What I Bought 6/21/2016 - Part 4

The last of this round of reviews. I have nothing substantive to add to this opening paragraph. Maybe I should ditch them entirely.

Henchgirl #8, by Kristen Gudsnuk - Old school Nintendo cartridge cover. Solid choice.

Mari's really getting into being evil since being injected with that serum. Fred is roped into fighting crime with a new hero called Celestial Angel Amelia (Sailor Moon-style character), who hooks him up with a shroud that heals his injuries, which causes Fred to become a little more reckless in his heroing. Mari finds out the two are hanging out and tries to beat Amelia up, only to fail miserably.

So the girl who didn't want to stay on her parents' farm was Amelia, not some previously introduced character I didn't recognize. Good. I hate when that happens, makes me feel I'm not paying attention. I'm guessing Mari is going to try and enlist the Butterfly Gang in helping get revenge on Amelia, assuming she doesn't interfere with one of their schemes first. I'm not sure what's going on with Coco. If Gudsnuk's having her experience regret for what she did to Mari now that they're friends, or if she's just getting tired of being evil. Also, Mari seems less effective when she's trying to be evil, rather than when she just went along with the schemes and tried to get them done in the manner least likely to hurt people. Probably because super-villains typically don't take the logical approach to committing crimes, with the costumes, and big explosions, and grabbing attention.

When Coco starts to tell her origin to Mari (before Mari gets distracted by finding a treasure chest behind the couch), it shifts to Coco standing in a spotlight, with leaves swirling around, and a dark background. Very melodramatic, which made it funny. Gudsnuk's good about using those sorts of cliches for jokes.

Roche Limit: Monadic #3, by Michael Moreci (writer), Kyle Charles (artist), Matt Battaglia (colorist), Ryan Ferrier (letterer), Tim Daniel (designer) - The upside-down sidewalk splitting to reveal the world all the characters are trapped in is a nice image. Solid work there, though I wonder about the use of the shade of purple around the lower edge, since that usually coincides with the aliens, but it's on the "normal" side of things.

Alex dies of his injuries, releasing the pink glowing orb that is his soul, which gives Sonya and her sister an idea. They approach both that doctor and the deceased Gracie's underlings and convince them they need to kill Moscow and replace his soul with Alex', which will fix things somehow. Which requires reaching the tower, and somehow killing Moscow despite his rapport with the aliens. So that won't be easy, especially since he sussed out their plan almost immediately. In the other plot thread, Sasha reached the city with her memory-created husband and child, and finds a way to contact Elbus' ship. Except Elbus and Colt are dead, because it's been who knows how long. But old Hello Danny the android is still alive, and he recalls what Elbus had figured out about a solution. He doesn't tell us, but I guess we'll find out next issue.

So my guess is either Sonya's plan or Sasha's won't work. the question is which one. Frankly, given the power Moscow has on his side, I would bet against him dying. But he's the closest thing to an actual physical incarnation of the threat at this point, so I'd sort of expect him to die, just so we get that moment of the villain being defeated. Or it could be one plan would defeat the aliens, whatever the means at this stage, and the other is the one that's going to keep all these people from dying when this simulation/dreamworld collapses.

Charles' artwork shifts so much in how detailed it is, even within a single issue. Some of the panels with Sonya's face in it during the meeting with Gracie's goons are extremely simplified, almost just some vague dots suggesting noses or eyes. And then other pages, he gets much more detailed, a lot more lines, eyes much more defined, her nose more prominent. It's likely he has a very simplified style, a more detailed one, and another somewhere in between, and which he's using doesn't necessarily seem to have much to do with what section of the book you're in (he doesn't necessarily go simpler as you get to the end, like I'd expect if he was rushing). It's frustrating, because I end up liking some of Charles' work, and then hating other parts of it in the same issue.