The stuff in the background is nicely fleshed out, the parody of Facebook and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. Instead, you have the social network Tincan and its kingpin, Theo Daniels. The idea that this media giant had to make a deal with the devil, so to speak, is hilarious. My only problem is I wanted more of the background! They even went to the trouble of creating an awesome logo for the fictitious Tincan, an Andy Warhol inspired soup can. And the Zuckerberg-like Theo Daniels should become an ongoing character. But, for the purposes of this story arc, the spotlight is placed on Eldre Koh, a rogue demon that Buffy thought she could trust but turns out to be terribly unreliable. He’s not much to look at and his social skills are limited. He’s a necessary foil to get us to where we need to go.
That said, let’s step back and look at what we’ve got. Do you feel like you have your own crazy mojo that you’d be willing to protect over anything else in the world? That’s what Buffy has been struggling with ever since joining her ex-Slayer pal, Kennedy, in the business of providing security for high-end clients. It just doesn’t suit her to be working for the suits. In the last part to, “Guarded,” we see what Buffy does when all hell literally breaks loose. Well, the girl can think on her feet, that’s for sure. She may have been distracted a bit by a seemingly good-natured and depressed demon. But, once she realizes that Koh is more than willing to kill her client just to restore his rep with the other demons, well, the claws come out. So, yeah, it’s a fun and action-packed ending that’s also true to life. Here you have Buffy working her ass off at a job that still sucks in her mind.
Andrew Chambliss brings this story to a satisfying ending with a big hint to where we go next. The art continues to be spot on: George Jeanty on pencils, Nathan Massengill on inks, and Michelle Madsen on colors, keep the action believable and lively. I don’t take anything for granted with this comic. It’s running smoothly with a nice build up to future events. But I sometimes wish some of the ideas that are brought up could be examined even more fully. You don’t bring up Facebook and all its issues and then abruptly move right along, do you? Well, maybe we’d end up getting off point. Or maybe it would be pretty awesome to delve further into the subject of social media. I’m just saying.
Issue 13 comes out September 12. Visit Dark Horse Comics.
