What I Bought 8/3/2018 - Part 2

Still sad the Cardinals traded Tommy Pham last week. To the sorry-ass Tampa Rays, no less. And then he got hit by a pitch and it broke his foot in his first game there. Here's a comic that doesn't make me sad.

Coda #3, by Simon Spurrier (writer), Matias Bergara (artist), Michael Doig (color assists), Jim Campbell (letterer) - Cleaning the giant's eye crud was a pretty disgusting job at the best of times, but the pay was good, and the view was occasionally tremendous.

The bard is able to get his unicorn up and running by stealing the senile wizard's acker and returns to the town, now under siege. The bard is more concerned with getting himself a piece of the elf, but hadn't managed to go through with it the enemy launches an attack on the read of the town. Fortunately, a bold hero is shining armor charges in on a baboon-thing and lays waste to the siege forces. And this warrior, as it turns out, is the bard's wife, Serka.

With all Hm's talk about rescuing his wife, I figured her for the stereotypical gentle soul fairy tail type. You know, singing with birds and she dances through the forest, and all that. Which, maybe Serka does that when she isn't cleaving bandits in two. It does leave me wondering what Hm needs the acker for, though. I noticed Serka used some during the fight. Is she hooked on it? Because if he's trying to use that addiction to get her back, that is not appropriate. I doubt that's it, but it was the first thing that came to mind.

It's a reveal I wasn't expecting, and I'm interested, well played Bergara and Spurrier. There's also the appearance of a "Whitlord" leading the bandits, but my hunch is it's some nobody wearing the garb of the fearsome sorcerers to keep their followers cowed. That old Scooby-Doo gag. The same way the town is ruled by a thief pretending to be some wise queen, or the bard plays at scavenger. Circumstances allowing - or forcing - people into new avenues.

Bergara is excellent at setting you up to expect something when you turn the page, then giving you something memorably when you do. This time it was the page where the attackers are retreating, and as the bandit from last issue wonders why and turns to look over her shoulder, we turn the page and bam! Knight with a badass sword and shield, riding a baboon-thing that is just trampling people. There's also the double-page splash of the siege on the town, full of explosions, and people in dirigibles and other odd craft. it reminds me of one of those pages from Mad Magazine, with a hundred bizarre things thrown into it to pick out.

The color work is lovely. I especially like the pink from the enchanted cannon shells. It's so bright and sparkly and cheerful, and the magic that powers it comes from hacking pieces off a by-now crazy elf chained in the basement. But also the bright green for anyone amped up on acker, and there's one page where Bergara and Dioh use different colors to make the various levels of the town stand out from one another. The panel has us looking down from above sharply, and it really helps to keep the whole place from just blurring together.