What I Bought 2/15/2019 - Part 1

Last week, I went to meet with a person we regulate to look at something they had a question about. I did this on Lincoln's birthday, because when I made the appointment, I had forgotten our state gives its employees that as a holiday. By the time I remembered, it was too late to reschedule. Not the stupidest thing I've ever done, but not one of the brighter things either. Now, let's celebrate President's Day with comic reviews! About books that have nothing to do with presidents! What do you expect? How often do I do posts on holidays that are at all relevant to the holiday in question? Answer: Twice a year, three times tops.

Atomic Robo: The Dawn of the New Era #2, by Brian Clevinger (writer), Scott Wegener (artist), Shannon Murphy (colorist), Jeff Powell (letterer) - Excellent pose Robo, except this is not the cover of GQ, or Popular Mechanics.

Robo has built ALAN a new body, and is teaching him how to use it. ALAN raised the question of whether he'd died once already, and that's not a conversation Robo's ready to have (since he's the one who killed ALAN). The new students have found a mysterious underground facility in a leftover building, but haven't gone exploring yet.  I couldn't help noticing that one of the students has dyed the top his hair pink, which used to be Foley's thing. But now she's dyed that section of her hair green instead.

Bernard seems caught in some bizarre loop underground which is doing nothing for his confidence in his sanity. Vik and Lang were supposed to get to test an idea of Vik's involving a particle accelerator, but have stumbled into vampire problems instead.

Well, they say they're vampires, but the way Wegener's drawing them, they look more like bipedal rat people. The art does get a little sketchy and ill-defined at that point, although the more simplified approach for their victims in the final panel works well. He uses it a couple of other times, once when the students find the secret place, and it really shows off their fright. So yeah, it works there. It feels like a deliberate stylistic choice, rather than running out of time to ink, or that the colors are overwhelming the linework. When they go for close-ups on characters, there's some good work there. Especially Bernard and his increasing confusion and panic.

Things are kind of slowly. A lot of different threads advancing a little at a time. Which could be frustrating if I was only interested in one of them. As it turns out, I'm actually curious about all of them. How a doorway to the Vampire Dimension was opened. What the hell's happening with Bernard. What trouble the students are about to cause, and how Foley's going to handle it. Whether Robo can actually raise a son, without it deciding to wipe out all humanity. Maybe it's because all of them are still in such early stages that I'm seeing the vast array of possibilities. That always seems to be the part I like best, since the direction an author takes their story is rarely the theory I liked best. But we'll see.

Giant Days #47, by John Allison (writer), Max Sarin (artist), Whitney Cogar (colorist), Jim Campbell (letterer) - I didn't realize Daisy was a big fan of Bullit. Man, that's a dated reference, and a weak one. But I can more easily picture her watching that than Fast and the Furious.

Daisy is acting oddly certain she's a good driver, despite the stream of traumatized instructors. She does pass her test, although I'm convinced her examiner was legally blind. McGraw's brother has come to visit bearing invites for his wedding. Also he's pulling a lot of pranks. Most of them involving smearing food substances on surfaces people touch with their bare skin. Rest assured, neither Pollock nor I will resort to such stupidity in our annual April Fool's Day struggles. We're too high-class. Bucket full of water over the door for the win!

Oh, and Dean Thompson snuck his adorable little dog Perkin into their home, and finds a surprising ally in Esther, who helps hide and care for the pooch. Until her tendency to forget important details almost gets the dog run over. But she and Dean actually, mostly got along! By their standards.

Perkin really is very cute. Sarin and Cogar did excellent work to make me actually like a scrap of fur like that. Cutsey-poo dogs are not my thing. Dean gets some excellent outraged expressions, all of them related to something Esther is saying or doing at that moment. Even if all she's doing is existing.

I think the bit I laughed at hardest was Esther describing Susan and Daisy as a 'coterie of flibbetigibbts!' I love odd, out-of-style words like that. I watched Hotel Artemis last weekend, Jodie Foster called a guy a "nogoodnik", I made a mental note to use that sometime soon. Yes, I'm strange. Although I thought it was "flibbertigibbits", with an "r" in there. That or the McGraw brothers' peculiar blend of skills as they try to figure out which way Perkin would have gone. Next month is the McGraw wedding! After meeting his brother, I can't wait to see the rest of the family. The facial hair alone should be a delight. I hope Sarin goes nuts with it. Van Dykes, mutton chops, Fu Manchus, all manner of hirsute abominations I can't even conceive of.

Can you tell I'm typing this during yet another day I don't want to go out in the snow?