Friday, May 20, 2016

What I Bought 5/10/2016 - Part 5

This has been a pretty good set of books overall, last Friday's hiccup aside. Even the ones I haven't loved had some good parts to them.

Patsy Walker, aka Hellcat #5, by Kate Leth (writer), Brittney L. Williams (artist), Megan Wilson (color artist), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - Does Jennifer crank her seat really low so she doesn't tower over people at her desk? I don't think she'd want to intimidate everyone, but she also enjoys being really tall.

Casiolena's plan, such as it was, falls apart in the face of Jennifer explaining to one of the henchpeople that magic probably can't fix his credit score, and when confronted with that reality, all the confused young folk with powers stop their rampaging. Even Casiolena's manservant was fed up with her, and tips Patsy's friends off to her location. The day is saved, not that it was in a terribly huge amount of danger. However, Patsy did not make it to her meeting with Hedy to settle this whole issue, and now Hedy's hired Jessica Jones to dig up dirt on Patsy. It seems to me that as a long-time friend/rival, Hedy would already know plenty of dirt (marrying the Son of Satan would seem like a big one), but maybe she wants the ind of dirt that doesn't spoil the marketability of Patsy's image? Not sure what can do that and still qualify as dirt.

That panel of Odin tiredly waving his hand "buh-bye" at Casiolena while she gets banished makes me smile. Though I always picture Odin really getting into it when he banishes someone, but maybe it was time for Odinsleep. I disappointed we didn't get to see more of the disaffected youth with powers, since some of them had pretty cool designs, but if they sign up with Patsy's temp agency, maybe they'll become recurring characters. I gotta say, the people in Leth's version of the Marvel U. are pretty reasonable. Once they recognize there's nothing to gain out of wreaking havoc, they stop. It's not a productive path, so why continue? Damage for the sake of it isn't a worthwhile pursuit.

It's too bad Casiolena didn't bring her dragons with her from Asgard. I'd have enjoyed seeing a few veteran superheroes lead a bunch of rookies in a battle against a sorceress and her dragons. And I'd be curious how Williams would draw dragons.

Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #7, by Ryan North (writer), Erica Henderson (artist), Joey Ellis (trading card artist), Rico Renzi with Henderson (color artists), Travis Lanham (letterer and production) - I'm impressed by the Swarm's dental hygiene. Those are some sparkling white teeth he's got. Can bees clean teeth?

OK, it's a Choose Your Adventure book, hosted by Galactus, where we, as Squirrel Girl, must save the from the Swarm, because he made sure to attack when all the other heroes he knew of were occupied. Which didn't include Koi Boi, so team-up. So you makes choices, most of which end in death or failure, though the failed choices usually offer the chance to backtrack to try a different path. I was disappointed Doreen was not able to use the "intense calculus studying" path to achieve victory. She's always adopting computer science stuff to help save the day. Math can also be useful, or so all my math teachers told me. They may have been lying.

Anyway, it's a decent enough issue. Not one of my favorites, but I did appreciate the creativity in how they defeated the Swarm. And how he thwarted her attempts to talk him out of killing all humans. Though, how can a guy made of bees hear? Can bees actually understand human languages? The Swarm shifts from looking fairly ominous, especially when his face is in shadow from his hood, with just the teeth and eye holes glowing, to looking like a goof, yelling "Lalalalala I can't hear you!"  Also, the disdainful look he gives them when they try to use smoke to defeat him. Although some of those squirrels looked kind of off-model. Chompsky's ears seemed unusually long.

Galactus in a dinner jacket was a nice touch, the the fact it looks like a short bathrobe made me think he wasn't wearing pants for some reason. He clearly is, the same purple pants he always wears. Although he's more of a force of nature in a form comprehensible to humans, so the pants are really an illusion, right?

2 comments:

SallyP said...

I do just these two particular books to death. Galactus as a slightly pompous narrator always works! And it was nice to see Koi Boy have a chance to shine,

And Patsy is just... fabulous.

CalvinPitt said...

I appreciate Patsy's commitment to kicking people. Why waste time punching or scratching them with claws when you can just boot them upside the face?