Real Science Adventures #1, by Brian Clevinger (writer), Lo Baker (artist, She-Devils story), Wook Jin Clark (artist, Sparrow story), Anthony Clark (colorist), Jeff Powell (letterer and design) - Every great pilot must master looking thoughtfully into the distance as twilight approaches.Two stories. The She-Devils are grappling with a lack of supplies to raid within range of their aircraft. If they don't solve that issue, they'll have to close the base and pull up stakes. Rather than deal with the horros of moving, they're going to steal the flagship of a rival crew, which is a British Sunderland flying boat. Big, slow, good cargo capacity, excellent range. All they have to do is steal it, then stay airborne until until any pursuit runs out of gas. Maybe they'll get to that point next issue.The Agent Sparrow chapter, which is only six pages, is the start of a mission to wreck a Nazi super-weapon. The mission goes awry almost immediately, of course.
So a lot of set-up on both fronts. The She-Devils' mission certainly sounds like it'll be fun to read, but I'll have to wait and see. I'll also have to wait and see how Lo Baker's art does when it comes it action sequences. Baker shows a style here somewhat similar to Scott Wegener's, but with much heavier linework. The problem is that in panels where our viewpoint isn't pretty damn close, the character's faces are then overwhelmed by those big, dark lines, and Baker has to simplify things to convey anything. It's like looking at a blurry photo. But when there's space in the panel to concentrate on one character, the body language and expressions are pretty good. There's a tendency towards elongated necks that reminds of something, but it works. The sound effects' lettering has a loose feel that fits with the makeshift surroundings in the story. They look kind of rough, some look like they were written in with your basic #2 pencil. Using whatever is at hand. It worked for this.
Wook Jin Clark did get a chance to draw some fight scenes, and did a solid job. Nothing flashy, but everything is clear and easy to follow. The progression of action from panel to panel makes sense. On a couple of pages, Clark draws a large close-up of one character's face along the margin of the page, while other panels shows what's going on around them. Almost like an inset panel, but not exactly. So a view of Sparrow's face as she surveys the landscape after scaling the cliff, that stretches vertically across the left edge of two horizontal panels showing what she's seeing (that there's no farmhouse with supplies, but there are Nazis). I'll be curious to see if Clark continues to use that going forward.
I can't say this issue alleviated the concerns I had going in about whether I'd like Real Science Adventures any more this time around, but I'd like to at least see the main story get going before I make a final determination.
Copperhead #12, by Jay Faerber (writer), Drew Moss (artist), Ron Riley (colorist), Thomas Mauer (letterer) - It was as the alien worm erupted from the cadaver that the doctor realized he picked the wrong week to quit smokin'.The now-former mayor was killed with some sort of alien worm. Or by said alien worm, since it's unclear if it is sentient or not. The artificial human, Ishmael, may be able to get the Sheriff a name, in time. That's about the most help she's getting out of any guys right now. This Ford fellow is just shoving his way into her life and constantly trying to explain to her how she's feeling about everything. Her son's father is still - gradually - making his way towards them. And she can't quit butting heads with her former deputy, current boss, Mayor Budroxifinicus.
Clara's not really helping on that one by assuming right from the start that he's got it in for her. I understand her concerns, but he's been a good deputy and so he deserved the benefit of the doubt. But with the threat Clay presents in the back of her mind, and Ford very much annoyingly present, she's a bit on edge/off her game.
I feel like Moss has de-aged Clara a bit though. Godlewski typically gave her some shadows under the eyes, drew the mouth a bit smaller (when she wasn't yelling) like her face was a bit drawn. Everything had tightened up, pulled in on itself. Her hair had this stringy, disheveled appearance. It gave a feeling of her experience, a lot of bad road behind her, a lady who has a son to look after and a town to protect, and not much time for anything else. Moss' version doesn't convey that so far. And Boo still lacks the same presence he had previously. That one I could at least possibly explain with the idea he's carrying himself differently as a Mayor than he he did as a cop, going for quiet dignity rather than looming authority. But mostly it just seems like he got downsized.
So there are some ongoing concerns about the change in art teams, but the story is still solid, so we'll see how this arc unfolds.
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