What I Bought 2/21/2020 - Part 1

Dan Didio's out as chief editor or whatever the heck he was. I guess we can all rejoice until they announce whatever person is going to replace him, who will probably be entirely unacceptable. Take your victories and pleasures where you can. In other news, here's two reviews of comics I figured I'd take a chance on.

Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey #1, by Amanda Conner (writer/artist), Jimmy Palmiotti (writer), Paul Mounts (colorist), John J. Hill (letterer) - I was very confused by Cassandra having all Huntress' arrows until I remembered they made her a thief in the movie rather than a super-awesome martial artist.

Harley heads to Gotham because the loan shark she took out a mortgage through had her hotel burned down for failure to pay bills, and kicked the crap out of the guy who acts as landlord. Also, she kind of pissed off Ivy, so it's something to do other than sit around and feel bad about her failed relationship. People try to kill her on the train ride, but Huntress and Cass show up and help. They get to Gotham, Renee Montoya tells Harley to leave, issue ends.

This feels like some weird amalgam of the movie continuity and the comics. All the stuff about Harley and Ivy, and her henchfolk, the old cyborg spy guy, that's from the comics. But all the stuff with Renee, Cass, and Helena seems like its movie stuff. While Conner and Palmiotti take the time to explain some of the backstory for the first group, there's really nothing about the second. Like, how does Harley know Cass, what's their backstory, are she and Helena in an actual supergroup in this timeline. I haven't seen the movie - although Alex told me there's very little sign of Cass being as serious asskicker in it - I don't know what the fuck's going on.

It seems taken for granted I understand why Renee Montoya, who I assume is an honest cop, is trying to send Harley away rather than take her in for questioning about the large number of people she just killed on that train. (It was self-defense, but the police would still want to confirm that, yes?)

I didn't laugh very much, which is how it went the last time I tried Conner and Palmiotti's writing on Harley Quinn, but you can always figure things might change. There were a couple of bits - here bad luck-stricken vacation with Ivy, the bit where she keeps trying to tell the goons what the "F" in Harley F. Quinn stands for (although I thought the eventual answer overdid it.)

Conner's artwork is lively and full of cheesecake as usual. Which is fine. The emotion is there, Harley being a very expressive character, the fight scenes are good, easy to follow, sort of graphic. That's not a complaint, it seems par for the course with the character. Actually, I don't know if a guy getting his head cut off with a sign qualifies as "graphic" these days. Is the violence by itself enough, or does the presentation matter? It's not like they did a series of slow-motion panels of the head tumbling through the air, blood and gore drenching everyone in the room while his tongue falls out the back of his head. But the also didn't do that old bit of just drawing it in outline, or cutting away to show it via his shadow. Anyway, people get beat to death, pencils in the ears, arrows through the skull, that kind of thing.

The After Realm #1, by Michael Avon Oeming (writer/artist), Taki Soma (colorist), Shawn Lee (letterer) - Props to the person who built a massive skull sculpture on top of that skyscraper. Or did they carve it from the building itself?

Oona's an elf. Her people retreated beneath the surface when Loki brought about Ragnarok, although they were able to imprison him and some of his lackeys. Oona wants to return to the surface and find her friend who was left behind, but keeps screwing up her chances by being too impatient or taking shortcuts. In her despair, her mind is contacted by Loki's and he finds the way to free himself. Sometime in the future, Oona's writing all this down as she flees from a living Statue of Liberty. It's trying to incinerate her, so the ectoplasm must have been exposed to a lot of angry vibes.

I'm actually most curious about this goat of hers, Pooka. He helps her, he says because he is magically bound to protect her, and that he's not her friend. And it's his help that gets her kicked out of the Rangers (the only ones who might be allowed to go to the surface) the second time. Which is what drove her back to Loki's prison. Which is how Loki got out. And Oona doesn't know who bound him to protect her. So I'm wondering what the long game is.

Other than that, it's really just a lot of set-up. Granting that the last page could be a pretty effective cliffhanger, I wonder if it wouldn't have been more effective to leap more into Oona's present, and gradually reveal the backstory. Show the moments with the friend left behind and the elves retreating below ground, then shift to the present. You can compare and contrast however competent or do-gooding she is now (if she is a do-gooder) with what a selfish, foolish screw-up she was before. Maybe get a little further into whatever the story is actually going to be in the first issue, considering the next issue isn't out until May.

Oeming doesn't get nearly as wild with page layouts here as he did with Cave Carson has a Cybernetic Eye. Soma goes with all black backgrounds quite often, especially the further into the story they get. Like there's just an immense void around Oona. Which, if they're in a massive cavern, might make sense.

Oeming's Loki is very, treelike? His horns are branches, his coloration is that of bark, long limbs that project tendrils that look like roots. Is that a more traditional look for Loki? Plants and trees in general seem pretty prominent. Oona's friend had learned to speak with thorns. She was carving his face into a tree when she noticed one of the other Rangers-in-training going to check on Loki's prison, which is when she got the idea of trying to get in the Rangers again.