Show Biz'll Kill Ya

You've heard of a bull in a china shop, now here's Rhino in the dressing room!

Down in Flames, Up in Smoke is the first 5 issues of the Amazing Mary Jane book Marvel had going in 2020. Mary Jane as the lead actress on what is a Mysterio biopic, and discovers in the first issue that the film is not being directed by the famous Cage McKnight, but by Mysterio himself.

(Mysterio assures us McKnight is fine, scouring the Falkands to find just the right penguin to star in, "Jaws, but with penguins.")

After an impassioned plea by Mysterio, who requested her for the lead role (for reasons I'm never entirely clear about), MJ agrees to stay on the film because she believes he's genuine about trying to make this film, and that's he's giving other former criminals or villains an opportunity (and paying them at industry-standard rates, he assures her.) From there, it's MJ helping Quentin Beck troubleshoot the various complications that arise in shooting the film.

The people financing the movie get cold feet and withdraw their money, forcing improvisation on a tighter budget. The guy playing Spider-Man loses his nerve and leaves. The guy playing Mysterio leaves when the big budget does. Several of Spider-Man's other enemies keep trying to sabotage the film, because they aren't happy with their portrayals. Which does result in a fairly ridiculous bit at the end where MJ, sans any powers or Iron Man armors, holds off six super-villains - Vulture, Rhino, Cobra, Stegron, Tarantula, and Scorpion - while the crew finish the last day of shooting.

While Mysterio put her through a sort of boot camp when she took over as Spider-Man for the last scene, and insisted on practical effects, including X-Men robots - which really seems like more an Arcade thing - it still seems a bit much she held them off solo as long as she did.

Williams writes MJ as extremely adaptable, able to think on the fly, and work with sudden complications. Whether that's due to her past experience in Hollywood, or her experience being in a relationship with a super-hero, I'm not sure. But she pretty much keeps the movie on track and is near constantly helping Mysterio make it better, whether that's with make her character more well-rounded, with her own motivations, improving the dialogue, or leaning into the fact Beck is way more hot-headed than the actual Cage McKnight.

Carlos Gomez, who draws all 5 issued (with Lucas Warneck assisting on issue 3) goes all-in on the dramatic poses for McKnight/Beck, whether he's hitting tables or shaking his fists at the sky. Mary Jane, in contrast, is drawn as much more relaxed and upbeat. Constantly having to rein Beck in and keep his eyes on the prize.

Mysterio's written as extremely passionate about this project, to his detriment, as that's how he loses his primary funding, but also with very specific notions on "art", and that what he's creating is going to be art. He hates the idea of using illusions to compensate for the budget cuts, because he feels it compromises the genuine nature of the film. He seems like he would simultaneously be great to work for (enthusiasm and work ethic undeniable) and terrible to work for (temperamental as all get out.) Williams has him make reference to possibly not having much time left, but I have no idea what that refers to. MJ's character also seems to be based on a woman who influenced or supported him at one time, and I have no idea who that is, either. Sure hope it wasn't Karen Page! 

Gomez's work reminds me of Mark Brooks', back when Brooks drew Cable/Deadpool. Especially in how he draws Mysterio, the shape of his head and jaw, the way he shades things. It's fine, overall; the story doesn't give him the chance to stretch himself the way he has on Fantastic Four. He's mostly drawing regular people, and a lot of the time they're talking while walking through sound stages or riding in golf carts.

Williams and Gomez mix in periodic phone conversations between MJ and Peter Parker, who knows what movie she's working on, but not who is actually directing it. I'm not clear on their relationship status at this time, other than they're at least on good terms. At one point, MJ starts playing music over the phone and insists Peter dance with her for 20 seconds, while he's in the grocery store, so I'm guessing things were in a decent place.

Sunday Splash Page #226

 

"Edge of the Gweniverse," in Gwenpool Strikes Back #4, by Leah Williams and Christopher Hastings (writers), David Baldeon (artist), Jesus Aburtov (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer)

Mid-2019, a year-and-a-half after her ongoing series ended, Gwenpool got one last mini-series to allegedly determine whether she would continue to exist or not. Gwen, being meta-aware, knows her head's on the chopping block and undertakes a series of absurd actions to try and prove she's relevant and important and deserves to stay.

When trying to get radiation-based powers from Spider-Man fails, and smooching Reed Richards also fails, Gwen tricks a bunch of heroes into having a big fight on a beach in swimsuits. She'll beat them all and prove she's relevant! Gwen clearly ignored how that kind of logic ultimately didn't help Red Hulk once Jeph Loeb stopped writing him.

Williams writes Gwen different from Hastings (who only wrote one page in just this issue, where he appears as a cloud to talk to Gwen while she's running from Immortal Hulk). Less knowledgeable and excited, more desperate and just plain crazy. Which fits the story, at least. There are some funny gags out of it. Gwen defeats Hulk by ducking into an issue of Thor to steal his severed arm from Malekith, so she can grab Mjolnir with it and then hit the Hulk in the nuts with an uru hammer. Points for thinking outside the panel.

The end result is that Ms. Marvel, via the power of misguided compassion, retcons Gwen's origin so she's a mutant with reality-warping abilities who probably had a tragic experience when her powers manifested and suppressed the memories behind this whole "I'm from a world where you're comic characters," thing. It takes, and Gwen goes to Krakoa, where I don't think anyone has used her since. Except Googum in his strips, where she's running a comic shop. Wait, Krakoa's been status quo for 3 years?! Ugh. At least she should be safe with the resurrection protocols for when someone gets a good idea what to do with her.

Baldeon's doing most of the heavy lifting here with the fourth wall breaking gags and other humor. One panel nearly being filled with Gwen's purple speech balloon, only for Gwen to burst through it like the Sensational Character of 2016 while fleeing Deadpool. Gwen escaping the FF by startling Baldeon so he spills his coffee into the panel he's drawing and douses Reed and Sue. The Gwens using a panel border to trip the Hulk and disorient him.

And with that, we are done with the Gs! That's like 3 letters we've gotten through in the last year. Don't expect that to happen again any time soon.

What I Bought 12/20/2019 - Part 2

It's Christmas here in the U.S. Hopefully you're having a good Christmas, or you had a good one yesterday, or it's at least a not-terrible December 25th if the date holds no significance for you. Not-terrible days are always nice.

Gwenpool Strikes Back #5, by Leah Williams (writer), David Baldeon (artist), Jesus Arbutov and Guru-eFX (color artists), Joe Carmagna (letterer) - Agh, the real world is so boring and uninteresting! Who wants to hang out with trees, and regular old stone walls. Let her back in!

Gwen's determined to fight Kamala and win this battle royale she made up. Kamala doesn't want to fight, she wants to talk. Boooooo! No talking! Kamala won't accept Gwen's "I'm from a world where you're a comic book character" origin, and instead proposes that instead, Gwen is a mutant with reality manipulation powers. At least she didn't say she's an Inhuman, that would be a real kiss of death. But shouldn't Kamala just go ask Dr. Strange if what Gwen says is true? Gwen pretends to go along with this explanation, but leaves to prepare for her inevitable end.

But wait! Kamala's awful, awful retcon has apparently taken hold, and one of the portal things to Krakoa shows up, so Gwen's a mutant now! And she might get back together with Quentin Quire? Sheeeeeeit, that is a Patsy Walker-level bad relationship decision. Then she says good-bye to the audience because most likely, whatever Gwenpool shows up in her next appearance won't be anything like this.

Also, she acknowledges they never resolved that whole subplot from her ongoing about her brother having gotten lost in the Marvel Universe also. No shit.

I don't see how making Gwenpool a mutant really changes anything. She still has an unusual powerset some writers are probably either going to abuse, or hate because it's too abstract for them. She still believes she's from our world, but is going to pretend she doesn't. Not sure how that's going to work if she's living on an island with a crapload of telepaths. Especially given Hickman's X-Folks don't seem the most ethical to me. Really doubt Pod Person Chuck Xavier is big on respecting the privacy of the people living on the island.

But whatever. The character is still alive (for now), which means someone can come along later and theoretically do something interesting with her. Or they'll let whoever the current version of Mark Millar is (Matthew Rosenberg?) get ahold of her and she'll be given a bad death with no emotional heft that only serves to highlight how hollow and pointless the story it happens in is.

The issue sort of starts out light, Gwen trying to keep all the heroes she put in the VIP booth from getting too angry, and then shifted to sad real fast, since Kamala pretty much treats the whole thing like she's talking to someone with mental illness. Kind of a whiplash, there.

That part where Kamala is rewriting Gwen's origin is kind of wrenching. Great work Kamala, give her an origin where her powers made her so miserable she practically disassociates from reality to deal with them. Super cool. But watching Gwen try to block out the thought balloons it's conjuring up, the nightmares and ugliness, just makes me a little sad. Granting that Gwen didn't really like reality back in our world, it wasn't a nightmare. It just wasn't what she wanted. Putting this over the top of that, I don't know. I guess it fits with most Marvel heroes having tragic origins. Although Kamala and Squirrel Girl don't. Same with a few others. Not sure why Gwen has to go old-school. But the next writer can always ignore it if they want!

What I Bought 11/20/2019 - Part 2

It's nice to find out, every once in a while, that other people's opinions on pop culture stuff can still provoke an indignant reaction in me. The kind where I have to restrain that urge to type something aggressively stupid and confrontational. Not because I want to type that stuff, but it's kinda nice to know I still give enough of a shit to get riled about dumb stuff.

Gwenpool Strikes Back #4, by Leah Williams and Chris Hastings (writers), David Baldeon (artist), Jesus Arbutov (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - Don't worry folks, she's just swinging around some fireworks. Wait, that's kind of dangerous.

Gwen, out of any better ideas to beat the Hulk (who is acting more like a mix of childlike classic Hulk and the creepy one Al Ewing is writing, but whatever), decides to recruit other versions of herself from other books she's shone up in. Like that Civil War II tie-in issue of Rocket Raccoon and Groot. While those Gwens keep Hulk occupied by giving him more things to smash, this book's Gwen goes and steals Thor's severed arm from Malekith(?), then wears it over her arm, so she can swipe Mjolnir when Thor chucks it at Kamala (which, overkill there Thor) and hit Hulk in his gamma-irradiated junk with it.

See, when Jeph Loeb did this kind of shit with Red Hulk, it was annoying. Because he played it straight about how this showed how awesome this new character was. Such a big threat. Since Leah Williams is writing as Gwen herself trying to prove she's an awesome character and big deal so she can continue to exist, I can roll with it. Also, it's just so ridiculous that I can laugh at it. In a good way, rather than, "Holy shit, this is terrible writing. Who would pay this person for this?"

Credit to David Baldeon for doing a good impression of the artists from those other books, which also helps to distinguish the Gwens. At least I assume it was a good impression. Other than Unbelievable Gwenpool, I've never read any of the comics these characters are from. But I can confirm he does a good Gurihiru impression! And since that's the best version, that's really all that matters. They're also all different heights, which plays into one gag about Gwen trying to combine with one of the others. Little disappointed she didn't try the Fusion Dance there. That would only work for two Gwens, but you could have three fused Gwens then!

Kind of surprised when Hulk made his "You courted chaos. I'm consenting." line, none of the Gwens had anything to say to that.

Deadpool #1, by Kelly Thompson (writer), Chris Bachalo (penciler), Wayne Faucher, Tim Townsend, Al Vey, Jamie Mendoza, Livesay, and Victor Olazaba (inkers), David Curiel (color artist), Joe Sabino (letterer) - Holy shit, 6 inkers?! I assume Bachalo is already behind schedule then, and will be on the book for 3 issues, tops.

Wade is alone and depressed, again. Monsters have decided to make themselves a kingdom on Staten Island, and a mysterious guy hires Wade to kill their king. Which he does, with some assistance/interference from Elsa Bloodstone. However, this makes Wade the new king. Which is much less fun than he thought it would be. He can't even get free ice cream! Then Gwen shows up to leave her land shark with him, because she's afraid he'll cease to exist if he's in her book and she gets axed. I thought her land shark was just a backpack. It's alive?! Then Kraven shows up and kills Wade's Lord Chamberlain. Didn't take long for Kraven to revert to type. Again.

Well, I don't see how Wade running a monster kingdom is going to go any better than when he was married to a lady running a monster kingdom. Probably go worse, if Wade's making the policy decisions. But the Blaylock fellow seems like a problem, and Elsa's in contact with someone, and Wade is, as mentioned above, lonely and depressed. Which means he'll do stupid things to try and have some companionship.

Bachalo draws some interesting monsters, although he hardly ever draws the former king's entire body. Which mostly works. What we see of him tends to take up most of whatever panel he's in, which helps to play up his size even in smaller panels. And there are some pages where I'm confused about why they went with the layout they did. The first panel of the page where Wade's arguing with the monster that keeps attacking the ferries, is set at a distance, so that the monster is a bunch of barely differentiated tentacles, and Wade's just a red splotch. I guess to focus the eye on the damaged ferry in the foreground, but considering it's a grey and black object, the eye ends up drawn to Wade or his extremely large voice balloon in the white space next to the panel.

I do really like the crown Bachalo gave him, which looks like Wade stole it from King Koopa. Or King Deedee. Or maybe that evil crocodile guy from Donkey Kong Country. Hmm, I'm starting to think Nintendo might be opposed to monarchies. Either way, Wade wears it at a jaunty angle, and I love it.

Also, we're apparently back to Deadpool not wanting to take his mask off around people. He lifts it to nose level a couple of times, but otherwise, it stays all the way on. He'd gotten more comfortable about it during the Duggan run, or even Cable/Deadpool, but I guess he backslid.

What I Bought 10/12/2019 - Part 1

I am sort of doing Sketchtober this year. No theme, other than trying to draw some stuff I've had in mind for some time. And pretty much just drawing when I feel like it. Which, granted, means I'd only done 5 pieces as of last Saturday. I'll try to pick it up in the second half of the month, I guess.

Magnificent Ms. Marvel #8, by Saladin Ahmed (writer), Joey Vazquez and Alex Arizmendi (artists), Ian Herring (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - That's not a good place for Kamala to be.

Kamala, Nakia, and Zoe are brought to the Rubicon factories, to meet the boss, who tells people to call him Uncle Brett. Kamala's suit gets her free of some shackles, but they have to run when it turns out "Brett" has some sort of contact-based mind control powers. Actually, he's some sort of monster. Lots of faces and eyes. If he had more teeth I'd say he could have come out of John Carpenter's The Thing. He tries to absorb Kamala, but she's been watching some DragonBall Z and flares her ki aura to blast him apart. Or maybe she grows really fast? Not at all clear on what exactly she did, but neither was Brett, so maybe that's by design. Something is going on with the new suit that Kamala's not clear on, because she almost crushed Josh. Oh no, she almost crushed the whiny baby, how awful, he said in the flattest, least sympathetic tone you can imagine.

Not a lot of fighting zombies in this story I had the impression was going to be about fighting zombies. That said, watching Kamala kick the crap out of Discord and Lockdown with relatively little difficulty was fun. Especially while they're trying to talk trash and/or complain about how their current status is her fault, as opposed to them being fascist losers. Ahmed's really expanding the ways Kamala can use her powers, since she pulls out the old "make your arm into a slingshot" bit Reed Richards uses sometimes. I guess it ties into the idea of her powers evolving, the way she used to be able to change her appearance.

The art shifts from Vazquez to Arizmendi in the last 5 pages, right as Brett shows his true form. Arizmendi's style is a bit simpler than Vazquez's so all the additional faces on Brett's body look less like anguished souls in torment, and more almost silly. It still works, although I thought being enveloped looked more gross than terrifying. I guess it would be both either way, although the space inside Brett just ends up looking like some purple void with bluish goo floating in it. I do like the increasing size of the panels as you move down the page and everything closes in on Kamala before she's able to break free.

My favorite panel is Kamala punching Lockdown in the face and telling her to shut it. Doesn't seem like it knocked Lockdown very far away, though. She was maybe a step or two in front of Josh before the punch, and she's still about even with him after, and already shooting at Kamala. I guess her suit was built to handle Kamala and her powers.

Anyway, I think I'm done with this book. Even the stuff I like comes with qualifiers.

Gwenpool Strikes Back #3, by Leah Williams (writer), David Baldeon (artist), Jesus Arbutov (color artist), Joe Carmagna (letterer) - I like that Williams at least references in-story that Dodson plays up Gwen's chest more than Baldeon (or any other artist I can remember) does. Might as well use it.

Gwen escapes from Sue and Reed by terrifying David Baldeon while he's drawing the page so his coffee spills into the panel and soaks them. Wade thanks himself for giving her a sales boost, and then leaves. Apparently he's not mad about her unmasking Spider-Man any more. Or he forgot about it already. Gwen reads her sales figures and learns readers prefer her to be evil. Says who? So, she lures a bunch fo heroes to an island under some fake "kid's dying wish is to see heroes play beach volleyball" plan, then reveals they're all going to have to fight for their lives so she can prove she's a real threat. Or something. Then she shoots Bruce Banner in the head. He comes back of course, since that's his shtick, but he winds up as Gwen's opponent. Which she didn't plan for I guess? Whoops.

I laughed a lot. Gwen charging right through her speech balloon to escape Wade. Her use of her retcon power to both capture Banner and make sure there's a cash prize. Tony taking advantage of the rules to punch Steve Rogers in the face, only to have the "I forfeit" bit not save him in time. Although Baldeon kind of fucked it up, since Steve is clearing throwing a left jab in the first panel, but connects with a right cross in the next. Unless Steve was able to hit him twice before it kicked in. That doesn't seem likely. Reed Richards with a stretched out face and wet hair is kinda weird looking. Like a sad, shaggy dog. Sue looks more like cat, extremely pissed off about this indignity. Squirrel Girl asking to leave because Gwen won't look good if she loses to her.

I don't really agree that Gwen's better when she's bad. "Wild card" is much more interesting, and can be used in a lot of different ways. Versatility is key! It's why Ben Grimm and Spider-Man were both able to sustain team-up books for so long. You can plug them into almost any situation, deep space, street crime, weird magic crap, and they can fit. Also because they were already extremely popular characters. Doom's a great character because he has just enough nobility to be unpredictable. And that's kind of what Gwen's doing here, a little. She's doing anything she can to survive, but she isn't thinking ahead about any of it, so the consequences are getting away from her. Granted that most of it is leaning towards bad - unmasking Spidey, pissing off Deadpool, pissing off the Hulk - but it wouldn't always have to go that route.

Who knows, maybe Gwen will do something good to fix all this stuff at the end? Or at least try to fix all this stuff. I wouldn't put good odds on her getting it right, as opposed to fouling things up.

What I Bought 9/13/2019 - Part 1

Last Friday, after I picked up some comics, and while I was waiting for my dad (who was very late, naturally) to get back from running errands, I had the random urge to see how fast I could run. So without stretching first, I sprinted, and then I felt a pop in my hamstring and I ate it on the pavement. This is why I should stick to distance running.

Anyway, here's two comics from last week.

Gwenpool Strikes Back #2, by Leah Williams (writer), David Baldeon (artist), Jesus Arbutov (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - I still don't think I've adjusted to Reed Richards with a beard. It looks strange.

Gwen enlists Deadpool's help to, I'm not sure actually. Her powers get her into the Fantastic Four's basement, and Wade is either trying to convince her that her idea to seduce a member of the FF for a cover image is a bad idea, or giving her the go-ahead to try it. I'm a little unsure which. Either way, she ends up in Reed's arms and Sue's wedding dress right as Sue walks in. Attempts to escape and/or fight don't go well, as Wade is being unusually stupid and/or random today, and they end up trapped inside a big bubble of Reed Richards. Where Gwen makes the mistake of mentioning she kind of unmasked Spider-Man last issue, and Wade decides to kill her.

Williams writes Wade as being a bit too silly all the time here. Like, if he's going to try to use fruit snacks against the Thing, it would be by offering them as a distraction or peace offering, not literally hitting in the chest with them. Unless it was a giant novelty weapon filled with them, I guess. He asks Gwen at one point whether she wants him to be the voice of reason or the agent of chaos here, and she says the former, but that doesn't seem like what he's doing. Unless he's trying to make a larger point about the viability of her getting an increased role in the Marvel Universe as someone who just shows up to cause mayhem with hijinks. Which is more Mr. Mxyspltz than Deadpool, but people do use Wade that way.

I do like that the FF seem more annoyed and perplexed by this than anything. Well, Sue gets a little angry when Gwen mentions Sue did make out or cuddle or something with Dr. Doom at some point. I don't understand the thing she does with her hands, which Wade did earlier when he thought she let slip she has a boyfriend. But otherwise, they're really just kind of confused by this. Although why they think the police can handle Deadpool I don't know. So Baldeon conveys that well, because none of the FF seem to be fighting particularly hard or intensely. Ben refuses to even get involved, which is a great reaction scene, even if the whole fruit snack thing is dumb. Once they capture them, they sit there and wait for the police to arrive while Gwen and Wade chat with each other in the big flesh cocoon Reed's got them in.

Black Cat #4, by Jed MacKay (writer), Travel Foreman (artist), Brian Reber (color artist), Ferran Delgado (letterer) - Wow, Johnny looks like such a tool there in the upper right. What a doofus.

So Black Fox' big plan is to steal all the accumulated wealth the New York Thieves' Guild take as a cut of everyone's jobs. But they store it in some pocket dimension, and to get in, they needed that deed to Manhattan and a book that Reed Richards has. And she's going to do this by contacting Johnny and flirting her way in, basically. I assume the Mad Thinker and the Wizard are kicking themselves for not coming up with this plan themselves. The idea is Felicia's guys pretend to be dilvering food she ordered, and she hands off the book while paying. Except someone posted a picture of her visiting Johnny on social media, and that security guy Sonny shows up and barges in. Felicia's guys chase him in to subdue him, Johnny shows up confused, and then Blastaar forces his way in through the Negative Zone portal. Felicia's bad luck powers are working on overdrive today.

I know I said this either last issue or the issue before, but this is what I want from a Black Cat book. Her stealing stuff, but taking advantage of the fact she's in the Marvel Universe, so the stuff she steals can be bizarre, and the problems she faces even more so. And MacKay is bringing in stuff from Immortal Iron Fist here, which is A-OK with me.

Plus there are a lot of little bits in here that liven things up. Johnny insisting on showing off the Fantasticar, which he designed and built, thank you. Korpse being a Jim Hammond fanboy and insisting Johnny has no right to call himself the Human Torch. Korpse gives Foreman the chance to draw some great demented expressions. That dude is intense. And it looks like the Black Fox is probably in some trouble with Dracula for ripping him off that one time. Which is a problem you face when you rip off someone who is theoretically immortal.

I like family photo on the wall of Reed playing the saxophone badly, based on Franklin's reaction. I knew Reed couldn't carry a tune. Also, I want to know which foe of the FF they confiscated the "Acme Mine Detector" from. Probably the Impossible Man. Felicia keeping the book hidden behind her back all through the last few pages of the issue, because Johnny's standing right there. I'm curious if she'll have to maintain that all through next issue, or if she'll be able to pass it to her associates. And if we'll get to see that when it happens, or if it'll happen between panels and we just hear about it after the fact.

What I Bought 8/16/2019 - Part 1

I didn't mention it last week, but we officially reached 4500 posts with Sunday Splash Page #74. It snuck up on me, since I stopped really paying attention to my total posts some time in the last few years. I figured now would be as good a time as any to mention it.

We're looking at some books from the first two weeks of August today. The first issue of a mini-series, and a one-shot I took a chance on.

Gwenpool Strikes Back #1, by Leah Williams (writer), David Baldeon (artist), Jesus Arbutov (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - For a second, I thought the expression on Peter's face in the smartphone did not match his actual expression, but I think it's that it's close up, so some more details are visible.

Gwenpool is not actually trying to ruin heroes' lives to keep herself from fading from existence. She is, however, trying to get a superpower that is easier for writers and artists to represent in team books and guest appearances than her current ability to jump into the space between panels. I don't know, I feel like you should be able to work with that. You just play it as confusing the hell out of whoever she teams up with, as she vanishes, then reappears abruptly with something useful.

Setting that aside, Gwen hopes Spider-Man can give powers via radiation, but only succeeds in accidentally unmasking him in front of a bunch of bank customers she took hostage. That puts Spidey in a mood, and he leaves her webbed up, until a cancer ridden version of herself shows up to free her, and sends Gwen on a trip outside the pages to find Radioactive Man and get. . . something from him. Cancer most likely. Not helping disprove all those people who think you're Girl Deadpool, Gwen.

Baldeon's work is loose and expressive enough for Gwen and her hijinks. The weird baggy sweatpants and hoodie look over her regular costume. The 9-panel grid page where Gwen explains her current status feels clunky, but all of Gwen's gestures and twitches make me think of a person giving a presentation who is really uncomfortable with public speaking and can't keep herself still. With Gwen it might just be a matter of struggling to keep still, period. And I like the version of the "gutters" we get as everything is on the verge of ending for her.

Sensational Spider-Man: Self-Improvement, by Peter David (writer), Randy Schueller (plot), Rick Leonardi (penciler), Victor Olazaba (inker), Rachelle Rosenberg (colorist), plus Tom DeFalco (writer), Ron Frenz (writer/penciler), Sal Buscema (inker), Chris Sotomayor (colorist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - The costume inside isn't actually black-and-white. It looks more like a precursor to Spider-Man 2099's costume. Which wouldn't be a huge surprise, with David and Leonardi involved.

Peter's costume (and his back) get trashed fighting Firebrand, so Reed Richards whips him up a new, unstable molecule costume, with upgraded webshooters, which Spidey can barely control. Oh, and the web pits act as glider wings. Peter almost causes a helicopter crash, then barely manages to corral Firebrand before he kills his ex-wife for swiping all his ill-gotten loot. Plus, Firebrand's daughter is scared of Spidey in a black costume, so he mails it back to Reed.

Well, I'm not ever a fan of Peter getting new outfits from other people, so that's a strike there. Especially since Reed's apparently Neil Degrasse Tyson now, as he criticizes Spidey for calling the costume awesome, when that should be reserved for something like the Grand Canyon. Christ, Richards, could you try to not be a complete cock for two seconds?

Also, this is not some of Leonardi's better work. He needs a strong inker, and Olazaba's hit or miss here. There are panels in here where Reed's facial features are barely defined shadows. Like Puppet Master was making a clay duplicate but got bored halfway through. They did a lot better on the climax, with Firebrand's ex and Rita, the little girl. So maybe they just figured nobody cares about Mr. Fantastic and focused their efforts accordingly.

There's also a backup story by DeFalco, Frenz, and Buscema, where Peter tracks down some guys who killed an old many because his nephew wouldn't help them rob a warehouse. The kid did the responsible thing, but it didn't exactly work out, and Peter wonders if that's because the kid had no power. Kind of a bummer, especially when he doesn't give the kid an answer about whether the guilt of losing someone ever goes away. But I guess he couldn't say it does, since his over Uncle Ben hasn't, even if I subscribe to the idea Peter likes helping people and being Spider-Man, and it isn't only a guilt thing.

Frenz and Buscema on art looks pretty much like it always does, which is either good or bad, depending on your preference. Buscema's inks really make it feel like his art work, but I think Frenz' pencils help a lot. Either that or Buscema's going with softer inks than when he was on Spectacular Spider-Man back in the day. I always found his stuff back then a little too, sharp maybe. All the lines on faces were thin and stark and made everyone look kind of old and a little unpleasant (plus he gave Mary Jane what I assume was a beauty mark on her cheek that I thought was a mole every time I saw it). Which isn't the case here, or on their collaborations on Spider-Girl over the years.