What I Bought 1/26/2019 - Part 1

The weather wasn't crappy last weekend, I managed to make it out to visit Alex. As usual, that didn't go as planned. I did find almost every comic I was looking for from the first four weeks of the year (Coda being the exception). So let's start with the oldest stuff first and move forward.

Giant Days #46, by John Allison (writer), Max Sarin (artist), Jeremy Lawson (colorist), Jim Campbell (letterer) - I expected to see more evidence of bile in Susan's eye than that.

The comic store Esther works at is being robbed. Susan, in an effort to regain her edge, agrees to hit the mean streets to find the thief. For those sequences, Sarin and Lawson adopt a stark black and white color scheme, while Susan tries to narrate like some hard-boiled shamus. A hard-boiled shamus who has to call her boyfriend to ask which drain pipe is best suited to shimmy up. Fortunately, given Susan's limited lung capacity, it doesn't come to that, and the culprit is caught. Susan doesn't get cash, instead getting stuck with some limited edition Vegeta figure - hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaa!

That's pretty much it. The entire issue is Susan putting her sleuthing skills to use, which is fine. It was funny. I wonder if this is going to satisfy Susan, or if she'll embark on more dangerous schemes to recapture a bit of her old fire. I wouldn't mind it if it means she'll put it to a use other than making snide remarks to Ed about how unmasculine in his (Like the boy doesn't struggle with that enough internally already.) I guess threatening to punch Dean Thompson counts, although if Dean can stick and move for about 35 seconds, Susan will probably have a heart attack. At least she doesn't vape. Christ those commercials with the puppets about how vaping isn't safer than smoking are irritating. I don't smoke, I don't need this information!

I like the black and white look as a selective thing. It conveys the vibe Susan's going for, and it makes a nice contrast from the regularly colored pages and their reality of a gawky, stupid teen boy trying to crawl down a drain pipe. Also, the smug look Esther gives Susan after he's caught was pretty great.

Next issue, we find out what Daisy's like as a driver. Apparently a terror, but what kind specifically I'm curious to see.

Atomic Robo: Dawn of the New Era #1, by Brian Clevinger (writer), Scott Wegener (artist), Shannon Murphy (colorist), Jeff Powell (letterer) - I wound up with the variant cover, but this is a nice one, too.

Robo is continuing to teach baby ALAN down in his private lab. Presumably to keep ALAN from deciding to wipe out humanity with a lot of nukes he uses to power a massive ship for himself like the last version did. Bernard is taking a trip underground through an extinct volcano, while still trying to get over how he didn't want to come back the last time he went underground. Robo told him he's there to keep an eye on their new exoplant explorer prototype, but it's apparently there to keep an eye on Bernard.  Robo, maybe just spring for a damn therapist, 'cause this feels uncomfortably underhanded. I mean, Bernard's either trying to convince everyone else he's fine, or maybe just himself.

Lang and Vik are going on vacation, and apparently Vik is much older than I thought, judging by his entirely grey beard. Which leaves Foley to train the new interns/students, who are already privately discussing snooping around White Sands, which I'm sure will not prove catastrophic. Maybe this time Robo will get his act together and not completely ignore problems occurring in his own backyard.

The last Robo mini-series I was not a fan of the coloring. It too often turned things into a muddy mess of vague shapes and outlines. Shannon Murphy is on as colorist in place of Anthony Clark and early returns are promising. Granting we haven't seen any action sequences yet, which is when I thought things got at their worst in Spectre of Tomorrow, the colors here mesh with Wegener's linework better, instead of overpowering it. Murphy's colors don't necessarily seem brighter, but maybe the contrast between them is greater. It gives things a soft, relaxed feel, except during Bernard's descent, where Murphy draws the darker shadows as if they're closing in, waiting to crash down on him.