What I Bought 8/28/2016 - Part 3

There was a report a month or two back where the Department of Health admitted there wasn't any proven benefit to flossing, or something to that effect. I'll probably continue to floss, though. I prefer not to see a bunch of crud jammed between my teeth, and it doesn't seem to hurt anything, so why not? It's a minor expense compared to some nonsense I waste money on. Speaking of nonsense. . .

Deadpool #17, by Gerry Duggan (writer), Mike Hawthorne (penciler), Terry Pallot (inker), Jordie Bellaire (colorist), Joe Sabino (letterer) - I doubt that Wade and Madcap's upcoming rumble will resemble a Spy vs. Spy comic, but I wouldn't be opposed to it.

Wade and the Mercs are done. The bank employees let them out of the vault, but they cause so much property damage trying to kill each other SHIELD is called in. Which means Wade has to hear about it from Preston, and pay for damages. He tries to come over for Sunday dinner, and gets punched in the face. And Eleanor won't call him "Dad" any longer, which made me sadder than I expected. Then he returns to Shiklah and finds her in bed with Jack Russell. Who Wade shoots in the face with a shotgun, right after Shiklah promised Jack he was under her protection. So either that's going to be a big fakeout, or there's going to be some real problems for the married couple.

So maybe now we've seen the last of the Mercs. They're like an annoying visitor that keeps hanging around in front of your door, but keeps talking rather than just leaving. Go! Enjoy your ongoing series that will all be canceled in five minutes! Anyway, things are rapidly falling apart for Wade, which is not surprising in the least. You can't even tell whether he was actually cursed or not, because this has been building for awhile, and it was probably always going to end this way. And it can't be a good sign Wade at the very least tried to straight up murder Jack Russell (since I don't know if he succeeded or not). Contrast that with the last multi-part story of the previous volume, where Wade turned against his Roxxon employers, and even spared the life of Omega Red because he wanted to try a different approach to just killing. Now he's back to solving things with killing. Backsliding.

That said, the ridiculous fight between Wade, the Mercs, and eventually the police cracked me up. Wade being blinded by a flashbang, then yelling out, 'Here comes Sweardevil!', only to be hit at the belt line by Slapstick with a sledgehammer, causing Wade to ralph in his mask (great "WRETCH" sound effect, whoever did that, either Hawthorne or Bellaire I'm guessing), and the throw the puke-filled mask at Foolkiller, who freaks out. That's good stuff. Plus, Solo and Stingray ignoring all of it to finish burning their contracts. Or Wade claiming they were there to stop Kang, who made them think they were HYDRA before he escaped, and that's why they fought the police.

I don't think Wade in a banana hammock can not look horrifying, but as depicted, it was pretty much something I don't need to see or think of ever again, so good work Mike Hawthorne. And on Wade's face as Eleanor walked away from him and he was confronted with Preston. It's a vague, sketchy outline at the back of the panel, but he made sure to get Wade's big frown in there. I tend to think it was what Eleanor said about her therapist telling her not to consider Wade a father figure sinking in. The fact she's going with it has to hurt Wade, on top of everything else.

Patsy Walker, aka Hellcat #9, by Kate Leth (writer), Brittney L. Williams (artist), megan Wilson (color artist), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - Can no one in New York wear a proper shirt? Buzz is wearing that v-necked whatever, Daimon's in a coat with no shirt, that one lady has a pink sports bra, the dude in the back is in a tank top, the guy in the grey, tight-fitting t-shirt. I thought New Yorkers were supposed to be fashionable, bunch a damn slobs, look worse than I do.

Hedy, in her eternal assholishness, has convinced both of Patsy's exes she's plotting against them. Because that certainly sounds like something Patsy would do. But I guess the Civil War II idiot ball hasn't left the area yet, because they both buy it. As a result, they ruin Jubilee's attempt to get everyone at the office to relax with a night of karaoke. Daimon ends up sending Patsy to some realm to "reflect". And Ian may be developing an even bigger crush on Tom after seeing the guy sing. Oh, and Jubilee is still a vampire, and a mom. Wasn't sure if they were keeping both those things in continuity after Secret Wars. Kind of seemed like a good time to sweep the vamp thing under the rug to me, but I guess the character has enough fans who think the idea has potential that they're gonna run with it.

Williams and Wilson do draw Jubilee using her powers to turn to mist as a pink, fluffy cloud with sunglasses, which is one of the better depictions of that vampiric power I've seen. I might have used Alucard's mist transformation even more in Castlevania: Symphony of Night if he'd looked like that when he used it. Although I used it a lot anyway. I did notice during the fights at the end, Williams' lines were thicker and less crisp than usual. Things were rougher looking, almost a little rushed. Might have been intentional, because it seemed to vanish in the calmer panels in between. Deliberate choice for Patsy's frazzled mindset? She's dealing with a ton of other crap, and now here come two old idiots from her past causing trouble because they believed the lies of some petty jerk. She was pretty off her game, considering how easily Daimon got ahold of her. You'd think she'd be on her guard the moment he appeared, and I know she knew how to slip loose of magic attacks once upon a time (meaning, after Hawkeye got her out of Hell). And it isn't as though the creative is ignoring Patsy having been dead and in Hell, so yeah, I'm going to chalk it up to her not being at peak form.

I'm really looking forward to Daimon getting kicked in the chops by someone next month, though the more I think about it, the more I wonder if he's going along with Hedy's plan as some stupid way to help Patsy actually deal with her emotional problems. Not Buzz though, he's just a gullible moron.