What I Bought 4/3/2019 - Part 1

I've slept really well for two nights in a row. I need to go 24+ hours without sleep more often! There's no way that plan can backfire. Think how much more I'll accomplish!

Like I said, I managed to find most of last week's comics when Alex and I hit a store in Vegas, so let's get to them. For today, two mini-series, both still in early stages.

Domino: Hotshots #2, by Gail Simone (writer), David Baldeon (artist), Jim Charalampidis (colorist), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - I don't think I've ever seen the Black Widow with a fishnet section on her costume before. Kind of an odd choice by R.B. Silva there.

First half of the issue is everybody fighting Deadpool, until Domino talks him down. Second half of the issue is them going to see Tony Stark because 'Pool says that's who hired him, and Stark sending automated drone armors to attack them. Throw in that Domino really doesn't have any control over this group she's working with, and doesn't seem comfortable in a leadership position besides that, and that's pretty much it.

The fight scenes aren't great, because the focus is really more on what Domino's thinking during the fight. So she's narrating about how everyone else is making a mistake underestimating Wade (which I can't picture Black Widow being stupid enough to do), but it isn't really clear what he's suddenly doing that's so much more effective than what he did the first few pages. Plus, Wade's face gets damaged by one of Shoon'kwa's weapons and his eye on that side gets colored pink. Like, entirely pink. I thought it was supposed to mean he's a fake, maybe Stark built himself a Deadpool LMD, but I don't think so.

That said, when you can see the action, the sense of force and effort is there, and Baldeon's still good at body language and expression work. The bit when Domino asks Natasha, Silver Fox, and Shoon'kwa whether they're on board with destroying this "artifact" or about to get chucked overboard. The reluctance on each one's part to actually do so, how Natasha doesn't change expression at all, and Shoon'kwa won't even look at Domino, and Fox makes this scowly unhappy look as she debates it. When Deadpool is supposed to be getting serious, the shading on him gets heavier, puts the damaged side of his face in shadow, makes him look more ominous.

Overall, the issue has some individual parts I like, but isn't great as a whole.

Section Zero #1, by Karl Kesel (writer), Tom Grummett (artist), Ben Dimagmaliw (colorist), Richard Starkings (letterer) - The store only had the variant cover available. Which is Walt Simonson drawing a bug-boy, so that's not bad.

Section Zero is a weird science group that works for "all governments" under the UN, investigating weird shit. They were looking for an insect-person, and found a young boy named Thom who got a tattoo at a vanishing tattoo place (meaning the place later vanished, not that the tattoos do) and turns into a bug for a day at a time. He goes with them as they head to the Outback to investigate a large feral creature killing livestock. But their contact in the UN is also informing some ruthless group of soldiers about the same stuff. I know, duplicity in the government, shocking.

It's. . . fine, I guess. Kesel and Grummett are trying to do a fair amount of world-building right off the bat, establish the setting, some of the characters' major characteristics, a few mysteries quickly, but it just didn't really take for me. I was sort of interested in how Thom's origin story reminds me of old horror comics, the person who goes seeking something, gets more than they bargained for, and can't ever find the person who gave it to them again.

I'm normally a fan of Tom Grummett's art, and it isn't that it's bad here. He has a solid, clean style that's easy to read. You can always follow what's going on, understand character's emotions from their faces and body language. I'm just not sure if he's the best choice for this book. Maybe I'm expecting it to tilt more towards horror than he and Kesel intend, but I feel like maybe you need an artist whose style would play up Thom's bug form as more horrific, make the other oddities look truly odd.