What I Bought 9/21/2018 - Part 1

I only found three of the four books I was looking for from last week, and the one I missed is the one I wanted the most. Typical. In other news, it was a pretty exhausting weekend. Enjoyable at times, frustrating at others. The pitfalls of having an extremely social friend whose works requires him to be around lots of people.

Multiple Man #4, by Matt Rosenberg (writer), Andy MacDonald (artist), Tamra Bonvillain (color artist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - And that was the last time Jamie asked Layla to do his laundry.

Emperor Madrox, unsatisfied with decapitating the duplicate last issue, travels back in time to stop him there. Which leads to the fight between two Madroxes we saw in Hank's lab in issue 1. The issue keeps jumping to all the dupes sent into other timelines to find help, and how they became the mishmash heroes that show up at the end of issue 1. Which we see here, from their perspective. The issue ends with the Emperor's top general (also a Madrox, natch) arriving just after the mishmash Madroxes left to return to the future. So the whole thing loops back around on itself and the Emperor has by that time already been absorbed (in issue 1) by the duplicate he will decapitate in the future (in issue 3).

I have no idea what the ultimate point of this is going to be. Half the Jamies just stumbled into their powers by accident. The one that didn't get picked back up is on the Marvel Swimsuit Illustrated universe, and probably drank himself to death. I heard the New Mutants mini-series Rosenberg wrote ended like it was just a midpoint on a larger story he's telling, possibly to pop up in Uncanny X-Men. No true conclusion. Is this going to tie-in as well? Is all this time travel nonsense going to cause X-Men Disassembled? At least Wanda won't have to take the blame for this one.

MacDonald's art continues to be fine. I enjoyed the touch of showing the former Emperor's fingers still partially sticking out of the Jamie that absorbed him, since the process isn't entirely complete yet. It's kind of creepy, especially when you figure the dupe didn't go willingly, so it's a bit like being dragged underwater to drown. The other timelines are sort of interesting, but not there long enough to really care much.

Stellar #4, by Joseph Keatinge (writer), Bret Blevins (artist), Rus Wooton (letterer) - That little air car thing looks like it'd be fun to drive.

The doorway to another universe led to a world just like theirs, only not destroyed by war. Stellar's been there for some time, long enough the people who met her when she ran through the portal are old men now. And there's a kid that looks a lot like her. Unfortunately, if she tried to keep Zenith from making it through, she failed, and he's found her. Both hers.

What odds do you give the portal isn't to an alternate world, but actually to the past of their own, and the fight between Stellar and Zenith is going to trigger the cataclysmic war that resulted in them being used as guinea pigs for a super-soldier project? Has to be even money at this point.

Lot of close-ups on Stellar's eyes in this issue, various emotions, none of them happy. Haunted looks, frightened, angry, lost, but the one scene where she actually appears happy, meeting what appears to be a younger version of her, the view maintains a little more space. The panels may focus on her face, but it's the entire face, just a bit more distance. It's interesting that scene is followed by showing us how the adult version of her is living: In a crappy, barely furnished apartment. It seems like she could have a better place if she wanted, but she opts not to. Because she's trying to maintain a minimal presence in a world that isn't hers? She tells the bartender that other than him and the professor, she can't think of anyone else who would call themselves her friend. She's been there 30 years, and she has two friends?

Zenith presents a bit of a contrast. I doubt he has any friends, but he's shown as smiling in almost every panel he appears in, or at least looks relaxed. Granted he has a big surprise he's planning to spring, but he also really likes the the world they're in. I'd be curious if he's made more effort to make friends than Stellar has. Figures he's on this world now, why not?