Homecoming #3

I really want to like Aspen's Homecoming comic, and it has some strong points.

The art is lovely, the girls are beautiful, and the basic concept is solid.

The story involves an invasion of monstrous aliens, a beautiful and powerful teenage girl named Celeste who mysteriously appears, her group of teenage friends (think of Archie and his friends in a slightly more realistic setting) and the strange powers they all gain.

The big problem is that none of it feels real.

I know, it's a comic book - but none of the characters are depicted as anything more than stereotypical kids, and we get no clue as to how they're reacting to these aliens and their strange new powers.

There's a nice cliffhanger ending, but that (and the aforementioned solid art) is about all this comic has going for it.

There's still time to sort this all out - but we're not there yet.

Grade: B-

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Homecoming #2

The first issue of this series was an interesting mix of Buffy and science fiction, as a mysterious girl (Celeste) with strange powers appears, takes her place at a normal high school, and finds herself and her new friends in the middle of a fight with a monstrous alien.

A typical first day of school.

But the sophomore episode of Homecoming seems to be struggling a bit.

That's because, in the aftermath of the alien attack, four friends were gravely injured, and in curing them, Celeste has given them alien powers, too.

Which might sound like an interesting beginning for a new super-team, but the powers that we're shown in this issue are just kind of... ordinary.

It doesn't help that the issue mostly consists of the teens standing around talking about events, and a strange (and mostly unexplained) alien encounter.

The art by Emilio Laiso is quite good - expressive with strong layouts.

Look, this series is still setting things up, so it's not fair to judge the title by this chapter - hopefully the next issue will get things back on track.

Grade: B-

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Homecoming #1

So, here’s another one of those “hot naked girl shows up in my swimming pool one night” kinda stories, with a science fiction twist thrown in for good measure.

Homecoming is a new series from Aspen that takes place in the once-sleepy town of Hillcrest, where nothing ever happens.

Until, well, see paragraph #1.

The naked girl is Celeste, and she mysteriously disappeared 10 years ago. When she returns to her home, she finds a teenage boy named Hunter Wilson living there - and thankfully he knows her back story, because that saves us all a lot of time.

Hunter manages to enroll her in his high school (kids and computers - what can’t they do?), and she quickly settles into her new life - or she tries to, until an alien killing machine smashes into the school intent on murder.

The story by David Wohl and Scott Lobdell spools out on pretty solid ground here, though it sticks to tried-and-true “B” movie / alien invasion storylines.

The art by Emilio Laiso is very good, managing to combine realism and an expressive, ever-so-slightly cartoony look.

The end result is a little bit Buffy, a smidge of Alien, and a dash of Freaks and Geeks.

A pretty good combination so far!

Grade: B+

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