What I Bought 9/13/2017 - Part 1

My allergies have been unusually bad this fall. I usually don't have much of an issue with watery eyes, but I've had two days in the last week where it's almost been too bad to see, even after taking some medication. The sinus drainage has been a piece of cake in comparison. Anyway, by some miracle, four comics I wanted came out this week, and the store had all four of them.

Deadpool #36, by Gerry Duggan (writer), Matteo Lolli (penciler), Christian Dalla Vecchia (inker), Ruth Redmond (colorist), Joe Sabino (letterer) - Well, with a cover of Deadpool walking away from a burning city, I can only imagine everything is going great for Wade Wilson!

Everything is going horribly for Wade Wilson. He turned against HYDRA Cap too late, he's a wanted man, everyone, up to and including his daughter, hate his guts. Oh, and Stryfe is calling in his favor from Wade, and the first person he wants killed is Cable. Which is pretty unsurprising. I was hoping Stryfe would throw more of a curveball at Wade. Pick someone Stryfe doesn't even need killed, he's just making Wade do it to get some jollies.

So Wade's attempt to try and be a hero has crashed and burned, and he's embracing the freefall. Or so it seems. We'll see how far he's really fallen once it comes to actually killing Cable. So far he beat up a couple of cops and killed a HYDRA guy, and promised to kill both HYDRA Cap and the other, nice Captain America. I mean, he actually initially told Stryfe he wouldn't kill Cable. Not feelin' this heel turn, Wade. Of course, the thing is Wade is doing this because he does care. Because he's accepted that he is a disastrous presence to have around the people he cares about. So he can't be around them.

This advice Sabretooth gave Deadpool is presented in flashback differently from how it actually happened. Victor told him all that stuff at the very end, as he was getting ready to leave, not when they were disemboweling each other in front of a school bus. I don't know if Duggan and Lolli just wanted to emphasize that Wade's idea of a "marvelous team-up" is different from most people, or Wade actually remembers it wrong, so it's tangled up with the violence, rather than the sort-of reconciliation.

There are a lot of silent panels, especially considering this is Deadpool. And a bunch more where the dialogue is limited to Wade's internal monologue. His thoughts are extremely ordered, no tangents. He's focused, which is worrying.

Lolli's not my favorite artist that works on this book, but he's very good with Wade in these darker moments. Vecchia knows when to go heavy on the inks to add to the weight on Wade, or make him look more intimidating. Wade's walking slowly for most of the issue, shoulders slumped. He's beaten and resigned. The panel where he tells Stryfe he'll do that "errand", because Stryfe is calling him from last Christmas while in the kitchen with Eleanor, Deadpool has a vacant stare, and you can hear the controlled monotone he's delivering that line in. Because he realizes he's entirely boxed in, that even when his loved ones hate him and want nothing to do with him, people can still use them against him. He allows himself one panel of anger, and then calmly sets about burning the house down.

Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #24, by Ryan North (writer), Erica Henderson (artist), Alan Smithee (trading card artist), Rico Renzi (color artist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - When I read that Alan Smithee credit for the trading card I thought, why would they not want credit? Having seen it, I understand now. I could have done a better Ultron than that. If you gave me five months.

Doreen and Antonio the Doombot try to fight DINOSAUR ULTRON, who doesn't remember much about himself until Squirrel Girl reads some facts off his trading card. Then he remembers, and keeps adapting the attacks used against him to his advantage. And wrecking all the machinery that controls the Savage Land. And he ate Kraven! This sure seems like a bad situation for our heroes!

Always takes a little while to adjust to North's approach to characters. His Ultron was a little too glib, but it still boils down to an overall contempt for organic lifeforms, so I can roll with it. His T-Rex roar needs work. Not feelin' it, Ultron. Need to get a little more bass in there, have some reverberation to it. Make people feel it in their bones, man. Someone tell Travis Lanham to add some vibrating effects to his lettering on the "RARRGGGHH!"s next issue!

What the hell am I going about?

Lot of black backgrounds in this issue. Almost nothing but featureless background, actually. Is the schedule starting to tax Henderson? I wouldn't be surprised; she's drawn almost every issue of this series since it started, while keeping in on a monthly schedule. Which by current standards is an impressive level of consistency. Or, they know she's going to have to draw a lot of jungle scenes with dinosaurs next issue and so they're giving her time to get ready. I do enjoy how DINOSAUR ULTRON designed his head so that viewed from directly ahead, it looks like his typical face. All those panels in the darkness, it's like the cover to #19 of the Busiek/Perez Avengers run.

Actually, Henderson's art helps sell me on the personality of this Ultron. He's kind of a kid, or a smartass teenage version. Still learning what he can do, certain of his invincibility. The pause to realize he can electricity from his tiny arms, or the certainty that causing a volcanic eruption won't harm him and is therefore a great idea (that panel of him going 'Nah.').

I'm sure computer science will somehow save the day. Or maybe befriending actual dinosaurs to use against a robot android dinosaur.