What I Bought 8/6/16 - Part 2

One of these books actually showed up yesterday, but whatever. There will be no crossovers in today's books, hooray!

Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #10, by Ryan North (writer), Erica Henderson (penciler), Tom Fowler (inker), Rico Renzi (color artist), Kyle Starks (flashback artist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - Still makes me kind of sad fedoras now signify douchebags. At least they're always wearing narrow-brimmed fedoras, I liked the wider brimmed ones, like Indiana Jones' hat (although the fact it was Indy's hat was the driving factor in that).

People have opinions, mostly that Squirrel Girl should just go on a date with this guy she is not interested in at all. Because people are awful. At least she has Nancy on her side, which is good, because Doreen can't get near the Mole Man's hideout to talk things out because of all the media, so Nancy goes instead. Which doesn't actually work any better, and he tries to abduct her, so now is the time for punching. In the process of that, we learn the three-headed subterranean creature that's been near Mole Man is practically every panel loves him, and so Doreen throws the fight so Tricephalous and Moley can be together. Although he only seemed to grow interested in her because she won, so what happens the next time the FF - er, the All-New, All-Different Avengers show up and she loses the fight? Does he lose interest? I sure hope not.

I am entirely on board with 'Get fancy and watch Nancy' as a new phrase. I'm also OK with the joke at the bottom of the page about Nancy maybe learning necromancy, since it's about the only other word that rhymes. Could Nancy perhaps use forbidden computer science language to reanimate old, obsolete equipment, and use it against Doreen's foes?

Nice touch, in the silent panel of Mole Man looking at the "defeated" squirrel Girl, that Doreen's eyes are still open. She's not really beat, after all, just playing, and waiting to see if it works or not. As to that panel of Mole Man and Tricephalous swapping spit, I don't need to see that or think of it ever again.

Darkwing Duck #3, by Aaron Sparrow and James Silvani (storytellers), Andrew Dalhouse (colorist), D.C. Hopkins (letterer) - That confirms pretty closely to how I imagine rope-climbing in gym class.

Launchpad's failing completely to break into the prison, so DW and Gosalyn are on their own. They're captured eventually, but Negaduck offers Gosalyn a chance to become his protege, which she flatly refuses. She she gets hoisted up in front of the enormous railgun Negaduck is going to use to bust out of the prison. Fortunately, whatever the young cat Mortimer's designs of being a villain, he wasn't willing to see our heroes get killed, and helped them escape, and thwart Negaduck's plan. Or maybe not, since Negaduck is distinctly unconcerned about being imprisoned. Although given the blithering idiocy of the warden, that's understandable.

I was going to say things fell apart rather quickly for the villains, but given that there's clearly more going on that'll play out down the line, it doesn't bother me as much. The story handwaves, or I guess delays, explaining how Negaduck was able to return from being split into a bunch of microscopic particles in the previous volume. I'm guessing they'll address it eventually, and I wonder if the answer will play into his long-term plan, and whether his offer to make Gosalyn his heir is related somehow. I hope Sparrow and Silvani aren't going to overuse Derp Derfson, idiot TV reporter. Impressed as I am with his ability to mangle Launchpad's name in increasingly ludicrous ways, he could get old in a hurry. I did laugh when Darkwing made a final request to Suff-rage for her to give him the sword, and it almost worked. It's a classic, stupid gag, but it still works.

Silvani's art is still excellent. He draws a very good Negaduck, which maybe isn't a surprise since he's mostly a color-swapped Darkwing, plus pointy teeth. But the sort of constant, seething anger he gives him is well done. Even when he's not actively raging about something. He's still usually gritting his teeth, snarling, just generally looking foul, and yes, the pun is intended. I debated it, and left it in there. The panel of him in shadow, eyes red, while he contemplates unleashing all the villains at once, that was pretty good. It was such a different way of presenting him compared to the rest of the time, it made his menace seem like something very different from standard super-villainy. Which plays back into the question of how he came back, and what his long game is.

The book is nothing revolutionary, but it's an enjoyable superhero comic with a fair amount of humor. I'm fine with that.