What I Bought 12/21/2024

My body tried to speed-run something last week. Scratchy throat Tuesday, head jammed full of snot Wednesday, hacking up yellow stuff Thursday. It has subsequently settled into occasionally coughing, occasionally runny nose since, which isn't great, but I can operate around it.

Fantastic Four #27, by Ryan North (writer), Steven Cummings (artist), Jesus Arbutov (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - It doesn't seem fair that only some of the Moloids get to wear specs like Mole Man. It must be an "employee of the month" perk.

Nicki, Ben and Alicia's Skrull daughter, observes that Earthling myths and legends consistently portray shape-shifters as untrustworthy and evil. So she tries to prove they're actually cool and good. By pretending to be the Fantastic Four to get her siblings out of trouble with the principal. Also by flawlessly impersonating her dad to rent PG-13 movies.

She eventually gets caught, and Ben tells her not to impersonate other people at school, and not to do it elsewhere without asking first. Which she initially perceives as having to get permission to be herself, but by the end of the issue has concluded that she's really been using shapeshifting to try being liked by being other people, and she should just be herself. Using her powers openly to defeat the Mole Man when he attacks the school to get at Franklin and Valeria probably helps.

It's a nice idea to play with the cultural differences Nicki has to deal with coming from the Skrulls culture, where shapeshifting is the norm and you're expected to use it, versus Earth where it's a relatively rare trait, and most of the people get spooked if they eventually learn they weren't talking to who they thought they were. Hopefully North will do something similar for Nicki's brother Jo-Venn and having grown up among the highly militaristic Kree at some point.

Cummings struggles drawing The Thing consistently, as he sometimes seems to have a neck and other times doesn't, and the shape of his torso changes a bit. For the more regular characters, he's fine (I feel like he used Abe Lincoln as a starting point for the principal), and when Nicki is just stretching her limbs or bulking herself up, there's no problem there. And Mole Man's 3-headed, fire breathing, beady-eyed creature looks cool, so overall, it works.

Deadpool #9, by Cody Ziglar and Alexis Quasarano (writers), Andrea Di Vito (artist), Guru-eFX (color artist), Joe Sabino (letterer) - Maybe MODOK should put the shiny gem thing in a less easy to access (and stab) location.

Eleanor, Princess, and Valentine fight MODOK for half the issue. This is mostly Ellie getting increasingly battered, as she runs up against the limits of her healing ability, but keeping MODOK occupied until Valentine can get close and pump him full of a hallucinogen from mushrooms. Odd that Valentine says they both know he won't enjoy the trip, but the one panel we see, MODOK's got a giddy look and is proclaiming (in multi-colored text) "The colors taste like colors!" Seems to be enjoying it to me. It's when he wakes up he'll be pissed.

So Ellie's in bad shape, but Valentine's got a plan to use some magic powers she gained partway through the Alyssa Wong-written series to essentially do an alchemical transfer of Ellie's healing to Wade to make his cells heal like they're supposed to. It works, Deadpool's back on his feet, Ellie doesn't die, Wade and Valentine have a brief conversation where Valentine whispers something to Wade he claims not to have heard, but will doubtlessly come up later.

Most significant, during the ritual, Ellie saw her mother. Or something claiming to be her mother, who tries to warn her of the cost of this procedure. But Ellie inherited her father's attention span along with his healing factor, so she doesn't listen, or even give her mother time to explain. So she doesn't know what's going to happen, and neither do we. But now Eleanor sees her mother's spirit. Or, again, something passing itself off as her mother's spirit. I don't know if that's going to be something different from what Valentine tried to tell Wade, or if they're the same thing and neither Deadpool got the message.

I really thought Deadpool's resurrection would involve finding Death Grip and learning what he did wasn't exactly death. The fact that Wade wasn't rotting seemed to suggest this was something other than true death, so I thought maybe it was a state similar to it, because Death Grip wants to learn something from a man who can't die coming to a state like death. Maybe we'll find out that was Death Grip's plan, and Ellie messed it up.

What I Bought 10/28/2024 - Part 1

Another week survived. Ummmm, I guess that's all I've got in terms of an introduction. Given I'm writing this Tuesday, it's not even necessarily accurate. I may not have survived. Update: I did survive! Congratulations to me! Here's two comics from October I'm going to review, as I have done hundreds of times before, since whatever algorithm Blogger uses to determine community guideline breaks is apparently dumb as shit.

Deadpool #7, by Cody Ziglar and Alexis Quasarano (writers), Andrea Di Vito (artist), Guru-eFX (color artist), Joe Sabino (letterer) - Taskmaster with no eyes visible behind his mask looks weird. Like the saddest sword-wielding skeleton possible.

Eleanor is dealing with Deadpool being dead by being extremely violent, indifferent to her own well-being and screwing up jobs while making social media posts about it. Like father, like daughter, though I'm pretty sure this is why Deadpool was staying away from her in the first place, so she didn't end up like him. Also, how the hell has Preston not tracked Eleanor down yet?

Taskmaster is trying to help them track down and kill Death Grip, but that requires money, which requires they either complete jobs successfully (glares at Eleanor) or steal from someone who has money. Like some pharmaceutical/biochem company. A company staffed by robots named T.O.D.D. (no clue what that stands for), who speak in meaningless executive lingo about tabling ideas and whatnot. One is a little tougher than the others, though Di Vito can't seem to decide how big he is. Seems normal sized in one panel, then he's big enough Eleanor can kick him in the chest the same time Princess hits him there with one paw and it looks like there's still room to spare.

They get the money, but Princess wants to investigate a familiar smell, which turns out to be Valentine from Alyssa Wong's run. Credit to Ziglar and Quasarano for not trying to just sweep the previous writer's work under the rug, I guess. Beyond that, I'm not sure how this is going to play out, other than I expect Eleanor to try and bargain for help bring her dad back to life. She seemed to see a link between biochemistry and the online video about alchemy she was watching.

I'm guessing Full Metal Alchemist isn't a thing in the Marvel Universe, or Eleanor would know better than trying to resurrect someone via alchemy. But maybe she figures she'll just regenerate her body, so it's no big deal.

Body Trade #2, by Zac Thompson (writer), Jok (artist), Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou (letterer) - Groot really changed once he sold out.

Kim tries to break into the van with all the bodies. He fails, miserably, and the goon driver eventually drives away to deliver the remains. So Kim barges in on the extremely insensitive lady from last issue and steals a bunch of her files and her phone. He gives back the phone, though, which is how she takes a photo of his license plate. Batting a thousand here so far, champ.

He gets inside the branch office in Miami, makes a scene, catches an elevator and gets promptly clocked in the head with the but of a shotgun by security. But he gets to meet Ms. Wolfe, the local manager he thinks will get him his son's remains.

Instead she shows him a cutesy animated film (for which Jock goes with a simplified style and lighter tones) about what happens with the bodies, all the shareholders, I mean, sick people, that these corpses help. She keeps her distance pretty much throughout the entire conversation, such as it is. The one time she gets close is to dab some blood off his forehead where he got hit, and then she looks at it like she's almost confused by it. Otherwise, she either sits on the edge of her big desk, or goes to stand in front of the window. Either way, she's beyond his reach, face in shadow.

Which is her trying to dance around the fact his kid's body is G-O-N-E, but Kim's either dumb as shit or in denial. At which point she ditches any pretense of courtesy, reveals they know exactly who he is, and that they could easily have him killed. And they will if he comes back. Kim, of course, immediately calls some old friend from his ne'er-do-well days to request a gun.

So he's not going quietly. But Wolfe's going on vacation, and I suspect the child's body really is scattered across the world by now. Their coolant systems in the trucks are clearly second-rate, they can't afford to waste time. But if Kim doesn't do this, he has to deal with his apparent responsibility for his son's death (Wolfe brings it up, which makes 3 people in 2 issues so far, so I don't think Thompson's going to go for the fakeout), and clearly he's not ready for that. I'm not sure Thompson's really made me care, though.

What I Bought 8/21/2024

I did something to my wrist a couple of days ago and it's been bugging me ever since. Don't know if I slept on it wrong, it objected to the way I held the steering wheel during the 6+ hours I spent on the road Tuesday, or what.

Here's the one comic from this week I found at the store.

Deadpool #5, by Cody Ziglar (writer), Andrea Di Vito (artist), Guru-eFX (color artist), Joe Sabino (letterer) - I don't think this is an appropriate father/daughter activity.

Deadpool, sans healing factor, continues his fight with Death Grip. It's back-and-forth, as Death Grip keeps busting out magic and talking about one of them learning from the other, while Deadpool shoots guns and hits people with his detached arm while making bondage jokes.

Deadpool cuts Death Grip's hands off, which would seem like a win, except Death Grip can shoot magic from his mouth like Piccolo and takes off one of Wade's legs at the knee. And right after Deadpool made a big speech about how he's finally going to take being a father seriously, unlike all those times in the past where he didn't take his interpersonal relationships seriously.

That's the problem with newbie villains. No respect for the proper arc of a story. That's the basic course most of Deadpool's banter runs along, references to a bit starting three pages ago, or that he did a dramatic pause because the writer felt it was needed. I didn't laugh, but humor is always going to vary I guess.

Eleanor and Princess show up, Elle shoots Death Grip with one of Taskmaster's exploding arrows, they make a dramatic escape, everything seems good, minus Deadpool being down two limbs and the healing factor that keeps his cancer at bay.

Di Vito's work doesn't look quite as smooth as it usually does. Don't know if that was an attempt to hew closer to Roge Antonio's art on the series thus far, or just a shift in style. Despite people losing appendages left and right, the violence doesn't seem quite as graphic. Maybe Di Vito's art is still too clean for that effect. Eleanor does look suitably ridiculous wearing a mishmash of her father and Taskmaster's outfits when she makes her big arrival.

Saturday Splash Page #120

 

"Call-Out Post," in Stormbreaker: The Saga of Beta Ray Bill #2, by Michael Avon Oeming and Dan Berman (writers), Andrea Di Vito (artist), Laura Villari (color artist), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer)

Released in 2005, around the time Thor was being shelved for a couple years via a Ragnarok, this mini-series sees Beta Ray Bill return to his duties as protector of the Korbinites, right when they need him the most. Galactus has arrived, though the Korbinites see him as Ashta, a great destroyer god of their religion (Di Vito draws this as sort of giant purple jellyfish or flagellate protozoan), and he's hungry. As usual.

Worse, Big G has himself a new herald, and Stardust might be the worst of the lot. Stardust carries a religious fervor in its devotion to Galactus, so much so it regards beings refusing to be eaten as an affront. Not just those who try to fight Galactus. Even the Korbinites who are trying to flee, Stardust is intent on eradicating.

While it makes sense Galactus finds such devotion desirable in his herald, after all the others were either too self-serving or too moral, it still annoys me. Galactus knows this is happening and does nothing to stop it, which puts a lie to all those, "Galactus only does what he must," and "Galactus takes no pleasure in it," soliloquies. Then tell your herald not to finish off the genocide you start, you purple jackass.

Between Stardust and a Korbinite religious order that dislikes how Bill talks up the Asgardians, Beta Ray can't save the planet. But he puts up enough of a fight - including one bit where he slams Stardust into an asteroid, then uses Stormbreaker to drive Stardust's own spear through its chest - protecting the survivors, transferred into the glowy orb up there, that Stardust ups the ante to the point of endangering the entire universe by releasing some nightmare creature. The creature, called Asteroth, presents itself as a lady with bat wings and a Witchblade-esque costume. Di Vito didn't bring much of an other-dimensional hellbeast energy to that design.

It feels as though the mini-series kind of goes off the rails there. One too many additional elements, as Bill and Stardust team-up to try and fix Stardust's mess, and mostly fail. Asteroth is ultimately defeated, but Bill and his ship Skuttlebutt end up in some white void, thanked by mysterious beings for their efforts, and at Bill's request, sent to Asgard. Which is destroyed. So much for re-settling the surviving Korbinites there. Oh, and Asteroth hid its essence in the orb and feasted on the souls within. So much for there being any Korbinites to re-settle.

The end result is, Bill is reborn on Earth, in the body of a homeless man that's just died. He's still got Stormbreaker, and can transform into his traditional horse-face form (albeit with a new costume that mostly involves a more elaborate helm and no cape.)

I feel like most of this was ignored. I'm not sure Beta Ray Bill appeared in anything until JMS brought Thor back in 2007. Kieron Gillen referenced Galactus eating the Korbinites' home in Beta Ray Bill: Godhunter, but Bill describes the bit about nearly dying on Asgard and seeing some mysterious cloaked figure take what was left of the meta-orb as possibly just a hallucination.

Saturday Splash Page #84

 

"Into the Hulkiverse," in The Thing (vol. 2) #2, by Dan Slott (writer), Andrea DiVito (artist), Laura Villari (colorist), Dave Lanphear (letterer)

The Thing didn't get another crack at a solo book for 20 years. To be fair, the '90s weren't a great time for the FF overall, but even the Human Torch got a brief ongoing series a couple of years before Ben's next turn. This time, it was Dan Slott as writer, with Andrea DiVito as artist (to start.)

In some manner owing to Ben only just learning one-quarter of the FF's money from patents or merchandising or whatever is his, he gets big-time rich. The first few issues are Ben letting the money go to his head, dating an actress, throwing cash around, while his friends tut-tut. Ben and Alicia are on the outs again, as she's dating some milquetoast architect guy who conveniently goes away at the series' conclusion. The actress girlfriend goes away even quicker, after a delightful journey to Murderworld.

Ben doesn't go broke or anything like that, but does decide to spend his money in more community-oriented ways after Reed uses Franklin to teach some sort of lesson on how meaningless it is to just spend money on personal pleasures. Reed's looking at it the wrong way. Ben buying customized SUV limos and whatnot keeps him in a better mood, and therefore less like to use Reed like a particularly annoying piece of dental floss.

DiVito's version of the Thing feels in the vein of George Perez's. Taller than most people, broad, but the features are rounded or smoothed rather than squared off. But the shading gives him a gritty texture that I don't see a lot of artists use. Like grains of sand would come off on your fingers if you ran them along his arm.

Kieron Dwyer's version is in that "squared off" style. Walks a bit hunched over, head broader, eyes bigger. The brow ridge sticks out farther, allowing for more expressive faces. The last two issues are humorous one-offs - a time travel birthday trip for Alicia gone wrong and a big superhero poker game - and that look works better for those than I think DiVito's would.

After 8 issues, the book ended with Ben and Alicia back together. Less than a quarter of what his first series got, and less than one-twelfth of Marvel Two-in-One. But it's a different time, plus this was during Straczynski's time on the main Fantastic Four title, and Aguirre-Sacasa's Marvel Knights FF book, so they might have been overloading the market.

Also, the book started just a few months before Civil War kicked off, so perhaps not the best time for it in terms of tone.

Saturday Splash Page #50

 

"Snakes vs. Apes," in The Union #3, by Paul Grist (writer), Andrea Di Vito (penciler), Le Beau Underwood (inker), Nolan Woodward (colorist), Travis Lanham (letterer)

This mini-series was originally supposed to come out in mid-2020, loosely connected to the Empyre event. You remember, the one where the Coati (the telepathic trees) launched an invasion of Earth, or something? Yeah, I didn't pay it much mind either, and the COVID pandemic threw a giant spanner in the works. So Marvel, in their eternal churn, merely delayed the mini-series to instead loosely tie it to King in Black over the winter of 2020-2021.

Either way, the event is incidental to the story Grist tells, which is about a super-team meant to represent the United Kingdom, with superheroes from each part of the British Isles. Except the hero meant to lead them gets killed in issue 1, leaving Union Jack to try and lead a team of people that all hate the English and certainly don't want to follow the guy wearing England's flag on his chest.

Grist adds in some super-villains (including a talking corgi, so adorably evil), plus a super-villain turned government minister (whose power, appropriately for a stuffed shirt, was to leech the power from other people), a techbro billionaire sponsoring the superhero team, some backstory for a couple of the characters, and a race to steal a MacGuffin stone that will somehow make a person an Emperor.

I think this would have worked better if Grist drew it himself. Di Vito's work makes it look like a fairly standard superhero story, but it doesn't feel like that kind of story. The costumed heroes and villains are largely ineffectual, several steps behind the real bad guy (surprise! it's the billionaire!). Grist's own art, where besides the costume, Jack Staff doesn't look much different from anyone else in his world, would seem to match a story where the heroes can't get past their distaste for each other (or their own egos and incompetence) to actually stop anyone. Some of the character designs are pretty nifty, though.

The team does come together briefly at the end, urged by Britannia's spirit as the representation of a unified Britain, to work as a group rather than everyone trying to act alone. They still don't accomplish much The public doesn't rally behind them, they aren't the ones who eventually secure the MacGuffin. I guess Grist is focusing on small victories. Union Jack feeling he does measure up, The Choir turning away fully from her criminal past, the bureaucrat helping out because Britannia believed in him once upon a time. The team members of Wales, Scotland and Ireland not chucking Union Jack off a bridge. Progress.

What I Bought 5/18/2022 - Part 1

Work yesterday was pretty lousy, which I knew was going to be the case for weeks, but yeah. Just not enjoyable, dealing with lots of anger and stupidity. So tired. Speaking of tired, here's two comics from this week on their last legs with me.

Iron Fist #3, by Alyssa Wong (writer), Michael Yg and Sean Chen (pencilers), Michael Yg, Victor Olazaba, Keith Champagne and Don Ho (inkers), Jay David Ramos (colorist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - Great, now he's got even more pieces of sword stuck in his arm.

Bishounen-looking guy from last issue is Lie's older brother, who gained power from the destroyer god at some point. The demons work for him, and the one impersonating Min's father tries to steal the pieces of Lie's sword. Lie and the others fight him, but he gains the upper hand and demands the shards. So Lie. . .jams them into his arms. Goddamn, kid, just buy some pouches. Cable and Deadpool can't possibly own all of them.

He tears through the demon, who delivers a message on where to meet his brother. But before they get there, Lie, Min, and the grumpy teen jerk from last issue are caught by Fat Cobra and the Bride of Nine Spiders. Nobody ever captures the Bride's look properly, compared to how Aja drew her. That reserved, creepy look. They always make her too expressive and loudly aggressive. There were other Immortal Weapons for that, except other writers keep killing them. She's carrying knives now. Why?

But with four inkers, things were going to be a little weird. Chen draws the middle section of the book, the part that encompasses all of the fight with the demon, and Yg handles the rest. I don't know which inkers are with which pages, although I'm very curious who drew the last couple, when they run into the Immortal Weapons. Yg's art looks much looser, and there's one panel (above, on the right) like a caricature or cartoon. It was a nice change of pace, although I don't think it was an intentional so much as a necessity to save time. Sometimes shortcuts are good!

Overall, though, I just don't really care. I feel like I should want to find out if Lie will remain Iron Fist, or repair his sword, or why Shou-Lao chose to do him a solid, or at least be excited Fat Cobra showed up, but I'm not. 

Wolverine: Patch #2, by Larry Hama (writer), Andrea Di Vito (penciler), Le Beau Underwood (inker), Sebastian Cheng (colorist), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - I feel like landing on flat on his left foot is going to really jar his leg.

This issue is "Patch's Crappy Trek Through the Jungle." He's still trying to heal from the beating last issue. Then he gets shot with some poisoned arrows by the locals, who think he's out to hurt the two Russians. Logan convinces them he's not an enemy and they start guiding him to the Russians' hiding spot. Then he gets shot by some of General Coy's guys, who want the locals to lead them to the Russians. He kills them. Then he gets shot by some Yakuza working for the guy doing monkey experiments. He kills them. Then more of the general's guys show up and he kills them (off-panel). He reaches the Russians, the locals convince them to help, because there's a third one, a little girl with weird powers who goes inside Logan's brain and finds Jean.

I guess some of Logan's time as Patch did happen while Jean was "dead". Or it could just be Logan has her on his mind a lot. In which case, that kid should really get out of there. Not age-appropriate.

Hama uses SHIELD as an almost narrator. I was going to say omniscient, but there's a lot they don't know, so that wouldn't work. The Helicarrier is still just hovering there in the sky, in full view, wondering why they can't find these Russians. All the cigars must have clouded Fury's brain. I went back to check, because I thought I remembered Di Vito drawing Fury smoking, but my mind must have just autofilled that image. Anyway, SHIELD is somehow surveilling all over Madripoor at once and so as they discuss one place or the other, the story cuts to that location, then back, then off somewhere else. 

It's not a bad way, and it works to contrast Logan tromping through the woods, getting more tangled up in all this by fighting guys for reasons he doesn't even know, with everyone else doing reconnaissance or forming alliances to try and achieve their goals. Logan just takes the direct approach. But when all you've got are unbreakable adamantium claws, the whole world looks like something to cut through.

What I Bought 3/23/2022 - Part 1

Found all three books from this week, plus one from two weeks ago. So let's kick things off with the nostalgia titles from Marvel.

Wolverine: Patch #1, by Larry Hama (writer), Andrea Di Vito (penciler), Le Beau Underwood (inker), Sebastian Chang (colorist), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - That is an interesting dress Tyger Tyger's almost wearing.

Hama puts several pieces in motion right off. There is a Dr. Malheur who is performing some sort of experiments involving monkeys out in the jungle for some guy with a spider tattoo on his face. There's a General Coy roaming the general after a bounty. SHIELD is keeping an eye on things from a Helicarrier. There's a Soviet plane wrecked in the jungle, and two mutants who have also been "enhanced" who may be the subjects of the bounty.

And into all that drops Patch. Literally, because after Fury tells him to butt out, Logan jumps out of his buddy's plane - without a parachute. He runs into the two hiding and gets cut up and left for dead. I know it stretches credulity that a lot of people don't recognize Logan just because he puts on an eye patch, but he actually brings out the claws during the fight and Gimel and Beth still don't recognize him. I figured Logan did enough Cold War secret agent crap he'd be very well known to even fugitive Soviet agents/soldiers, just as someone they might have to kill.

But I should know better than to start trying to untangle the layers of Logan's backstory at this point. Anyway, my initial impression is the thread about Malheur and his experiments in unrelated to everything with General Coy and Nick Fury. I'm not sure which thing is the reason why The Prince asked Patch to go investigate. I'm unclear enough on the power structures of Madripoor to know whether Coy and Prince are rivals, associates or something else entirely. If rivals, then you figure Prince wants to know what the general's scouring the jungle for. But if the Prince is a crimeboss, then maybe it's the guy connected to the yakuza he's curious in.

Di Vito's art is his typical clean look. Underwood's inks add a little rough edge to what's kind of a pulp adventure, what with the spies and weird scientists and whatnot. The idea of Logan wandering a tropical jungle in a white tuxedo is a little silly, but the jacket's already being torn up, so it may not last long. I liked the full-page splash of Logan's descent to the forest floor, done as series of images of Logan falling and hitting tree limbs awkwardly. Cowles compliments it with Logan's scream stretched across a bunch of small speech balloons as he falls.

I'm sort of amused at placing the sound effect of Patch stabbing Beth's arm over the actual stabbing. I guess that is where the sound would emanate from, but it feels like they think they need to hide it. Although looking at the rest of the fight, Cowles seems to have other sound effects that also move on the arc of the attack. So maybe that's just the approach he (or Hama, or Di Vito) decided to go with it.

It's kind of weird, because I don't know that I'm interested in any of the characters so much as I am how Hama tries to tie all this together. Do the different threads even come together, or is it going to be a case of tying one off first, then moving to the next?

Ben Reilly: Spider-Man #3, by J.M. DeMatteis (writer), David Baldeon (artist), Israel Silva (colorist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - The Strategically Torn Costume proves ineffective against Dr. Octopus.

Ben fights Dr. Trainer, who once again knows who is under the Spider-Man mask. She seems to be angry that her father cared more about Ben than her, though Ben argues that isn't true. Then she vanishes and a decaying Kraven shows up. Who turns into a bunch of spiders. Edward narrowly saves Ben from those. Ben heads to Ravencroft, figuring if it's no Chameleon it must be Mysterio. Again, Mysterio got put in an asylum? He's not nuts, he's just a crook with an ego. Send him to regular prison.

Either, way, he says it isn't him, so Ben starts trying every other foe he can think of, hoping it's not the Jackal. Well, it's not Jackal, but it might be worse. Yes, it's the return of the Spider-clone absolutely nobody requested, Spidercide! The one that could shapeshift and stuff. Yeah, I tried really hard to forget he existed, too. So much so I did not know his body releases toxins that produce emotional responses. Unless Ben is being metaphorical about toxins permeating his mind, digging into the darkest caverns of his psyche. It's DeMatteis, it's a possibility.

Spidercide being a shapeshifter would seem to make him the likely culprit behind the first date serial killer, but that feels too neat at this point. Especially since Spidercide seems to be fixated on Ben, and was so clingy in his "John Diaz" identity Ben basically stopped hanging out with him. The notion he was going out on dates and charming people seems before killing them seems unlikely. But there also hasn't been any forward momentum on that thread, so I'm not sure DeMatteis can deal with it in two issues. If he intends to. Maybe Ben not solving it because he's been caught up in these mind games is going to be a point.

I'm curious about Ben's notion that, unlike Peter, he isn't motivated by guilt. Even though he is supposed to be Peter Parker at this point. The point being Ben's life on the road, trying to carve out some sort of existence for himself has forced him to move past that. Which makes a certain amount of sense. If Ben spent five years believing he was the clone, then he would have told himself what happened to Uncle Ben had nothing to do with him. He didn't exist when that burglar escaped, and would have worked hard to reject what he saw as Parker's influence.

Baldeon tries some horror stuff with Spidercide's shapeshifting. The spiders pouring out of Kraven's mouth as his head decays, plus some multi-faced, multi-limbed howling monstrosity near the end of the issue. I'm not his work can quite carry it off. Maybe more shadows, more left to the reader's imagination, would work. There's a panel of Ben lifting the multi-faced thing where we can only see outlines of eyes and teeth and a few limbs that's kind of creepy. Baldeon does do a good job of drawing those panels so that Ben feels trapped. As the spiders swarm him, the panels are tilting so it's like he's falling or being pulled down and the multi-thing tends to dominate the shared panels. It's all around him so that even when he's attacking it, it looms over him.

What I Bought 6/1/2021 - Part 1

I hope everyone had a wonderful Clint Eastwood's Birthday Day on Monday. It is the most holy of days on the Reporting on Marvels and Legends' calendar. I observed the traditional ways, watching the Leone trilogy while eating pizza.

The Union #5, by Paul Grist (writer), Andrea Di Vito (penciler), Le Beau Underwood (inker), Nolan Woodard (colorist), Travis Landham (letterer) - Runnin' away from a ghost like they're the Mystery Inc. crew.

The tech bro has the Empire Stone. The heroes' attempts to stop him all fail, not that we see them try much. Doc Croc and his gain take a run at it and don't do any better. Britannia's sort of a ghost that's been lurking inside Union Jack to survive (and keep him from dying when he does stupid crap), but neither of them can stop tech bro alone. Together? Sure, that works. Doc Croc briefly gets the stone, then loses it to the government official, who impersonates a the intelligent corgi and eats it. The day is saved!

I am not sure what this was supposed to be about. The conclusion says Britannia kind of faded away after making some cryptic/uplifting statement. Union Jack's in the hospital, and the rest of the team has apparently vanished. There's no moment where the team really comes together and gets anything done. The public reacts negatively to their actual appearance, but there's no follow-up with that. I wonder if Grist had something entirely different planned for this when it was sort of tying in to Empyre instead of King in Black, but I doubt it. Maybe the point was you can't artificially create a super-team, just because some billionaire wants it to happen? If they aren't on-board with some common purpose, it'll fall apart. Or if it all hinges on one person - Britannia in this case - it's not going to work.

I don't know. I'm just guessing.

Runaways #36, by Rainbow Rowell (writer), Andres Genolet (artist), Dee Cunniffe (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - Gert's wisely decided to get the heck out of this book before she gets killed again.

The issue focuses on two conversations involving Gert. One, set several weeks before the previous issue, has Chase come home and find Gert from five years in the future waiting for him. She's 21 now too, and she's here to a) be with him, and b) take him back to the future with her. Chase is actually suspicious of this, especially when Gert won't tell him what she's trying to save him from. He won't go, so Gert's just been coming by to visit and make out with him off-and-on ever since.

The other conversation is between 16-year-old Gert and Victor, at the same time as the previous issue. There's a little tension after that whole Justice Inc. thing, and Victor worrying that since he can't fight against the programming Ultron gave him that makes him geek out over heroes, he won't be able to fight the programming that will make him evil, either. Gert figures everyone on the team is likely to go evil, and she's more concerned about getting left behind. And while they're walking, they find Chase and 21-year-old Gert making out.

I have no idea how this is gonna go. Future Gert seems sad or worried about seeing Victor, which seems like the kind of thing that could lead to explosions and "How could you?!" On the other hand, Gert's not typically the sort to freak out or get violent. So there might just be a lot of sarcasm between the Gerts, and confused stammering among the guys.

 

You can see similarities in the Gerts based on facial expressions - they both love rolling their eyes - but Genolet adds some differences in body language. They're both talking to guys who are taller than them, but Future Gert is constantly looking Chase in the eye, while Present Gert spends a lot of time looking at the ground or just down in general. Future Gert's body language is a lot more confident. Hand on one hip, or just willing to reach out. She's not holding herself in, while Present Gert seems like she's trying to minimize contact with anything for most of her walk with Victor. She won't even let her arms swing at her sides while she walks, she keeps them both on her backpack straps. It's a much more reserved, withdrawn posture.

I even think Present Gert and Victor are viewed at more of a distance than Future Gert and Chase. That may just be a matter of the two of them not standing as close to one another, so the p.o.v. has to be from further away for them both to be in the same panel, but Present Gert seems to sit lower in the panels, and just generally is less of a presence than her future self.

What I Bought 4/14/2021 - Part 3

It snowed yesterday while I was out in the field. In the middle of April. Lovely. A complication I did not need, to be sure. But whatever, here's a couple of first issues. Well, one is a first issue, the other is a one-shot.

Darkhawk: Heart of the Hawk, by Danny Fingeroth, Dan Abnett, Kyle Higgins (writers), Mike Manley, Andrea Di Vito, Juanan Ramirez (artists), Le Beau Underwood (inker for Di Vito), Chris Sotomayor, Sebastian Cheng, Erick Arciniega (colorists), Travis Lanham (letterer) - They didn't have that cover at the store, but it was the one I liked best.

Three stories in this. Fingeroth, Manley, and Sotomayor set one sometime in the first year of Darkhawk's ongoing, where he briefly tries chatting up the daughter of the crimelord he was feuding with for information, then ends up fighting a crooked cop in a super-suit out to kill her. It's fine. Fingeroth works in a lot of angst for Chris about his mother and his little brothers, about trying to do the right thing but really hating Bazin. Sotomayor's coloring makes Manley's artwork look smoother than it did on Darkhawk back in the day. Less heavy on the shading and blacks, bit less of a gritty texture to things. 

Which is interesting. I'm just going off memory but I feel like the title had the look and feel of something closer to a street-level crime book, at least initially. Closer to JRJR on Daredevil than most Spider-Man titles of the time. Which makes sense, given it was mostly about Chris wanting to bring down a particular crime boss, but running into all this other increasingly crazy crap on the way.

The second story, by Abnett and Di Vito is set after Thanos Imperative, with Chris out in space trying to help people. In this case, by killing a bunch of Brood that were trying to set up in a rebuilding settlement. Chris wipes them out, but the locals prove being ungrateful shits isn't exclusive to Earth in the Marvel Universe and complain because the bar got destroyed. Cheng's coloring on the first page looks different from all the others. Almost bright to the point things look washed out. I mostly only noticed because it made Di Vito's work look a bit softer than normal, blunted some of the lines on faces. But it's only on the first page. Otherwise, it looks pretty much as Di Vito's work always does.

 

Higgins and Ramirez wrap things up with a five-part teaser for something. Chris is in the future, getting ready to send back his amulet with all his memories and experiences in the hope someone can stave off the "shadow war" that's about to destroy the universe or something. Oh joy, another one. The common thread between all three stories is Chris trying to figure out who he is. What does being Darkhawk mean to him, what is he wanting to accomplish, and what is he willing to do? I guess by the third story he's figured it out, but it's too late to help.

Locust #1, by Massimo Rosi (writer), Alex Nieto (artist), Mattia Gentili (letterer) - Great, more snow. Can't get away from that stuff.

The story moves back and forth between the present, where a lone man named Max is searching for a child taken by some religious wackjobs, and two years earlier. In the past, he worked on a fishing boat when the first reports of a new disease started to surface. The next time we see the past, he's at his mother's rest home, which has been fortified. But not fortified enough, as one of his childhood friends crawls in, rapidly turning into a giant bug. 

In the present, Max shoots a couple dogs to lure their owner into a trap. Where he dumps some toxic waste on the guy and his remaining dogs, then starts hacking pieces off with a machete to get what he wants. Delightful.

So the first issue sets up a search, as well as the question of how Max got from caring for his mother to seeking this child. I suppose you could add the question of why this happened, but Max feels too far removed from that to find answers. I suspect the "why" doesn't matter much to him, anyway.

 

Nieto's characters all have an aged and well-won look to them. Bags under the eyes, scraggly beards and unkempt hair. The end of civilization doesn't seem to change much for Max in that regard. he might look a little wilder, Nieto might shift perspective to let him loom over someone occasionally, face in shadow, but much the same beyond that. 

The cities, even before the plague, all depicted as dark and quiet. Even the shot of New York City in the past is done from a remove, where the lights on the buildings are so subdued you could easily miss them. Nieto favors overhead shots or long shots, where people are either small or can't be seen at all. It makes everything seem empty, even if it reasonably can't be. Max talks in a flashback about moving his family out of the city, away from the crush and demands, so it seems like he got at least part of his wish. The cities are much quieter now.

What I Bought 4/3/2021 - Part 2

There was only one new comic out this week I wanted, so I didn't bother going hunting for it. Next week is supposed to be pretty good, so I'll try and grab it then. In the meantime, here's two fourth issues from last month to look at.

The Union #4, by Paul Grist (writer), Andrea Di Vito (penciler), Le Beau Underwood (inker), Nolan Woodard (colorist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - I can't decide what the green lights in Choir's mouth remind me of. The weird engine from Event Horizon? A Borg Cube thing? It'll come to me in the middle of the night, I'm sure.

After opening with a flashback to some fight thirty years ago where The Sponge had the drop on Britannia (who I keep expecting to pop back up under some, "You can't kill the spirit of a nation" thing), they move to the present. Where "Doc Croc" (who doesn't like that name) and his band of lackeys (including The Choir) are invading the Tower of London to steal "The Empire Stone" created by John Dee. The Union go down like a bunch of chumps, demonstrating a total lack of teamwork. But that tech bro that put the team together takes the stone for himself before Croc can get it.

Well, we all knew that billionaires are the true villains. I'm pretty much expecting the last issue to be a fight between Croc and his bunch, as the old-school costumed villains (including a talking, cybernetically enhanced corgi), versus the irritating corporate sleazebag and his shitty haircut and stupid mustache. That could be highly entertaining, or highly depressing. I mean, I'm rooting for the super-villain personally. At least they've got flair and style.

 

At this point, there's no real sign the heroes are going to get their act together and work cooperatively. Or maybe they will and it'll just prove ineffective. I'm not sure yet what Grist is going for there. The Sponge seemingly didn't kill Britannia 30 years ago, and instead now works for the government. So people can change, can triumph over their inner demons? But they need the right person to nudge them along? And the team doesn't have that person, since Union Jack's clearly not cutting it. Although I feel like there's been so little opportunity to see him try it's hard to say he can't.

Guess I'll have to wait until the last issue comes out in May to see where Grist is going with this thing.

Black Cat #4, by Jed MacKay (writer), Nina Vakueva (artist), Brian Reber (color artist), Ferran Delgado (letterer) - She won't be happy when those cats barf all over the loot to mark it.

I'm assuming this was originally going to be the second Annual, which was mentioned before the canceled the previous run. It's focused on Lily Hollister, one of several characters added during Brand New Day. She was that one goblin villain, Menace? She had a kid with either Harry, or maybe Norman slept with her behind his son's back, I don't know. She doesn't remember much of that, and now she's trying to be a hero called the Queen Cat. Her costume is just a color-reversed version of Felicia's earlier outfits.

Vakueva draws Felicia's current costume pretty much how Kris Anka did in that two-part Madripoor story that came out last year. Where the collar flares out a lot more, the furry parts at the wrists and ankles are more like flares than cuffs, and the "mask" isn't really even that

Lily was working as a waitress at the party Felicia attended in the very first issue of the previous volume, and she's been trying to hunt Felicia down ever since. If she's going to be the hero, she needs to bring down the villain who she resembles. Nice touch by Vakueva that, when we Lily sees Felicia at points from earlier stories, she's drawn closer to how Travel Foreman drew her. Bigger hair, and with the more classic fur cuffs on the costume. Lily eventually found their hideout by staking out a takeout place, beat up Black Fox (wrong animal, lady) and stole everything they'd stolen. Except Felicia finds her faster than expected and whups her butt. 

Most of the issue is narrated as a journal entry Lily is writing, and the entry cuts off abruptly when Bruno and Doctor Korpse bust in unexpectedly. But Lily finished writing like two pages ago. Closed the journal and was laying there on her bed looking pleased with herself. So that didn't quite track. 

 

The big part of the issue is that Felicia encourages Lily to keep being a hero if that's what she really wants, and if she needs Felicia as a foil, then that's OK, too. The whole thing is presented as Lily only knowing enough about who she was before to hate that person, and wanting to be someone better and different. Felicia, having gone through that horribly conceived stretch where she tried to be a crime boss (thanks, Bendis and Slott, you putzes), and now getting back to what she does well (and what makes her a cool and fun character), gets that. 

I'm pretty sure that's the only time MacKay's referenced the whole "Queenpin" status quo. Hopefully it's the last time, but it fits in this situation. Felicia isn't the sort of character to judge someone else for deciding to do something dangerous and ill-advised with their life. It's not a great issue as a standalone, since Lily seems so obviously out of her league here. But as a breather between the magic-slinging madness from the previous three issues, and a return to the upcoming Big Heist, it works. Gives the comic a chance to re-center on what it's really been about.

What I Bought 3/2/2021 - Part 2

We've got two different books on their third issue today. One is still in its King in Black tie-ins, but the other has fully moved on to greener pastures.

The Union #3, by Paul Grist (writer), Andrea Di Vito (penciler), Le Beau Underwood (inker), Nolan Woodard (colorist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - I went with the Dave Johnson variant cover, because it looked cooler.

The Choir went home, but made the mistake of stopping a robbery and getting noticed. Now she's vanished, and the annoying government guy is on Union Jack to go investigate. Complete with his new teammate, British Puck! I mean, Bulldog. Also, he has a red cross painted on his face, which should probably make me think Switzerland, but instead reminds me of that Crossed series thing Avatar publishes.

Snakes and Kelpie are there, because they and Choir had been keeping in touch, and there's a shapeshifter called, appropriately, Shifter. After a brief squabble, government guy allows himself to be taken hostage. but once they're in the car, it turns out he used to be a power-stealing villain called the Sponge. He weakens Shifter, then shoots him in the head, but pretends the guy committed suicide. Delightful. Couldn't just take away his healthcare? Anyway, he knows who's got Choir, so that'll be a thing for next issue. If Union Jack is going to get this team to rally around him, he's gonna have to get on with it.

I really wonder how differently this would read if Grist was doing the art as well. Because I read some of the dialogue, or caption boxes, or character names (the Sponge in particular), and I can picture it looking like Jack Staff, and it reads differently. Like how the captions would proclaim Jack Staff Britain's greatest hero, as he's busy getting his ass whooped or made to look like a chump. Like there's a sort of dry humor to it Di Vito's art isn't really suited to convey. I think Di Vito can do physical humor (there was a bit of that in the brief Dan Slott-penned The Thing series, Di Vito drew most of), but if Grist is being sly, the art is instead trying to make everything read straight.

 

When Union Jack's busy getting attacked by Bulldog, Selwyn mentions that apartments in Central Manchester don't come cheap, but then a later panel shows Jack's apartment is upstairs of a Tesco. That Jack's apartment is above a grocery store feels like a joke (shades of The Simpsons' Frank Grimes leaving above a bowling alley, and below another bowling alley), a nod that he's not getting much from the government to begin with. Maybe I'm misreading everything.

Black Cat #3, by Jed MacKay (writer), C.F. Villa (artist), Brian Reber (color artist), Ferran Delgado (letterer) - So many facets.

So Felicia grabbed that piece of the Yggdrasil Staff, and while her body tears up symbiote dragons out in the real world, the source of the magic is inside her head, making a sales pitch. While he first leads her down what Felicia dubs a 'trauma exhibition', Strange wakes up and is not happy at what he finds. Although the expression Villa gives him as the ghost dog relates the situation is hilarious. I cackled at it.

Seems Felicia has to put down the power willingly to get away from it, and if she doesn't, that will apparently be worse than the King in Black. Yeah, I could see how giving the 'raw power of creation' free reign could be bad. The magic makes its offer to Felicia: Everything she ever wanted. The deaths of all her enemies? Sure. All the wealth, everyone kneeling to her, her father alive and reunited with her mother? Absolutely. Every lover she ever lost back and entirely devoted to her? That's where she draws the line, using magic to make people love her. So she rejects it, breaks free of her mind. But she's still got a little of the power left, and she and Strange are going to have to fight some more dragons. That, thankfully, will take place in the main mini-series, so we don't have to waste any more time on symbiotes.

I feel like Felicia would have balked at the offer sooner. I understand it might have been as effective dramatically that way, but I look at that she's a thief. What she wants, she takes. Why would she want this magic source to just give her everything? If she really wants to get back at Fisk, or Eddie Brock, she'll find a way to do it herself. If she wanted all the wealth, she'd just steal it. The fun is in the getting, not the having.

 

But MacKay's had Felicia make reference to wondering if her crew actually like her, or if her mother even likes her, so I can see how the offer of all that affection would be both what the magic thinks is its trump card, and precisely where she won't go. Because it wouldn't answer the question of whether anyone actually likes her. Or, it would, be the answer would be, "No, because you used magic to make me like you."

We could probably have some fun with analyzing the locations Felicia and the magic have their discussions, but it feels like a big enough thing to save for its own post, whenever I find time to get to it. I do notice Villa doesn't really shift his art style for the paintings showing events from her past. His version of her being badly injured by Venom doesn't attempt to mimic MacFarlane's style, for example. Reber alters his shading on his colors so that everything's a little faded or hazy. Not duller, but softer maybe, less contrast than on present-day Felicia and the magic. Memory being unreliable, or just losing its impact with time, maybe.

What I Bought 1/20/2021 - Part 1

Only three comics so far this month, but I did manage to find all of them last week. I was even able to find the specific covers I wanted for the two where I had a preference. Take the small victories. Gonna look at the two mini-series today, save the one ongoing for Wednesday.

The Union #2, by Paul Grist (writer), Andrea Di Vito (penciler), Le Beau Underwood (inker), Nolan Woodward (colorist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - If you're gonna kneel over someone's defeated body, you could at least look at them.

The remainder of the team's fight against the possessed guards ends quickly, and badly. The Choir gets possessed - because apparently sound isn't a problem for symbiotes anymore - and Union Jack gets decked. By the time he wakes up, the bad guys are off to the nearest town, wreaking havoc in an amusement park. The symbiotes are destroyed by Jack jamming a sword hooked to a generator into a bunch of water - because apparently symbiotes are vulnerable to electricity now, fantastic - recovering Choir and saving that particular, limited day.

Then the rest of the team tells Jack they're leaving, because they were only in it for Britannia, and they're not stoked about taking order from "Union Jack". To make matters worse, Jack learns that if he can't produce a team to lead, he's in violation of some contract he signed with the government, and he's going to jail. At least according to some shitbag PM that acts as liaison. I'd question how likely that is to happen - you just lost several more heroes, you want to throw one of the few you got left in the pokey - but given the whole Brexit thing, I'd say Britain's government doesn't deserve any more benefit of the doubt than the United States'.

Well, we got to see a little of what the new characters could do, which is something. And I do like the tension between Jack and the rest of the team. I'm curious though, if you took him out of the picture, would the other three get along, or are they only united in the face of the symbol of England? I don't have any idea how well Scotland, Ireland, or Wales work together when left to their devices.

 

I like The Choir's design, with the scarf across the lower half of her face, although I thought it was a little funny the symbiote even covered the scarf where it hangs off her. I guess that means you can't just grab it to try and swing her into a wall, but it seemed like overkill. Overkill, in a Marvel Event tie-in about symbiotes overtaking the world? The hell I say! I wish Kelpie had a look that suggested "water demon" more than generic spandex. I know she's supposed to look like a superhero, and something streamlined is probably smart for a water manipulator, but it's a little underwhelming compared to Choir and Snakes.

Iron Fist: Heart of Dragon #1, by Larry Hama (writer), David Wachter (artist), Neeraj Menon (color artist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - Aja can't keep a monthly schedule to save his life, but I like the guy's work.

Danny's Randall Gate has been modified by a guy named Fooh to be able to travel to the other Heavenly Cities, so they do a test run to the Under City and finding under attack from undead ninjas on horseback. Danny's asked to protect the dragon, and finds Taskmaster has killed it an stolen its heart. Now I like Taskmaster, but that seems. . . improbable. Him beating Danny and escaping, not nearly as improbable. Back in New York, Luke is babysitting the future Iron Fist, Pei, and a baby dragon (the one that so liked Felicia in that issue of Black Cat). Then Lady Bullseye shows up with more undead ninjas, but Iron Fist and Fooh's return makes her run. In the meantime, though, someone killed Tiger's Beautiful Daughter and her city's dragon, too. 

Why does Tiger's Beautiful Daughter seem to draw the short straw on this stuff? She was the one that Davos beat down, and now she's the one that gets killed. Let Dog Brother or Bride of Nine Spiders take turn. Or John Aman.

I'm not sure it isn't just Hama's writing, but Taskmaster seems off, in terms of dialogue. Oddly formal, even when he's boasting or talking trash. 'Might I remind you that I am fighting you to a standstill without the use of my left hand?' It makes me wonder about possession, but Luke also uses the word "obstreperous", which is not one I'd see him using casually with friends. More like something he'd use with someone who was talking down to him. But I'm not up on Luke Cage's current status, so who knows. It's fine, just odd. 

At any rate, I definitely appreciate that Hama just dives right in. Danny's gonna visit a city, oh crap, it's under attack! Dead dragon! Luke Cage punching undead ninjas! Shit's going down! Screw decompression and lots of build-up via talking! Larry Hama and David Wachter know you want to see action!

 

Wachter goes a little heavy with the extra lines on characters' faces and the shading, but overall, I like his work. There's a good flow in the action sequences, where you can read how one action leads into another, and it leads the eye across the page naturally. He took an intermediate approach on Danny's costume between the classic with the really high collar and the shirt open to the navel, and Aja's more streamlined version. It leans towards the classic look to be sure, but the v-neck isn't as deep, the collar's more restrained. 

I wish Menon would brighten the colors up a bit. Maybe in the Under City, which I'm guessing doesn't get much sun, it makes sense for things to be drab, even for a "heavenly" city. But back in New York, I feel like the colors could pop a little more.

Minor quibbles aside, I have a good feeling about this mini-series. Getting excited to see the rest of it.

What I Bought 12/18/2020 - Part 3

It's Christmas. I'm at my dad's, since it'll be just us and his dogs in the middle of nowhere. Hopefully you're able to be with someone you'd like to be around.

For today, we got a couple of first issues. That's good. They're both King in Black tie-ins. That's probably not good.

The Union #1, by Paul Grist (writer/penciler/inker), Andrea DeVito (penciler), Drew Geraci and Le Beau Underwood (inkers), Nolan Woodward (colorist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - What' Union Jack doing with Atomic Robo's revolver?

I would say it's an introduction to the team issue, but it's barely that. Most of it focuses on Union Jack trying to get some regular joe soldier guys through some sort of training exercise, except the team has taken most of them down already. There's a little bit of discussion after, some tension between the costumed types and the soldiers, some tension between Britannia and some stupid tech bro guy that's sponsoring/funding them, and then a symbiote dragon shows up, and Britannia gets impaled on its tail the same time she cut its head off.

I get the impression she'll be back shortly. Probably has a life-force tied to England and can't remain dead or something. But at this point I know Kelpie has some kind of water manipulation power, The Choir has something voice-based, and Snakes talks in diamond-shaped speech balloons. That's pretty much it. Why these characters, or anything else about them really, I don't know. I think there's a Paul Grist variant cover that provides a tiny bit more information, but you should probably try and do a little more in the first issue.

 

DeVito gets two different inkers, which I assume is because this was originally supposed to tie-in to Empyre, and they had to take out pages of invading plant-people and replace them with pages of invading symbiotes. There's a couple of spots where DeVito's work looks more like Tom Grummett's, especially in the faces, than I'm used to. I think Geraci and Underwood were lighter inkers than what I'm used to seeing on DeVito's work. Which would mostly be Annihilation and the Abnett/Lanning Nova series, where DeVito inked his own work.

It's pretty standard superhero comic art. Nothing really flashy about layouts or designs, very straightforward in that sense. But clean, easy to follow art. Gives you all the information it's supposed to (as far as I can tell). The dragon could probably stand to look weirder. It mostly just looks like it has really wrinkly skin from being in the tub too long. You'd think a symbiote-wearing dragon would look more monstrous.

Black Cat #1, by Jed MacKay (writer), C.F. Villa (artist), Brian Reber (color artist), Ferran Delgado (letterer) - The Villa variant cover was the only I could find that wasn't King in Black related, and actually emphasized what I'm buying the book for, Felicia stealing stuff.

Cat was going to rip off some guys who heisted an old SHIELD laundered cash location, but the symbiotes came crashing through the ceiling and ruined that. She reluctantly jumps in to help Captain America, and is feeling pretty good about their chances until she watches Dr. Strange get captured. Cap tells her to bail and get Strange back, and so that's what she's going to do. Steal him back from Knull with the help of her crew and some scientist guy I assume was part of Venom's supporting cast recently.

I wouldn't say much more happens in this issue than in The Union, but I think MacKay does a better job at least explaining who the doctor guy is and why Felicia is bothering to recruit him. And makes sure to make a nod towards the plotline left over from the last volume about her plan to rob the Thieves' Guild vault. Plus, this is at least a sort of tie-in that makes sense. The Black Cat isn't going to be on the front lines, she's going to be working behind the lines.

 

Like with DeVito, Villa doesn't do anything really outside the box or wildly creative. Again, though, the art is solid, clear, easy to follow. You can understand the story, and it looks nice enough. The expressions on Felicia's guys to her mission on the last page are pretty good. Villa's dragons are possibly even less distinctive than DeVito's. Basically just dragons that are all black, except the membrane for their wings, which is red. Occasionally in a close-up, you see tendrils and threads of the symbiote flicking around the dragons' mouths, but that's about it. It makes more sense, given the symbiotes usually are presented as becoming skin-tight outer coverings, with maybe a few tendrils, but it still feels like a letdown.

But I'd just as soon be done with the tie-ins as soon as possible, so as long as they get through them on time, that's fine with me.

Random Back Issues #1 - Nova #24

I have all these back issues, and I hardly ever discuss them. So, via the magic of die of varying numbers of sides, we're going to randomly grab a comic and see what we get. First up, Nova (vol. 5) #24! The cover, by Daniel Acuna, is Gladiator plowing through a bunch of Novas. Two issues later, he'd do a mirror of it, only with Richard doing the same to the Imperial Guard.

This was the Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning run, which reached 36 issues, the best Nova's ever managed (whether it's Richard or Sam Alexander wearing the bucket). Today we're smack in the middle of a War of Kings tie-in, where the Shi'ar (led by Cyclops' lunatic brother Vulcan) are attacking the Kree (recently conquered by the Inhumans). War of Kings was my least favorite of the four cosmic events Marvel did during this span, precisely because it focused on the Inhumans and the Imperial Guard, both of which are terrible, but the Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy tie-ins weren't bad.

This issue's mostly table-setting, though. Rich has been stripped of the Nova Force, because he disagreed with the Worldmind mass-conscripting a bunch of people, then throwing them into the middle of an intergalactic war. Rich contends they won't be properly trained, so it's just adding to the body count. Having already seen the Corps wiped out except for him during Annihilation, he's not eager for a repeat. Worldmind (now having set up shop inside Ego, the Living Planet) says Rich has grown addicted to having all the Nova Force, and doesn't want to share. So it left him behind on Earth. Oh, and his body had adapted to housing the Nova Force, and he's dying without it.

DiVito's work is maybe too pretty for what's apparently such an ugly war, but it does kind of capture the chaos of people zipping around all over the place with little clue what they're doing or why. Most of the Novas fighting are Earthlings with no clue what this war is about or who's on either side, or why it matters. As it turns out, the biggest development of this issue is the Imperial Guard curb-stomping a bunch of the rookie Novas, then the "Praetorian Guard" kills them after they've surrendered, and Gladiator's bunch flew off. (Strontian there is from the same race as Gladiator, so basically Supergirl. Or maybe that angry clone of Supergirl they had in Justice League Unlimited.)

This is a good reminder Gladiator is a complete tool. Vulcan's a genocidal lunatic, but he sits in the big chair, so Gladiator is just following orders. Of course, he switches sides halfway through the event because Lilandra makes puppy dog eyes at him. Again, complete tool.

There's a brief bit between him and the guy who replaced Rich as Nova Prime, who is Shi'ar and can't believe they've let Vulcan drag them into this war. I'm not sure if he objects to the war or who's leading it, since he describes Vulcan as a usurper and madman, a human masquerading as Shi'ar. He's not incorrect about any of that, but D'Ken was nuts, too. So is Deathbird. Crazy leaders are not a new thing for the Shi'ar.

While all that's going on, and Richard's brother Robbie is gearing up to do something stupidly heroic, Rich is preparing to storm Ego with the help of the Quantum Bands Wendell Vaughn's loaned him. Phylla-Vell did have them, but lost them because of a trip to the Realm of Oblivion and some other developments that would ultimately prove depressing. (Rich comments the Bands aren't something you hand to just anyone, but a lot of people have worn those things. Maelstrom had them for a hot minute before Drax cut his hands off.

Rich actually seems to have a pretty good handle on the basics of using them, which surprises me a little. The Bands usually seem like the equivalent of a Green Lantern ring, while the Nova Force seems more like a suit of powered armor. At least, Rich mostly used it for flying fast and blasting people with energy beams

Wendell's quantum energy at this point, but he'll be back to physical form soon, and Richard would sort of return the favor during Thanos Imperative by giving Wendell some Nova Force to use in addition to the Bands.

[7th longbox, 48th issue. Nova (vol. 4) #24, by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (writers), Andrea DiVito (artist), Bruno Hang (colorist), Cory Petit (letterer)]