What I Bought 7/26/2016 - Part 2

We're going with the other two Marvel books. One is doing its best to incorporate changes the event is bringing to its supporting cast, the other is mostly taking a piss on the whole stupid thing. Which is truly the most noble act of all.

Deadpool #15, by Gerry Duggan (writer), Mike Hawthorne (penciler), Terry Pallot (inker), Jordie Bellaire (colorist), Joe Sabino (letterer) - I went with the Scott Koblish variant again. Wade kills Justice Peace and the rest of the Time Variance Authority, and makes the UGC code help him bury their corpses. Sorry, he lets the UGC code help bury the bodies. Big difference (according to Wade).

Wade breaks into Ultimates' HQ because he says he wants to kill Ulysses (he's narrating out loud on the assumption Ulysses can hear him in his visions), but since the kid didn't actually have a vision of Wade doing that, that must mean the kid is full of crap, right? Maybe. Wade is more interested if Ulysses saw anything about Wade's daughter, which he hadn't, so Wade starts to leave. And gets blocked by T'Challa, who behaves like a douche, and they fight. For really no reason. OK, Wade may have spoiled Game of Thrones, and he was leaving an upper-decker in their bathroom, but they were fighting before that happened. T'Challa even says Steve Rogers may have been brainwashed if he trusts Deadpool. Says the guy who was on a super-secret team with Namor and alcoholic butthole Tony Stark, that failed in its mission to save the universe, so cram it, T'Challa.

Also the Mercs have learned Wade has a safety deposit box in a bank in Jersey, and go there to burn their contracts so they can be their own team. But they suck at stealth, Ulysses saw them on a newsfeed, he told Wade before the fight started, and now Wade's going to try and kill them all. Unless that was Madcap, posing as Wade again. I don't believe it is, though.

The whole thing is a farce, but that's roughly how much respect I have for Civil War 2 myself, so that's fine. I really enjoyed the fight. Wade pretty much gets whooped anytime he tries to fight conventionally in it, but when he starts getting weird, he does better. The portion of the fight on pages 10 and 11 is very nice. Hawthorne does an excellent job of showing the progression of it, the back and forth, with moves being started in one panel, and then finishing in the next. I especially liked when wade launches a flying headbutt at T'Challa while he's trying to backflip away from Wade. That was Raphael's special move in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3; The Manhattan Project. Maybe next issue Wade will use Leo's spinning swords move, or Mikey's kangaroo kicking attack thing.

I'm a little surprised at T'Challa's behavior. Wade is actually trying to leave, he didn't kill the kid, he just wants to stop off in the men's room, just let him go. That's what people usually want, for Deadpool to leave their vicinity. But that's point, right? It's a big event so everyone has to act more stupid and belligerent than usual. And we get to see the Black Panther take a toilet upside the head, and actually respond to being kicked in the junk, by kicking Wade in the junk right back. Participation in this event has cost everyone their dignity. Fantastic.

Patsy Walker, aka Hellcat #8, by Kate Leth (writer), Brittney L. Williams (artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (colorist), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - Such a sad cover, given the context.

Patsy had a feeling something has happened to Jennifer Walters, and she's right, because here's America Chavez to tell Patsy She-Hulk's in a coma, and to bring her to see her friend. Though the medical staff are insensitive jerks. Where's the bedside manner? Patsy and her friends are all very sad, and this causes some difficulties for the landlord of Patsy and Jen's office space, so she asks Patsy to temporarily move her office into Jen's. And Jubilee, still a vampire, is joining the cast apparently. I wonder if she still has that baby she basically stole from the wreckage of a destroyed hospital in Eastern Europe? Shogo, or whatever his name was?

It feels bizarre to have Patsy switching offices when she literally moved into that one about two issues ago, but it works as part of the way these sorts of big, crazy events, throw people's lives into chaos. Patsy is deliberately trying to stay out of big superhero stuff. She doesn't care about Ulysses or any of that. But it can still cause problems. Friends get hurt, or die. Then there are complications arising from that, which have to be dealt with at a time when you really don't want to have to deal with them.

 Can't believe that mugger actually wanted to fight Patsy and Jen. It's She-Hulk, and he is some French-speaking guy with a knife. This was never gonna end well for him.

I liked how Williams drew Howard the Duck's beak more this issue than the last time he showed up. Much closer to a real duckbill. Also, I think Williams uses a thinner line when she draws more serious scenes. The weight of the line Patsy's drawn with in the panel on page 9 when she's looking at the picture is a lot different from the one of Jennifer getting ready to fastball special Patsy on page 13. I'm not certain why take that approach. Maybe the lighter lines are just better for more subdued scenes. The character doesn't bound off the page by being so sharply outlined from the surroundings.

I do think Williams needed to draw the giant pizza as even larger. As big as it is, I still think I could eat it in one setting, though I'd hate myself after. And I don't have that big of a stomach, but it isn't quite daunting enough. So that's my one complaint with the art this issue. I really wouldn't have expected Williams' style to work so well for such a somber story, but she handled it well. I think Rosenberg went with colors that weren't quite as bright as Megan Wilson normally does, which might have helped, too. Not positive about that, might just be letting a few panels influence my perception there, but it didn't seem quite as vivid. In a good way, like there's a dark cloud hanging over everything.