What I Bought 11/16/2019

For today, we have yet another one-shot from Marvel (sure hope it's better than all the others I've tried this year), and the final issue of a particular ongoing series. So a little bit of good, and a little bit of sad.

Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #50, by Ryan North (writer), Derek Charm (artist), Erica Henderson (song sequence artist), Rico Renzi (color artist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - I have no idea what expression that's supposed to be on Kraven's face. I'm guessing something noble, but it comes off more, vaguely constipated.

After all my guesses as to how Doreen was going to survive the quantum inversion bomb, the answer was, "she's tough enough to not be killed by it". That was a letdown there, really. If it can't kill one person laying directly on top of it, how the hell did Doom expect it to do any good against a whole mess of heroes? It seems like there were so many clever things to do, that was kind of a dud.

Then Galactus shows up, does Power Cosmic stuff to throw the villains in special jail, and has a long conversation with Doreen on the moon about how people change but the things they did don't, so they'll always have this time as friends even if they end up as enemies under another writer later. Which is probably the best way to think about it, since I have no idea how long this version of Squirrel Girl will stick now that this series is over, and who the heck knows with Galactus. I'm pretty sure he went from World Devourer to whatever the hell he was in those Ultimates series post-Secret Wars, and maybe back to Devourer by now.

Then Tony Stark broadcasts a theme song video about Doreen to "properly introduce" her to everyone now that her secret identity is kaput. The main takeaway from it is that at some point, Squirrel Girl punched Mr. Sinister in the face with a coffee mug, which is something the X-Men should have thought to try at some point.

As far as ending go, it's a pretty good one. In keeping with the tone of the series, in that Doreen doesn't let bad circumstances drag her down. Instead she tries to make the best of them. Her secret identity is blown? At least she doesn't have to keep that secret from her friends any longer? Although I'm not sure which friends she had that didn't know her secret identity already.

Black Cat Annual #1, by Jed MacKay (writer), Joey Vazquez, Natacha Bustos, Juan Gedeon (artists), Brian Reber (color artist), Ferran Delgado (letterer) - Oh great, Octavius probably rigged that tie with a gizmo that'll let him steal Peter's body again. Creepy bastard.

The story takes place prior to the first issue of the ongoing. Felicia convinces Spidey to help her use the cover of some weird Maggia wedding/combat thing to steal three million dollars from the Maggia. Except she tells Peter it's only two million dollars. One mil to charity, one mil to the two kids who were supposed to fight to the death. One mil for her and her two henchmen.

Each artist handles a different section. Gedeon handles the Dr. Korpse parts, as he infiltrates the a bank to retrieve a particular phone needed to make a call. Although the part I focused on there was his monologue about observing and studying Felicia because she seems the opposite of a criminal mastermind. Which makes me think eventual double-cross.

Bustos handles the sections where Bruno swipes an impounded SHIELD vehicle and picks up the cash, then has to escape when the guys in their weird gold masks realize something is up and try to kill him. Bustos' work reminds me a bit of Steve Lieber's, or maybe Chris Samnee's (with a lot fewer shadows). Reber's coloring on that section might be part of it. I was thinking he was colorist for Lieber on Superior Foes of Spider-Man, but looks like that was Rachelle Rosenberg. Both Gedeon and Bustos mix in a lot of small panels focused on a specific act. Dr. Korpse snipping the wire on a bomb protecting the phone, Bruno wiping the transponder from the car he's stealing. Helps a little to break up what are some not terribly exciting parts of the book.

Vazquez draws everything involving Felicia and Spidey, which means he gets to draw a lot of action sequences and banter between the two, and I think does a pretty good job. There's a difference in the way they move, where Spidey's limbs are kind of all over the place, while Felicia seems like she's closer to following specific forms a gymnast might. You look after he after-images in the panel, her limbs are tucked in tightly during the flip. She's making sure of her balance and posture, while Spidey's arms are just wherever. Which makes sense, considering she undoubtedly has training, and doesn't have spider-powers to let her just fling herself around haphazardly. Plus, I like the Dreadnaught being represented at times as this massive shadowy figure with glowing eyes standing behind whatever attack it's using at that moment.

One other thing I notice is Vazquez makes the material of Felicia's outfit look like leather or something else slick and reflective. Which, to be fair, is what a lot of artist have opted for since, probably when Terry Dodson drew her for either Millar's Marvel Knights Spider-Man run or that Kevin Smith mini-series we're better off just forgetting. Travel Foreman tends to not make it reflective or slick, gives it more of a cloth appearance, which is what I think it was meant to be originally.

Costume discussions aside, I enjoyed this a lot. Just really entertaining little caper, and I always like seeing Black Cat and Spider-Man working together on good terms.