What I Bought 7/11/2018 - Part 1

A day after I put up that post about Parks and Rec, I got to an episode where Ben ending up spending his wedding anniversary with Larry instead of Leslie and they got along. Then a couple of episodes later, Ben decided Larry was actually a decent guy and tried to get the rest of the characters to acknowledge that. It ended badly but at least it was something.

Domino #4, by Gail Simone (writer), David Baldeon (artist), Jesus Arbutov (colorist), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - Well, know I know Greg Land can draw unconscious people who don't look terrifying now. They are unconscious, right? Shang-Chi wouldn't straight murder them, or let Domino do so, right?

We get a flashback that explains the connection between Topaz and this Desmond fellow, and now I understand the connection between his problems and Domino's powers a little better. Diamondback and Outlaw, having figured out Domino suspects one of them, try to hunt the villains down, but that doesn't seem to be going well. Domino is trying to learn from Shang-Chi, which mostly seems to involve her getting beat up. They do take a break, but they're going to be attacked by some of Shang's old enemies.

I think one of my favorite bits from this issue is Deadpool giving Outlaw and Diamondback a heads up on where to find Topaz and Desmond, and wanting to go along. Even though Topaz could shut Wade's healing factor off. Not that possibly dying is a thing that's going to deter Wade at the best of times, but it's nice to see Deadpool wanting to help his friends, and those people worrying about his well-being.

I'm less sure about how silly or flip Domino seems to be acting. Maybe that's a consequence of having a power that makes everything work out for you, or it's just meant to be her covering her fear. But the thing this arc has kept hammering is how spooked Topaz and Desmond have her, how concerned she is about being reliant on a power she can't control. She was ready to beat Topaz to death with her bare hands last issue.

Maybe the more manic, silly tone suits Baldeon's art better. I think he can handle quiet moments fine, the brief dance scene with Domino and Shang is nice. There's a part where he does a close-up on both their eyes when she fails to shoot him, then a callback later in this issue when she successfully lands a punch. But he draws a lot of people with outsized emotions on display. Big scowls or signs of exertion, yelling or looking really angry. It works for what's happening. Topaz and Desmond really seem to enjoy hurting people, Outlaw and Diamondback are pissed these two are wrecking their team. "Subdued" isn't really on the menu.

Infinity Countdown Darkhawk #4, by Chad Bowers and Chris Sims (writers), Gang Hyuk Lim (artist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - In case you thought I was joking about the giant Darkhawk mecha last issue.

There's a lot of fighting. Nova shows up, trying to track down his brother, who he doesn't realize is hosting a giant space bird in his body. Nova and Darkhawk keep getting in each other's way, and did Nova get a serious power downgrade? I don't think a bunch of Darkhawks should be able to do this well against a guy who killed Annihilus. Chris kills Rich's brother, so Rich is pissed at him. Chris returns to Earth, and then Sleepwalker shows up to segue into another tie-in mini-series.

Chalk this up as a poor buying decision on my part. It seemed like a good idea in theory, but in practice, no. For as much as I thought Sims and Bowers (Sims, mostly) kept up on continuity, they don't know Death's Head already tried to kill Richard Rider once, so they'd know each other? It was in a comic that came out a year ago, it's not that far back. Whatever, minor thing, just annoyed me a little. I don't really get where Nova's coming from exactly in his reactions towards Darkhawk. Maybe it's just that he's stressed because his brother's involved and he feels guilty. Most of what I'm basing Nova and 'Hawk's relationship on is their interactions in the Abnett/Lanning era, and I feel like that's what Sims and Bowers are using also. But it also feels like they're either drawing on something else as well, or they interpreted things differently from how I did.

The issue is basically one big fight scene, and it doesn't seem to play to Lim's strengths. Drawing mostly characters encased entirely in armor, with no facial expressions can't make things easy, but the art is stiff and characters posed. A lot of the time it doesn't feel as if things are flowing naturally from one panel to the next, characters don't sell the force of a blow or the amount they're exerting themselves with their posture. You can tell what's happening, but it feels less like we're seeing the progression of events, and more like we're catching a brief glimpse. Character was there, now character is here. You can infer what happened in between, so it still works, I guess. But it's nothing that gets me enthused about it.

Man, even the sound effects bug me. The lettering style and shades of color used don't feel like they fit with the tone of the art. Make the "CHOOM" a more noticeably bigger, or make the edges of it more jagged or something! Yes, I know, they're in space, there shouldn't be sound effects anyway. But there are, so we might as well assess them.