What I Bought 5/8/2019 - Part 2

For today's selection, the second issue of a mini-series, and a Free Comic Book Day version of the first issue of another book. Both of them dealing with young people getting superpowers in unconventional ways.

Punchline FCBD, by Bill Williams (writer), Matthew Weldon (artist), Neeraj Menon and Tiago Barsa (colorists), Thom Zahler (letterer) - I'm trying to think if I've ever seen a person wear a pen around their neck on a string, other than in fiction.

Mel was a hero, given power by some person or group. They wanted her to pick a successor, she refused, they tried to kill her. She's bleeding out on a bench in a cemetery and meets Jessie, who offers to be a successor, since that might somehow take care of Mel bleeding to death. It does, and the remainder of the issue is Mel starting to teach Jessie the ropes of being a hero. Teaching equating to "you can fly, so go fly around and find a crime to stop." Little vague on instructions, but I guess she follows the philosophy of learn by doing.

The series is already four issues in now, so I'm guessing there's still elements of the mentor/trainee relationship, which Jessie being extremely eager but having little clue what she's doing, and Mel being the veteran that can be a little gruff, but is mostly nice. Which is fine, it gives the book a good starting point to play them off each other. There are a few mysteries, things hinted at for both Mel and Jessie, that can be expanded on as they go.

Weldon's art is kind of interesting because it's mostly what I'd call a more realistic style, but he'll occasionally do something like give Jessie stars for eyes when she's excited, or simply empty circles when she's stunned. It's an exaggerated touch that doesn't seem to fit with the rest of his style. It still works, you understand what he's going for, just surprising. He does seem to have a bit of trouble with eyes, one being smaller than the other, or one being too high or low on the face compared to the other. Since so much of the issue is talking and reliant on expression work to carry it off, it ends up being noticeable. I'm also not sure about asymmetrical costumes. One leg of the costume runs all the way to the boot, the other stops where a swimsuit would. Not sure why someone would go with that.

I don't know if this issue was enough to convince me to start picking up the series.

Dial H for Hero #2, by Sam Humphries (writer), Joe Quinones (artist), Jordan Gibson (colorist), Dave Sharpe (letterer) - The answer to who will catch them first is Sheriff Buford T. Justice. Nobody drives a lady across state lines in a stolen mayo truck on his watch!

Miguel keeps refusing to answer the phone. And to eat eggs for breakfast. He feels out of his depth and throws the phone in the river, where it is found and used by someone working for Mr. Thunder. Which gives Quinones a chance to do an Akira Toriyama homage. Which is certainly more pleasant to look at than the '90s pastiche last issue. There's also a cop working for Mr. Thunder who gets involved, giving Miguel a chance to use the phone after all, turning into some '80s mech anime thing. Then there's a fight, Miguel wins, decides they should take the phone to Metropolis, but the cop is taking it to Central City.

I enjoyed the hero bits a lot more this issue, since they went with source material I feel more fondness towards. The other characters around the heroes ended up being drawn and colored in the same style as said hero. I would have liked it for the contrast if they'd remained as they had been, but you could probably make a theory about it being a result of how the dial works.

That and Miguel actually acted to save lives, rather than just destroying a used car lot. Miguel's internal monologue being completely confused by what his transformed body is doing was funny. I'm concerned Mr. Thunder is going to end up being the kid from the '60s Dial H series, since he makes people say "Sockamagee" as a way of swearing to do something. The "actually this child character from a simpler age is a horrible lunatic" bit is fucking tired.

One thing I do want to see next issue, is we learn Miguel and Summer went back to the diner, ordered the omelette, and Miguel was right to be wary of eggs. Sometimes a bad food experience is just bad luck, and sometimes it means you really shouldn't eat that thing. Alex told me he's only eaten shrimp twice, and he got really sick both times. So now he doesn't eat shrimp. Why take the risk? There's a million other things in the world you can eat, you know?