Barbarella: The Center Cannot Hold #3 // Review
She’s just been created, and already she wants to play hostess. She would offer her guest a beverage, but they haven’t been invented yet. It’s a young universe. There’s so much that hasn’t been created yet. (She doesn’t even have a name.) This is the least of the weirdness as Jean-Claude Forest’s space explorer’s adventures continue in Barbarella: The Center Cannot Hold #3. Writer Sarah Hoyt continues a story that is brought to life by artist Riccardo Bogani. Color comes to the page courtesy of Werner Sanchez. Barbarella explores a whole new universe in a weird fantasy story with a solidly surreal and substantially touching emotional center.
Barbarella and company have a hell of a time finding the location of the Unnamable. It might not involve torture, but it IS going to involve the appearance of torture...and something a whole hell of a lot worse. The journey to the Unnamable isn’t exactly going to be easy. Traveling to another universe isn’t as easy as popping open a portal. And once Barbarella is there, she’s going to have to open up to a being of massive power who could presumably snuff her life out in the blink of an eye.
Hoyt’s pacing is a bit strange. The issue opens in torture, travels through peril, and ends up in a serious emotional drama...all while maintaining firm contact with the pulpy space fantasy that rests at the heart of a really good Barbarella story. The title character comes across a little weak at the opening of the issue. She feels like a passenger in her own comic book until she arrives at the Unnamable. The basic resolution of the conflict feels quite fresh for space fantasy. All too often, action and adventure involve violence and aggression. Decades after the introduction of Barbarella, it’s still very refreshing to see interpersonal interaction solve a world-threatening crisis.
Bogani’s clean lines are beautiful. Sanchez’s bright colors lend a radiant depth to the visuals. Not every pose looks totally fluid. Some of it even appears stiff and awkward. As stiff as it seems in places, it never fails to be anything other than pretty. The hero lacks a bit of personality in Bogani’s hands, but there is a crushingly endearing sense of empathy coming from her in nearly every panel. The hero looks iconic in red and gold. The wondrous environs of the Unnamable luxuriate across the page in bright pastels. The surrealistic visuals of the trip to the Unnamable could have been a BIT more trippy, but it all looks so lush and inviting.
Even with the knowledge gained from the Unnamable, Barbarella still has quite a lot to deal with. There’s still the threat of the Architects on the horizon. Thanks to her adventure in the third issue of the series, she’s got a better idea of how she’s going to handle the fourth. She’s learned something, and she didn’t have to resort to any kind of negative energy to gain that knowledge.
