What I Bought 2/3/2010

UPS Guy was late again today, though he did make it before noon, that's something. He was short one box, so whoops? In other news, Store Owner Jack was watching Star Trek in the store today - again. It sounds like he watches it every couple of days, which if true, damn. I liked Star Trek too, but that's a bit much.

Nova #34 - Old Sphinx and Young Sphinx pit their catspaws against each other in single combat, first to three victories wins. The Good Guys win! Hooray! Hey Darkhawk, wait, what are you doing? No, don't give him that! Oh, that's right. Their winning still helps a bad guy.

That's the issue, a series of fight scenes, which is OK, but I had hoped for a free-for-all situation. The heroes triumph through teamwork or something similar. Maybe that's being saved for next month. Abnett and Lanning touch on the possible connection between the stones powering Young Sphinx' group and the Ka Stone, and the Darkhawk amulets may be part of that as well, but it's still a mystery how they plan to bring it all together. Mahmud Asrar is the penciler for the issue, and is certainly closer in style to Andrea DiVito than Kevin Sharpe was, so the shift isn't as noticeable. Asrar draws a nice Darkhawk, and the fight scenes are generally drawn well, though the faces have an indistinct quality at times. Maybe Scott Hanna's inks don't suit Asrar's style well?

The Question #37 - It was a small week, so I figured I'd try another one of these series back from the dead. Renee Montoya is hanging out with Vic Sage's old compatriot Aristotle Rodor when Lady Shiva shows up, ostensibly to test Montoya. So they fight until a Black Lantern ring seems to appear, and rebuild Sage's body out of three hairs. Turns out this is what Shiva was actually wanting, to fight a Black Lantern. Considering this is taking place at a seemingly remote lighthouse, I wonder if she wanted to fight Sage specifically, or if anyone would do. If it's the latter, I have to think there were easier ways to find a Black Lantern.

Anyway, our protagonists eventually realize they can't actually beat Vic, and Rodor won't get the info he'd like, they manage a stalemate of sorts. They aren't killed, but they didn't exactly stop Sage either. Still, it's at least a different solution from the standard "find source of light, destroy Black Lantern who said mean things to you" many of the stories seem to be. And it fits with the tone of the O'Neil/Cowan series, where there were rarely clean victories. People died, and the deeper problems persisted, but the Question was able to achieve small victories. There are two inkers for Cowan, Sienkiewicz and John Stanisci. I'm not sure who inked what, and I'm not a fan of the vertical squiggles in many of the panels. I understand it when they're outside and it's raining, but why does it persist when they're inside? It's in the way.

I am curious to see if the technique used in this issue comes up again in Blackest Night itself, since the usual formula doesn't seem to be enough for everyone. Not curious enough to buy Blackest Night, mind you, but enough to see if any bloggers mention it when they discuss it.

That's it for my reviews this week. How'd your comics treat you this week?