What I Bought 11/19/08

Have returned home. Home not destroyed. This is good. Very tired of driving, though. Too many other people on the road. How dare these other people decide they need motor vehicles to get to places when I'm driving? And that's roughly as much false outrage as I can spare. So, reviews then?

Batman & the Outsiders #13 - And Batman RIP continues! I'll be glad when it's all over and done with, and we can see the results. Well, I may not be glad when it's over, but I'll be annoyed for a different reason, at least. Currently, annoyance stems from the disruption to the story the title was telling prior to all this. After, the annoyance would relate to the changes imposed on the book as a result of the status quo post-RIP, which I would be disagreeing with for some reason or the other. {Note: I'm not saying I absolutely will disagree, just that is likely to be the source of annoyance, if I feel any. I'm not in the mood to get accused of preemptively bashing the result.}

Batgirl is the only actual Outsider who appears in this issue. She's trying to get people together to replace Batman, piecemeal-style. Not a bad idea, though a bit impractical. What are these people supposed to do when they aren't needed, sit and wait by the phone? If they don't, they might be otherwise occupied when she calls on them. Also, Nightwing is planning to have a talk next month with Batgirl about her plan. By talk, I mean fight, naturally. Which, given Cassandra's history, probably isn't a bad idea. More effective than words, I'd imagine.

Tieri, as he is wont to do, includes in the issue things I'm reasonably certain relate to the Gotham Underground mini-series he wrote earlier this year. I'm not terribly interested in that, but at least he provided enough information I was able to follow what's going on, more or less. We have a new artist, a Fernando Dagnino. His work is more reminiscent to me of Lopez and Rodriguez' than it is of Benjamin's, larger because the linework is smoother. Which isn't to say I'm hugely enamored of it. There are some poses that seem unnecessary. I can't even really describe them, it simply looks painful, overly exaggerated facial expressions (I can't figure why Langstrom looks so scared in the very first panel, given he's choosing to go where he is), and some other inconsistencies (Man-Bat's wings change length from panel to panel, I guess substituting for not having Batman and his cape around).

This title really feels like it's lost its way, at least partially because of all the tiptoeing around the conclusion to RIP they have to do until it actually, you know, ends. Color me dissatisfied.

Deadpool #4 - Well, Wade builds himself a chair out of C-4, so that's something. And he takes a job to recover an old, um ally's? Coworker's? Associate's? wife from a plastic surgeon that turns his patients into zombies. Naturally, things appear to have gone awry for Wade, but I have a hunch he's outsmarted his foe again. Or been underestimated. Could go either way.

Random bit I like: When rescued by other mercs, Wade points out he could have escaped himself, and not killed anyone who wasn't a zombie (the other mercs killed cops). This is good. He's retained some concern for other's lives. Of course, he proceeds to kill those same mercs so, not all flowers and fluffy bunnies. There's two artists on this issue, and I completely got them mixed up. Without looking at the credits, I thought Paco Medina did the first chunk of the story, and Carlos Barberi did the last few pages. Other way around. I credit the colorist, because Deadpool looks pretty similar with Bariberi drawing him as he does with Medina, when the mask is on, anyway. Though, Barberi's faces are a bit more, abstracted, than Medina's, and his "Pool-O-Vision" moment lacks a little pop. I have to remember to read interior credits more closely. Still cautiously optimistic for this book.

Moon Knight #24 - Given the direction the fist is coming from, shouldn't those teeth be fliying in a different direction? I've never punched someone hard enough to dislodge their teeth, so I can't say myself. Meanwhile, Moon Knight survives another confrontation with the Tunderbolts, this one owing to the intervention of SHIELD, who still want to capture Marc, rather than exterminate him. This is starting to remind me of the old Spider-Man vs. Venom fights, where Spidey would survive/prevail due to outside intervention (cops, Styx and Stone - hey, what happened to those guys?) The whole messup makes SHIELD look bad, which I imagine is tying into this whole Dark Reign thing I keep hearing mentioned. I don't have any idea what it is (Haven't cared enough to look it up), I just keep hearing people mention it. Norman Osborn needs to be stopped. Maybe one of those Novas that showed up last month could execute him, for the benefit of the universe.

I think Benson is being a bit too liberal with the potty mouth. Iron Man and Songbird cursing seemed unnecessary to me. Songbird being catty towards Moonstone, completely expected, but the language? Not so much. Is it me or does Mark Texeira make everyone look tall? I think he makes them look slim (especially their skulls), and that makes them seem taller. Or it's his preference for panels where we're looking up at the character. He used one of those with Norman Osborn that made him seem quite tall to my eyes. I'm conflicted as to his fight scenes. Some parts of it (the shot in outline of Moonie's knee connecting with Swordsman's face) are golden. Some parts don't really match up (early Venom is charging at Moon Knight. Next panel Venom appears to be past him in a narrow alley, as Moonie uses a whip to tangle Venom's legs from behind). I suppose he could be trusting us to bridge the gap, but given the location of the fight, it's a bit of a reach for me. So some good, some bad.

It is interesting to see all of Marc's allies drifting back to him now, and Marc even trying to patch things up with them. Is this temporary, or did Khonshu's blowing him off last issue tip some balance inside him?