What I Bought 3/2/2012 - Part 1

Alright, new comics! Four weeks' worth of new comics! What do you mean that's only 7 comics? I used to have individual weeks with more titles than that. Sigh.

Angel & Faith #7 - I like that look of consternation on Angel's face. Or is that constipation? It's hard to tell with Angel, monoexpressionist as he typically is. Is there a significance to the apple, butterfly, and flowers Dru's holding? The apple makes me think of "poison apple", but I'm lost on the other two.

In story developments, Angel is rather unhappy to see Dru is controlling the Lorophage and letting it feed off the various people who come to her. She thinks she's helping, like Angel would, but the results are less certain. Unfortunately, he can't do anything about it, because she's not breaking any "rules" (and the Lorophage kicked his butt). Then he and Faith run into her dad, and Faith makes the mistake of welcoming the guy back into her life. Stupid Angel and his 'I don't smell alcohol on him.' Why don't you keep your stupid souled vampire mouth shut? While that disaster progresses, Dru has another meeting with Angel, tries to help him, and it turns out she knows more about his plan to resurrect Giles than Faith does. And that Angel's farther along on that than we might think.

Dru's very interesting in this form, because it's hard to divine her true motives. She could legitimately be trying to help people, like her "father". Or it could be a smokescreen, or simply a way to get some payback on Angel. She says she's past it, but can all trauma simply be sucked away never to trouble the person again? As for Faith and her dad, I guess it wouldn't have been much of a story if she'd simply turned him away and that was that. Guess we can wait and see how she'll handle being let down by a parental figure. Again.

I don't have much new to say about Rebekah Isaacs art. I do like how she draws Dru in the present as very calm, in control. Never flustered. I don't know if that's because of all the emotional trauma being gone, or because she's sane enough to control herself, but it goes well with how she's tugging at Angel's emotions so expertly.

Atomic Robo: Ghost of Station X #5 - Robo has made it to Hashima Island, which is not only where the signals the satellites are using to track him and his team are coming from, but also where that missing cottage wound up. Inside the cottage, Robo finds an artificial intelligence, which has had itself moved here as part of a longterm plan to leave Earth behind to explore and grow. However, since its craft's departure will release nuclear fallout sufficient to wipe out most life on Earth (but not Robo), A.L.A.N. found it necessary to try and kill Robo before Robo could survive the fallout, hunt it down, and kill it in revenge. Perfectly reasonable. Now that Robo's here, A.L.A.N. wants them to team up. That goes as well as one might expect, and Robo is ultimately left having to explain to various government agencies that no, he isn't a traitor. That much red tape might be enough to make him wish he'd taken the offer.

This meeting between Robo and A.L.A.N. was highly entertaining. It's interesting that Robo objects almost as strongly to the fact A.L.A.N. never considered using his perceptiveness to help avert humanity's approaching collapse, as he is that A.L.A.N.'s departure will kill most life on Earth. Says something about how Robo views himself and his responsibilities.

Wegener doesn't get to draw quite as much shooting and exploding as he had been, but he does get to draw a vast underground complex of pipes and conduits, plus Robo in combat with various repair arms and devices. Oh, and a very enthusiastic holographic representation of an automatic intelligence. A.L.A.N. with his arms spread wide and standing kind of lopsided during his sales pitch (like he's put all his nonexistent weight on one leg) was a nice touch. Also, the panel of sad Robo staring out at the sunset.