What I Bought 12/4/08

Secret Invasion is finally over! *crowd cheers wildly* Let The Dark Reign fall over the land like a cloud of pollen on a group of highly allergic picnikers! *Crowd murmurs uncertainly*

Yeah, I used that joke when Civil War ended, but I enjoy it so. In other news, I didn't pick up Sgt. Rock this week. I might check back in next month, see if I like it more then. I did grab Terra #3, and the first 2 issues that were sitting on the racks, because what the hell, right? Civilizations deep in the bowels of the earth, which means I get to use the phrase "bowels of the earth"! Good times. Still, I'm going to wait on reviewing that until the last issue comes out, since that's only two weeks from now. So what's left?

Immortal Iron Fist #20 - "The Mortal Iron Fist" draws to a conclusion, and well, it fell a bit flat. SPOILER! Danny doesn't die, but I doubt you're surprised by that. We learn that the Ch'i-Lin is connected to the 8th city that Xao mentioned. I'm not sure how I feel. It works with a general theme of the title, where things that happen to Danny Rand that appear unconnected, are actually related, usually going back decades, maybe centuries. On the other hand, a little bit of purely random stuff hitting Danny could be a nice change of pace.

I have certain issues with the resolution of the battle. I don't buy the reason he was able to triumph, at least not the immediate reason that he gives for his sudden success in battle against Zhou Cheng. Danny wins because he fights like an angry kid, against someone who kills people of incredible martial arts skill with ease. I'll get into that more at a later date, I think, once I order my thoughts a bit.

I'm still trying to get comfortable with Travel Foreman's art. It seems as though too many of the panels from the fight scenes are done in a vague sense, where things in panel are unclear. Maybe that's a byproduct of the coloring, which is heavy on shadows because the battle takes place at night in Danny's dojo, which doesn't seem to have any lights. Either way, there are some panels where I can't tell what's going on (including one where Zhou did something to Luke, possibly jabbed a pressure point, all I can tell is Luke looks like he's in pain, and his foe is pointing/jabbing towards his neck). He also keep characters at a distance, when a close-up might be better, such as when Luke asks why the Immortal Weapons look so disheveled. You can see Bride of Spiders' hair is mussed, but a closer look might reveal the damage more clearly. Also, there is a lot of wasted space, panels set on a white background, with a lot space between them and around the edges. I'm not sure if there's a reason why Foreman went that route, but it seems that using that space might provide more room for details in the art.

So the arc was good, and I want to know about this 8th City, and why none of the Immortal Weapons knew about it, but the resolution just didn't work for me. Oh well, next issue brings us Robo-Fat Cobra. Who can resist that?