What I Bought 5/29/2019 - Part 1

Regular life update: A new apartment has been located, but I can't move in until the end of next week. Which would mean more commuting, but I'm out of town on a training this whole week. So that helps.

In the meantime, let's look at some comics from last month. Both on their third issue. Unfortunately, we're going old school with these reviews. No, I'm not going back to handing out a score on a 5-point scale. That was pointless and by the time I'm handing out 3.78/5, entirely meaningless. What I mean is, we're going without any scanned panels. Sorry! Maybe I'll come back and add some in later.

Dial H for Hero #3, by Sam Humphries (writer), Joe Quinones and Arist Deyn (artists), Jordan Gibson and Arist Deyn (colorists), Dave Sharpe (letterer) - It looks like the bottom of Mr. Thunderbolt's hood projects out from his jaw like a couple of horns. Or a goatee, maybe.

Miguel and Summer have reached Central City, hoping to find the cop who took the H-Dial. Or, enlist the aid of the Flash to help them. The second one proves more difficult than you'd expect. That's Barry Allen for ya, never around when needed. The cop, despite (because of?) some encouraging from the The Operator, uses the dial to become some Vertigo imprint-style character. Miguel falls prey to her power of nostalgia, but Summer hates her past, and uses the dial to turn into an angry punk teen character and they fight it out.

So Robby Reed's the Operator, but he considers Mr. Thunderbolt his responsibility. So I'm still not sure if he's good, per se, because I feel like he's still kind of manipulating Summer and Miguel to deal with this for him. He encouraged the officer to not feel bad about wanting to use the Dial again. Which could just be him being an understanding fellow, because he's been there. Or it could be him wanting her to use it so the teens could track her down and retrieve the dial.

I'm guessing the "Bluebird" portions were drawn by Quinones, imitating artwork from, I don't know, Morrison's Doom Patrol, maybe? Vertigo stuff is outside my wheelhouse. Deyn drew and colored the flashbacks to Summer's past as a child dragged into the pageant scene by her domineering mother. The art feels more manga inspired in the faces at least, and the coloring is lower contrast than in the sections Gibson colors. The memory flattening out over time, losing the smaller details maybe.

I don't know which of them drew the parts where she transforms into a hero, Lo Lo Kick You (the first K is backwards). The style reminds me of Jamie Hewlett, in that Lo Lo looks a bit like a character from Gorillaz. The sections where Bluebird has the upper hand, the panel borders are wavier, and the layouts are more all over the place. Lo Lo's pages have more straightforward layouts, and sharp, thin lines for borders.

Magnificent Ms. Marvel #3, by Saladin Ahmed (writer), Minkyu Jung (artist), Juan Vlasco (inker), Ian Herring (colorist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - The tubes are an odd touch. Like pieces of some machine, but also the border of a classical painting.

Kamala and her parents are transported to the alien world, into the castle of the "Rightly Ruling King". As you might expect, anyone who has to proclaim they are the rightful ruler, really isn't. Kamala goes exploring, and finds a prisoner being tortured in the dungeon. She rescues him, and they and her parents attempt to flee in some aircraft, which then gets blown up.

It looks like, if the legend is accurate, the one who originally saved the planet was Carol Danvers at some point. Unless there are time travel hijinks involved. Especially considering the pictures show the hero flying off, which isn't in Kamala's repertoire. Question is, did these guys make a legitimate mistake, going strictly by the symbol on Kamala's uniform and not noticing she and Carol don't look much alike? Or is this a deliberate thing? The King not wanting the people looking to anyone other than him for salvation or leadership. So he gets the "wrong" hero, she fails, the populace dismisses the legend. Cast off your old gods for the new.

Other than that, I'm curious to see what happens when Kamala's parents are actually mixed up in all this. So far, they've warned her she was getting to enjoy the hero treatment too much (accurate), and became extremely worried about her rushing back into their quarters with a shirtless alien boy. I did laugh when Kamala's mom insists they'll ride next to each other, and Abu can ride next to the alien boy.

But, we're three issues in, and it feels like this particular story has barely gotten off the ground. They finally made it to the oh-so-important alien world, and immediately figured out something isn't right, but I have no idea where anything is going from there. Which could be bad, could be good. I just can't say I'm terribly impressed at this point.

Jung seems to be taking a different approach with Kamala's shapeshifting than past artists. Usually when she gets bigger, her overall proportions remain the same (except if she makes one fist or foot really big). Jung seems to have Kamala trying to bulk up more. There's two different times in this this issue where she gets a bit taller, but a lot broader in the shoulders and the torso. I don't know if there's meant to be a reason for that. Does it make Kamala stronger to do that? Is she actually increasing her available muscle mass?