What I Bought 10/31/2013 - Part 1

Some of that driving in the rain I mentioned not enjoying was to get comics. I was kind of hoping for a better haul than 6 books again, but Atomic Robo Savage Sword of Dr. Dinosaur still didn't show up, and neither did that double-sized issue of Captain Marvel. Also, my comic guy didn't pull October's issue of Captain America for me, but seeing as I was dropping the book anyway, I don't mind that in the least. I didn't even notice until several hours later, when I had some time to read them.

Avengers Arena #16, by Dennis Hopeless (writer), Karl Moline (penciler), Mark Pennington w/Rick Magyar and Karl Moline (inkers), Jean-Francois Beaulieu (colorist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - I don't know what to make of all those inker credits. Also, Francisco Francavilla is good at designing covers, in case you hadn't heard. Using the outline of the raygun to frame the image of Cammi against that slightly off-white background helps it pop, even though the colors aren't really strong. Well, the blue near the bottom is a bit, but I wouldn't describe the colors as intense. But it works for the movie poster feel of it.

And here's what Arcade's been waiting for. Aiden's taking out his grief over Nara on Cullen, who is letting him. So Cammi steps in. But then Nico decides she and Chase should just kill everyone else, so she goes after Cullen, Chase knocks Reptil into the path of an enraged Aiden, and Cammi's left to deal with Chasehawk. Oh, and X-23 is still trying to disembowel Hazmat. The one flaw in Nico's plan is that Arcade said there could only be one, so even if she and Chase win out, one still has to kill the other. I'm pretty sure she remembers that - and that Chase isn't thinking of it all, thinking not being a strong suit of his - but I can't decide if she'd kill him, or force him to finish her.

Arcade's loving all this, which unfortunately means Tim/Katy and Deathlocket can't engage their plan to access his systems and save the day. Deathlocket starts engineering diversions, Katy starts hacking, and then they realize they underestimated Arcade. They can't get in his systems, and he's already disarmed Deathlocket. Yeah, it's kind of a pun, but it's also an entirely appropriate description. One bit of good news is that Arcade's powers don't work so well down in the subsystems area. Maybe there isn't as much environment to control, I don't know. The other bit of good news is Deathlocket freed Chris Powell. Still no Darkhawk amulet, but he's got a lot more experience at this than any of those kids. So it's a question of whether they can stop Arcade before the other kids waste each other. Can't say I'll mind if Cammi shoots Chase's face off. He's always been such a complete dumbass it's hard for me to care.

The art is a bit of a mixed bag, not surprising with three people handling inking. Means I don't know who to credit for the good work at the bottom of page 18 and all of 19. I thought the shading there was a lot more expertly done, conveyed a little more subtlety overall. Mostly though, the figure work is rough. Exaggerated lips, eyes you can't really see, Katy's face varies so much there were times I wasn't sure there wasn't a third sibling we hadn't heard about emerging. The layouts are well done. Page 3, Cammi blasts Aiden upwards and out panel 2, into the background of panel 3, where we see Nico make her decision. As she and Chase make their move, the view moves in closer, over their shoulder as they look at Reptil, and some of the energy that surrounds Chase when he activates the Darkhawk amulet is present in that panel, bleeding over from the one below it where he's wearing the armor and flattening Reptil. There's a few other pages like that.

Now we're all set for the big finale, just two issues to go.