What I Bought 3/2/2019

We had snow again over the weekend. Not as much as they predicted, a couple of inches, but this feels like the snowiest winter we've had in a while. Every weekend it's at least a little something.

I went to town for comics from the last two weeks, but only managed to find two of the five I was looking for. Bit of a disappointment, but work with what we've got.

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #3, by Tom Taylor (writer), Juann Cabal (artist), Nolan Woodward (color artist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - Welp, he missed the title logo with his webline, he's doomed. Sorry everyone, no more Peter Parker Spider-Man comics, he's dead.

OK, there's a city beneath New York called Under York, which looks like New York and had some sort of contact with the surface until the '40s, when they went isolationist. Leilani was either from there and escaped to the surface, or someone came to the surface from there and met her, and they had kids. I think it's the former. Pete and Marnie find her, take out two guards, but Pete takes a bullet for Marnie. Then, when the elevator is shut down, he climbs three miles straight up with the two of them on his back. So they reach the surface, but there will likely be people after them soon.

I liked this issue more than the previous one, since they got into the story a little more. Plot advancement actually helps, what a bizarre concept. Cabal and Woodward do some lovely work in this issue. The full-page splash of Under York, even though it's really just New York with magma around it instead of water. The page of Peter and Marnie descending a spiral staircase where Cabal lays the page out so the panels descend in a spiral, the support pillar in the center also forming a line through the center of the page. Woodward still does that thing for Spider-Sense with the very bright blue outline against a magenta background from the first issue, but it's less weird when Peter has his mask on, since we can't see his eyes glowing.

I enjoy some of the quips and comments Peter makes, the one in response to Marnie's rhetorical question about who among us hasn't dated an underground despot in particular. Although I feel like some of the comments would serve better as internal monologue. The one where he apologizes to Marnie for yelling 'Get Down!' instead of 'Noooooooo!' when he took a bullet for her. That feels more like a thought that would run through his head than one he'd actually say out loud.

Smooth Criminals #4, by Kurt Lustgarten and Kirsten Smith (writers), Leisha Riddel (artist), Brittany Peer (colorist), Ed Dukeshire (letterer) - I suspect Mia's not going to have much luck getting Brenda to wear a skintight leather outfit during the actual heist.

There are three scenes running through the issue. One is the FBI questioning Mia's mother about why Mia suddenly appeared again, and what she's after. The elder Ms. Corsair was quite the thief herself back in the day, and I don't know yet if she told the feds anything they'll be able to figure out how to use. Mia and Brenda are using the storage space where Brenda found her to practice getting through the security systems. Mia's struggling a bit with adapting to motion sensors, especially under a time limit. And Hatch is still fuming about how Mia could be back after all this time. The answer to how he hasn't aged seems to be a sort of blue drug he gets injected periodically. Tsk, tsk, performance enhancing drugs. The Thief Hall of Fame will not be happy when they hear of this.

The theme of the day seems to be time. How it continues to pass and how characters lose track of it. Which means, when they have things that need doing, there's less time to get done than they think. Hatch thought he had a free and clear shot at the Net of Indra with no Mia around, enough so he could wait 30 years to get around to stealing it. But here Mia is, so perhaps not. But his attempt to examine her cryogenic tube leads him to her and Brenda's training ground, which means he's more onto them than they know. Their window is closing faster than they think. And Ms. Corsair is 30 years older, left wondering what's going on with her daughter, but not in any position to do anything about it.

Now watch, she'll break out of prison next issue.

Riddel's artwork maintains its level from last issue, so I'm really lost as to what happened in issue 2. I like the variety of clothing styles. Brenda tends to stick to t-shirts and a sweater wrapped around the waist, but Mia's going with the t-shirt and overalls look, which is a big change from what's she been in so far. Ms. Corsair has this absolutely perfect expression in one panel after one of the feds loses his temper and starts yelling about how Mia could appear looking no different than she used to. One of those 'picture of innocence' looks where the smile is a little too big to actually be innocent. What I'd describe as almost feline.