What I Bought 3/9/2019 - Part 1

A couple of weeks ago, Previews' website said The Seeds #3 would come out last week. I was very excited, but by last week, they changed their tune and it did not appear. There were 3 books last week that came out I did want, so here's two of them. The first issues of two different mini-series.

Astro Hustle #1, by Jai Nitz (writer), Tom Reilly (artist), Ursula Decay (colorist), Crank! (letterer) - The two guards flanking the noblewoman look pretty stupid in those helmets, but the British colonial looking dumbass with the big feather in his helmet might be stupider.

Chen Andalou was in stasis for 60 years en route to a new colony after being convicted of various crimes. But someone wanted him to die in space. That fails, so he gets put on trial again for a bunch of crimes, and sentenced to death. Then is able to escape along with a space pirate during a jailbreak. The good fortune doesn't seem like it's going to last long, though.

There's a definite sense of being thrown in the deep end, not really understanding what's happening, why everyone is so eager to execute Chen. I have a general idea of what's going on based on what I recall of the original solicitation text. It makes sense, because Chen doesn't know what's going on either. He's been in stasis for 60 years, he doesn't understand anything more about the current political landscape of the world he inhabits than we do. That said, I felt very lost on the first readthrough.

The art style reminds me of Chris Samnee, but not so heavy on the shadows. So closer to Alex Toth then? I've seen Samnee's work described as being in the same vein as Toth's, although Reilly's isn't as fluid in action scenes. That might be a function of page layout. Ursula Decay's color scheme is mostly very bright, especially one Chen reaches civilization. All the laser gun blasts are bright reds and blues, Carbon John's pirate ship white with big pink sails. There's a gravity beam that's a light blue, almost white in the middle, that plays against the pile of corpses in twilight. And Reilly and Decay do a good job using the shadows so that you usually only see parts of the bodies. An arm, or part of a face. Enough you understand what you're looking without it feeling gratuitous.

Domino: Hotshots #1, by Gail Simone (writer), David Baldeon (artist), Jim Charalampidis (colorist), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - OK, the issue tells us the lady with silver hair is a South Korean agent, not the Black Cat. Thank goodness, because I thought that was a really lousy costume for Felicia.

A piece of Celestial fell in Antarctica, a guy picked it up and is merging with it, and everybody wants it. Domino and her crew get approached by the Black Widow and the White Fox separately to track it down. Plus, the young Wakandan woman with the future vision is there and interested. All three of them are ultimately serving their own interests (or their countries'), which leaves Domino, Outlaw and Diamondback stuck with a bunch of untrustworthy partners. The target is gradually turning into a Kirby drawing and escapes. Then, a wild Deadpool appears!

Well, I appreciate the oddness of the problem. A guy changing into something different because he got too close to something alien. Granted that happens a lot in the Marvel Universe, but this guy doesn't seem like he's necessarily out to rule the world or rob banks. He's just freaking out from early stage omniscience, I think. Understandable.

Gavrie (the infected scientist) seems to have a more blocky body structure as parts of him change. If you're going to go with the Kirby-style Celestials look, the energy crackle, the weird squiggle designs on the armor, might as well go towards a more Kirby-like body type, too. It's still Baldeon's style, the close-up on Gavrie's damaged face is not how I imagine Kirby would draw it, but the character still looks different from everyone around him in a way beyond just being partially covered by weird green stuff.

I'm still a little surprised when Simone writes Domino as the type to fangirl. She geeked out over meeting Shang-Chi, and has roughly the same reaction to Black Widow. Not that both those characters aren't cool, I just wouldn't expect Domino to be the type to be impressed. Always figured her for being more jaded, the type who figures she's seen it all before. Maybe not the best approach for a character if you want to impress your audience that someone is cool or something is weird, though.