Random Back Issues #138 - Guardians of the Galaxy #17

We've seen an issue prior to this and one showcasing some aftermath. The dice must be big War of Kings fans this year.

The decapitated Celestial head that's the home to Knowhere just woke up and warned everyone of a massive threat to the universe. That's good (the warning.) Too bad the Inhumans' big bomb already went off. That's bad. But Black Bolt and Vulcan died in the explosion. That's good! But it also tore a massive hole in the fabric of the universe. That's bad.

While Warlock, Gamora on his heels, seeks a solution, what's left of the team - Rocket, Groot, Drax, Major Victory, and Phyla-Vell - teleport aboard the Inhumans' big ship. In theory, they want to make sure there's no second bomb, but it's mostly the Guardians berating the Inhumans for being idiots. Fair.

This much deserved finger-pointing is interrupted by massive tentacles emerging from the Fault to reel in the city-ship. While the Inhumans and some of the Guardians try to fend off the invaders, Rocket, Crystal, and Groot stick with Maximus the Mad, to find some way. But really, it's just Maximus and Groot talking it out, while Crystal and Rocket watch. All we see Groot saying is, "I am Groot," but Maximus insists that's because of the hardened formation of Groot's larynx, and you need to listen to the 'breeze beneath it.' Rocket and Crystal agree Maximus is as crazy as a bag of spanners, which is not an insult that makes much sense, but hell, it's been a long day for everyone.

Maximus and Groot somehow unmake the creature by uncreating its reality and imposing their own. Whatever that means, that's good! The Fault is still growing and the ship lost enough velocity it's falling into the Fault. That's bad. A bunch of templeships of the Universal Church of Truth arrive! That's bad. Phyla investigates and finds Adam Warlock preparing a big spell to arrest the Fault's growth by grafting their timeline to an inert future. That's. . .good? The spell is powered by the faith generators of the Church of Truth, and the engines are powered by the belief of their followers, burning them out in the process. That's bad.

Warlock casts his spell, the Fault stops growing, Maximus looks very confused as Crystal hugs him, Adam takes a moment to appreciate his act, while aware of the dangers, and then Phyla stabs him through the chest with her sword. She made a deal with Oblivion to get Moondragon back, and it involved killing the Avatar of Life at the right moment. Gamora objects, they fight, Phyla gets stabbed in the chest. See how you like it.

Gamora rushes to Adam's side, but Warlock's not home. Instead it's the Magus, but the inert timeline Warlock used was the one where he turns purple. Gamora bemoans Warlock dooming himself to save the universe - ignoring that the universe ain't gonna be in great shape with this putz on the loose - and Magus snaps her neck and tosses her body into space. This outcome would subsequently appear to be averted - time travel shenanigans - but that would be a fakeout, too.

{5th longbox, 38th comic. Guardians of the Galaxy (vol. 2) #17, by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (writers), Brad Walker (penciler), Victor Olazaba and Scott Hanna (inkers), Jay David Ramos (colorist), Joe Caramagna (letterer)}

Random Back Issues #131 - Guardians of the Galaxy #21

"Cancerverse" is such inflammatory language. Call it a "Fecundiverse"; that only sounds vaguely dirty.

The last time we looked at the Guardians, they were in the process of failing miserably to convince the Inhumans and the Shi'ar to stop fighting a war that would endanger the very universe. Well, Black Bolt and Vulcan are dead now (hooray!), but not before the Inhumans set off a bomb that tore a hole in space-time continuum, dubbed the Fault.

The Luminals, an irritating band of superheroes that hang out on Knowhere and basically fuck everything up, sent some of their team into "The Fault", and came back infected. The alien tries to attack Moondragon, but she's able to create a telekinetic field to trap it.

The rest of the Guardians arrive, but so do a bunch of followers of the Universal Church of Truth, who think the many-tooth alien squid-thing is their god (due to the particular psychic emanations it produces.) All the excitement of the dumbshit fundamentalists exercising their religious freedom drives the creature nuts and it breaks loose, killing several of them, before attacking the Luminals' leader, Cynosure. The only option Moondragon has is to lure the creature into herself instead.

Now in quarantine, Moondragon's using her telepathy to keep the thing under control. But, it gives her a chance to learn some stuff. The creature comes from a universe on the far side of the Fault. A place where life has won. Star-Lord doesn't get what that means, but he'll have to parse it later. The Luminals are here to be fuck up again!

The creature killed one of their teammates, so they want to "extradite" it. How is not elaborated because Cynosure cuffs herself to Moondragon with something that'll blow them both up without the combination. The Knowhere Council want the creature off the station, but the Guardians are not about to let the Luminals handle that. And fortunately, they've got Drax to claim parental rights, which at least buys the team a few hours.

But since it's all down to whether Moondragon can get the thing under control so they can expel it from her and back into the Fault, Rocket uses the time to jab at Drax about almost sounding like he actually cares about his daughter. Which spurs Drax to go visit, only to find the church loonies kidnapping her and Cynosure. Which gives Drax a chance to do what he does best, kill people. It's going pretty well until the Church's Matriarch does a vaguely Penance Stare-like move and Drax goes into the fetal position.

{5th longbox, 42nd comic. Guardians of the Galaxy (vol. 2) #21, by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (writers), Brad Walker (penciler), Andrew Hennessy and Victor Olazaba (inkers), Wil Quintana (colorist), Joe Carmagna (letterer)}

Random Back Issues #124 - Guardians of the Galaxy #15

Pity we never got a proper team-up.

We're smack in the middle of War of Kings, aka the War of Stupid Assholes, and so are the Guardians. The team tried splitting up and approaching the respective rulers, Black Bolt and Vulcan, separately about ending the war before they tore apart space-time.

Vulcan's a psychopath, so that was a no-go. Worse, the Imperial Guard has a mage who tagged Adam Warlock with some sort of "witch-mark" that allows them to track him back to Knowhere. The Inhumans were no more receptive, and then Phyla-Vell took Crystal hostage when the Guardians left. And the Inhumans have a teleporting dog that allows them to follow.

Beseiged from both sides, Warlock and Cosmo's shields fall. Mantis and Star-Lord convinced Crystal the threat of universal destruction is real, but Black Bolt doesn't care. He grabs Crystal, and the Inhumans bounce like the useless jackasses they are. Which still leaves two-thirds of the Guardians hounded by the Imperial Guard.

The Guardians scatter - that is literally how Star-Lord describes his plan, "Scatter!" - unable to communicate because Oracle is somehow a stronger telepath than Cosmo, Mantis and Moondragon combined. Sounds like bullshit to me, but whatever. Star-Lord appeals to the ruling council on Knowhere, and the Luminals (essentially the Avengers of planet Xanth) for help, but is told to surrender for everyone else's benefit. Yeah, surrender to the tender mercies of people who serve Vulcan.

Mentor, the Brainiac-5 of the Imperial Guard, plans to take control of Knowhere and its ability to send forces anywhere to strike directly at the Inhumans, but the Guardians rally. Gamora and Phyla aren't down with "Scatter!" as a strategy and opt to hack their way through the Shi'ar. The mage and some other soldiers use the mark to track Warlock, but he's able to transfer it to her. When the soldiers use their enchanted weapons, they track the mark and kill her. Nifty, and all it took was Warlock's skin turning purple, which, combined with him rending the soldiers limb from limb certainly isn't concerning!

Mentor loses the Continuum Cortex when the remaining third of the Guardians - Rocket, Groot, Drax and Major Victory - 'port in. Rocket gets a little feral, clawing up Mentor's face while telling him they just reinstalled Lilandra on the throne. Even with Phyla, Gamora and Warlock joining the fray, Mentor has a good laugh as he runs with his oversized dome between his legs. Lilandra's just been assassinated (by a Raptor in Darkhawk's armor.) The bad news doesn't stop there, as Knowhere comes alive to warn Adam the fate of all existence depends on him. All existence is pretty fucked, then.

Oh, and the Starhawk the Guardians have had prisoner for several issues was able to manipulate the freshly-resurrected Moondragon into releasing her, and has vanished, taking Mantis, Cosmo, Star-Lord, Bug and Jack Flag along for the ride.

{5th longbox, 36th comic, Guardians of the Galaxy (vol. 2) #15, by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (writer), Brad Walker (penciler), Victor Olizaba and Livesay (inker), Jay David Ramos (colorist), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer)}

Saturday Splash Page #88

 

"Mar-Evell", in Thanos Imperative: Ignition, by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (writers), Brad Walker (penciler), Andrew Hennessy (inker), Wil Quintana (colorist), Joe Caramagna (letterer)

In April of 2010, Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy both ended (temporarily dropping the number of ongoing series I was buying from Marvel to 1). The next month, the last hurrah of the late-2000s, Abnett and Lanning-written Cosmic Marvel run kicked off with this one-shot, which picks up where the two ongoings concluded.

War of Kings ended with the formation of The Fault, a giant rip in the fabric of the universe. It was discovered that on the other side was a universe much like the 616, except there was no death. A universe entirely overtaken by life, filled to the bursting by the Many-Angled Ones. A Cancerverse, looking to spread.

Nova pursues the Cancerverse version of Quasar back to the Fault, and finds millions of Universal Church of Truth worshipers waiting to use their lives as a beacon. Curious how the end of millions of lives attracts more life, like diffusion, flowing from high concentration to low. But the interlocked nature of death and life was a recurring thing throughout Abnett and Lanning's Guardians of the Galaxy run.

The Guardians of the Galaxy deal with the fact Thanos is alive again, and really pissed about it. Drax isn't happy either, having gone to a lot of trouble killing Thanos in the first place. Neither is Moondragon, since Thanos' first act was murdering her girlfriend. And the damaged Cosmic Cube Star-Lord used to deck Thanos the first time is out of juice.

(Keep that last point in mind, it'll be relevant next week.)

Boiled down, though, the one-shot is all about the last page reveal of the high priest, so to speak, of the Many-Angled Ones. Good old sainted-ass Captain Mar-Vell, apparently strong enough now to burn Adam Magus to ash with zero effort. (I quite enjoyed seeing a version of Adam Warlock get incinerated. Points to Abnett and Lanning for giving me that at long last) This sets up Thanos versus Mar-Vell, for the fate of the universe, again. But this time, with Thanos in the position of having to defend it from life run amok.

Sunday Splash Page #244

 

"Easy Rider," in Heroes for Hire (vol. 3) #2, by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (writers), Brad Walker (penciler), Andrew Hennessy (inker), Jay David Ramos (colorist), Joe Caramagna (letterer)

The second volume of Heroes for Hire started during Civil War and ended in 15 issues. It was most notable for the cover to issue #13, with Misty Knight, Colleen Wing and the Black Cat shackled and menaced by dripping tentacles. Because that's what I'd think of when you say, "World War Hulk tie-in". Yeesh.

Three years went by before Marvel tried again, this time with the Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning writing team, fresh off the conclusion of Thanos Imperative, largely concluding their 4-year stretch writing a lot of Cosmic Marvel stuff. They took a somewhat different approach to the "heroes for hire" concept. 

Rather than the public hiring the heroes, Misty Knight, as the Oracle-like "Control", would hire heroes to carry out operations for her, receiving something in return. In some cases, such as Silver Sable's, that was money. For Moon Knight, it might be information on another problem. I'm not clear what Misty was offering Ghost Rider. It allowed for a rotating cast, with only Misty and Paladin of all characters, as central cast.

Misty had been revealed to be pregnant at the very end of Immortal Iron Fist, but somewhere in the 18 months between that title ending and this one starting, that got handwaved to a phantom pregnancy. This was played as part of Misty's decision to stay out of the spotlight, acting as more of a puppet master than field operative. Not only due to physical recovery, but an attempt to exert control, keep things distant. Of course, not everything was what it seemed.

Brad Walker drew most of the series, although Kyle Hotz drew the 3-issue Fear Itself tie-ins. Walker tries to inject a lot of energy into a book that often has an action movie feel to it. Inset, close-up panels of faces or just eyes and mouths, combined with a lot of slanting or diagonal panels for the fighting that slash across the page. Most of the issues revolve around superheroic twists on more ordinary crime: Drug trade, but Atlantean drugs. Gun dealing, but demonic guns that feed on souls. Slave trade and illegal animal trade, but from the Savage Land. Walker does well at mixing the elements. The base human impulses and the fantastic elements they want to exploit.

Sadly, the book ended one month after the aforementioned Fear Itself tie-ins, only lasting 12 issues. Abnett and Lanning did teams up with Renato Arlem on a 5-issue Villains for Hire mini-series that followed on from this, but Arlem's art was depressingly stiff after Walker's and I didn't really care for the story, so we won't be seeing that in Saturday Splash page.

Sunday Splash Page #222

 

"Rocket's Heroes," in Guardians of the Galaxy (vol. 2) #8, by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (writer), Brad Walker (penciler), Victor Olazaba (inker), Wil Quintana (colorist), Joe Caramagna (letterer)

It took 13 years between the end of the first run of Guardians of the Galaxy before the team name got a second chance. This volume wasn't set in the future, though, but in the present, spinning out of Annihilation: Conquest, or more accurately, the Star-Lord mini-series that preceded it (see Sunday Splash Page #35).

After the mess of first Annihilus and then then Phalanx, Star-Lord wanted to put together a team to try and not only address that, but stop problems before they became problems. That worked about as well as being proactive usually does in superhero comics. At least in this case, Abnett and Lanning play into it, as the team falls apart after some unpleasant revelations come out in the obligatory 3-issue Secret Invasion tie-in issues. While they use this as a way to split into more manageable groups what will eventually become a roster of over a dozen characters, and as a way to introduce multiple other plot threads at once, it also discombobulates the team so much they're kind of playing catch-up from then on.

Or maybe a universe is simply too large to guard proactively. Minus an Infinity Gauntlet, you can't be everywhere to catch every problem before it begins.

Secret Invasion isn't the only event the book got involved in, but at least the others were things Abnett and Lanning were also controlling, like War of Kings. That made it easier to use the events to still push forward their larger plot threads. Pity some of them still didn't come to fruition. We never really saw a payoff of a big battle to keep the Magus from overtaking every reality, nor did Jack Flag ever have his big moment saving all of reality. Blastaar never got to take his shot at revenge on Star-Lord.

Paul Pelletier drew the first 7 issues, then stepped over to draw the main War of Kings mini-series. With his departure, the title alternated between Brad Walker and Wesley Craig. Walker drew the most issues, 10 in all, plus half of another, while Craig drew 7. Which is why I went with one of Walker's splash pages. Their styles are not at all similar, with Craig favoring more of a sharply defined, squared off look. Walker feels like he's in more of a Neal Adams mode. Craig seemed to have more of a knack for the big images, or maybe that's just my impression because he had a lot more splash pages in his issues than Walker.

The book worked with this, though, by assigning each artist to different plot threads, and then focusing individual issues on one thread or the other. During War of Kings, part of the team (Mantis, Star-Lord, Cosmo, Jack Flag and Bug), get pulled into a possible future by a Starhawk. Wesley Craig draws the issues focused on them, while Walker handles the issues focused on the remainder of the team trying to stop either Vulcan or Black Bolt from tearing the fabric of the universe asunder. It helps with the tonal whiplash.

Some characters get more development than others. Drax seems to actively try to connect with his daughter Moondragon, and before that, her girlfriend, Phyla. Jack Flag is the newb, out of his depth with all this cosmic stuff. Some of it's cool, some of it's horrible and he can't decide which way he feels one minute to the next. Phyla-Vell is the one doomed to never quite measure up. Always trying, but always getting the short end of the stick. All her decisions seem to go wrong.

On the other hand, Bug never seems like more than comic relief, the butt of a lot of jokes. Gamora doesn't seem to get much development, either, unless you count her falling back in step with Adam Warlock as some comment on her character.  The idea Mantis telepathically nudged people to work with Star-Lord kind of gets dropped. Definitely not much time spent on what she felt about doing that. Adam Warlock. . . what am I, Jim Starlin? I don't give a fuck about Adam Warlock.

The book ended at 25 issues in early 2010, leading into Thanos Imperative, which was the last hurrah of the Abnett/Lanning run. In 2013, they handed Guardians of the Galaxy to Bendis, of all people. I wasn't sticking around for that mess.

What I Bought 5/1/2018 - Part 1

That Dr. Strange Favorite Characters post is getting a lot of views, by my standards. At least I haven't been attacked by rabid Strange fans in the comments. Must not have done too badly on it.

The Demon: Hell is Earth #6, by Andrew Constant (writer), Brad Walker (penciler), Andrew Hennessy (inker), Chris Sotomayor (colorist), Tom Napolitano (letterer) - Would have been a bit more Biblical for Belial to use the jawbone of an ass, rather than the rib of a giant wolf. Also, he would have had no shortage of options between Etrigan, Merlin, and Blood, if he could get Jason to be corporeal for long enough to remove it.

Yes, I ended up buying it. I was curious to see how Blood being a spectral being would contribute to Belial's downfall. The answer is, "very little". Etrigan does most of the fighting, with a magic buff from Merlin, and Blood's role is to taunt Etrigan into getting angry enough to overcome his father's magic. The spell is undone, cosmic reset button, bingo bango, everything is back as it was. Except Etrigan is now ruler of Hell.

I suppose if someone did something with that, it might be interesting. What's Etrigan going to do as King of Hell? How is that going to impact life for people on Earth or other worlds? Seriously, send Etrigan to Mogo and let him cause trouble there. Merlin was hiding Excalibur and gave that to Etrigan? Can he claim rule over England now (I'm not clear on Arthurian legends, obviously). I guess there are possibilities, but I don't know that any of them are going to take place. Otherwise, it's an, "OK, so?" A status quo change to no effect. The part that caught my attention the most is Belial paraphrased Kung Fu Panda at one point on page 2 and 3. Which feels like something Etrigan would mock him for if, you know, he hadn't decapitated Belial.

Brad Walker's art is still good, although the fight suffers for Belial being so large. He'd been something similar with Etrigan throughout the series, but more in quieter moments, conversations or the preludes to violence. Belial takes up so much space in the panels things feel cluttered. I wanted Walker to back the view up so we could have a better sense of what's happening. But he was keeping it focused on the two demons, who were the important ones in all this, so it makes sense.

Empowered and Sistah Spooky's High School Hell #4, by Adam Warren (writer), Carla Speed McNeil (artist/letterer), Jenn Manley Lee (colorist) - Glad I ate dinner before I started this review, or I'd have lost my appetite.

The heroes survive a tussle with the food elemental on the cover in the cafeteria, and then are attacked by the 3 J's and their deadly hair in the gymnasium. Bit of a close call both times, but they survive.

I like the flashback to lunchtime at Spooky's school, drawn within a lunch tray. That's just a clever layout. Also, in the flashback to a conversation between Hannah and Theresa, we're seeing part of the conversation as a reflection from a mirror. And when Theresa and Emp were under attack in the girl's room, Spooky saw Hannah in the mirror's reflection as well. I don't know a lot of the backstory of the relationship, but I'm guessing that, while all the popular girls are trying to make Theresa relive the humiliation they put her through in high school, she's really looking back over the ways she feels she screwed up what she had with Hannah. And how the torment these girls put her through contributed to that, the same way it contributed to her hating Emp when they first met (because she assumed Emp was just like all those girls from high school).

And I wonder if any of the evil girls are paying attention to how things are going. They know their classmates are dying obviously, but bringing up Hannah is consistently taking the fight out of Theresa. She was still struggling against Julia - even without being able to muster a spell - until Julia mentioned that Hannah also had blonde hair, which dredged up painful memories. I've mentioned that all these girls are stuck on their high school years, and are making the mistake of thinking Spooky is still that same girl, too. So the taunts and attacks that were so effective then, aren't cutting it now. But there's another, more recent wound that's still open, and they mostly ignore it.

I have to figure that one of the Ashlee's is going to deliberately exploit it sooner or later, and I guess we'll see how that plays out.

What I Bought 4/4/2018

I'm not sure why I went with a different approach for the April Fools' Day story. I think I was expecting it would be easier to type without having to go back and bold each characters' name prior to their dialogue, or italicizing something else. I think it worked in that regard, but I'm not sure if I preferred it otherwise. Whatever, here's some reviews of some comics that came in the mail this week.

Demon: Hell is Earth #5, by Andrew Constant (writer), Brad Walker (penciller), Andrew Hennessy (inker), Chris Sotomayor (letterer) - Interesting gesture Belial's making there. Either, "Who wants a big hug?" or "Look how swole I am, bros!"

Having reached the tear between Hell and Earth, Etrigan charges in, forcing the others to follow along and fight some of the forces of Hell. They think they're winning, but Belial steps out, casually stomps everyone but Jason Blood, and seems to complete his plan to make Earth a part of Hell.

That's pretty much it. It's mostly a fight scene, and it looks nice in places, but since we're aware that Belial is toying with them, it doesn't carry much weight, and there's nothing much to be interested in as far as the fight demonstrating character traits. Unless Blood taking advantage of the demons being too stupid to realize he can't do anything to them is significant. I'm not sure how he might turn that on Belial, though, since Belial should be aware of it. The others continuing to use Blood as a distraction they don't have to worry about harming is kind of amusing.

I thought Merlin was working with Belial, and his pleas for assistance were a ruse because Etrigan was essential to Belial's scheme somehow, but that doesn't appear to be the case. Doesn't mean Merlin doesn't have his own schemes going, though he hardly looks like he has any way to carry them out.

The color work is very pretty. The point of connection between Hell and Earth is a massive wall of pink energy, which makes a nice contrasting backdrop for the hordes of Hell, who are mostly shades of red and orange, with various darker colors for their clothing. The flames continue to look very nice.

At this point, I really wonder if there's any point in bothering to buy the final issue. Is it even worth it, to see how this ends?

Mata Hari #2, by Emma Beeby (writer), Ariela Kristantina (artist), Pat Masioni (colorist), Sal Cipriano (letterer) - I can't figure out what that is in the far background, behind even the trees. Part of a fan, or a curtain? The view of something through prison bars?

Monsieur Bouchardon visits the prison, hoping to gain a confession by seeming reasonable and friendly. Meanwhile, Margaretha tries to turn him in her favor with flattery and concern, while sharing some of her life story. Neither has much success. Bouchardon is having some problems with his wife, which he is almost certainly taking out on Margareetha, while also being encouraged by his bosses to get that conviction, whether she's guilty or not. France needs it! France needed generals who were less stupid, but whatever, sure.

It's odd, reading the book after the text piece from Beeby last issue mentioned Margaretha lied constantly, because I tend to doubt everything I see. Is she genuinely reduced to tears at the thought she might be interviewed by Bouchardon in a gown with a bloodstain, or is it a play for sympathy? During the interview, as she relates her youth, we see she was raped by the headmaster at the school she worked at, which turned into a recurring affair, I guess? She seems convinced he loves her, but is she old enough to give consent? She's 15, so I'd say no, but I don't know what the rule was in Holland in 1891. I'd still say "no", though.

Regardless, everyone blames her for the headmaster not keeping it in his pants (which is a recurring theme). What's interesting is that Kristantina draws 15-year old Margaretha giving the headmaster a sort of playful or beguiling look, right before he assaults her, but four panels later, her older self is giving Bouchardon the same look. So, she learned from that unpleasant memory and turned it into something she could use to her advantage? Or she's doing it unconsciously? I'm not sure how much benefit of the doubt I'm suppose to give here.

Masioni gives the panels with Margaretha and the headmaster a strong red tint, and there's a pair of panels near the end of the issue, one of her, one of Bouchardon, when she asks if Bouchardon has a wife, where there's some in the middle of both panels, as if it's hanging in the air between the two of them. Bouchardon has this slightly dazed, vulnerable look, and he's looking up, as if she's in a position of power. Although, in the next panel, she doesn't appear to be looking down at him. Instead she's looking at him as though he's on her level. Either she missed the moment, or she knows the key is to find his weak spot without making him feel weak or inferior. The really curious thing is there's no hint of the red in the panels when she's around her future husband.

I'd think it meant a passionless nature of the marriage, that she set out to find a husband, and he was the first guy who wandered along, but maybe not. Given the circumstances of those panels with the red tint, none of which are exactly happy moments, maybe the lack of red is a sign there's none of the danger, fear, or pain she experienced many other times. It's not there even when he's got her wrist in what seems like a strong grip, which might be an unpleasant or frightening moment.

What I Bought 3/7/2018 - Part 2

I've seen these posters online for Ready Player One, and then I've seen a bunch of mock-posters people made for it, and I can't tell the difference. I had never heard of this book before all this stuff about the movie, and now it sounds like it was another of those big nerd things I missed out on, thankfully.

Demon: Hell is Earth #4, by Andrew Constant (writer), Brad Walker (penciler), Andrew Hennessy (inker), Chris Sotomayor (colorist), Tom Napolitano (letterer) - I like the touch of having Jason's immaterial leg partially phased through Etrigan's.

The entire issue is spent trooping to the gateway to Hell, with brief stops for Etrigan to kill mutated giant snakes and lizards. Xanadu and Blood talk a little, mostly Jason bemoaning still being chained to Etrigan. And the Demon talks with Merlin a bit, mostly about why he's been off sulking in a corner of Hell like a guy from Chile, er, I mean, Achilles. They reach the gateway, there are many enemies visible, and the issue ends.

The characters keep wondering how long it will take to reach the gateway, and Merlin keeps saying that the land is part of Hell, and so they'll get there when it allows it. I know the feeling. Constant is meandering his way through. Maybe because there isn't enough story for 6 issues. At this stage, maybe one issue spent getting past the horde/being captured by Belial, and another to defeat him/deal with the fallout? It's been a small cast, but it doesn't feel like much is being done with it.

On the plus side, Brad Walker draws a cool giant, demonic rattlesnake. Etrigan tends to dominate the panels he's in. He either looms over the other characters, or he's the only one in the panel and he fills it. When he interacts with Merlin, the wizard usually has his back to us, and he's in shadow a lot. Not sure of the significance there, unless it's that he has motives we haven't seen yet. Maybe he's planning to become ruler of Hell himself. He's standing between Etrigan and what he wants, but so is Blood, in a sense. Blood tried running from Etrigan, while Etrigan rages at the one who shackled him to Blood. Constant is probably heading towards them realizing they need to come to some sort of agreement, but I don't know if it's going to happen.

Mata Hari #1, by Emma Bebby (writer), Ariela Kristantina (artist), Pat Masioni (colorist), Sal Cipriano (letterer) - It says something she doesn't think she has to bother to conceal the knife or the possibly bloodstained silk curtain any better than that to lure whoever it is to her. Or it's all an act, and there's no danger at all.

The story opens on the day of her execution, then backtracks, moving from her various travels through Europe, her farce of a trial (the French judicial system works as fairly for her as it did for Alfred Dreyfuss), her childhood, the time of her arrest (which is conducted by Monsieur Bouchardon, who is also the prosecuting attorney, one of those quirks of the French legal system I forget sometimes).

In this chapter at least, there are two narrations almost competing. One is Margaretha's story, the one she wrote and hoped would be published (Bouchardon scattered it to the wind, so no luck there). The other is Bouchardon's testimony at the trial, which contrasts with what we see in the panels. He's made his mind up on her, and every word or action simply confirms it. If she says she's innocent, it proves what a liar she is. If she asks for help getting dressed, it's her immodesty, using her body. Maybe he's right, but most of his assumptions are based on limited information from what we know, as well as judgment of her character based on her careers.

It's hard for me to see this trial as much other than the French military trying to cover their guilt in getting a lot of their soldiers killed by being incompetent fuck-ups. Sure, let's ride our horses directly into the machine gun fire, what could go wrong? But perhaps they have some evidence that will be shown in the next few issues.

Kristantina has a light line most of the time, but covers a wide range of expressions and looks for Margaretha, depending on the circumstance. The one that's most striking to me is how much she appears to have aged by the day of her execution, even compared to how she looks during the trial. Whether it represents the harshness of her conditions, and the strain wearing on her, or simply her not having any access to cosmetics or decent shower facilities (they put her in a prison/convent thing for prostitutes), it makes for a severe contrast, even as she gathers herself.

During the early stages of the trial, there are panels showing her from some performance, where her character is beseeching Shiva for a boon, namely revenge on her enemies. Which raises the question of who her enemies are. Is she thinking of this as the crowd bray at her and call for her death, or are we supposed to keep it in mind as we learn about her alleged activities in later issues? The panels get larger over the course of the scene, and Masioni gives them a much brighter color scheme than the panels of the trial. The trial is mostly dull greys and browns, the judges and spectators are varying degrees of faded colors as well. While the panels showing the performance have a gold ring around them and a light lavender background, and Margaretha's wearing a bright red dress, maybe a kind of sari.

Beeby mentions in the afterword that she has taken some creative liberties, although I'm not likely to recognize them, but her mentioning that Mata Hari apparently lied constantly was good to know. I was letting my own irritation with the French legal system influence my perspective more than I should. But Beeby, with Kristantina and Masioni's work, is really effective at evoking sympathy for the subject. So now I'm curious to see if she turns that on its head, makes the reader feel the fool for buying in.

What I Bought 1/25/2018

I was out of town for work most of the week, but during my travels I did stumble across a comic store. I found about a dozen back issues I was looking for on the cheap, and one book from this week. Better than none.

The Demon: Hell is Earth #3, by Andrew Constant (writer), Brad Walker (penciller), Andrew Hennessy (inker), Chris Sotomayor (colorist), Tom Napolitano (letterer) - That's how most of the bonfires I've attended end, with some drunk idiot falling in the fire.

As it turns out, Etrigan didn't burn a small child to death, because the small child was already dead, and her corpse was being used as a hidey-hole by Etrigan's half-brother Merlin. Merlin had been press-ganged into helping their father with this plan for Hell to overtake Earth, and has used the wild scene after the nuke went off to escape and try hiding.

Ah, the old, "Run away and used a child's corpse as a shell while you try to find someone to save your miserable butt" plan. Anyway, he didn't think he'd find any help, and considering how everyone present hates him, he still may not have. But Etrigan's uncle finds them, and starts talking shit to Etrigan, which ticks him off and makes him determined to screw up his father's plans. Spite is the grease the keeps the wheels of the world turning.

Constant has Etrigan choosing to rhyme or not, rather than the rhyming being a mark of his station in Hell's hierarchy, as it has been at other times. He seems to rhyme when he's excited or fired up about something, which makes sense if we assume it takes some effort, rather than occurring naturally. He'd have to have the energy and interest to do it. That said, I don't think rhymes are a strength of Constant's. Most of them seem pretty basic, or else forced. Do "through" and "coup" really work as a rhyme?

I'm not sure it's a great sign it took half of the six issues allotted just to get the "team" together, and I'm not sure at this point what use Blood is at all. As a source of commentary on Etrigan or Merlin, he can be entertaining, but I assume eventually he might be useful to the plot?

Walker, Hennessy, and Sotomayor get a chance for a messy fight scene, as Etrigan starts dismembering demons, decapitating demon horses, and punching his fists clean through enemies. It's a brief fight, but effective for showing off his destructive power, and giving the audience reason to think these four might have some chance at fighting Hell's armies, even if Etrigan's going to do most of the heavy lifting. And I may not be sure about the rhyme, but that's a pretty good panel of Etrigan there, just for looking cool in his glee about what he's going to do.

What I Bought 1/3/2018 - Part 1

The books I ordered last week arrived today. Good thing, as none of the books I wanted this week were on the shelves. In an effort to keep to the schedule I had planned for next week, we are going old-school. Reviewing comics the day I bought them, whoo! Who needs time for more careful reflection and thought? Today we're looking at two books dealing with Hell, because a boiling lake of fire sounds pretty appealing given recent weather difficulties.

Empowered and Sistah Spooky's High School Hell #1, by Adam Warren (writer), Carla Speed McNeil (artist and letterer), Jenn Manley Lee (colorist) - What's the worst part for our heroes, the flames, the vengeance-fueled blondes, or the school outfits they're stuck in?

Sistah Spooky (aka Theresa) gained her looks and incredible magical powers by making a deal with a devil, the same deal as made with all her snobby classmates (except they didn't get any magic). She was cruel to Emp for a long time because Emp reminded her of those classmates, but now they're friends. Which means Emp gets dragged into Hell with Spooky when the demon she made the deal with decides to give all those old classmates a chance to kill her and take her magic for themselves.

Warren is able to fill in any potential new readers on the backstory between the two, and Spooky's history in general. I knew some of it, but there was quite a bit I was unfamiliar with, so that helped. But it seems likely that a lot of what gets laid out here is going to factor into the story. The ugly history between Emp and Spooky, Spooky's girlfriend Hannah having died not too long ago, and the rescue attempt having failed.

And it seems relevant that for at least the first half of Spooky and Emp's chat in the coffee shop, Spooky doesn't really make eye contact. Emp is looking at her, listening and attentive almost constantly. Spooky is mostly looking around at other people, or at the ground. Which could be a sign of her not really caring, but then she does start making eye contact when Emp lays out exactly how shitty Spooky was to her and how much it hurt. It shifts the reading of it to where Theresa is still caught up in her own issues, but she was maybe honestly oblivious to her hypocrisy. It's telling that once called on it, she starts making eye contact more regularly and doesn't let Emp start in with self-deprecating talk.

I especially like how Carla Speed McNeil laid out Page 6, with the litany of cruelties running diagonally across the page, Emp in a panel in the upper corner, and Theresa in the opposite corner in the bottom, where it feels like all her past digs are toppling over on her. The demon's suit having the same coloring and pattern as the skirts in the school uniforms. And that office he was in, with the shadowy husks typing away endlessly was pretty creepy too. The color Lee used for them works well, because it isn't a simply black, like they were just shadows. It's a grey like ashes, with a few darker shadows to give a vague distinguishing to some facial features. It makes them almost insubstantial, like they'd blow away if you breathed on them.

The Demon: Hell is Earth #2, by Andrew Constant (writer), Brad Walker (penciller), Andrew Hennessy (inker), Chris Sotomayor (colorist), Tom Napolitano (letterer) - Yeah, I'd pay money to see Etrigan fight giant, burning minotaurs. I just did, in fact.

The bubble of Hell caused by the missile is expanding slowly, and corrupting anyone who touches it. Inside, Etrigan wants to kill the little girl from Blood's dreams, and is stopped by Blood threatening to talk endlessly about things of beauty and kindness. Like butterflies. The girl mentions Madame Xanadu, the three set out and find her fighting off the people from the bar she was at, who are quickly dispatched by Etrigan. Some talking ensues, until the Demon gets bored and incinerates the little girl. Oh well, that's that.

Most interesting thing to me is it referenced the Demon Knights series that was part of the New 52. Where Xanadu was in a relationship with Etrigan and Jason, apparently. I guess there's no reason that can't still be in continuity if they want it to be. But as a potential emotional lever on Etrigan, that past relationship could be a fun piece to have in play. I don't know which direction it will push him, but that's part of the fun. He might surprise us.

I would guess a lot of the credit for all the lovely fire in this issue goes to Sotomayor's colors. You would think in a scorched hellscape it would blend in, but they go with vague, featureless backgrounds, or against creatures that are very dark, that it's able to pop. Also, Etrigan seems to leak a little fire from his mouth whenever he's annoyed. Like someone who spits when they get agitated, or talks with their hands a lot. Not a bad touch, although this Etrigan doesn't seem very clever. I tend to think of him as being cunning, up to a point, and that's lacking here. Maybe that's deliberate, an effect of where they are, or it's just how Constant writes him. He lets Etrigan rhyme when he wants to, which is mostly when he's fighting and feeling good.

Walker's artwork is solid. Combined with Sotomayor's colors, the people altered by what's going on look a bit like the X-Man Sunspot when he powers up. Etrigan being extremely big and muscular is a deliberate choice related to the story. Walker still has a tendency to exaggerate faces, especially lips, to an extent that can be distracting. The little girl makes a face in one panel like she's posing for one of those duckface selfies, but that doesn't seem situation appropriate. It doesn't happen much, fortunately.

What I Bought 12/6/2017 - Part 2

My neighbor downstairs I complained about last month came up last week and apologized. Turns out it really was the people in the apartment behind me who were the problem. Will wonders never cease? For today's post, we've got the first issue of a mini-series, and the last one of those three Marvel Legacy books I wanted to try. Will the mini-series fare better with me than Ragman did?

The Demon: Hell is Earth #1, by Andrew Constant (writer), Brad Walker (penciler), Andrew Hennessy (inker), Chris Sotomayor (colorist), Tom Napolitano (letterer) - It's never a good thing when both Etrigan and Jason Blood are smiling. If they're actually agreed upon a course of action, the title will be extremely accurate.

Jason's been having nightmares of a young girl, which have brought him to Death Valley. The young girl is on a vacation with her family, also plagued by the nightmares. Madame Xanadu is charging in on a motorcycle, hoping to avert whatever is about to happen. And then a test missile crashes in the desert, with a real warhead. A warhead of something unconventional.

Don't think I've read anything drawn by Brad Walker in a while. His Jason Blood looks fairly haggard, his Etrigan has a bit of that Kirby style, which I mostly notice in the Demon's hands. The squared off nails, the thick fingers that almost look like he's carved from rock. I guess most artists hew to the original design, but I've grown used to John McCrea's almost skeletal, oddly proportioned Etrigan. Anyway, Walker's Etrigan is a hulking wall, an almost solid mass, looming over everyone else. Even in panels that are supposed to focus on Blood, Etrigan barges he way in, either physically or via internal narration.

The idea of Blood floating about offering commentary on Etrigan's actions isn't that novel to me, I assumed since Etrigan could do so to him that it worked both ways, but I am curious what the deal is with the little girl, and how they're going to keep Etrigan involved in this story, since it's hard for me to see him objecting to Hell being unleashed on Earth.

Darkhawk #51, by Chad Bowers and Chris Sims (writers), Kev Walker (artist), Jeff Tartaglia (colorist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - Chris Powell looks awfully young there, unless it's meant to be a flashback to when he found the amulet.

Chris is a rookie cop now, trying to be the man he thought his father was (before he learned he was dirty). The amulet hasn't worked in a year, which hasn't stopped two of the Fraternity of Raptors from coming for the amulet. I didn't remember the suits having their own kind of sentience, but apparently Powell had an impact on his, and it had been trying to disconnect the member of the Fraternity from their access to the suits. He and Powell come to an understanding and prepare to head into space to contend with the Raptors. Issue end.

Of the three of these I bought, this is the one I feel like spends the most time recapping origin stuff, but also the one trying most seriously to set up something in motion for future stories. I wonder if Sims and Bowers could have gotten things to where they wanted without quite so much rehashing old stories, some of it feels unnecessary. I think it's meant to bring Powell back to the start before taking the first step on a new beginning. So make him a cop like his father, but making the choice to be a clean cop. Send him back to where he first got the amulet, give him a choice to keep it or not, accept the challenge or not, this time with a better sense of what that means.  And this is the one I'd most want to see going forward, if only out of some vain hope I'd get to see all the stuff I wanted from the Abnett/Lanning cosmic run.

When Powell accepts the amulet again, Kev Walker gives it a new design, and I'm not a fan. Remember how in the new 52, Jim Lee gave a bunch of heroes needlessly busy costumes, with seams on them suggesting interlocking armor pieces? That's kind of what Walker goes for here, in addition to even bigger shoulder pads than Darkhawk's traditionally had. And I know a belt may seem a strange accessory for a partially sentient armor, but I think the new look could use it. Compared to how the old armor looks when he draws it, I can't consider it an improvement.

All that said, Walker uses the jagged, broken panels he favors to good effect here. During the fight in the House of Mirrors, where the way the panels are set up combines with the reflections of the characters to be almost disorienting, and plays into Powell's confusion with everything that's going on. And during the reveal of what the suit has been up to while away from Powell, where you figure we're only catching glimpses of what's being revealed to Chris, or that this is how it gets processed by him - brief flashes, only barely connected by the spiel he's getting from the suit. And there's one panel of Chris reflecting on his past in the rain where I just really like the lighting and shadows Tartaglia gives it. Powell looks so much older and more thoughtful in those panels, at the moment he's going to be presented with a decision about who he wants to be.