Barbarella #1

Barbarella #1

Dynamite Entertainment 2021

Written by Sarah Hoyt

Illustrated by Madibek Musabekov

Coloured by Ivan Nunes

Lettered by Carlos M. Mangual

Barbarella leaves space dock on a new mission fraught with unseen layers of danger, duplicity and perhaps a dose of romance! Camelot is home to the rich and powerful class seeking escape from an increasingly crowded and decaying galactic empire. Desperate clandestine transmissions from an enslaved underclass bring Barbarella to investigate, uncovering secrets that lead to more secrets—and the distinct possibility that someone knew she was coming. High concept sci-fi meets the greatest aspects of the human soul in a series that will reveal wonders that both terrify and delight.

When her feminine wiles aren’t enough to get the job done Barbarella resorts to violence but before war it’s alway give love a chance. She’s been called in to help out when it seems that violence is exacting too heavy a toll but someone isn’t glad she’s there and there just might be a mole feeding the other side information on how to defeat Barbarella before she even arrives. Who could be behind such a nefarious plot and what do they have to gain by it? Will they resort back to violence that ensures mutual destruction or is there a chance she squeak out a win?

I’m a huge fan of the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction and how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances they encounter really manage to flesh them out rather beautifully. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story it is easy to get caught up in the events we see.

I appreciate the way that we see this being structured and how the layer within the story emerge and grow. The layers contain the characterisation, the plot twists and where we see the main story take shape and everything we see adds depth and complexity to the story. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it makes the story move forward is extremely well rendered.

The interiors here are outstanding! The linework is exquisite and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level & quality of detail work that we see here is astonishingly well rendered. When we see backgrounds utilised they enhance the moments and then to see team work within the composition of the panels as they bring the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a masterful eye for storytelling. The colour work is brilliantly rendered. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work show a master colourist at work. From the A.I. to the pink ship, including the Vix & the cities we see show some stellar creativity and imagination.

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I find it interesting that Barbarella is so insecure about what is transpiring throughout the issue that she has intimate relations with the A.I. which seems kind of weird even for this universe. This is a great introduction to this arc however and it’s been a hot minute since we’ve had the pleasure of seeing Barbarella in action. There are times you forget what Taln actually is and I think that’s interesting in one facet though I hope he doesn’t lose sight of what her mission is as well though if someone were to tamper with his programming as well all bets are off. This is full of solid writing, great characterisation and stellar intrigue all wrapped up in these utterly gorgeous interiors proving no one can resist Barbarella’s charms.