What I Bought 7/2/08

Random Note the First: I've got nothing against Brett Favre, but I'm getting sick of this "Is he retired or not?" stuff. Make up your mind, please! If you want to play, great. If not, also great. Just do something, 'cause I think Aaron Rodgers is about to lose his mind.

Random Note the Second: Spike TV was showing the Star Wars Episodes 1-3 yesterday. I noticed this when they were part way through Attack of the Clones, which really just inspired me to go read the novelization of Revenge of the Sith. I turned the TV back on part way through that one (about the time Kenobi's finishing off Grievous, which is where I was in the book at that point). I have to say, the book did a good job laying out Anakin's issues, and getting me to sympathize, until he started slaughtering kids. Then all bets were off. The movie? Not so much. Really wasn't getting a sense of inner conflict from Vader to be. Heck, I didn't even buy Vader's "Nooooooo!" at the end. Which reminded me of that Simpsons where Homer becomes the Mayor's bodyguard, and he's going through the training. He does the "dive in front of the bullet", and the instructor says, 'Your dive was good, but I didn't feel your "Noo!" You got to sell it! Your "NOOOO!" is what gets you your next job!' Maybe somebody should have told Skywalker to drop and give them 20. Worked with Homer.

Random Note the Third: Through some sort of screwup, Ken got almost none of his comics. He got statues, action figures, trades, but only maybe 1% of his single comics. Which sucks for him, and his customers, though everything is supposed to arrive tomorrow. On the plus side, he did get everything I wanted this week, so the shipping mistake didn't affect me at all. High five! Essential Defenders Volume 4 is in the building! No, I don't have Volumes 1-3, and no that doesn't really make much sense, but it was an impulse order, what do you want from me? I can get the others later.

Oh, there was one other comic, so I suppose I should review that.

Pasty Walker: Hellcat #1 - The premise is that I guess Patsy has been in reserve, but the Initiative is short-handed, so she active now, and she's going to Alaska, to be its only hero. I know Alaska doesn't have many people, but it does have a lot of natural resources, so you'd think it might be a little more important, but it is Iron Man making the decisions, so he's probably too busy wiping bugs off the eyeholes on his helmet to consider that. Ha, you thought I was going to make a booze joke, didn't you? Or it's a brilliant strategy to do some snooping without raising too many villainous suspicions, if we're being charitable. You decide! Patsy flies to Alaska, to the town of North Spirit, encounters unfriendly locals, and one local that's too friendly, gets a ride into the wilderness, and gets attacked by what appear to be polar bears with antlers(?!). Oh yeah, this is gonna be a weird book. If you're wondering, I'm grinning in anticipation of the next issue right now.

I was a bit disappointed when I read the solicitations that Stuart Immonen was only doing covers for this mini-series, not interiors. He was quite good on Ultimate X-Men, NextWave, what I saw of that recent Hellcat story in Marvel Comics Presents, and he really only suffered on Ultimate Spider-Man because I thought Mark Bagley fit that book so perfectly. That's hardly Mr. Immonen's fault, ya know? So yes, a little initial disappointment, but Mr. David LaFuente was a pleasant surprise. I will give this advisory: if you don't like art with what feels like a manga style (especially in how the hair falls over the eyes and how it's depicted), you will probably not be enamored of the art. It didn't bother me at all. It's bright, mostly cheery, with some nifty background details (her neighbor's reaction as Patsy changes clothes, and it's not the reaction you're thinking). There are some beautiful, if odd, panels, which are Patsy's imagination I believe, that are, fairy tale-ish is the best description I can provide. My piece of advice might have been to have some way of showing her psychic senses are detecting something. I missed her reasons for wanting to land where they did the first time, because I didn't realize what was being hinted at. That's probably on me, but some sort of "Spider sense" style flair might not hurt.

The cheery art seems to work well with Kathryn Immonen's Patsy Walker. Patsy is. . . flighty, but in an upbeat way. Her attention seems to wander, how concerned she is with maintaining a secret identity varies from page to page, and she likes to babble. She also doesn't lack for confidence, which is always a plus. The fictional character she most reminds me of is Anya, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (That's not a negative, since Anya was at least honest, and not so big on ducking responsibility for her mistakes as the core Scoobs, both of which were plusses, especially in the later seasons. I digress). Her mood can shift quickly, but it works because it keeps her from getting mopey or depressed. She does demonstrate those feelings, but they're gone as quickly as she notices something interesting. So maybe she's like the Tick: easily distracted by shiny things. Which isn't to say she's a goof or an idiot, just that she doesn't let bad situations faze her all that much. She seems determined to make the best of the situation, which is endearing.

To sum up, I really enjoyed this issue, and you should buy it. Please. Discuss your comics! Tomorrow, bright and early: the answers to the movie quote post!