"But at any moment he could've turned on us. Turned into a monster."
"No! You're the monsters!"
This is a one-shot from Dark Horse comics based on the cancelled TV show created by Joss Whedon. It was written by Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen who also wrote some episodes of the series - including the two end of season shows that were set in the post-apocalyptic world. The art was by Cliff Richards who has also worked on another post-TV Whedon comic, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as well as the forthcoming comic adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
The story is set just as the Dollhouse technology, developed and refined by Topher Brink to remotely wipe and imprint any mind via a phone call, has been unleashed onto an unsuspecting populace. The result is that anyone who answers the phone and hears the coded signal is either turned into a murderous maniac or a helpless, compliant doll. The story shows us the experiences of some of the characters in the TV episodes at the time of the event and how they ended up together.
This is a strange comic as it has to satisfy fans of the TV show while providing a jumping on point for people who did not follow the show closely or even at all. So for a fan of the series it is going over old ground but it does set up some themes and plotlines for an ongoing series to build on including the reappearance of Alpha. So I enjoyed it but was left quite unsatisfied at the same time - I think I would have preferred them jumping straight into a series. I don't quite know why they have produced this one-shot as it can't be to judge sales potential of a series as it is announced that the story will continue in Dollhouse #1 from the 13th of July on the last page of the comic. I, for one, hope it goes on to enjoy the same level of success as the Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic series.
First published on RevolutionSF on Thursday Apr 07, 2011
No comments:
Post a Comment