What I Bought 1/26/2016 - Part 3

Last week I learned bison can be complete jerks to each other when one of them is injured. I had
expected a herd animal to show a little more solidarity and compassion, but no, if one is beat up, some of the others will probably continue to pick on it.

Ms. Marvel #3, by G. Willow Wilson (writer), Takeshi Miyazawa (artist), Ian Herring (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - I'll say this for Faustus: Whoever is in charge of his art division has talent, judging by that poster. Too bad they're probably being mind-controlled rather than properly paid.

Kamala's attempt to rescue Bruno is thwarted by Bruno, since he's mind-controlled into fighting her. She flees to Mike, since Bruno had mentioned Mike held the key to everything. Meaning a passkey he gave her with a flash drive inside that has his entire genetic code, because he thought that's be sweet. It's the thought that counts, right? Kamala and Mike use the school's 3-D printer to make the compound that'll reverse the nanotech's effect, free the residents of Jersey City, and stop Faustus. But Nakia has gone full Jackass Marvel U. Citizen and is leading an accusatory protest group against Ms. Marvel now. I would be more receptive of her suspicions if, again, she weren't acting like every other dumbass J. Jonah Jameson wannabe on the planet.

I like the little fizzy leg waggle Faustus is doing when he's getting fried by his own joy buzzer thing while he writhes on-stage. It's funny, and I don't really take him seriously as a villain anyway, so making him look like a buffoon is fine. Also, Kamala using her scarf as a belt/holster for the spray bottles. And Kamala making her feet a little bigger when she hops off the stage as a cushioning effect. And that when she does the tuck and roll into Mike's room, she bumps her lamp, and the next panel shows her gently catches it and sets it back in place (I think she's also making herself taller in that panel, but that might just be the angle?) Basically, Miyazawa continues to add a lot of little details and touches to his work that really enrich the reading experience.

The Mike/Ms. Marvel interactions were interesting. Granted that Mike doesn't know she's talking to Bruno's friend, the one she thinks hates her, but it's still a good conversation. They focus on the problem at hand, but each of them gets to hear a little bit of what's bothering the other, and it isn't slanted to make either of them out to really be the bad guy. Mike cares about Bruno, and has no ill-will towards Kamala, and Kamala's still just trying to adjust, and needed a chance to see things from another angle. But now she's got at least a portion of her neighbors against her, so we'll see how that goes. Her mother's reaction could be a real problem.

Patsy Walker, aka Hellcat #2, by Kate Leth (writer), Brittney L. Williams (artist), Megan Wilson (color artist), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - I need a fast food joint that serves brownies along with burgers and fries. No Hot Pocket-looking thing allegedly with apple pie inside for me!

Patsy tries working retail, because she's crazy. Well, because she was dead for awhile and that complicates background checks, but whatever. Her boss is a hassle, and people keep recognizing her, and some lady with a magic handbag stole stuff and attacked her, and then she got fired. And Hedy showed up, pretended she hadn't been dodging Patsy's calls, and basically acted like a complete ass. So Patsy called all her friends up so they could get burgers, and Valkyrie warned her Casiolena is back, which, that name is vaguely familiar to me. OK, Wikipedia says she's from really early Defenders history. I figured she was from circa Essential Defenders Volume 4, when the book was on the downslide, post-Steve Gerber, but no. Now I sort of remember her.

I'm a little confused by Hedy's personality here. I'm guessing this is more similar to her original appearances, but I'm accustomed to the Hedy we saw post-Patsy's Hawkeye-aided escape from Hell, where they actually seemed like good friends. Yeah, that was 15 years ago, but I thought it carried forward a ways after.

Anyway, this comic once again makes me happy that I've entirely avoided retail work up to this point in my life. It always seemed like a terrible fit for my personality, and that was confirmed here, since I don't think things were being exaggerated much for comedic effect. Other than the magical thief and the mall cops trying to arrest Patsy, only to be flummoxed by her ability to do flips ('Yeah, we can't do those!') I feel your pain, athletically limited mall cops.

I said this last issue, but Brittney L. Williams draws a great furious Patsy. The whole page after she sees Hedy's interview online, I just loved it. The hair going up, the sharp eyebrows, the extremely tall and thin pupils (with all the green missing, Megan Wilson's colors add a lot to the effect, too). And the whole DBZ power aura thing.

Also that sly look two pages later when she's quizzing Ian about just why he got all dressed up, that was good, too.

I'm very curious to see where this thing with Casiolena goes, in terms of what her plan is, and how she's going to be presented. So far, it's mostly been about Patsy trying to do regular, everyday things, but being kind of bad at it for various reasons. It just so happens to involve costumes, super-powers, and some kicking. So I'm wondering if this super-villain plot will be like that somehow - the evil sorceress trying to establish herself as a businesswoman because just having a magic castle and henchmen don't cut it no more - or if Leth and Williams will go more traditionally superhero with it, with world domination, or something similar at stake. If it's the latter, I'm interested to see how they do with it.