I think I saw this in a Buffy episode

I really liked the idea of The Battle of Blood and Ink, a new graphic novel by Jared Axelrod and Steve Walker (from Tor). In the floating city of Amperstam, everyone reads The Lurker's Guide, a one sheet guide that tells all the news that no one else does and reveals all the city's secrets. Ashe, who manages to be brilliant and glamorous but also poor and gritty, is the woman behind the newspaper. In the opening pages she uncovers a big secret and the government (which is basically a single steely-eyed female dictator person) decides it has to silence her. And then lot of other things are revealed and things all go to hell in a handbasket and Ashe barely survives.

So what's not to love? Well, I'm kinda conflicted actually. On the one hand it is an action-packed novel and Ashe is very unique and she kicks all kind of butt and THE CITY FLIES! But there are some serious plot holes here and I'm having trouble getting past them. Part of my frustration is due to the fact that this is supposed to be a story about a crusading underground journalist but only one issue of the newspaper is released and as soon as Ashe starts to uncover some secrets (other than the first one) she never thinks once about sharing them with the public. She morphs from writer to Avenger in all of six seconds and suddenly your reading a whole different book then you planned.

Second, it's hard to understand how Ashe could be a broke street kid on one hand but highly educated and capable of publishing a newspaper (with her one friend) on the other. No one ever explains this. Also not explained is why she has tattooed arms and why only some people in the city have arms like that and where those tattoos come from (other than to show the class differences). (They end up being a bit plot point which is why I'm bugged by the questions.) The biggest problem is with the biggest secret though. I don't want to spoil anything but I will say that it immediately reminded me of the Season 3 Buffy episode "Anne". That was okay though (just a bit similar) but what wasn't is a completely unexplained plot point that a lot of things hinge on. (As in how did she escape from a place no one else has escaped from and I'm sorry but just forgetting it all until she uncovers it accidentally later is far too convenient a use of amnesia to be believed.)

And how come the dictator has let her run around and be annoying all this time if she really is that powerful and tough?

So yeah, conflicted. The artwork is fine, the characters are interesting but I think story was sacrificed for action on more than one occasion. (Heck, I think some plot was sacrificed for it.) It felt rushed and that's a shame. Ashe is an interesting girl; I would have loved to see her at actual work rather than being a bit of a Buffy wannabe.