What I Bought 8/5/2020

There's this lady that lives in the next apartment building over from me, over half the time I walk past her building, she's done this terrible parking job where she's parked diagonally across two spots. Then, every once in awhile, I walk past and she's perfectly within the lines of one spot. I don't know if she's lazy, or just a dick. Maybe the good parking jobs are by someone else who drives her vehicle.

Anyway, there were actually two comics out this week I wanted, and I got both of them hooray!

Black Cat #12, by Jed MacKay (writer), C.F. Villa (artist), Brian Reber (color artist), Ferran Delgado (letterer) - I feel like Campbell tried to channel Bruce Campbell for Stark there, and it's kind of weirding me out.

Iron Man chases Felicia across town in their respective suits of powered armor. Felicia flummoxes Stark, because he can't figuring out how she's stop and starting on a dime without blacking out from the g-forces. Honestly, I would have assumed Stark built some counter to that into his suits, but OK. She also frustrates him when she admits she made and stole the suit just to take it for a test drive. For fun. And also to use to try and send Odessa Drake a message. It doesn't quite work, since the sheer audacity of the entire plan just turns on, I mean, impresses, Odessa even more. Oh well, worth a shot. Felicia escapes, and help Firepower escape. I appreciated that touch.

There's not much progress made on the larger plotline, since the issue is mostly Felicia baiting Iron Man into chasing her so she can make a clean escape. I wasn't sure about Stark not realizing she was controlling the armor remotely, since that's something he has experience with. But MacKay makes a point of mentioning Felicia had the armor designed to focus on jamming all kinds of sensors or tracking. And Stark probably wouldn't give her credit for being smart enough to think of controlling it remotely. Especially when she's talking about how she just had to take one of his suits for a spin.

Villa handles all the air combat scenes pretty well. The main trick is trying to show how the Cat's armor's maneuverability is constantly throwing Iron Man off, and it manages that. A few panels with Stark coming to an awkward, almost stumbling mid-air halt. Or taking a swing at her and coming up with air because she changed course 180 degrees instantly. Little disappointed the neon pink pontytail thing wasn't some sort of energy weapon. I know whips are that other cat-themed amoral thief's shtick, but I kept expecting her to land a hit with that thing.

Anyway, now it's a waiting game for whenever the book comes back.

Deadpool #6, by Kelly Thompson (writer), Kevin Libranda (artist), Chris Sotomayor (color artist), Joe Sabino (letterer) - None of the X-Men have pupils! They're all being possessed! In other words, it's Thursday.

Wade is convinced the X-Men have the cure for cancer on their little sex cult island. He finds out one of his subjects is a mutant who can carry anything inside. So Wade (and Jeff) wear the fellow like a suit and march through the gate into Krakoa. Of course, once Wade (and Jeff) climb out of Jelby, the X-Men know they're there, which leads to a fight. Then Wade actually talks with Emma Frost, who says there's no cancer cure, and no, he can't have all his other demands, either. So Wade tries to steal one of the flowers that turn into gates, which leads to another fight. One that involves Wade throwing Jeff at Storm, and then Jeff biting Polaris on the leg. Which is bad, because we don't want Polaris' lameness infecting the land shark.

It's no wonder Lorna was always in relationships with Havok, it was the only way to make her seem interesting. Rogue gets Wade to stop fighting, and offers him a flower as a sign of friendship, which Wade naturally rejects, seeing it as pity. He returns home, and bans mutants from his kingdom. Wow, Wade, have you really considered the kind of supporters you're going to get with that move? What am I saying, of course he hasn't considered that. He's Deadpool.

This was my favorite issue so far. It's funnier than any of the issues so far. Wade plays off the X-Men well. Even though he is invading their country, in the dumbest manner possible, I still figure he has some legit gripes, and I prefer watching Deadpool be angry at people who deserve some of it. Their hypocrisy about how much of a danger he poses is freaking laughable compared to some of the fucking lunatics they have there. Mr. Sinister is in charge of a goddamn cloning lab! They're sending Magneto out on diplomatic missions. Sure, Deadpool isn't any less violent, but he'll only kill a few people. Magneto will probably shut down fifteen hospitals with an EMP just to prove a point.

Ahem. Where was I? I am disappointed there were not more grievous injuries to Wolverine, though. It's not like he won't get better.

Kevin Libranda takes over as penciler from Gerardo Sandoval this month. Libranda's work is bent more towards comedy than violence, which works for this issue. The characters - Deadpool especially - aren't as large as when Sandoval drew them, and the linework is a lot softer. Less harsh, jagged lines. Shadows aren't as stark, everything is just softer looking. Even though there is a lot of fighting, it's not necessarily serious fighting. If you can call Polaris stabbing Wade with his own swords "not serious". I mean, Wade throws Jeff at Storm, the shark bites at her face, but she's OK. She should probably be more hilariously terrified in that panel up there, though. Maybe the enormity of her situation hasn't sunk. Jeff, for that matter, seems to have shrunk and become much more rounded and cuter than he was under Bachalo or Sandoval's pencils.