What I Bought 11/20/2019 - Part 3

It's a day for John Allison books, which is good. But that also means it's time for me to say so long to Giant Days! That's bad. But it comes with a free Frogurt! That's good. I was lying, there is no Frogurt. That's bad. Or maybe it's good? I liked frozen yogurt when I was a kid, but I'm not sure that's the same as Frogurt exactly.

Steeple #3, by John Allison (writer/artist), Sarah Stern (color artist), Jim Campbell (letterer) - Did someone play Stairway to Heaven?

All the townspeople are united in their distaste of the incoming wind turbines, which are being installed by a company run by a pair of former Christian musicians. It's bad enough the Satanists and the Church unite. Granted, the Church is because Reverend Penrose fears they're trying to use the latent energy in the area to open a small doorway to Heaven, which will probably not remain small. The Satanists just hated having giant crucifixes outside their windows. As it turns out, the ecological issues related to wind turbines apparently piss the Lord off, so it doesn't work. In the aftermath, Billie is concerned she's not godly enough, while Maggie is worried about the opposite.

I'm surprised Magus Tom wears a collar like a reverend. Or at least that he'd wear it backwards, with the white part in the rear. Or, given this guy, the collar would probably be wrapped around something other than his neck. They guy tries to commit to the evil thing. Loves to tent his fingers like Mr. Burns, leans forward in anticipation a lot. The pink sweater is a nice touch. Again, not what I'd expect, especially given how Brian and Maggie dress like they're attending a metal concert. Just goes to show you can't judge by appearances. Well, you can probably judge a little bit by Tom's upside-down crucifix.

As to Billie's concerns, trying to figure out what God wants of you seems like a sucker bet, but that's probably why I'm not in the religion business. I assume the mistake is that she's worrying about, rather than just doing what she thinks is right. Or maybe she's spending too much time worrying about trying to convert Maggie? I don't know. I'm not really sure how that friendship is going to play out. If Maggie will abandon her faith, or Billie just accepts it as part of who Maggie is, or what. I'm assuming there will not be some dramatic fistfight for all the theological marbles between the two.

Giant Days: As Time Goes By, by John Allison (writer), Max Sarin (artist), Whitney Cogar (color artist), Jim Campbell (letterer) - There's 10 more empty wine glasses just out of sight.

Esther is on thin ice with Daisy and especially Susan because she keeps missing their monthly get-togethers. Because she can't say no to the two creepy assistants to the boss at the publishing company. She gets away in a last-ditch move, but they pursue her because. . . they're assholes? Succubi? They manage to multiply and hitting them with a bus didn't do much, so perhaps their televangelists. Fortunately, Esther knows about curses, and McGraw had an. . . unusually large key.

It's an interesting mix of circumstances. Esther seems miserable personally and professionally. It's curious that she's doing so badly at making friends, but I guess her time at university started poorly, too. Daisy's on Cloud 9, as things are going well with Saffron, which I didn't expect. Susan wants to do more amputations, but work is otherwise good, and she and McGraw were doing well, until she found out he was forgoing career advancement to stay close to her. Which pissed her off, because she's a cat, apparently. Ed's finding the world of banking about as exciting as I figured he would, but I don't know if he and Nina are still together.

God, the Cressidas' faces just look so bizarre. Like a particularly untalented child trying to approximate a human face using a bedpan as a model. Which is great! Makes them look fake and weird and plastic, which they are. They way they hang over Esther, invade her personal space -and it's always them trapping her between the two of them - try to drag her wherever they want. Susan's boiling fury at them is wonderful. I'm going to miss Max Sarin drawing this book so much.

I don't know what Esther's going to end up doing. If she reverts to college Esther, something, rash, impractical, and distinctly unwise. But that would be entertaining, even if it becomes a train wreck. I wonder if we'll see the outcome tangentially in some other book of Allison's down the line?