What I Bought 12/18/08

So I made it to the store today, and they were out of Deadpool #5. Noooo! How odd, when I feel like Deadpool would have redeemed what felt like a lackluster week. It's a strange world.

Batman and the Outsiders #14 - Sigh. OK, Nightwing and Batgirl fight (related to stuff in the Batgirl mini-series, which I'm avoiding like the plague), after Batgirl has tried to recruit Riddler for her "Replace Batman by committee" strategy. Alfred arrives and chews them both out, they make peace, and there's something going on with the Suit of Sorrows and people getting whipped and worrying about worthiness.

I'm done with the title. Probably should have been done with it months ago, but I stuck around for Batgirl. She doesn't appear to be in the lineup after next month's shuffling, so away I go. Needed to free up a spot on the pull list for Agents of Atlas anyway. I don't really feel anything about this book, except perhaps a weariness. Riddler proclaiming he would find Batman was a bit curious, and the only part that really piqued my interest. I have nothing else to say about the issue.

Moon Knight #25 - So after having Bullseye on the last two covers, he and Moon Knight finally fight in this issue. Well, Moon Knight spends a lot of time running, while Bullseye keeps rambling about how he was excited to fight someone with a harder edge than the supers he usually tangles with, but Moon Knight keeps disappointing him by running. I would point out to Bullseye that those softer types he normally faces also kick his ass on a regular basis, even when he has a squad of heavily armed troops with him (see New Ways to Die), so perhaps he should shut his piehole. I guess he's just a moron. Lot of that going around the Marvel Universe these days. Anyway, Moon Knight appears to die, but he doesn't really die, and so he'll go from there.

I'm at a bit of a loss about certain aspects of this story. Early on, Marc has nobody, he's just by himself, even trying to forsake his usual attire. But as he goes along, Frenchie and Rob rejoin him, and even Marlene seems concerned. Except now he's left them behind again. And what good does faking his death do, since I can't imagine he'll actually stop fighting crime? Sooner or later, someone is going to notice what he's up to, and it'll start all over again. Maybe he figures he'll really be dead by the time that happens, who cares. Or maybe he figures he's has multiple personalities, so he's got at least one more he can sacrifice along the way. It felt as though either the build went too long, or the climax went by too quickly.

Terra #4 - I kind of like this tactic of releasing a mini-series on a biweekly or weekly (like the Punisher War Zone mini) basis. Probably helps keep interest, since it gets the next issue in their hands more quickly. So Faulkner, who has either been exposed to the blood of an "astronaut god" and can alter his molecular substance, finds the underground kingdom, and kind of starts wreaking havoc. Terra and Geo-Force stop him, Geo-Force says it's OK if Atlee calls herself Terra, and she asks Power Girl to be her friend. Because everyone needs friends. I'm not being sarcastic, I am totally serious about that.

I'm curious about Faulkner, because he's kind of odd. He's so excited to find this underground civilization, he keeps raving about its architecture, but he's (inadvertently?) destroying it. He's carrying what's left of his girlfriend/wife, who had a less successful dip in the astronaut god blood stuff, so I'm sure he's at least a little grief-stricken. Still, he demonstrates a dangerous curiosity. He can be charming, like when he tried to be friendly with the insect people he met in #3, but he also killed the defense department contacts he had been showing his super-awesome subterranean drill to. Granted, they were planning to throw him into a lab for dissection, but he's the one who pointed that out, and he didn't have any qualms about doing it.

It may be seen as a bad sign that I sound more interested in the villain (such as he is), than the hero, but Atlee is still a work in progress as a character. I do think it's amusing that Power Girl, who was the alien who didn't know about life on Earth once upon a time, now gets to teach someone else about life on Earth. Atlee does seem like a nice person, earnest, eager, and the heroes can always use more people with enthusiasm, right? With regards to the art, did it seem to anyone else as though Conner went with thinner lines in this issue? Especially in the latter half of the book, when Terra and Power Girl are hanging out, the linework really looked softer, like perhaps she just went with pencils, and no inks. It's just a vague sense I get from it.

So, that's it for this week's haul. Hopefully, the store will have more Deadpool's by next week, though I have to wait until Friday. Because people want to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas with their loved ones. Scandalous, I know.