What I Bought 12/21/2018 - Part 2

I see the end of the Extermination event sent those time-traveling teen X-Men back to the 1960s, but also brought back the older Cyclops that died in Inhumans vs. X-Men. I would have enjoyed a few months with no Cyclops. Ah well, wasn't like I was planning on buying X-books any time soon.

Domino #9, by Gail Simone (writer), David Baldeon and Michael Shelfer (artists), Roberto Poggi (ink assists), Guru-eFX (colorist), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - Estimated number of casualties sustained from people trying to grab the jackpots in the middle of a gun battle: At least 15.

Domino is reluctant to kill Longshot for the young lady that hired them for the last job, but we're told he's going to somehow bring ruin to the world, so Domino agrees to give it a shot. And Longshot seems like he's back to being a near-mindless servant of Mojo, so maybe that's not a bad idea. That kid gets mindwiped more than anyone I've ever seen.

Little difficult to square the idea Longshot is going to end humanity, or that he's going to somehow "guide" the Dark Phoenix back to Earth. Pretty sure the Phoenix already knows how to get back there. Got it saved under Favorite Locations on the Cosmic Positioning System and everything. Did get to see Captain America with his shield sticking out of his chest. Take a shot!

Watching two luck users go at could be nifty, weird things happening to help one, only to be canceled out by something equally strange working the other way. But that isn't what we get. Just a bit of Domino and Longshot kicking at each other on an under construction hi-rise. They lose their footing occasionally, that's about the extent of it. So much wasted potential.

The art chores shift from Baldeon to Shelfer after the fight between Domino and Shoon'Kwa. Shelfer's art style is rounder, softer, inks are thinner (lighter?). That might be Roberto Poggi, I don't know what "ink assists" means here, exactly. Characters' eyes seem bigger, or at least wider. Everyone looks younger basically. Which would work for the early stages of Shoon'Kwa's life story, before the terrible burden of these visions is bestowed upon her, but not so much after that point. On the other hand, I like Shelfer's version of Mojo we see a few times. He doesn't look that different, but he's drawn as being very fat, but also with loose folds of skin in places, which was kind of creepy and unusual. Makes him look sickly, which fits with his original conception as someone who basically literally kills everything around him just from his presence.

Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #39, by Ryan North (writer), Derek Charm (artist), Rico Renzi (color artist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - That's a whole lot of Iron Mans. And at least a couple of his crappy Hulkbuster armors (which typically fail to actually "bust" the Hulk).

Doreen is able to spook Skrull Tony into dropping her disguise and running. Which means they still need to find Tony. After a lot of stuff with trying to track a signal that's being sent to one of Stark's servers, they find him in a cell underwater. A cell that is part of the Skrull herself, and chase her down. At which point she surrenders and says Earth is in big trouble. Please, like Skrulls actually count as big trouble. Even when they try to secretly invade, they always end up going big and flashy and getting their butts whooped.

I like the creative uses of shapeshifting we get to see. Creating a prison out of yourself and I assume pumping water to him from wherever you are on the surface. Although, was she doing that the entire time she was also pretending to be Tony? I'm unclear on that part. But the rapid expansion to create a pressure wave? Very cool. Maybe someone has shown Skrulls doing that before, but I haven't seen it. Also, when the Skrull girl forms wings, they have Kirby Crackle patterns on them. Why? Who knows? I mean, I guess if you can, you might as well.

I continue to enjoy the supporting cast. Brain Drain discovering the wonder of swimming pools was cute, but Mary and her barely concealed desire to pursue super-villainy are a real delight. The version of her in Doreen's mind being comforted by the idea that it's Doreen coming up with non-lethal solutions to a problem and not her was funny.