At its core, “Tea Time” is a 40-page exploration of an afternoon/evening with the Scoobies at the Sunnydale High library as they research an arcane artifact called the “Vampiric Altar.” As the Scoobs procrastinate, they conjure up what-if stories that feature Giles as a vampire. Cue bad British clichés. The indignities that poor Giles puts up with… But, do the stories get anything right at all?
Equilibrium is either achieved or maintained, it doesn’t just happen.
A new arc begins in Undiscovered Country, as the team is introduced to the newest zone, Possibility. After the harrowing experience that everyone involved went through in the Unity zone, it seems the entire crew is on edge, unsure of what to expect as they delve deeper into the Spiral of the sealed-off United States.
Where Home Sick Pilots started is nothing like where Home Sick Pilots is currently going. It all started with the question: “What if a punk rock high school band went to explore in an old haunted house?”, and then it became about the haunted house manipulating one of the members of the band. NOW, it’s about humans trying to control ghosts to make mechs work! Yes, this is a ghost-in-the-machine-style haunted house story with punk rockers, and it’s dope as hell.
Wow. Just wow. That was a ride with exactly the kind of cathartic ending I was hoping for. For the last four issues, I’ve been reading in a state of ever-increasing anxiety as this group of dogs, one by one, discovered that their owner was a serial killer. You knew generally how it was going to pan out, but the ride was simply beautiful.
In the last issue, Tim’s journey to find out what the Great Machine was keeping from him brings a surprising revelation—it wanted Tim to defy it and search for the truth himself. What Tim found was a duality that co-exists together: man and machine alongside magic and data. The Great Machine gifts Tim with all the data and all the magic, allowing Tim to change into something else if he desires. But what really changed him was meeting the humans who became his family and, finally, Mila.
Universe building is a tricky business. As any fan of comic book films can see, success is spotty at best. This goes for comics, as well. With the exception of both Marvel and DC in the 1960s, there have been numerous struggles. From start-ups like the Ultraverse and Crossgen, to established properties the New 52, the comics graveyard is full of failed universe endeavors.
I remember only just a few years ago when the name James Tynion IV popped up on a weekly Batman comic co-written by Scott Snyder. I was really big into Snyder’s Batman run, and this weekly series was pretty ambitious. I don’t remember having read much by Tynion before that, so this must have been a trial by fire! Now, the output he’s had since then has been astounding. Not just the number of comics, but the quality has been mindbogglingly genius. Something Is Killing the Children is a horror story. It’s an awful, horrible story of children being ripped apart, but there is more heart in this series than most straight-up dramas.
Quick recap: On Earth That Was, WashBot led the crew to the Midwestern headquarters of Washburne Industries. Unfortunately for them, they’re not the only ones from their side of the ‘Verse that have discovered the Earth That Was. While most of the crew opted to make a run for it, Zoë takes a stand to protect the Washburne legacy.
Black Hammer of late has been jumping far into the past, flinging itself into the future, meandering through other timelines, and asking what ifs? But finally, we’re placed relatively back into the normal timeline of our heroes, in this case Lucy Weber’s (the daughter of the original Black Hammer) who then became the new Black Hammer and helped save the heroes lost to the cabin. Speed forward 20 years, and Weber is married, a mother, and has hung up the mantle of being a hero. How well is family life going for Lucy? Well… not so poorly that she’s willing to don the mantle of Black Hammer again.