Welcome back to This Week in Comics, my reviews of whichever comics I’ve bought for the week. As always, reviews contain SPOILERS. If spoilers bother you, then at least tell me that ending sentences with prepositions is something you’ll put up with.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 #24 | Farscape #4 of 4 | War of Kings #2 of 6 | X-Men First Class Finals #3 of 4

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: SEASON 8 #24
Writer: Jim Krueger
Penciler: Cliff Richards
Publisher: Dark Horse

Faith and Giles are back! While continuing their secret mission to check on all slayers, they’ve tracked down a girl named Courtney who abandoned her training squad. Courtney tells them about a faction of slayers staying at a place called Slayer Sanctuary, which is located in a place called Hanselstadt. Slayer Sanctuary is said to be a place where slayers go who don’t want to be slayers. So of course, Faith, Giles, and Courtney investigate to see if the place is real. Once they arrive, they find that one of the people in charge is the only other living member of the old Watchers Council, Duncan Fillworthe. Fillworthe invited them all to dinner, then has someone escort Faith and Courtney to the local library, where they say all of the other slayers are staying. This is obviously a trap, and despite Faith expecting it, she still gets caught in it. It turns out there’s a demon in town that preys on its victims’ primal fears, then feeds on the victim while they’re caught in its illusion. The townspeople have been feeding it slayers, as slayers, vampires, and children are more easily captured by fear. Because of this, the town is surrounded by vampires that are afraid to re-enter. In the end, they defeat the demon, and the townspeople are forced to fight the vampires rather than continue to murder slayers and children to keep the vamps at bay.

This was another one-part story, but I still enjoyed it. Faith and Giles are two overall fun characters who work amazingly well together in this comic despite the lack of shared screentime they had on the TV series. The story in this issue was okay, but it felt unsatisfying like most of the one-part stories that have been told over the past few months. Still, it’s better to have a concise story that’s so-so than to decompress it into a just plain bad four issues. Richards does a good job with the art, and makes a slight attempt at making his pencils look somewhat like Georges Jeanty’s, likely to make the art look more consistent between issues.

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FARSCAPE # 4 OF 4
Writers: Keith R.A. DeCandido & Rockne S. O’Bannon
Penciler: Tommy Patterson
Publisher: BOOM!

…and Aeryn is still a terrible mother who can’t connect with her child.

On a barren desert planet, Rygel has activated some sort of large obelisk, and waited three days for a sign. That sign? Three generals who have defected from Bishan to serve under Rygel once again. It turns out that Rygel’s ancestors created a secret group known as The Order of the First, and a number of the empire’s generals are inducted to the order to pledge their loyalty to their king/dominar. Bishan, who usurped the throne, wasn’t privvy to this knowledge, and Rygel still commands the Order. Rygel then drafts a plan that involves using the few ships at his disposal to divide the remaining dozen ships in Bishan’s military, allowing Rygel to storm the palace. Meanwhile, a mysterious man in black has boarded Moya, and is attempting to kidnap little Deke. Chiana manages to protect Deke, but the man in black escapes before John and Aeryn has fully confront him. Back on Rygel’s homeworld, Rygel has retaken the throne to the acclaim of his people, banished Scorpius from his empire, and allowed the crew of the Moya to live safely within Hynerian space. Even better news, Aeryn discovered that she couldn’t connect with Deke because he could sense her uncertainty, and they’re doing fine now. Deke’s ability to create tremors is still unexplained, but it’s otherwise a happy ending all around.

Over these four issues, Rygel has been at the best he’s ever been, which was probably one of the best things about the entire miniseries. It was also great getting a conclusion to Aeryn’s motherhood troubles, which amusingly broke down to “baby likes to see mommy kick ass.” Overall, this miniseries was a good addition to the Farscape franchise, and I’m looking forward to any upcoming series.

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WAR OF KINGS #2 OF 6
Writers: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Penciler: Paul Pelletier
Publisher: Marvel

Vulcan and the Shi’ar Empire have attacked the Kree Empire. War has been declared. The Kree people, however, blame the Inhumans for causing the war, as it started shortly after they took power. Luckily, Crystal is a charming girl with amazing diplomatic skills. Viral video footage of Crystal visiting a hospital has turned her into the most beloved member of the Inhuman royal family, and may calm the riots that have started since the Shi’ar attack. Meanwhile, the Inhuman Royal Council has decided to team up with the Starjammers to launch a quick strike campaign, rather than a long term official war. Their initial attack is a success, as they take out sixty-five of Vulcan’s ships in a single attack. This infuriates Vulcan so much, he orders Gladiator to hold Lilandra still while he kills her.

This issue was filled with wall to wall action, with Crystal getting one of the best scenes in the issue. Crystal is now an interplanetary sweetheart, and big sister Medusa is amusingly jealous. This issue brought back a subplot I’ve noticed since the X-Men: Kingbreaker prelude, and that’s Gladiator’s loyalties. Gladiator gets his powers from his beliefs; when he doesn’t believe in what he’s fighting for, he loses his strength. For some time now, we’ve been seeing Gladiator constantly tell himself and everyone around him that he is faithful to the Shi’ar throne– almost as if he’s trying to convince himself of his loyalties more than anyone else. We’ve also seen that his and Lilandra’s relationship may have been a bit intimate in the past, which leads me to believe she’ll be just fine by the end of issue #3.

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X-MEN FIRST CLASS FINALS #3 OF 4
Writer: Jeff Parker
Pencilers: Amilcar Pinna, Roger Cruz, & Colleen Coover
Publisher: Marvel

The X-Men are battling a large Magneto-shaped metal construct, leading them to believe Magneto’s ghost (he was thought dead at the time) was back for revenge. After incapacitating it several times, the “ghost” finally ceases its attack. Soon Professor X astral projects to the team and tells them that he’s back from Scotland. The team meets back at the mansion, where something strange starts to happen. Unbeknownst to the X-Men, other versions of themselves are standing in the room, watching them. It turns out these unseen X-Men are astral projections that Xavier is creating, and the scene in the mansion is all just a memory of something that had happened sooner. When Juggernaut then attacks the mansion then literally fades away, Scott comes up with the theory that the recent villain attacks have all been somehow created by Jean.

In the Coover-drawn backup comic, Scott and Jean conclude their date by running into Man-Thing, who shows them some of the happier surprises awaiting the X-Men in the near future. This includes a flash of Captain America talking about new Avengers recruit Beast, without Scott and Jean actually noticing a strange blue man in the background.

The twist at the end wasn’t unexpected, but this book has never been about its revelations and internet-cracking surprise twists. It’s about the fun of the adventure, and like most past issues of X-Men First Class, this issue was just plain fun. Honestly, I shouldn’t have to convince anyway to buy this book. There’s only one issue remaining. If you liked the two previous series of X-Men First Class, you’ll more than likely like this final miniseries.