What I Bought 4/19/2016 - Part 2

One thing I forgot to mention from Cape-Con. I stopped at Brian Rhodes' - creator of Mike and the Ninja - table, and bought a collection of ink drawings he did as part of something called Inktober. Which was pretty cool, but he also mentioned he had a new comic coming out later things year, Six Legs, No Heart, so I'm excited for that.

Deadpool #9, by Gerry Duggan (writer), Matteo Lollia (artist), Ruth Redmond (colorist), Joe Sabino (letterer) - Again, I bought a variant cover, in this case Scott Koblish's cover, which is a continuing comic in itself of Deadpool's adventures with a sentient UPC-PO cover code. This month, Wade got shot in the Deadpals by the Rawhide Kid, because Wade's life is pretty awful.

Somehow, considering Wade had his boot on Creed's head and sword back, he failed to kill Sabretooth. They fight a bit, Wade gets disemboweled in front of a busload of kids (great set of reactions from Lolli. Love the two kids high-fiving), Sabretooth shoves him in the way of a passing car, then goes to a crappy bar to wait for Wade. Because Sabretooth thinks it might be better for him to take the blame for killing Wade's parents. I agree, mostly because I'm hoping taking the blame will involve Sabretooth dying.

There's really not much to the issue. The gag about Wade trying to be a good role model in front of aforementioned bus full of kids is probably the high point. There's some stuff about Creed having an abusive dad, which is why he liked Butler's idea of having Deadpool kill his own parents, which, I don't care. There's also a bit where Magneto shows up and gives Sabretooth crap for caring about Deadpool, who is beneath them according to Mags. Nice of Erik to conveniently ignore how much higher his body count is than Wade's. I haven't forgotten that time you hit the entire planet with an EMP, killing how many people as airplanes fell from the sky and hospital generators failed (Claremont and Jim Lee's last story together)? I'm sure Magneto would justify those actions somehow or the other, but it'd be bullcrap. You know it, I know it, and to Sabretooth's credit, he knows it and tells Magneto they're both more like Deadpool than they'd care to admit. We aren't supposed to agree with Magneto, but it still bugs me he cops that attitude.

That one thing that got me riled aside, it's a dull middle chapter of a story which is ultimately not likely to produce a satisfying result for me. It's interesting, but something about how Lolli draws Magneto, he almost looks like a different artist drew him. As though he doesn't even belong in this book. Bit of a Jamie McKelvie vibe, which isn't who Lolli's art normally makes me think of. It might be Redmond's colors, there's a shininess to Erik's outfit that reminds me of McKelvie's work, even though that'd be someone else's colors? Mike Norton? Or is Redmond McKelvie's colorist too? Maybe Magneto just looks out of place because he's not bleeding and torn up like Sabretooth and Deadpool.

Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #6, by Ryan North (writer), Erica Henderson (artist), Chip Zdarsky (writer/trading card artist), Joe Quinones (van art artist), Rico Renzi (color artist), Travis Lanham (letterer and production) - Again I went with a variant, I think Kamome Shirahama's. It wasn't cheaper or anything, I just liked it better. The Squirrel Girl-shaped Kool-Aid Man hole in the wall was pretty cool.

Set sometime before the time jump that happened before/after Secret Wars ('cause Hickman did a time jump in his books, but everyone else did a time jump after it was over, and I don't know it it's the same time jump or a second one). Anyway, months ago, Howard tried stealing Mew, because he was hired to retrieve a cat, and can't tell cats apart. Doreen stops him easily, then Kraven the Hunter shows up, grabs Squirrel Girl by the tail and hurls her into the air, and abducks Howard. I misspelled that intentionally.

Kraven is payin' the bills by kidnapping intelligent animals for a nutso cosplayer named Shannon Sugarbaker, who wants to hunt them for sport. She also is the one who took the cat Howard's looking for, and turned it into one of those cyborg animals from that one series Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely did. We3? I assume that's what they're referencing, maybe it's just a coincidence. Doreen has tracked them, but even having beaten Doombots, she's not match for Shannon's functional superhero dress-up garb. So now she's prey as well, and so is Kraven.

I like Henderson's Howard better than Brittney Williams. The beak looks better. I like the parallel panels on pages 14-16. Doreen up top, fighting Doombots that are imitating Spider-Man enemies. Below, Shannon leads Howard past her other prisoners down in the basement, until at the end, Doreen smashes the bots right through the floor and into the other set of panels. Can't believe Doreen stood there and let Howard draw all over her Deadpool's Guide to Super-Villains card for Howard. Now she doesn't have a mint condition set! Truly Howard the Duck is Marvel's greatest villain. Which is why Squirrel Girl needs to fight him. He's the only one left after you beat Dr. Doom and Galactus.

I was unsure if I was going to bother to get the Howard the Duck issue, since I kind of resent these attempts to make me buy books I don't normally buy. But this was enjoyable enough I want to see how it ends, so I will get the other half. Plus, I'm curious to see how they work Erica Henderson into that issue. Quinones got to draw Kraven's airbrushed van, Henderson's going to have to come up with something pretty great to match that in terms of scarring my brain.