What I Bought 8/25/2017

A couple of books from the last two weeks. I might not have bought one of them if I had looked at the cover more closely, but I was running out of time on the parking meter.

Ben Reilly, The Scarlet Spider #6, by Peter David (writer), Will Sliney (artist), Jason Keith (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - So the key to being really flexible is for people to punch you through walls. I've been going about things entirely wrong.

Ben tries a possible cure on the little girl, then steps out for some air, where he runs into Marlo from Peter David's Hulk run, who seems able to manipulate people and wants Ben to stop two guys driving around town shooting people. He does, but refrains from killing them, to Marlo's annoyance. Kaine shows up, because the little girl died, and Marlo kills him, and I don't know what's going on with this. I assume something to do with David's Captain Marvel run from like 15 years ago?

Is this meant to make Ben actually consider his actions? He mentioned while fighting Kaine that his advantage was he acted on instinct and relied on his spider-sense. Is that all he's doing, bluffing and jumping into things without considering why or towards what end? That could be interesting, depending on the reasons? Is he trusting the Peter Parkerness to guide him, or just trying to avoid thinking about what matters to him and what his goal is?

So there's something there, but I can't handle the art. It reminds me of a comic trying hard to match actors on a TV show it's based on. Very computer-generated feel to it, but like an attempt an early 2000s attempt. Jason Keith is still the colorist, and the colors seem a lot flatter, less varied. Sliney inks himself much heavier than John Dell did to Bagley's pencils, so the shadows are a lot deeper on faces. Maybe that has something to do with Keith's approach. The expressions of the mother who nearly dies at the hands of the two guys driving around shooting people are. Like Sliney's trying for really realistic, but falling in the uncanny valley. It looks awkward, fake, fails utterly to convey the emotion to me.

My hunch Bagley leaving would be a good time to jump ship was right; I just needed to put more money in the parking meter that day so I could read the cover more closely. To be fair, I was also in a hurry to reach my dad's so we could tow his car to his repair guy. So really, it's his fault this happened. If he'd gotten his car moved months ago like he should have, this wouldn't have happened.

The Unbelievable Gwenpool #19, by Christopher Hastings (writer), Gurihiru (artists), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - Unless you are the Punisher, trying to shoot Spider-people with guns doesn't work.

Gwen confronts the time-travelers out to stop her future self, even though by showing up, they've taught her how to move between panels. Whoops. The team considers trying to erase her memory, but Miles' instead swings off with her to tell her the way she ruined everyone's life by revealing all the heroes' secrets so she could be entertained by the fallout. By doing so, Gwen's giant, evil future self knows what they're up to and appears, probably swatting Future Miles to do his death.

I'm suspicious this story is a criticism of fans. Gwen is one of us, supposedly, and we're told she revealed secret identities, aired characters dirty laundry, and did this to kick off the biggest hero vs. hero war yet. To be entertained. Which makes me think of secret identities becoming passe, because it would be unrealistic to maintain one. Or the constant escalation of conflicts, and heroes constantly being at each others' throats. And that's all, if you listen to the people in comics, because it's what sells. Which is a neat way to blame the audience for what they produce. Perhaps I'm being paranoid, but comic writers surely do like to blame the stories they write on the fans. Or Alan Moore, they also like blaming Alan Moore. Or is Hastings jabbing at the other writers who think that's what they have to do? Someone is being jabbed, that's for sure.

Setting aside my paranoia, I still don't know how Hastings plans to resolve this. Teddy being a sort of blind spot in Gwen's perceptions could play in, but now Gwen's in the classic situation of meeting her evil older self. Given what we've learned, she has to reject her older self, and I'm not sure what her older self could do (presumably Evil Gwen is still genre savvy enough to know threats aren't going to work). Is Gwen going to have to learn to think more carefully about her actions? Is she going to try and really be a hero, rather than run around being crazy and say she's a hero?

I like the Gurihiru art team's work, but it doesn't quite feel right for the story. Or certain parts of the story, at least. Miles' depressing flashback of how Gwen ruins his life kind of lacked impact. Although the panel of Miles stating he's going to kill her, said plainly and against the backdrop of a bright blue sky is effective, the more I look at it. They nail the humor parts; Gwen trying to slide through a panel border and whiffing was funny. I'd still much rather have Gurihiru handling the art than most other art teams out there, just not sure they entirely fit the grim direction things have trended. But we'll see, one more issue to go in the story.