I was really hoping the Toronto Raptors were at least going to make Lebron James have to work to advance in the playoffs, but no. Can we call the Pacers back and let them have another crack at it.
Mata Hari #3, by Emma Beeby (writer), Ariela Kristantina (artist), Pat Masioni (colorist), Sal Cipriano (letterer) - Ah, to be anywhere other than Paris when the French Army is looking to blame their massive casulaty numbers on you.The story continues moving between Magreet's past and present. In the present, she's undergoing a suspicious doctor's inspection, who doubts her complaints of illness. Meanwhile, Captain Bouchardon is trying to find more evidence, and he found some mercury. Which could be to treat the syphilis she has, but which he believes must be for sinister purposes. In the past, her marriage isn't going so well, as one child falls ill, and her husband grows distant and unfaithful. When she divorces him, he complains he can't pay alimony. Then complains when she starts working in a brothel to support her daughter. Then mistreats her for it when she tries to reconcile for the child's sake. So she goes to Paris.
All this is very effective at producing sympathy in the reader. I can understand why she might well have taken her anger out by acting as a spy. All these people who want to use her, and then blame her for their desires, that would have to get old. It's difficult trying to line up what she's writing in her memoir, with what we see in the past and present. She mentioned that by getting married, making vows to a man, she had forsaken vows to her gods (which I assume are represented by the entreaties to Shiva that appear throughout). I'm not sure when she made those vows, and I'm curious how some of her actions would fit with that idea. If she's simply trying to give dumb men the opportunity to destroy their lives worshiping her, or if that's the other side of her, that is trying to find a person to be with. Was she trying to manipulate her lawyer by kissing him, or was she simply frightened and lonely?
At times I forget the memoir is being written as she's in prison, and may reflect her looking back, rather than her state of mind at the time the events we see are taking place. So I read a caption with part of what she's writing, and then judge her next actions as if she was already thinking that at the time, which I'm pretty sure is not what I'm supposed to being doing.
I'm curious about the choices in coloring for the mood of scenes. Most of the scenes in her present are given an orange hue, probably from a candle in her cell. Sometimes it carries over into the flashback scenes as well, as unhappy memories mingle with current unpleasantness. The circular panel that rings her in all the "Shiva" panels is always colored a light blue. Placid, calm, kind of at odds with her making an entreaty of a god to empower her to destroy, at the cost of everything she is. But maybe it's a decision she'd made long ago, and so actually doing it is very straightforward. What I was most curious about was on the final two pages, we see her ask to join the circus she saw in Paris, and convince her present-day attorney not to hire another counsel for her. And the circus memory is set in a dull grey background, all the colors, even the performers' costumes are muted. The colors are much brighter in the scene on the next page of her and the lawyer. It isn't a straightforward past vs. present approach, because many of the other flashbacks have bright colors. Maybe it's the point when she renewed her vows to the gods, and as she gained power, they took something from her, the joy in the life she's living going away?
Giant Days #37, by John Allison (writer), Max Sarin (artist), Whitney Cogar (colorist), Jim Campbell (letterer) - Well that isn't an ominous and sad-looking cover.So Daisy's granny knows Daisy was dating Ingrid, and didn't tell her. This leads to an angry conversation, and Daisy returning to Sheffield to look for housing. Leading to a brief, but hilarious montage of the horrors of looking for a decent, affordable apartment. I feel as though that's an experience I've largely missed. Granted, I stayed in the dorms throughout my undergrad years, then spent most of my post-college years alternating between housing provided by temp wildlife biology jobs, and staying with one of my parents. But I've had a couple of apartments, and didn't have much trouble finding something I could tolerate.
Maybe I just have low standards.
Anyway, Daisy tries to get advice from Susan and Esther, but Esther is distracted trying to avoid her harridan of a boss, and Susan is only helpful when she talks in her sleep. Maybe the Spoonsan Daisy made was telling her useful things. Although that would raise its own concerns. Daisy does find a solution, and her grandmother comes to sort things out, so hooray! No family awkwardness!
Food question. Esther is working at some sort of cafe, and mentions she may have to harm someone for putting cream on their scone before jam. Does cream mean butter, or something else? Whipped cream? The only cream I really know is the one people who drink coffee use. I'm not sure if this is an English thing, or a general food thing I am ignorant of.
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