What I Bought 11/9/2017 - Part 2

I'm really enjoying the slapfight between Jerry Jones and Roger Goodell. Where Jones is trying to block Goodell's contract extension because Goodell suspended Cowboys' running back Ezekiel Elliot. Essentially a big hissy fit from some shitbag old man, but Goodell is also an incompetent dolt who is bad at his job and in no way deserves the huge salary he receives. Best case scenario is the two of them wind up killing each other, like a couple of bucks who get their antlers locked and starve to death.

Ms. Marvel #24, by G. Willow Wilson (writer), Diego Olortegui (artist), Ian Herring (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - Only Batman can get away with absurdly long capes. And maybe Spawn. But mostly just Batman.

Kamala and the Red Dagger continue to talk on top of the train while they try to come up with a plan of action. Kamala's doing most of the work, but the media is entirely taken with the new hero on the block. Which leads Kamala to decide to take a break once the crisis is averted. Kamala, don't go wandering off into the Pennsylvania wilderness. Matt Murdock tried that once and ran into Gorgon and Karnak. Which, OK, not out of the ordinary for you, but also Ultron. And Mephisto! You don't want that.

So this is the point where the endless grind of superheroing is getting to her? I don't know exactly how long she's been at it. Long enough to have friends go evil, or just go away. Long enough for people to grow to resent her, or just take her for granted. And the problems keep coming. A little time away could do some good.

Olortegui has drawing Kamala using her powers down, the casual stretching of one limb while the others remain normal length, or the flattening out trick. His work with facial expressions also impresses, helping the book shift from the relaxed tone it has most of the time, even if Kamala's working through some internal conflict, to the moments of terror when something has to get done.

Although I kept having an disconnect watching them chatting casually. I understand why - most of the time there's no immediate danger, and also nothing they can do to stop the train - but it was still unusual. In theory the passengers will be in trouble at some point. I'm used to characters just constantly trying solutions until something works or they're completely exhausted (that's how I am a lot of the times). Probably would have been a useless, even counterproductive approach here. And I enjoyed both a challenge that gives the heroes some time to think things through, and also just the novelty of the problem being a runaway train.

It's nice to not be reading about friggin' HYDRA.

Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #26, by a whole lot of people. Look, I'll list them if I actually discuss the story in question.

There's some in-story explanation about Doreen getting friends to make this for a library-saving fundraiser or something, but boiled down it's a bunch of short comics from different artists. Jim Davis did a bunch of Garfield gags, but with Galactus and the Silver Surfer. Carla Speed McNeil had one about Loki that reads from front to back or vice versa. Fits whichever thing perspective you have on him. Nicely done.

I was not enthused with this. These are always such a mixed bag, and so I end up like maybe 5 pages out of the whole comic. I did enjoy the Ryan North/Tom Fowler with Brain Drain. That silent pause where he waits for us to confirm we are brains trapped in human bodies. The one Nancy made from the photo Peter Parker took for Spider-Man had a couple of good lines in there. The second strip in particular.

Then there's the Wolverine comic by Ryan North and Anders Nilsen, which bugs the hell out of me. Logan finds a damaged Sentinel. It tells him its picking up broadcasts of an alien invasion, which the Avengers can't stop (which Logan confirms with a radio he has). The Sentinel can't function independently, but says Logan could pilot it from inside, and they could save the day. Oh, and it swears it has eliminated all "kill mutants" programming during its downtime. When Logan proves reluctant to trust it, the Sentinel plays the, "I guess we see who the real racist is," card.

Sentinels have tried to kill Wolverine and his friends dozens of times. This Sentinel admits that it crashed there damaged after it tried unsuccessfully to kill X-Men. So this idea Logan is somehow the bad guy because he is unwilling to consider the possibility this Sentinel has genuinely changed is bullshit. If you're deathly allergic to bees, and your friend insists none of their bees ever sting, so go ahead and reach inside the hive and get some delicious honeycomb, are you a jerk because you decline? It may hurt your friend's feelings, but it can kill you if they're wrong.

That left a bad taste in my mouth.