What I Bought 8/31/2019 - Part 1

The last week of August was the biggest of the month for me in terms of comics. Which, granted, means 4 books, but combined with 2 comics from earlier in the month, equals a decent haul. So let's get to business.

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #11, by Tom Taylor (writer), Juann Cabal (artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (color artist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - So is that one of Peter's regular costumes, or did MJ have one specially made? I feel like one Peter's been wearing wouldn't fit her that well.

While Peter sleeps off fighting a damn troll, Mary Jane goes about her business of helping people out. Which means taking May shopping for wigs, I'm assuming her hair fell out from chemotherapy. Then the subway train she's riding crashes into another troll. One dressed like a refugee from an '80s aerobics video. OK, sure. One of the backup dancer, er, aerobics people in Volstagg's Sweatin' to the Oldies, no doubt.

That is not a pleasant image. Frickin' brain.

MJ remains calm, helps people evacuate, keeps the troll occupied until Miles Morales Spider-Man shows up, distracts it long enough he can deck it, and then brings Peter some pizza for when he wakes up. A simple done-in-one, which is why I picked it up, since that was what I enjoyed most in the first six issues. And I liked this. I like Mary Jane being calm under fire, because she's had to deal with a lot of crap, and that she encourages May to buy lots of wigs, rather than just one. Although I agree with peter, why does someone need more than one hairstyle? At this point, I'd be content having enough hair to consider having more than one.

Cabal gives MJ some interesting expressions, in a good way. Really good at capturing that way people will hold their mouth in an odd position while they're concentrating on something. I feel like he overplays her cheekbones about half the time. Like you could scrape cheese on those things. Still not a huge fan of his fight scenes, not that he has much of a chance to do anything for this one. It's really more about what she's doing while Miles is dodging around the troll, but I find the action kind of flat until the knockout punch. That was a decent full-page splash.

Dial H for Hero #6, by Sam Humphries (writer), Joe Quinones (artist), Scott Hanna (inker), Jordan Gibson (colorist), Dave Sharpe (letterer) - I've never received a "new phone, who dis?" text message.

Lots of people in Metropolis dialed "H" for hero and now there are tons of people with superpowers just running around like headless chickens. Summer transformed into LoLo Kick You again - looking more Mike Allred-ish most of the time - trying to keep things under control, but is hopelessly outnumbered. Also, there's a plane full of superpeople about to crash. There's always a plane about to crash in Metropolis.

Meanwhile, in the Heroverse, Miguel won't dial H on a damn blue - sorry cyan - dial to become an inspirational hero who can show those others how it's done. Because he thinks he can't inspire. But he can and does, and the plane is saved. But Mr. Thunderbolt's still on the loose with the red (magenta?) H-dial, and there are three more in total he needs to do something to the multiverse. Goddamnit, this is the fucking power ring emotional spectrum rainbow all over again.

Yes, I know, yellow, cyan, and magenta are the three real primary colors used in printing, but man, I did not need this story getting even more meta.

Miguel's arc gets a bit of resolution here, in that he stops worrying so much about whether the dial or other people think he can be a hero, or if it's even worth trying, and just does it. Of course, there's still the part where Mr. Thunderbolt tricked him and got the dial, but he's hopefully begun to address the underlying problem Thunderbolt exploited in the first place. Summer, I'm less sure about. She seems to be looking for a place where she can figure out what she wants, instead of carrying the weight of other's failures and disappointments. Not sure that's been resolved, other than Miguel doesn't seem to do that.

Quinones is playing at a lot of different styles, as basically every hero is done in a different one. I can't even begin to recognize them all, or even most. It works so that the characters feel like they're sharing the same space and interacting, rather than feeling posed around each other. And the part where the pages of Miguel's internal struggle are overlaid on what Summer's dealing with, so that we only get hints of the insanity she's facing, was a nice touch. Even if watching Miguel angst is not the most fascinating experience.