What I Bought 7/19/2019 - Part 2

The other two books from last week. One is a mini-series moving into its second half, and the other is the first issue of what I assume is an ongoing series.

Smooth Criminals #7, by Kurt Lustgarten, Kirsten Smith and Amy Roy (writers), Leisha Riddel (artist), Jamie Loughran, Adam LaFuente and Goncarlo Lopes (colorists), Ed Dukeshire (letterer) - Freezing Mia didn't work, so now they've shrunk her, I see.

The feds try to get Brenda to talk, to no avail. Mia confesses, or agrees to confess, to protect her, and for the chance to speak to her mother. Brenda isn't happy Mia portrayed her as an innocent dupe, but realizes this means they're friends and. . . tries to rob a bank to be thrown back in jail with Mia. That is one way to go about things. Then they make a deal with the feds to help them catch the guy who stole the Net of Indra from them, and that's where the issue ends.

There's also a two-page sequence in there of Hatch acting like a complete dumbass while celebrating having the Net of Indra. He sings part of "Ice, Ice, Baby" to it (incorrectly) for God's sake. Thank goodness his fiance comes in and points out he didn't actually steal it, Mia and Brenda did all the work. It's getting harder and harder to take Hatch seriously, although I feel worse and worse for his two goons. I hope one of them was taking photos to blackmail him with later.

That part, and the bit where Mia is picturing Brenda in prison are the two high points. Although that second one is a little odd. The feds are trying to scare Mia by talking about how badly it'll go for Brenda, but Mia is picturing her working out, making friends, exploring prison fashion and tattooing. Seems like Mia thinks Brenda will do pretty well in prison. Still nice of her to try and take the fall solo. Helps these two feds are dumber than a sack of hammers.

Sera and the Royal Stars #1, by Jon Tsuei (writer), Adurey Mok (artist), Raul Angelo (colorist), Jim Campbell (letterer) - Hey, I think I found a crystal just like that in a pile of stuff left over from an old smelting operation last week! Where's my magical quest?

Sera is a princess, working with her siblings to lead their father's armies and try to defend their kingdom from their uncle's forces. There's also a mysterious third group who wear hoods with goat horns on them watching and waiting. Unfortunately, a being named Mitra has tagged Sera to free some "royal stars" to get things back on the right path. Sera tells her to pound sand, but Mitra removes her heart, puts that crystal in its place and tells her all her loved ones will die if she doesn't do this. Apparently this world doesn't have lots of stories about what happens when you strongarm someone into doing stuff for you. Movies tell me it tends to backfire. By the end of the issue, she's found one, but they're in the process of being attacked by lizard men, so hopefully he's of some use.

There's some stuff here, a lot of it about Sera's family. Their uncle is the one waging war on them. Her mother was the last one Mitra tapped for this quest, but she apparently failed. Mitra's response was only that 'we chose incorrectly before you.' Oh, well, that's great, but you didn't do her family any favors, so maybe show a little contrition?  Her younger sister is pretty ticked she's taking off, and her brother's a little worried, since Sera's apparently their best tactician. So you wonder if there'll be anything left of her home by the time she gets home, if she does. Mitra didn't guarantee her family wouldn't be killed if she did go on this quest after all, and seems like the kind of deity to omit that.

I like Mok's artwork. There's a light touch to the linework, not a lot of excess pencil lines. Even with the old man Sera finds in the temple, Mok uses just a few wrinkles lines here and there to suggest the rest. Keeps things clean and easy to read. I like the designs for their uniforms as well, though I'm not sure what the influence is. My brain keeps saying Indian subcontinent, but I'm not sure of that. "Hormuzd" is Middle Eastern, or at least the first result on Google is for Hormuzd Rassam, an Assyrian archaeologist that found clay tablets with the Epic of Gilgamesh.

The village in the vast open plain Sera passed through on the way to the temple made me think Mongolia (I remember reading something about the Eternal Blue Sky as a religion in that Weatherford book about Genghis Khan), but again, I'm guessing. At any rate, it's a good design, not too complicated, but distinct, Angelo makes it colorful, it works. The variety of landscapes offers a lot of possibilities, especially since I suspect Sera's going to venture into places most people have forgotten about.

I'm going to buy issue 2, and that's the goal of a first issue, so mission accomplished.