What I Bought 4/8/2019

I ordered the last two books I wanted from last month before I went on the road trip. Because I was confident that UPS and USPS would flub the handoff long enough I'd return before the books got here. And I was right. They showed up last Monday, so here we are.

Also, the NBA playoffs have started! I'm so happy! The Nets beating Philly in Game 1 was highly enjoyable, and I don't dislike Philly. It was just funny watching the Sixers' fans turn on their team halfway through the second quarter.

Coda #10, by Si Spurrier (writer), Matias Bergara (artist/colorist), Michael Doig (color assists), Jim Campbell (letterer) - If she tells you she has balloons down there, Hum, don't believe her.

Hum narrates from a cell. The giant is tearing apart Ridgetown to retrieve the ylf. The Murkrone has promised to make it an eternal power source for the giant if he breaks the wall separating her babies from the ocean. The giant is honorable, up to a point. The Murkrone is not. Hum still seems at loose ends, but Serka has decided on her next course of action, so we'll see how that goes.

Not sure why the Murkrone thinks gloating to Serka long distance is a good plan. You gloat if she actually drinks the poisoned thing you cooked up, as she's dying. Not when you just missed your shot. I guess she figures she's got the power from the ylf backing her up so she can be as cocky as she wants, but I'm pretty sure that's a bet that'll end badly for her. Well, she said she was going to restore things to the way they were, when people had specific roles to fill. I'm sure she expects hers to be "God", but it's looking like she's "Monologuing Dumbass Villain".

The images of the giant without his armor are pretty impressive. Convey the size and power he still has, while making it clear he's not too far off from ending up like that poor dragon out in the desert, begging passerbys to scratch his non-existent bum for him. More non-existent than ever after that explosion. Excellent work on the sound effect on the explosion, too. The center of it is where the explosion is, and part of it travels along the ground while the rest arches up and to the left corner, tearing through the mountain as it goes. Really well done. Bergara and Doig have made this book really enjoyable to just look at some times.

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #4, by Tom Taylor (writer), Juann Cabal (artist), Douglas Franchin (finishes, pgs. 18-20), Nolan Woodward (color artist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - Well, I would certainly retreat from a horde of New Yorkers whether they were angry or not.

The Under Yorkers (ugh) come to the surface for the children and their mother. Spidey faces off against them, but when things look bad, everyone else in the neighborhood shows up as well. Then Mayor Fisk (jesus, really?) shows up, and basically gets public pressured into telling the guys to go back to their underground city. The day is saved, and now Peter gets to have an awkward conversation with Aunt May about whatever is wrong with her. I'm sure that'll be fun.

This is me repeating myself, but I continue to enjoy the small touches Taylor brings to his writing, while giving basically zero fucks about the larger plot. The bit where he coerces Fisk into doing what he wants by announcing to everyone that he knows the MAYOR OF NEW YORK will be there for his people. Or the bit where he says he got one of his many superhero friends to send the children far away, to another world or dimension perhaps, because some of them will do him favors just to make him go away.

But, I don't really care about this whole thing about kids trying to escape an underground empire. Or the old lady hero or any of that. It's not badly written, it just doesn't do anything for me. And yet another story about Aunt May being sick isn't likely to improve matters. So it's a matter of whether Taylor can create enough landmarks and distractions to keep me going on a trip I'm not really into. Jury's out on that one for the moment.

The double-page spread of Spidey dodging the gunfire, disarming the goons and saving a cat was a little confusing to me the first time I tried to follow what was happening. All the little panels with "Dodge the bullet." were making it hard to decipher what route I'm supposed to travel. The placement of the sound effects is clever, the BLAMs eventually stopping and the THWIPs starting. Although I notice when Spidey hits the one guy with the megaphone, there's a small "TNK" in the panel itself, but directly up and to the right there's a CLUNK! as well. Maybe the CLUNK is the guy hitting the ground?

I'm starting to think Cabal draws people with small feet, though. Spidey's in particular look off-proportion to the rest of him to me. They're at least consistent, Cabal doesn't have that issue, and maybe they aren't out of proportion. But they sure look like they are.