Barbarella #4
Recap
Having come face-to-shocking face with the identity of her would-be assassin, Barbarella’s quest has turned from merely combatting tyranny to one of survival! How handy that the two quests amount to one and the same. Barbarella and Vix follow the trail to Automata, a factory world populated solely by worker drones, which begs the question: do androids dream of electric freedom?
Review
The interior art is very dynamic. The art is beautiful to look at. The colors are vibrant but not in a garish way. There is a muted look to them while they still radiate their color. Barbarella is drawn as a beautiful woman but she is not overly sexualized. Instead I would classify her as sensual.
Taln, the angelic AI for the lack of a better term is not overly muscled. He has a lean physique and the detail in his wings are extraordinary. It really looks like the reader can see each feather in them.
As for the story this is a one and done chapter in the arc. The story is definitely part of a larger arc but this story can be read as a standalone story. Barbarella is depicted as a character that tries to avoid violence as all costs however she can not be considered a pacifist. She will use force if necessary. In this story she does not need to. She uses subterfuge and intelligence instead of her gun to get her point of view across.
The one problem I see with her character is she is a little oblivious to what goes on around her. She is so focused on speaking to the man in the beginning she fails to notice that Vix, her alien foxlike pet, and Taln are easily taken by the cyborgs virtually right under her nose. It is much later that she notices her friends a missing. On the positive side, she does not give up in finding her friends after they are taken, even going against Taln’s wishes that she leave him behind.
Final Thoughts
This story though action packed, really does not have a lot of violence. The people are not freed by violence but by love.
Barbarella #4: Love Conquers All
- Writing - 9/109/10
- Storyline - 9/109/10
- Art - 10/1010/10
- Color - 10/1010/10
- Cover Art - 10/1010/10
I absolutely love this comic, this is the first Barbarella run that I’ve ever read but the writer Sarah does an excellent job introducing me to this character. Each issue she travels to a new planet & is a self contained little story but continues the arc beautifully.
The art is some of the best comicbook art that’s being currently produced, such beautiful pencils & colors. To me the comic is near perfect, my only worry is that they might end this run soon, I hope this is not a short run. And I want more people to read it, I just ordered the incentive variant for all the next issues from my LCS so they’ll have more copies on the shelf & hopefully people will pick it up.
I really really wish to see this writer Sarah getting a Red Sonja run, I would love to see her write Sonja, please let this happen.