Barbarella Dejah Thoris #2 Review

Writer: Leah Williams

Illustrator: German Garcia

Colorist: Addison Duke

Letterer: Crank!

PUblished by: Dynamite

Sometimes, as a reviewer, you get really lucky in finding an unexpected read from a writer you aren’t too familiar with and an artist you’ve just been introduced to. That is what Barbarella Dejah Thoris has been for me. This comics has become, in just two short issues, one of my favorite sci-fi comics currently on the stands, and they accomplish this with witty dialogue, amazing art, and a story that is just insane in scope, but getting clearer as we go.

Last issue saw the first meeting between Barbarella and Dejah Thoris as both are absconded through a magical mirror portal into a new dimension. One takes it in stride, the other freaks out. It’s a nice dichotomy between these two, strong, female leads that Williams presents throughout the issue.

Barbarella, being of the spacefaring sort, is calm, cool, and collected because this is just a regular Tuesday for her. She’s the one that always gets into these types of situations and always finds a way out. On the other hand, you have Dejah Thoris who has never left the planet Mars in her entire life, so being subjugated to a world of water (a scarce resource on Mars) she is immediately overwhelmed. Williams does a fantastic job of conveying both woman’s reactions in just a few lines at the start and Garcia does the same in the expressions he presents.

That’s why this book just works on so many levels. Williams has a great knack for dialogue it seems and captures the voices of the leads really well. They are both distinct and convey their personality, what they are feeling, and their grasp of their situation as they converse with one another. This extends as well to another character introduced later in the issue. Williams gives the character a distinct, rhythmic, cadence that at first is hard to navigate, but you get used to how it speaks within panels.

With great writing, you always hope to get great art, and that is exactly what you get with German Garcia and Addison Duke. They complement each other throughout the issue with fantastic storytelling and really vibrant colors. The choice of using mostly flat colors and utilizing deep blacks to convey depth makes this issue incredibly pleasing to the eye.