Saturday Splash Page #103

 

"No Candy Apples at This Fair," in Swords of Texas #4, by Stephen Scott Beau Smith (writer), Flint Henry (artist), Sam Parsons (colorist), Tim Harkins (letterer)

There were two mini-series set in the years between Tim Truman's Scout, and his follow-up, Scout: War Shaman. We'll get to New America eventually, but for today, we've got Swords of Texas.

Swords of Texas was 4 issues, with a lead story and a back-up. The lead story, written by Chuck Dixon, with art by Ben Dunn, Mark McKenna and Sam Parsons, was about a gun runner named Banner and his crew agreeing to supply arms to a revolutionary seeking to overthrow the joint Soviet/Japanese Communist government that ran Mexico and locked peasants up in work camps under threat of not seeing their families again. That was not, in practice, an approach that did much for production or worker morale, but they figure there are always more workers, so who cares?

It's a real "politics make strange bedfellows" story. Banner would prefer to not get mixed in politics and stick to profit concerns, but finds that difficult. He's being bankrolled by both Israel and a Navajo politician working on making what had been the southwestern United States an independent nation. Having Baja splinter off from Mexico and feel indebted would be at least one less pressure for all that. The Japanese governor of Baja has a whole samurai mentality, albeit one where it's perfectly honorable to run a prison camp calling itself a factory. The guide arranged for Banner's group - because as a real American, Banner has learned no Spanish despite living in the Southwest - is a Jewish-Hispanic New York cab driver.

It's got a very '80s action movie feel to it, with a few smaller gun battles prior to the big fight at the prison, which includes some vaguely Robotech-looking mechs (although they don't shift into a jet or anything cool like that.) Lots of tough guy dialogue, with the occasional one-liner or banter scene to lighten things up in between the shooting.

It doesn't end neatly. The workers are freed, but there's no guarantee they'll be able to set up their own government and make it stick, even if they can hold off the army. Banner and his crew are not seized by revolutionary fervor to ditch life as gun dealers. They haven't even gotten paid yet by the end of the mini-series.

There wasn't really a great splash page from that, so I went with the back-up story, by Beau Smith and Flint Henry, revolving around what feels like a Beau Smith self-insert character named Beau LaDuke (who had, to be fair, been a regular supporting cast member in Scout.) Beau must hurry back to West Virginia, picking up the rest of his siblings and some other people along the way, to help his dad defend the family amusement park from some scumbags looking to pull a insurance scam/land grab with government help.

The help includes a preacher who machine-guns those unwilling to turn from their sinful paths, and a private security guy Beau's dad calls C.I.A. as short for "Chuckie-in-Action." Flint Henry's art is pretty much perfect for this, with the little background details, the way he can make everyone look rabid or deranged, and the cartoonish energy he brings to violence. There is a panel is this where the preacher shoots a bunch of guys while driving one of the bumper cars, and another where Beau, while attempting to bear hug a general he crossed paths with previously, gets big chunks of his chest hair ripped out.

It also ends with LaDuke encouraging people to write in and request a Beau LaDuke series while what I assume are the Eclipse editorial staff try frantically to white out that panel.

Saturday Splash Page #101

 

"Another Night on the Farm," in Tales of Terror #1, by Beau Smith (writer), Manuel Vidal (artist), Adriano Honrato Lucas (colorist), Robbie Robbins (letterer)

In 2004, IDW did a horror anthology one-shot with stories from a bunch of different creative teams, involving books they were publishing. Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith did a 30 Days of Night entry, for example, and Beau Smith teamed up with Manuel Vidal for a short Wynonna Earp story.

That's the only one I've read, because it was included in the Wynonna Earp: Strange Inheritance collection I picked up years ago, so I doubt it's representative of the book as a whole. Marshal Earp is called in to investigate a wheat field where several murders have taken place and the wheat grows higher after each. The family that originally settled it was murdered by one of their farm hands 100 years ago, but the truth of what's happening turns out to be far more mundane. Not Scooby-Doo, "guy in a rubber mask", but from Wynonna Earp's perspective, it's pretty tame and not worth much effort.

Saturday Splash Page #25

 

"Kurt Russell Makes for Good Back-Up," in Wynonna Earp (vol. 2) #6, by Beau Smith (writer), Lora Innes (artist), Jay Fotos (colorist), Robbie Robbins (letterer)

In 2016, Wynonna Earp hit the big time: A TV series on the Syfy network! Well, it beats being on the CW. So naturally, there were comics to tie-in with the show. Things were changed up a bit. Wynonna's appearance was altered to more closely resemble Melanie Scrofano, who portrayed her on the show. Little more biker to the fashion, little less cowboy (the splash page above being an exception rather than a rule.) Different supporting cast, with her boss Agent Dolls, the apparently immortal Mayan warrior princess Valdez, and John Henry, who turns out to be a basically immortal Doc Holliday.

The biggest change is probably in Wynonna's status relative to these characters. In all the other mini-series, she's the leader, the top marshal, and everyone else follows her lead. Here, she's the rookie that everyone else is either trying to rein in, or train up. Whereas before Wynonna seemed calm and in control in most situations, this version is impatient, impulsive, hot-tempered and likes to wing it without considering the consequences. This happens more than once so that Agent Dolls can rap her across the knuckles with old, "We do things by the book! No cowboy shit, Earp!" spiel.

I find Agent Dolls tedious. Why they thought the Wynonna Earp concept needed a Henry Gyrich I don't know. OK, he's not that bad. Dolls is actually useful on some occasions, but he's still a prick.

This mini-series returns to the same notion of settling old family scores as Home on the Strange, but with a bit of a twist. Rather than the Clantons being in charge, it's actually a partially demonic Johnny Ringo that calls Wynonna out in Tombstone. So another showdown with him. In Home on the Strange, Wynonna wins because Wyatt's ghost appears behind him and distracts him, and Wyatt tells her she couldn't have beaten Johnny alone any more than he could. That's always seemed like a cheat to me, the kind of thing that lends credence to all the Clantons' pissing and moaning about how the Earps shoot people in the back.

This time around, Wyatt's alongside her, but I feel like the implication is Wynonna actually does outdraw Ringo. Maybe that's because Earp distracted Ringo again, or he lent some of his spirit to speed up her draw.

That plotline only took six of the eight issues allotted to this mini-series, so the last two issues were one-shots that also did a little world-building and foreshadowing. Witness protection for werewolves and things like that. Beau Smith finally got to work Smitty back into the story in the last issue, as Dolls' boss.

Lora Innes drew five of the eight issues, with Chris Evenhuis handling the other three, including those last two issues. Evenhuis' style is more photo-realistic, much finer line on his artwork, but it lacks some of the energy Innes brings with her art. She's able to draw the fantastic and the supernatural more impressively. Her work can be more exaggerated and cartoonish, but it works for the sometimes silly nature of the stories she's drawing. Like a shootout in a dairy processing plant that also smuggles organs, or a zombie outbreak in a shopping mall. Smith doesn't feel like he's writing everything to be deadly serious, so it's better the art reflects that.

Saturday Splash Page #24

 

"Cryptid Warfare," in Wynonna Earp: Yeti Wars #3, by Beau Smith (writer), Enrique Villagran (artist), Kris Carter (colorist), Dave Sharpe (letterer)

Took eight years after Home on the Strange, but a third Wynonna Earp mini-series did eventually emerge. This was the one I referred to two posts ago, whose announcement Ragnell posted about. This time around, it's Earp and the other Marshals dealing with "The Consortium", which is a group of immortals that like to try and control things in secret. I'm not sure what sort of supernatural beings they are, as sunlight doesn't seem to bother them.

There's a Dr. Robidoux involved as well, who is the sort of guy who experiments on turning humans into monsters. He hasn't appeared in the earlier stories, but Smith writes it that he's been at this a while, and the Marshals have been after him as well. Unfortunately, now he's in a secure base that has not only armed immortal guards, but yetis as security, so getting to him is a bit of a problem. Fortunately Wynonna has a friend in the covert division of Fish & Wildlife (feel like I'm back watching The Invisible Man with all these covert agencies that are part of larger, more innocuous agencies) who pals around with four Sasquatches (named Chuck, Bronson, Clint and Duke, because of course they are). Duke's the one with a yeti in a headlock.

Wynonna feels like less of a focal point in this story, as Smith spends more time on how Robidoux is double-crossing The Consortium and Yetis fighting Sasquatches. Which, fair. That's fun to see. Smith also makes Smitty the butt of more jokes this time as apparently he and holly aren't dating anymore, so now she gives him a lot of crap about being old and whatnot. Wynonna's largely focused on business through all this, although she makes plenty of cracks at Smitty's expense as well. Overall, it seems like Smith, having dealt with Wynonna's heritage in the previous mini-series, wanted to tell an adventure that could also serve to fill out the setting. Give the reader a sense of some of the power struggles that aren't even related to what the Black Badge Division may be doing.

Villagran's art is very different from the artists on the earlier series. Rougher and grittier for sure. Reminds me a little of some of San Glanzman's DC war comics stuff in places. Or maybe not Glanzman, but someone in that vein. More graphic with the depictions of violence, though. At one point a yeti grabs a Marshal by the skull and rips his entire backbone clean out. Lots of headshots, since apparently that's how you deal with immortals, and Wynonna chops a guy's head off with a sword made of some metal Smitty took from the spacecraft that crashed at Roswell. (She actually had the sword in Home on the Strange, I just didn't mention it.)

Next week, Wynonna Earp gets a TV show, and there are comic tie-ins to discuss.

Saturday Splash Page #23

 

"Undead Letter Day," in Wynonna Earp: Home on the Strange #1, by Beau Smith (writer), Carlos Ferreira (penciler), Silvio Spotti (inker), Salvatore Aiala (colorist), Robbie Robbins (letterer)

When Beau Smith returned to the Wynonna Earp character in 2003, with the 3-issue Home on the Strange, he took a slightly different approach. A little more humor, like Wynonna kicking clean through a zombie's chest, but getting her boot stuck. Or the hillbilly gremlins that do mid-air sabotage for hire. There's less Nineties excess. Ferreira gave her a look tilted more towards a Western with the boots, the hip holsters. OK, the leather bomber jacket's got nothing to do with Westerns, but it's a process. She's wearing actual pants and most of a shirt now!

This mini-series gives Wynonna a supporting cast, expands the branch of the government she works for a bit. It also involves the introduction of Beau Smith's self-insert character, Smitty, who is for Wynonna what Q is for Bond. Except really buff and he basically only gives her different kinds of guns. He's also dating a very attractive brunette whose name is Holly Day and my face is twisted into a painful grimace as I type that. But it's knowingly silly, rather than demanding to be taken seriously, for what that's worth.

The story itself is mostly concerned with exploring the significance of Wynonna being an Earp, something that was only briefly alluded to in one panel of the original series. In this case, the Clantons turn out to be immortal, at least as long as there's no true Earp running around. They thought that was settled when Wyatt keeled over, but he fathered a kid with an actress and Wynonna's descended from her. For some reason, as she gets older and stronger, their immortality goes down the toilet. So they gotta kill her.

I don't think that's ever exactly explained, other than some strange vague mention of cosmic balance. Which also explains how the Clantons and their guys never managed to kill Wyatt, no matter how many bullets they sent his way.

The showdown ends in a mystically restored Tombstone, at the O.K. Corral, naturally. Though there's a lot of automatic weapons and guns firing diamainium razor discs to cut off people's heads. One guy gets shot in the back of the head and it goes flying off his shoulders. Look, I said less Nineties' excess, not none, and the expression on the guy's face makes me think it's not supposed to be entirely serious, either.

Saturday Splash Page #22

 

"Steroid Side Effects May Be Severe," Wynonna Earp (vol. 1) #2, by Beau Smith (writer), Joyce Chin (penciler), Mark Irwin (inker), Nathan Lumm (colorist), Amie Grenier (letterer)

I think I first became aware of Wynonna Earp because Ragnell had a post on her blog once that was excited about the announcement of one of the later stories with the character (which we'll get to in a couple of weeks). It didn't do much beyond my sort of passively noting, "Huh, Wynonna Earp? Weird, but sure, why not?" When IDW released a collection of the first four stories in 2016 (called Wynonna Earp: Strange Inheritance), I was buying the mini-series that tied in with the TV show, so I went ahead and bought it, too.

This story came out in 1996, published through Image. Not hard to tell just by looking at the above. The absurd firearm, the hyper-thyroid werewolves, the title character being a "federal marshal" who walks around in skintight pants, half a bra and a denim jacket. but if you can make the look work for you. . .

There are two stories in here. The first is a three-parter where Wynonna teams up with two werewolf bounty hunters to hunt down some vampire, Bobo del Rey, that is dealing a drug that is highly addictive and makes people hungry for blood and super-strong. Bobo and his entire family are also fans of The Andy Griffith Show, for some reason, to the extent Bobo kills a man that badmouths the show. The other two issues (drawn by Pat Lee) are Wynonna teaming up with some ex-boyfriend who works for a mob to stop the revival of the chaos goddess Tiamat, whose followers try to use Wynonna as a host. Which means they started wrapping her up like a mummy, but only got so far as strategically covering the naughty parts before she got free. Seems like an inefficient way to wrap a body, but if it works for you. . .

I think this was meant to be an ongoing series, but it got canceled after 5 issues, with the last two pages being Wynonna giving Beau Smith grief for not using his pull with Jim Lee to keep the book going, and threatening to get one of Garth Ennis, Neil Gaiman or Warren Ellis to write her adventures in the future. As terrifying and/or hilarious as any of those might have been (I can't picture what Neil Gaiman's Wynonna Earp would have been like), Beau Smith would still be writing when the character got her next shot in 2003.

What I Bought 9/1/2017

September is not going to be a great month for new comics. I'm planning to buy about 6 new comics this entire month. Maybe 7, since one book I was expecting in August hasn't come out yet. At least October will be a little better. Anyway, here's a book from last month.

Wynonna Earp Season Zero #2, by Beau Smith and Tim Rozon (writer), Angel Hernandez (artist), Jay Fotos (colorist), Christa Miesner (letterer) - All of Wynonna's old friends have lost their eyes. Or are going really heavy on the eye black.

After Wynonna's big speech about doing things with her family rather than trying to cut them out, she sneaks off in the middle of the night, with Holliday's assistance. Which leads to fighting between he and Agent Dolls. Everyone decides to chase after her, as Wynonna reaches her friends at an old fort, as the Alpha X forces of augmented soldiers close in. A little more is revealed about them, although not what the thing Wynonna has a key for is, or why it's important.

Smith and Rozon are trying to walk the tightrope, revealing some of the backstory a little at a time, while moving the present-day story forward. I'm not sure it's quite working, but points for effort at least. There is this repeated theme of Holliday understanding Wynonna better than everyone else, or at least Doc insists that's the case. I'd be curious whether the series is going to confirm that, or blow it to Hell. But he makes the same basic statement to or three times, once to Dolls while Wynonna's sister Waverly is present, and then later to Waverly directly. Which felt unnecessary, like the whole conversation was filler. Just passing time while getting from one location to another.

The fight between Dolls and Holliday was OK, had that definite sense of being about more than what had actually triggered the fight. The style of the sound effects seems at odds with Hernandez' art, though. There's a certain cartoonish aspect to a "WHOOOOSH" that follows Holliday as he's thrown across the room, but Hernandez' art isn't really of a similar style. There's a lot of focus on small lines and hatching on faces, scowls and shadows, a stiffness to things. The sound effects don't really match that.

For that matter, there's these added effects to show movement, usually a white arc tracking the movement of the object in question. But it's very obviously added in on top of the art after the fact, so it doesn't feel as though it's part of the art. Like if I bought a book of bunny stickers and put a damn rainbow on top of one of the panels.

What I Bought 7/15/2017 - Part 1

Did manage to pick up last week's comics. I opted not to get Real Science Adventures, but I found the other two books I wanted, plus I took a chance on a different book. Which ended up being a mistake in this case, but oh well.

Wynonna Earp Season Zero #1, by Beau Smith (story, writer), Tim Rozon (story), Angel Hernandez (artist), Jay Fotos (colorist), Christa Miesner (letterer) - I'm a little concerned about the guy in the back. Looks like one of those SS stormtroopers you'd kill in some vaguely horror-themed first-person shooter.

So when Wynonna originally left home, indulging her bad girl side, she met up with a group called the Alpha Team X, and they did a lot of stuff. And now someone named Keegan is trying to kill all of them to get something Wynonna has the key to. She's determined to find her old friends and help them. Her new friends are determined to help her, but are so far just arguing with each other about the best approach. I appreciate the novel approach of not having Wynonna have a huge heated argument about how she has to do this alone. She accepts pretty quickly they're not going to allow that, and is ready to move forward.

There's a lot more hostility between Agent Dolls and Holliday than I remember from the mini-series I read last year. I don't know if these mini-series are reacting to events from the TV show (which I've never watched) or something else. Something may have happened to ratchet up the tension. Also, at the point when the two begin arguing, I can't shake the impression the word balloons are ordered wrong, or attributed to the wrong character. Holliday asks Dolls opinion and gets this response:

'In my experience, if you fail to prepare. . . prepare to fail. It's always better to have a plan and not need it, then to be without one and need it. Sounds more cowardly than common sense. Do those words mean anything to you?' Which prompts Holliday to respond, 'Common sense? Hhmpf. . . I coughed that up with my lungs years ago.'

It's not just me, right? That exchange tracks strangely. Holliday hadn't mentioned common sense before Dolls did.

It's a very chatty issue, lots of talking, since there's so much backstory to lay out.  Maybe Smith and Rozon decided to get it all out of the way at the start, but I doubt it.

Hernandez doesn't get a lot to do on the art side. Mostly people standing around talking, or panels of just people's head or faces as they talk. Seems very good at drawing people scowling or otherwise looking unhappy. There are a few panels the expressions don't match what I would expect under the circumstances. One where Wynonna has this light smile on her face as her friend is bleeding out on the pool table. It didn't seem like his comment was amusing enough to prompt that reaction at that moment.

It's an open question if I'll buy the second issue or not.

Tinkers of the Wasteland #1, by Raul Trevino (writer/artist) - I have been a few places where a battle-scarred Mini Cooper loaded with chickens wouldn't qualify as unusual.

33 years after an apocalypse brought about by a meteor swarm, three kids - Milla, Splitter, and a third one I don't know the name of - are trying to get some dinner. By stealing some chickens from the tower fortress of, sigh, King Queer. The theft is helped by a meteor knocking over the tower and freeing the chickens, but they're observed by King, and will probably have to drive for their lives next issue. Also, one of the chickens swallowed a piece off the meteor, not sure what that's going to do.

I like the art, it reminds me a bit of Jamie Hewlett's, probably because Splitter looks a bit like one of the Gorillaz. The faces are expressive without an excessive amount of linework, and the shading is mostly a light touch. Trevino saves the heavy blacks for the meteor and that one particular chicken, as well as Splitter when he's chasing it. He would be a terrifying sight to a chicken. The design of the settings and outfits aren't anything unusual to this type of story, but they look good.

There is the issue of the King. I can't decide how bothered I should be by him. I know "queer" is a term some people use for themselves, while others would find it offensive to be referred to with it. I assume the King took the name for himself. He's dressed in the typical S&M gear bad guys wear in this post-apocalypse stuff. He wears some make-up, and has a lackey that serves as a make-up artist. The lackey's arrival somehow unnerves Splitter more than the King. He referred to Splitter as "dear" once, but at least doesn't seem to be falling into the cliche of the cross-dresser that's a child predator. It may be too early to tell, but I had a reflexive reaction when I saw the character. If the King is meant to be a frightening figure, it hasn't played out that way so far. But he doesn't seem like he's meant to be a comedy figure yet, either.

Which brings us around to one other issue: I think the book is supposed to be funny, but I'm not laughing. Milla and Splitter spend most of the issue yelling at each other about plans or lack thereof. The third kid vanishes for half the book, then shows up at the end having collected a bunch of helmets for some reason. He just likes helmets, I guess. Maybe more humor will come in subsequent issues, once the story finds more traction? Assuming I get the second issue, which is up in the air.

What I Bought 11/1/2016 - Part 2

That question I posed last week, if Luke Cage thinks about whether being bulletproof will wear off got a lot more relevant when I reached episode 7 a few days later.

Wynonna Earp #8, by Beau Smith (writer), Chris Evenhuis (artist), Jay Fotos (colorist), Chris Mowry (letterer) - That coat looks extremely warm and comfy.

Contrary to my expectation that we'd continue with Wynonna's vacation adventures, we instead follow her attempts to help a werewolf and his family relocate again through witness protection, before they're all killed by the dominant lycan clan, the White Wolves. This also involves the appearance of Smitty to help things along. I bought the collection of all the previous Wynonna Earp mini-series two months ago, so I was waiting to see if Beau Smith would put what I assume is his self-insert character into these stories. He's usually a tech/gun enthusiast, but now he's actually Agent Dolls' boss. So, promotion via reboot.

The story felt rushed, though. The werewolf, who everyone calls IBob because he's kind of a IT guy, makes a point of referring to Wynonna as his "friend" near the end of the issue, and Wynonna thanks him, and it feels as though this is supposed to be some big shift. But Wynonna didn't seem hostile to him previously, maybe because she'd hardly interacted with him. Smitty shoved him in a car Wynonna was already in, she took a little offense when he muttered something about her being a, 'crazy chick with a gun,' and then they were fighting off werewolves. She doesn't seem hostile as much as she doesn't know him enough to have an opinion one way or the other.

I like the visual of the member of the White Wolves that carries the Thompson with the drum clip. The way Evenhuis draws the werewolves, they have fur that forms a beard, and combined with the gun and his clothes, it makes that particular wolf look like some hillbilly bootlegger from the '30s. It's at least a little distinctive, and I can buy that supernatural creatures that are functionally immortal might find a look they like and stick with it for decades. Some might update, but others not so much. Besides that, there's a couple of panels where the shading Evenhuis (or Fotos) uses on the characters' faces (first Valdez, then Wynonna) reminds me of Tom Mandrake. That bit where the shadows obscure the lower jaw and chin, so the face has that death's head appearance? That makes for a nice visual.

Henchgirl #11, by Kristen Gudnsuk - Yep, that is certainly most of the major characters there on the cover. Not at all sure why they went with one big, 44 page issue instead of two smaller issues, but that's me wanting it wrapped up in a neat 12 issue bundle I guess.

Everything goes to hell. Consuelo has started calling herself the "Black Widow" (in Spanish) and swinging around a sword. I completely sympathize with Coco's frustration in not understanding what's being said (although I took German instead of French). In fact, Coco is so fed up she tells Sue and Tina about Mary being dosed with evil serum, and they mount an attack on the evil scientist's lab to retrieve the stuff so Sue can make an antidote. Except in the process Tina's arm is burned off by acid, and her carrot helpers go rogue. Plus, Mary is still trying to take revenge on Amelia, but only succeeds in providing the hero with her ultimate weapon (which was the Butterfly zapper thing Mary had been using). Which causes Amelia to go completely off her nut and tear down a building, putting Mary in the hospital. Then there's a time jump in the last few pages to a point where the carrots have taken over the entire city (and the federal government has washed their hands of it).

Soooo, that got kind of dark in the last few issues. People dying, people getting maimed, although we learn Mary somehow did not kill Gunpowder after all. Curious that it's OK for Amelia to have killed some people, despite having ostensibly been a hero the whole time, but Mary has to at least be innocent of that. Although she is guilty of "hooliganism", among other crimes.

The tonal shifts play up how much this was originally published one page at a time. So you get pages that end on a three-panel joke about Sue being confident she can make an antidote to the evil serum, to her moderating that statement over the succeeding two panels. But then you get a page that ends with Tina literally impaling a guard with giant carrot tentacles, with the blood spray and everything. I'm not sure if it's supposed to absurd (because carrots), or horrifying (because her arm is now made of carrots). I don't dislike this issue, there's certainly a lot happening, and Gudsnuk hits some solid emotional beats, plus there are some pretty funny moments in there. The fatalistic attitude Mary develops to try and justify killing Amelia - a series of different excuses that could almost masquerade as having some higher goal in mind - and Amelia's various arguments to rebut them cracked me up. Plus, that even when Coco is trying to be a good friend, she's still a terrible person.

Gudsnuk does have a good sense of pacing in her panel layouts. Especially when there's a two-panel combo, or even a three-panel bit. Not just in humor, but also ominous scenes. That pause to let it sink, then the punchline, or the hammer. So there's a silent panel of Coco's scorched form as Fred tries to save her with that healing cloak, and then there's one where parts of her skin crumbles and falls away. Which is a heck of a way to confirm she isn't coming back, but is also kind of dark humor? I don't know if that's what she was going for, but it makes me think of those cartoons where a character gets shot at a lot and scoffs that they weren't even scratched, then they drink something and water spurts from a dozen holes. Only this time the character falls over dead instead of shaking it off. So maybe more Mel Brooks than Looney Tunes.

I had no idea what to expect with Henchgirl when I started getting it, but I've been pleased with the results.

What I Bought - 9/27/2016

Five new comics came out for me this week. I had three the first three weeks combined, two of which we covered on Wednesday. Today is for the other one, plus one comic left over from August. These came in with an order I made from the shop I most frequently buy from now, along with a lot of odds and ends. Which are my favorite kinds of orders to make. Last issue I needed of Weird World of Jack Staff, last issue I needed of Joe Kubert Presents, last few issues of the Len Kaminski Creeper series, majority of a couple of other brief series from late '90s/early 2000s Marvel.

Wynonna Earp #7, by Beau Smith (writer), Chris Evenhuis (artist), Jay Fotos (colorist), Christa Miesner (letterer) - Nothing against Evenhuis' cover, but I couldn't pass up Wynonna walking away smirking with her prize from the shooting gallery.

Wynonna demands some time off, so Agent Dolls gives her a week's vacation. Valdez asks to come along, and Wynonna lacking any wheels of her own, agrees. They lend a hand to a lady who then offers to let them stay at her ranch. Meanwhile, the Del Rey Cartel is preparing to free its imprisoned members from the Black Badge division's custody.

It's mostly a set-up issue, putting pieces in place, both for the impending assault on the Black Badge compound, and whatever will end up happening at that ranch. It has to rely on the little flourishes to carry it, and there are enough of those. I appreciated the insights into Valdez' character. Not just the stuff about how she got her tattoo and its significance, but the fact she bought herself a jeep at some point in the past and has carefully maintained it ever since. Or the fact she's seen Thelma and Louise. Those sorts of things can say something about a character in a more natural way then long expository paragraphs.

There are times Smith tries too hard to be glib and it just comes off clunky. Valdez commenting about a holiday, then clarifying the vacation, not the cowboy, confused the heck out of me. And there's a point where Wynonna pistol whips a biker and tells him to "Heel!" but in the same breath explains she means the one with two e's, not the one with an "a" (heal). Throws me off because I snap out of the story with how awkward it is. Some of the one-liners land. Valdez has a good one about cholesterol, like bullets, has little effect on her. I laughed at that. So other than those brief hiccups, the dialogue is smooth, he advances the plot some, there's some silly moments since this is supposed to be a fun road trip story, it works.

Evenhuis and Fotos continue to do a solid job on the art. There's a part on the first page where, as Wynonna is reminding Dolls (and us) of everything she's gone through, the panels are set up so that as she mentions Valdez, we see her at the bar in the background, but in the next panel, as she mentions Doc Holliday, Wynonna has begun to pace the room and so she's moved a bit, revealing Holliday was at the bar next to Valdez, but blocked from view in the first panel. Nothing particularly special about it, but I like how it's providing the information needed as needed, and Wynonna's pacing and gesturing felt natural, given how excitable she can get.

There's also the one-page flashback that tells how Valdez earned her tattoos. Fotos shifts from the mostly light, pleasant and bright colors used through the issue, to these deep reds and oranges. Appropriate for a page about a war that took place ages ago. The color scheme put me in mind of how Apokolips was presented in the '90s Superman cartoon, if that helps. And Evenhuis goes much heavier on the inks on that page, making for much starker shadows than normal. The first panel actually made me think of Mike Mignola, in how much shadows are used to suggest facial features. It's very effective for how much it stands out in the issue.

Atomic Robo: The Temple of Od #2, by Brian Clevinger (writer), Scott Wegener (artist), Anthony Clark (colorist), Jeff Powell (letterer/designer) - Robo, straighten out your helmet and goggles! Try to be knocked senseless with a little dignity!

So Robo and Helen are captured and taken to the secret research base. That's one way to get inside. Fortunately, the Ghost Bandits see an opportunity for massive profit and stage a surprise attack. Of course, they're the ones surprised once they encounter the Odic Force-powered Japanese soldiers, but it serves as a chance for Robo and Helen to elude their captors and find Dr. Lu. They find him, they escape, despite the doctor's pleas they destroy the lab first. The lab which contains a "reactor", which Lieutenant Ichiro claims is not a weapon at all. But Lu sure seems certain Japan will use what's in the lab to create hundreds of super-powered soldiers.

"One raid, three fortunes" is how the leader of the Ghost Bandits sells his men on the attack, and that is a pretty great rallying cry. I also liked his assessment during the battle: 'We're losing too many trucks. Also my hat. Retreat!' Hats are important. And Wegener draws them as having this cobbled together trucks with machine guns attached to the top and skulls painted on them, like a slightly more restrained Road Warrior gang or something. It's a good look.

The art is more variable than I can recall. There are some panels in the back half of this issue where Wegener goes very low on details for faces. Just a couple blank circles for eyes and maybe a couple lines to denote the mouth or nose. And then the page before or after, he'll have done some really excellent work. He and Anthony Clark combined for some of the best-looking stuff I've seen on Atomic Robo in this issue. There's one panel of Robo and Helen trapped under some rubble where the panel is very tight in one them and both the lighting effects and shadows (the light come from Robo's eyes), and the detail Wegener works into Helen's face are really outstanding.

There's also one panel that covers the progression of Robo fighting two of those super-soldiers simultaneously. Like there's four different snippets of the fight within a single panel, building up to the action in the next one. The work there is pretty detailed, nice uses of the green energy coming off their fists to guide the eye across the panel. I don't know if I've ever seen Wegener try that before in a fight scene. Maybe the more detailed pages put him behind schedule and he had to skimp a little on other pages.

What I Bought 8/16/16

I finally got to see Ant-Man. Some of it, the first 30 minutes. And I was flipping back and forth between it and One-Punch Man at the time. But what I saw seemed OK, I guess. I'm sure I'll catch the rest of it eventually. These are the other two comics I got earlier this week, one of which is closer to two months old. I've only had two books come out in the last two weeks, though. Stupid five Wednesday months.

Wynonna Earp #6, by Beau Smith (writer), Lora Innes (artist), Jay Fotos (colorist), Robbie Robbins (letterer) - And that was how Wynonna learned the hard way not to stand on graves and fire guns into them as a way to celebrate New Year's.

Wynonna is forced to confront Johnny Ringo, who has managed to trap Doc Holliday, and is therefore sure he can handle this girl. He's wrong, and winds up with a bullet in his head and gets dragged back to Hell. Agents Dolls and Valdez took care of the remainder of the gang menacing the tourists, in spite of Valdez being quite unhappy that her gear changed to a period-era dress when they entered city limits. So Wynonna is ready to go forward with the special revolver, and possibly Wyatt's spirit is along for the ride, according to Valdez and probably Holliday, anyway. Which is the sort of development I could find concerning, depending on how active a presence he is. If it's simply a case of additional power to her, fine, but if he starts offering advice, eh, that could get annoying. Have to see how it plays out.

I had kind of expected Wynonna to have to fight her way to the final confrontation with Ringo, but that would have spoiled the surprise for him of her having the Peacemaker. Although I was also surprised all it took for her to get that was for Doc to give it to her last issue. Beau Smith: Subverting my expectations of traditional narrative structure! Which is fine, since I suspect it was a given this is how it would turn out, so why waste a bunch of time on it? Get the stuff you have to and move forward to what comes after.

Smith puts a lot of little humor bits in his writing, and Innes' style seems to work well for them. Valdez' irritation at that dress she got stuck with, and Agent Dolls' amusement with her (also how pleased he is with the clothes he got). Although Dolls (whose first name is Xavier), has a personal license plate of "X8VR", which is just, no. Never have a personal plate of your own name.

Also, the full-page spread of Wynonna preparing to have her showdown with Ringo. The last panel of the previous page was Ringo, feeling cocky and drawn from a relatively low angle looking up at him. Supposed to make him look imposing and dangerous, especially after Holliday's warnings (and the fact the panel next to Ringo is Doc struggling futilely, unable to help). Then you go to the next page, and here's Wynonna, shot from an even more extreme upward angle, calm, ready, the ghost of Wyatt behind her. Big, impressive shot, completely dwarfing Ringo's just before, and showing how out matched he is.

Roche Limit Monadic #4, by Michael Moreci (writer), Kyle Charles (artist), Matt Battaglia (colorist), Ryan Ferrer (letterer) - Fun with the Cosmic Spirograph. And I'm guessing on the credits because I can't read the damn things because of the stupid choice they made for text color against a black backdrop on the inside cover.

OK, human souls are poisonous to the creatures from the other side of the Anomaly, which is why they're ejected from any bodies that try to enter. So you have the one group that eventually manages to kill Moscow and capture his soul, then try to trick the big monster in the tower into taking the deceased Alex' soul instead. Independent of that, you have Sasha and her daughter who are going to pilot a ship full of all those ejected souls into the midst of the alien fleet and detonate it, killing them by human soul exposure. And both these things work, I think. There's a definitely an explosion of the ship that results in a bigger explosion that destroys the planet, which I assume would solve those problems. Although in the second mini-series, everyone pretty much assumed there were already some of these creatures back on Earth (which is why doomed missions kept being sent to the colony secretly), so I don't know what's happening there.

The art really doesn't help. In previous issues, there were stretches where Charles would seemingly stop inking over his pencils, and the work would have a rougher feel to it. I tended not to like those parts, because the visual clarity of things declined sharply. This entire issue is like that. Near the end, when Bekka and Sonya manage to force feed Alex' soul to the Final Boss, he reacts by barfing a stream of purple energy into the sky. On the next page we see Sasha's ship heading towards seemingly empty space, and then an orange beam strikes it from behind and triggers the explosion. I don't know if that's meant to be read as deliberate, a dying effort by the creature to stop her, but it doesn't understand her plan, or just a freak coincidence that doesn't matter because she was going to blow up the ship anyway. Or if that was something entirely different striking the ship, or not even something striking the ship, but something else entirely. Not exactly ideal, as you might imagine. There are points in the book I would almost say Charles is going for a later-period Frank Miller look (the panel of Bekka decaptating Moscow in particular), but I'm not certain that's true, and I don't think he's quite pulling it off.

Ultimately, the aliens are defeated by the human willingness to sacrifice ourselves for others. Which is a trait the aliens had scorned, and were pretty vocal in pointing out how they were going to exclude it from themselves when they took over as humanity. It's strange to me that they seemingly understood it existed in people, understood it was a compulsion that can propel us forward, but either didn't recognize it was at work in all this people confronting it, or didn't recognize the danger it presented. They understand humans will give their lives to save others. These humans in front of them seemed determined to stop them. So perhaps they, too, are willing to die in the process, and them should take this a little more seriously? Is the point that the concept is ultimately so alien to these beings' way of thinking that even if they think they grasp it - and can thus dismiss it - they don't really get it? Or that for all our screw-ups, all the selfish decisions we make that the creatures were able to exploit up too that point in the story, that capacity for self-sacrifice is intrinsic to us, and by excluding it from their attempt to be us, they fail at their goal?

What I Bought 7/26/2016 - Part 3

I've been able to rewatch Age of Ultron more completely recently, which has stirred up some thoughts, so be prepared for that later this week. In the meantime, one of today's books is explaining some mysteries about its cast, the other took a much darker turn than I was expecting.

Henchgirl #9, by Kristen Gudsnuk - That memoir she's reading causes so many problems. People should never publish stories of their lives while they're still living.

The Butterfly Gang seems a little out of sorts. One guy is leaving to become a private investigator, they don't seem to have many good schemes lined up, and Coco's back to being rude to Mari because Mari wouldn't listen to her backstory. Of course, now that's she's been evilfied, Mari tries burning the hideout down, with no success. She has a confusing and unproductive conversation with Fred, then is turned away from the gala dinner celebrating her superhero parents, since they basically pretend she doesn't exist. Then they're taken hostage, and Mari saves the day. By blowing up the crazy villain by dousing him in his own gunpowder and lighting it. Then she fights a bunch of cops who try to arrest her, then Consuelo gets revenge by capturing her, but Mari escapes from the police van (with some help from a mysterious stranger) and returns to town.

That was an somewhat unexpected turn. Mari not only killed a guy, but was completely indifferent to him killing his hostage. It isn't the first time there's been gruesome death - see Mr. Great Guy accidentally decapitating his reporter girlfriend with a street sign he was swinging at alien invaders - but it doesn't feel like it fits as well. Probably because Mr. Great Guy did what he did accidentally, where as Mari deliberately took the actions she did. Even if her brain has been altered, it's hard to see how this isn't going to cause huge problems for her later. Even just from an emotional state, if her friends can ever manage to figure out what was done to her and fix it. She was reduced to tears over her gang shattering Fred's body while he was in astral form, and that wasn't even her fault. Gudsnuk seems to be steadily burning all of Mari's bridges, except maybe for Fred. She's hasn't ruined things with her roomies yet, but it feels like it's coming.

The horrified look on Mari's mother's face as she's covered in the bits of Gunpowder after his explosive demise was classic. A great bit of stupefied horror, she can't even process what just happened. Plus, all the parts of him flying everywhere during the explosion. That was good. And that Mari went to the trouble of getting a fancy dress from somewhere to wear over her typical outfit before she burst in to save the day. It plays up the fact she wasn't really taking the threat seriously, but she did simultaneously want to make a big scene to get revenge on her parents for basically writing her out of existence in their memoir, but also look good at the same time, so maybe she'd get a little of that positive press her sister gets.

Wynonna Earp #5, by Beau Smith (writer), Lora Innes and Chris Evenhuis (artists), Jay Fotos (colors), Robbie Robbins (letterer) - Nothing like an old-fashioned showdown at high noon. Wait, noon? Make it 7 o'clock, I do my killing before breakfast. Actually, I usually don't eat breakfast, so let's go ahead and make it 6 o'clock. Get the day started off right.

Wynonna travels to Tombstone to have it out with the people sending her notes. Which appear to be demons in human form that were actually the Clantons, and who seem to have created some kind of time bubble with their presence, making everything like it's the 19th century, including Wynonna's motorcycle, which becomes a horse. John Henry explains his backstory, and provides Wynonna with a special demon-killing revolver that belonged to Wyatt and now we're ready for a big showdown. An issue of build-up, essentially, which is fine. It answers some questions about John Henry, explains some things to me about Wynonna, why precisely she's important. I'd have been fine with her simply having the name and making her own choice to do this, rather than it being any sort of destined thing, but it at least seems to be a destiny she embraces.

Evenhuis draws John Henry's reminiscing in the issue, which works pretty well. It's a style very distinct from Innes', linework is much lighter, more delicate. Seems appropriate, combined with the sepia-toned coloring Fotos uses for the sequence. It creates a definite distance between it and the reader, since the colors (other than the blood) aren't very bright or lifelike. The thin lines Evenhuis prefers also gives the whole thing a delicate feel somehow. I may simply be projecting that because John/Doc is sick through much of the flashback, and so he isn't in strong health, however he may appear in-panel.

As for Innes, I continue to enjoy the body language and expression work - Wynonna's surprise at her bike becoming a horse was a nice one, even the horse looks surprised - but the motorcycle doesn't look right. Wynonna seems as though she's too big for the bike. It's a little thing, but it bugs me every time I turn the page and his the double-page splash of her tearing down the highway on the bike. Maybe it's the perspective on that particular image, it doesn't bother me as much in other panels.

Also, it's an interesting tidbit Smith threw in for Wynonna that horses generally don't like her. But what the heck kind of name for a horse is 'Dick Taylor'? Although I know people who think it's weird my dad gives his dogs people names, too, so maybe it's just a matter of what you're accustomed to.

What I Bought 5/31/2016 - Part 2

I can't think of a thing to open this post with. Maybe a wrench would work.

Ms. Marvel #7, by G. Willow Wilson (writer), Adrian Alphona (artist), Ian Herring (color art), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - Jeez, Kamala's not even officially into Civil War 2 tie-ins yet and she already turned scowly. Just wait kid, it's only gonna get worse.

It's a big Science fair, to hopefully impress people and get into good colleges without going broke! Yeah, good luck on that one, kids. Kamala's there on the Jersey team, and Miles Morales is on the New York team. One team for the entire state? There's snooping, and spying, and possibly some flim-flammery, and then Bruno tries to up the ante with a pocket-sized Mr. Fusion, which explodes, but remarkably, does not kill him or anyone else. And Ms. Marvel and Spider-Miles just happen to both be there, and let that awkward moment pass without comment.

So Kamala knows Miles' secret i.d., but not the other way around. I knew that was the case for her and Nova, but not also her and Spider-Man. It's a "Road to Civil War II" issue, so is this meant to pre-sage trust issues that will tear their Avengers squad apart? Or that super-special future vision NuHuman boy will threaten the ability of people to maintain secret identities? Or just a moment to step back and look at the other sorts of problems a high school kid has. Like getting into college, the pressures that creates, and the questionable decisions that arise from those pressures.

But what was the stuff the New York team was saying about their Re-aktron having a massive draw on the electrical grid? I thought it was supposed to just be "grabbing stray electricity out of the air"? is the whole thing a sham? Is Miles just a P.T. Barnum with super-powers? Eh, he's still behaving better than Peter Parker these days, sigh.

Adrian Alphona returns! This is always good. His art is well-suited for this kind of oddball science. He's draws strange things well, so that they look cool, but not too threatening. He draws the happiest shark I have ever seen, which is kind of terrifying. You know it's just a matter of time until Skyshark masters its floating membrane, and then it can travel anywhere it wants, attacking birds and small planes and hot air balloons. The identical vertical shading on Bruno and Kamala on page 13 was good. They're both, as Mike notes, taking it too seriously, and operating under a dark cloud. I don't know who gets credit for the fonts as each team introduced its inventions, either Alphona or Caramagna, but I really liked the work someone did there.

Wynonna Earp #4, by Beau Smith (writer), Lora Innes (artist), Jay Fotos (colorist), Robbie Robbins (letterer) - That's pretty much how I feel anytime I get out of the mall.

A scientist has developed a zombie plague he can spread by touch, while remaining unaffected himself. And he's infected a mall full of people to demonstrate it for potential buyers. The Black Badge team kills a bunch of undead, Wynonna and Valdez arguing almost constantly, as Earp refuses to kill a Boy Scout troop, believing there will be a way to reverse it. As it turns out, there is, once they're able to lure the scientist close and neutralize the contagion inside him. Also, Valdez broke his arms. And Earp receives a message from some mysterious sniper demanding she come home and face said sniper.

Innes plays up Valdez' size a little differently from Evenhuis. Innes definitely emphasizes Valdez' musculature more, where Evenhuis went with showing it by how she interacts. Taking a flying punch from Earp and being completely unfazed, or smashing a bar top with one punch. Innes does some of that here, Valdez is the only one killing any of the zombies hand-to-hand, opting for a Mayan sword, but still a little different. Innes' style probably works for the tone of this issue better. It's a zombie outbreak, which means gore and stacks of corpses, but it's treated lightly. There's never any sense the Black Badge division is going to fail to contain the problem, or even that they're in any imminent danger from the zombies, just a question of whether anyone can be saved in the process. So it's more, slapstick isn't the right word, cartoonish violence I guess, which lines up more with Innes' work.

I'm guessing with the mini-series shifting to an ongoing, the Del Ray cartel plot is going to become more of a long-running subplot. Which is fine. I like comics with a mix of immediate, shorter arcs, and longer background arcs that eventually come to fruition. I'm pretty excited for this book going forward.

What I Bought 5/10/2016 - Part 4

Monday was the 3500th post on Reporting on Marvels and Legends. Criminiy Pete. Don't know quite what to think of that.

Roche Limit: Monadic #2, by Michaeel Moreci (writer), Kyle Charles (artist), Matt Battaglia (colorist), Ryan Ferrier (letterer), Tim Daniel (designer) - Judging by the cover, the story has become another of those stories about shrinking down inside the President to defuse a tiny nuke, or remove a blood clot.

Sasha remembers what was happening, and decides that, like it or not, she has to venture across that body of water. She also acknowledges that the Man and Girl are the husband and child she lost at some point in the past, and even though they are presumably creations of the aliens designed to learn about her, she can somehow awaken her husband's memories in this version of him. Elsewhere, Alex has seen the Black Tower and decided he needs help. So he finds his girlfriend Bekkah, just in time for both of the to be pursued by Moscow, the crazy blind swordsman mob boss who is serving as some sort of avatar for the creatures. He actually runs Alex through, but he survives long enough for Bekkah's sister, the cop, to show up and get them all out of there and try to head for said Tower.

So I don't know. The idea that the aliens want to somehow replicate humanity's individualism, but without an individual's capacity for self-sacrifice, is intriguing. It doesn't seem possible. If you're an individual, if you can make choices, then you can make that choice. You can also choose not to make that choice, but the choice still remains, whatever variables you put into it. Which suggests the aliens don't really understand what they're trying to duplicate at all? Which might explain the whole thing with Sasha's husband. He shouldn't be there, since he wasn't on the expedition to the colony. Which means this isn't really him, yet he can have the memories. I've mentioned before that these mini-series have at least captured the sense of an alien group, with abilities and drives people can't necessarily grasp. So humans have done things without realizing what they're getting into. Could work the other way, too.

Battaglia's colors are still excellent. The blue he uses for the water is this very placid blue, but it's a perfect solid sheet of it. There's no wind or waves, no shadows or ripples. It's how a child might color a body of water, and while it stands out distinctly for the dirty, dusty yellow of Sasha and her surroundings, it also looks distinctly fake, like it was painted on. And the purples for the streets of the city, I just really like that particular color. It works so well when you go from the inside Bekkah's apartment, all sickly green and faded yellows, then turn the page and you're into that deep purple, with the pink and red for energy and movement. The purple has a liveliness to it the color for the panels set inside lacked - I feel like breathing the air in Bekkah's apartment would be like sucking down fiberglass particles - but it's an ominous life. Crap's moving around out there you'd rather not see.

Wynonna Earp #3, by Beau Smith (writer), Chris Evenhuis (artist), Jay Fotos (colorist), Robia Robbins (letterer) - Arm wrestling for souls, tonight on ESPN17!

Earp is sent into a bar, and rapidly gets hit on by some hick that swallowed a thesaurus. She punches him out, and then this large lady steps in, adn the two set to fighting. Which earns them both a chance to fight for money, which was apparently Agent Dolls' whole plan, because the large lady is the Valdez he called last issue. Of course, he neglected to tell Wynonna that, then gives her shit when she gives him shit about his poor leadership approach. They arrive for the fight, and find the rules changed somewhat, but they do alright, excepting Valdez getting shot twice, which was intentional on her part, to give Earp motivation?

I have a feeling Agent Dolls is going to get killed before this is all said and done, and if I'm meant to be sad about it when the time comes, Smith has some work to do. Because right now, I don't like the character very much. People who play the "need to know" card are never my favorites, especially when they play it with people who are actually in the line of fire, while they sit comfortably somewhere else. Plus, I think he's looking for any excuse to jump on Wynonna, out of some belief he needs to break her down so she'll be a more pliant agent. He sends someone in to fight her, and doesn't tell Wynonna it's set up beforehand, he really shouldn't be surprised she's still a little fired up afterward. Take a few punches, let her calm down.

Not so sure of this talk about Wynonna being "the heir". I should have expected it, but I guess I hoped we weren't going to get into chosen one/destined lineage stuff. Or maybe I'm just more interested in Valdez, the possibly thousand year old Mayan princess. That sounds pretty cool, and so far, she's basically Cassandra Cain if David Cain had fed her a ton of growth hormones as a kid, so not a surprise I'd think she was cool.

Different artist this issue, Chris Evenhuis. Not sure if Innes needed a catch-up month, or if it was a deliberate shift. It works well enough. Innes gave Wynonna a sort of gleeful smile when she was fighting, which wouldn't have fit the tone of this issue. Too many trust issues and secrets among the group, Wynonna doubting herself at the wrong times. Other than maybe the verbose demon hillbillies, not much humor. Evenhuis handles the violence and the anger well. He has a clean, straightforward style, nothing too flashy, but he makes sure all the information you need is on the page and can be followed. The initial confrontation between Wynonna and Valdez was good. Wynonna lunging forward to punch Valdez, three panels of Valdez slowly reacting (spitting blood, mulling it over for effect, cocking her fist), then the last panel being her fist smashing into Wynonna's face. Again, nothing revolutionary, just solid storytelling.

What I Bought 3/29/2016 - Part 2

I actually had more books from publishers outside Marvel and DC than from either of those two in this last bunch. Not by a lot, we're talking 4 books to 3, but it's still atypical enough I noticed. Here we have two different books, both starring female leads who are going to have to make some decisions about their careers.

Wynonna Earp #2, by Beau Smith (writer), Lora Innes (artist), Jay Fotos (colorist), Robbie Robbins (letterer) - I feel as though Wynonna must lose whatever is on that string around her neck all the time. Just seems like it would break really easily during strenuous activity like fighting werewolves.

So Mars Del Rey has his illegal organ selling operation inside a milk processing plant, and he's planning to ship out a bunch of brains to all the top presidential candidates. Earp's boss, unsure of who inside the plant is actually a bad guy and who is just someone paying bills by working at a milk plant, tries to keep Wynonna from going guns blazing. But if that's the case, he ought to keep closer eyes on her, because she and this John Henry guy quickly steal a milk truck, drive in, and start a gunfight. Basically because Henry told her everyone in town is a "Chupacabra", meaning part of the demon cartel. Which kind of forces Xavier to send his guys in, which leads to casualties, and so even though Mars is captured, Wynonna still gets chewed out.

I was surprised Mars del Rey was captured so quickly. I had expected he'd be the main foe, but apparently he has a brother. So maybe Bobo will be the main antagonist. Either way, I don't mind the pace. there's a definite sense of forward movement to the book a lot of other things I've read could stand to have. It seemed a little convenient that everyone in the milk plant was a bad guy, but I guess Smith wanted to make the point that Wynonna needed the assurance there wouldn't be innocent bystanders before she went in. I'm just not convinced John Henry is trustworthy enough to act strictly on his say-so.

There are a couple of times I thought Smith tried for some clever wordplay, but he was reaching a bit. Mars' line that, 'It appears my gambling buddy has dumped Lady Luck and taken up with Lady Law. That choice will be his Dead Man's Hand,' was a bit much. I appreciate the effort - I'm always up for a good turn of phrase - but sometimes it just isn't there. More good than bad, though, and a few lines that made me laugh.

There are a few places where Innes' characters have some odd postures and positions. As the gunfight breaks out, Wynnona's on top of the truck blazing away. That's fine, no concerns there. But Henry is down on the loading dock, seemingly not having drawn his guns, and walking like he's doing this odd little strut. It's mostly with people walking that something feels off to me. Innes' facial expressions and body language are excellent. The scared, confused look on Fred's face when he reaches the top of the semi, and finds no Wynonna. Wynonna's calm manner leaning on the milk truck window to convince the guy at the gatehouse to let them in. Innes really seems to like having something going on with Henry's hat. Either he's tipping the brim, or someone else is messing with it, or he's holding onto it to keep it from blowing off. Which is good. My experience with wide-brim hats is they are prone to getting knocked off. Or maybe mine was just poorly fitted.

Henchgirl #5, by Kristen Gudsnuk - The x-axis for the line graph on the wall says "Mountain range". That's a cute touch.

Mary is growing increasingly dissatisfied with her life in the Butterfly Gang. Coco is getting increasingly sadistic, seemingly delighting in any opportunity to hurt people as a way to achieve objectives. The group is certain they have a mole who leaked the whole "rob the orphanage building fund" scheme, but fortunately Mary is smart enough not to give herself away. Not that I think she has much to worry about from this band of dopes. The same can't be said for Fred, aka Mannequin, who the gang found. In desperation he astral projected, but then they just shattered his body. So Mary tries her best to put the pieces back together, and with a lot of tape and super glue, it works.

We also learn her roommate has been honing her power to produce carrots. Now her carrots are alive. They have limbs, and faces, and can cry when people lose their shit at the sight of a tiny, smiling, waving carrot, because what the hell? I mean, I feel bad for the carrot, because it was trying to be friendly and Mary got a horrified look, then ran into her room to put someone's corpse back together with office supplies. But seriously, that's weird and terrifying. I don't want tiny carrots roaming my apartment, I don't care how helpful they are now. They'll watch some TV and end up like that A.I. Microsoft put online that turned into a fascist racist in like 5 minutes. Then where are you?

It's interesting that Gudsnuk draws more detailed faces for what I assume are one-off characters. The son of the guy who owns the pizza place, the random wealthy guy they rob, the old lady Coco was threatening to try and get into the vault. The recurring characters tend towards simpler designs, a lot fewer lines, and I don't know if Gudsnuk does that simply as a time-saving thing, or if there's a distinct point. Like these random characters aren't really part of this story or world, they've just briefly intersected with it, so they don't look like they fit. I was toying with the idea that they're meant to look more realistic, kind of that reminder that even if you're just doing to "fun" crime Mary wanted to do, you're hurting actual people. But I doubt that fits with the overall tone of the series. Probably just me projecting. Besides, when I see those characters, I'm mostly struck by how strange they look, compared to everyone else in that world.

I continue to enjoy the book immensely. It has that silly tone that makes the moments of genuine emotion work as a counterpoint.

What I Bought 3/8/2016 - Part 1

I thought for the start of this round of reviews I'd start with first issues. One's from an ongoing, the other from a mini-series. One has quite a bit of dialogue, the other not so much.

Black Widow #1, by Chris Samnee (writer/artist), Mark Waid (writer), Matthew Wilson (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - I notice Samnee gave her shoulder holsters rather than at her waist, which is the approach favored by the recent films. I wonder if there was a particular reason. Also, I hope SHIELD gets a group discount from the person who paints their logo on stuff, cause it's always getting trashed.

Natasha stole something from the Helicarrier. Maria Hill wants it and her back. Many SHIELD agents try, they fail, that's the first issue plot summary. Well, that was easy. I've seen a few mentions online about how the book takes roughly three minutes to read, which I can't dispute. Not that I have a problem with giving Samnee and Wilson an issue to show off. I thought, especially in the scenes with a lot of fire that the art looked a bit like Francisco Francavilla's. The last page, or the panel where she leaps out of the Helicarrier. Maybe that particular color and Samnee's inks remind me of those Afterlife with Archie covers. The 14-panel page fight in the mud was pretty good, the two times that the panel doubles in width, as we pull back for just an instant during the fight. Also the markedly different font to the "CLIK" of the gun compared to all the impacts of people hitting each other.

That said, they could have put a bit more into the story. Not even a lot; tell us what she stole. You don't necessarily have to explain why she took it, but something to give it a little more. it's definitely a different approach from Daredevil, where they spent a lot of time inside Murdock's head. Here, everything is based on actions, and we don't even really get the thoughts of the people chasing Natasha, let alone hers. I'll admit if it was almost any creative team other than this bunch, I'd be less trusting. I'm guessing there's a point to this approach, and I'll stick around to see what it is.

Agent Preston better not have been hurt by that explosive, though. She's finally getting established as a SHIELD agent enough to appear outside Deadpool books, and they go and have the Black Widow through a damn bomb at her. She's got two kids to look after, Natasha! Plus Deadpool, which is like five kids.

Wynonna Earp #1, by Beau Smith (writer), Lora Innes (artist), Jay Fotos (colorist), Robbie Robbins (letterer) - She's got the slow badass walk while backlit down. That's half the battle to being a cool action hero.

I have no prior experience with the character's earlier mini-series, but I know enough people online who like Beau Smith's work I'm willing to take a chance. Wynonna works for a branch of the U.S. Marshals that deals with paranormal crime, and at the moment, they're focused on a demon named Mars del Ray, who has a human organ trafficking operation they'd like to shut down. Having some trouble finding it, though, even with intel of some guy named "John Henry". Wynonna doesn't seem to entirely have the trust of her partner, who's concerned she doesn't worry about civilian casualties enough, and there's someone shadowing her footsteps, I don't know why.

This is not the polar opposite of Black Widow, but it's a different approach to be sure. A lot of that is Smith trying to make sure the reader is up to speed on the key points, as well as getting the main threat going, hinting at some, possibly unconnected problems, and allowing for a lot of snappy back-and-forth. Which is fine by me. It a different kind of fast-paced, but fast-paced all the same.

I'm not familiar with Innes' art, either, but it works well here. She really seems to have a good handle on Wynonna's expressions and body language. Earp comes off as very relaxed and in control during the fights, even during the moments when things aren't necessarily going well. And the conversation with Downs in the diner was well done. Earp starting off refusing to make eye contact, crossing her arms when Downs starts in with his spiel about being careless. Leaning forward and looking directly at him when she's trying to convince him he can count on her. And I really like the scowl she's wearing as Downs and "John" are talking and seemingly ignoring her. Also, when the two DEA guys get shot by the mystery person, one of the "BLAM" sounds effects has a blur through part of it, like the motion of the bullet. Not sure if that was Innes or Robbins, but a nice touch either way.

I don't know if Smith, Innes, and company will maintain this kind of pace through the remainder of the mini-series, but I'm willing to stick around to see.