters and the art style and I did just that. This is another series I will be continuing. I think this is great for people who want to get into sci-fi but usually read contemporary.

Fence vol. 2 – C.S. Pacat

Combines Issues #5-8.

Nicholas Cox is determined to prove himself in the world of competitive fencing, and earn his place on the Kings Row fencing team, alongside sullen fencing prodigy, Seiji Katayama, to win the right to go up against his golden-boy half-brother.

Tryouts are well underway at King’s Row for a spot on the prodigious fencing team, and scrappy fencer Nicholas isn’t sure he’s going to make the grade in the face of surly upperclassmen, nearly impossibly odds, and his seemingly unstoppable roommate, the surly, sullen Seiji Katayama. It’ll take more than sheer determination to overcome a challenge this big!

Fence volume 2 picks right up where we left the story at the end of volume 1. This one focusses on the tryouts and I thought that was such a fun storyline. I’m a sports fan so that aspect already hooked me, and seeing this competition play out over so many issues is just wonderful.

At the same time we also learn more about some of the characters and I couldn’t even tell you who’s my favorite at this point! There are only a couple of spots in the team and I couldn’t guess who’s going to take those spots. I think that’s the quality of an unique and surprising story.

Once again, I really like the art style. It’s quite clean, I love the fresh colors and the lines are just the way I like them. This has quickly become one of my favorite comic series and I can’t wait for the third volume to be released. I’m so excited I almost got the separate issues haha.

These are a couple of the comics I recently read. Have you read any of these? Or do you plan on picking them up now? Let me know in the comments!