BARBARELLA #10

“The Gang is All Here”

Writer: Sarah Hoyt

Artist: Madibek Musabekov

The Lady has destroyed Taln and imprisoned the others in a pit filling with water. She has Barbarella taken to be mutilated by a robot doctor. Only Taln managed to survive and rescues Barbarella. They later rescue the others from the pit. Barbarella finds the poor guy made to look like a winged man. He is dying and tells her the story about the Lady. She was an off world trader and fell in love with a winged man. Only this man loved Barbarella so that is why she decided to go nuts and try to conquer the galaxy. They go back to their ship and Barbarella is surprised by George. She kills it and the real Barbarella shows up and disarms her. The one that Taln rescued was the phony one. Later the Lady is imprisoned on Tortuga, but the group finds out the Lady was supported by the Unnamable. Some alien race from another galaxy working to take over ours. Vix also informs the group that his race The Architects were responsible for eons in stopping the Unnamable. Now they are openly going to war with them.

The final issue gives us some closure on the Lady. We find out her motives. A clever plot device to make us think Barbarella was free but secretly being impersonated by the Lady. Doesn’t really show us how Barbarella managed to escape. Ends setting up the next series with the big war between these two all-powerful ancient alien groups. The second series is supposed to start this month and continue to be written by Sarah Hoyt. I enjoyed her take on this character then the last writers so happy that she will continue. I also loved the artist they got for this series. He has the most beautiful artwork and I hope they use him in many more titles in the future.

BARBARELLA #9

“Double Trouble”

Writer: Sarah Hoyt

Artist: Madibek Musabekov

Barbarella and friends arrive on the planet of The Lady. It is a desolate planet, and they land just outside the main settlement. While exploring the settlement, Barbarella sees a winged alien and thinks it’s her long lost love. Only it is an alien that was cruelly changed by the Lady to taunt Barbarella. The poor creature does hint where they can find the Lady. So, the group swims through an underground well. They get ambushed by the Lady and her people. The Lady believes that looking like Barbarella will make it easier to conquer to galaxy. She starts to flood the room to drown Barbarella’s friends. At the end she shoots Talyn to get even with Barbarella for some unknown slight.

Well, this issue is setting up the big showdown with the evil Lady. We find out why she made herself to look like Barbarella. She thinks that looking like her the various leaders will turn to goo. As her friends point out it is Barbarella’s personality and not looks that really matter. Ends with her killing Barbarella’s lover Talyn and hinting that Barbarella killed her love. Plus, her friends are going to drown. An interesting story that sets up effectively the big final battle.

BARBARELLA #8

“The Truth Shall Set Them Free”

Writer: Sarah Hoyt

Artist: Madibek Musabekov

Barbarella and friends are trying to get a ship working to escape the planet. Barbarella decides to broadcast a giant holographic image of herself. She explains to the approaching soldiers about her and that there are other genders in the galaxy. This confuses the one gender inhabitants, and the soldiers decide to break off their attack to absorb this new info. They get a ship working but with the inclusion of George the dinosaur it crashes. George decides to leave, and the others make it to the spaceport. There they meet up with two from the Tortuga organization she works for. They get on the ship and are rescued by George who tears up a tank and burns it with his fire breath. He jumps on the ship, and they continue on their way to find the Lady.

This was a fun issue. The first part was I suppose a sly take on the current gender confusion that is going on in the Western World. It also looks like George the dinosaur is joining the crew as well as the two that rescued them. Once again, the artwork is spectacular. An enjoyable fast read.

BARBARELLA #7

“The Land Before Time’s Running Out!”

Writer: Sarah Hoyt

Artist: Madibek Musabekov

Barbarella arrives at the home world of the Lady. Only she finds that a gravity well is there instead. The ship gets sucked in and the next thing she wakes up in a cage with Vix. Barbarella and Vix are in a zoo. She manages to pick the lock and the two escape into the jungle. There they find dinosaurs and Barbarella finds one with a thorn in its foot. She plucks it out and gets a friend. They name it George and ride it looking for a spaceport.

They come on one of the inhabitants and he turns out to be friendly. He confirms the Lady does come from this planet and still rules it. Barbarella gets a compass and directions. She then comes on an alien archeologist who tells her about this world. Its inhabitants are only one sex and lay eggs. He directs Barbarella to a place with old spaceships. Once there she manages to activate a power source and bring back Taln. Only reactivating the power has brought some ships to investigate.

This was an interesting issue. Barbarella finds herself in a zoo and has to escape. The aliens on this world are weird as well as the animals and plants. The main revelation is that they are getting closer to finding the Lady. Ends on a cliffhanger. Enjoyable story and still beautiful artwork.

BARBARELLA #6

“The Architect of Her Destiny”

Writer: Sarah Hoyt

Artist: Tommaso Bianchi

At the edge of the galaxy is the planet Tynechon. The inhabitants are an ancient race that consider themselves the guardians of all species. They send their young out to find a creature and have adventures with them. Vix chooses Barbarella. Now humans are not recommended because they are so hard to control. Nevertheless, she chooses her and meets on a planet that Barbarella has come to mediate a peace. Only agents of the Lady have had her accused of trying to kill the king and overthrow the government. With the help of Vix she manages to escape. While on the ship escaping, Vix learns she was supposed to link up with Barbarella earlier. Barbarella’s memory of Vix is erased and she meets up as was told in the first series.

This issue decided to take a break from the main story. We get an origin of Vix. Vix is much more intelligent than imagined and actually views Barbarella as her pet, not the other way around. I found this amusing for if you ever had a dog you have to get the feeling that you are somehow theirs. A fascinating story that introduces this new race and the true nature of Vix. Does an excellent job of keeping true to the original origin while giving us this new one. A new guest artist who is just as talented as the regular one. Dynamite has really been getting some excellent artists for their books.

BARBARELLA #5

“The Fun Never Stops”

Writer: Sarah Hoyt

Artist: Madibek Musabekov

Barbarella comes to the planet Rio. It is a pleasure planet, and she searches for the Lady. She meets a man named Brindon and he knows about Barbarella. While distracted some thugs attempt to kidnap Taln. She has to rescue him and later finds out from Brindon that he works for the Architects. She is later attacked by the traitor that was working at Tortuga. A woman that feels angry and jealous of Barbarella’s success. The leaders of Tortuga then appear for they knew of the traitor and was waiting for her to expose herself. She is captured and Barbarella finds out where the Lady is. She also comes to the realization that she loves Taln.

A bunch of stuff happened in this issue. The traitor that was working against Barbarella was exposed. A new character is introduced with knowledge of this mysterious race known as the Architects. The Lady is actually a reptile, but we don’t yet know why she has taken on Barbarella’s appearance. Finally, she has decided she loves Taln even though he is just a computer-generated hologram. The artwork as always is stunning. This guy is a treasure.

BARBARELLA #4

“Men of Steel”

Writer: Sarah Hoyt

Artist: Madibek Musabekov

Barbarella, Vix and Taln arrive on the planet Automata. They promptly get shot down and lose another ship. They find the culprit and he confess to working for the Lady. They find out that the robots on the planet are really cyborgs. The Lady kidnaps people and put their brains inside robots. Barbarella gives the assassin some directions to Tortuga where he will be safe. While her back is turned, Taln and Vix are kidnapped. Barbarella disguises herself as a robot but doesn’t do a convincing job. Vix finds her and leads her to where Taln is kept. He is in some arena. Barbarella has a romantic moment with Taln which brings back memories to the cyborgs of being human. They short circuit themselves and thus kill themselves realizing their lost humanity. Taln finds another ship and the new location of the Lady which is the planet Rio.

This was an interesting issue. We find out that Taln has for unknown reasons even to him has transcended from a hologram to something more substantive. The Lady is doing something that needs a constant supply of people. I did find the dialogue in this issue a bit awkward. Also, the way they kidnapped Taln so easily was a bit ridiculous. Still, I love this artwork and the story keeps me interested.

BARBARELLA #3

“Breathless”

Writer: Sarah Hoyt

Artist: Madibek Musabekov

Barbarella and Vix get a new ship from the Brotherhood. They go on to the ocean world of Escantado where the nannites came from. Only the evil people behind this manage to sabotage her ship. It melts when it comes in contact with water. The ship quickly melts when it lands on the ocean. Only Barbarella and Vix manage to somehow breath underwater. They get rescued by underwater aliens. They are friendly but work as slaves for the Bosses. The Bosses make them mine dangerous radioactive material. Barbarella finds out that the aliens are poor people kidnapped and gengeneered to the environment. Barbarella and Vix destroy the operation. They find out that the head of this operation is The Lady, and she looks exactly like Barbarella. Ends with Taln miraculously coming back.

This was a fun issue. Plenty of goofy action on this strange alien world. We get a glimpse of the main villain, and she is exactly like Barbarella. There are still many unanswered questions from this story. In addition to the Barbarella clone, we never find out why she and Vix can breathe underwater. Nor do we know why Taln came back from being obliterated last issue. The artwork is still beautiful and the writing engaging.

BARBARELLA #2

“Agent of Chaos Part Two: The Price of Freedom”

Writer: Sarah Hoyt

Artist: Madibek Musabekov

Barbarella with Taln and Vix goes to an island that is the source of the nannites. They manage to infiltrate the base and take out the ones that are running the place. They find that the nannites are originating on some ocean world. After shutting down the nannites the whole society of Camelot explodes. People now free for the first time are confused and destructive. Barbarella makes it to the administrative HQ and talks to the newly freed leader. He manages to use his network to find the exact location of the nannites. While escaping the planet Taln sacrifices himself to protect Barbarella from a mob. Barbarella and Vix steal a ship and head out to the source of the nannites.

This was another fun issue. The writer really plays up the sexiness of Barbarella. She manages to defeat the guys on the island by going topless and this distracts them. It is really great that the artist is capable of drawing a sexy woman. I just can’t stress how beautiful his work is. After the horrible ugly women of the first series, this is a real fresh breath of air. So Barbarella lost her A.I. Taln and there is some genuine emotion at the loss. A fun and well written and drawn series.

BARBARELLA #1

“Agent of Chaos Part One: Woman Untamed”

Writer: Sarah Hoyt

Artist: Madibek Mustabekov

The Brotherhood of Tortuga decides to hire Barbarella to help them in bringing peace to the galaxy. She accepts and is later ambushed on her first assignment. Her ship is destroyed but they give her a new one. It has an A.I. that takes the avatar of a winged man. Her next assignment is the planet Camelot. Camelot is a very rich and exclusive place. Yet when Barbarella lands she finds that nobody notices her which is odd since she is so beautiful. She is attacked in a restaurant by a robot servant. Later she finds out that the inhabitants are being fed nanites that inhibit their emotions.

The second series to Barbarella is excellent. I knew of Sarah Hoyt from some of her short stories and I follow her blog, so I had confidence she was a good writer. The artist is absolutely fantastic. This guy knows how to draw. It is some of the most beautiful work I have seen in a long time. The series has the feel of the campy movie that I know this character from. This is definitely an improvement over the first series.