What I Bought 10/4/2021 - Part 1

I managed to get almost everything I was still looking for from September. I'm hoping I might find the one comic I didn't on Friday, but we'll see. For today, we've got one title reaching the end of Act One, I guess, and another that's still just getting going.

You Promised Me Darkness #5, by Damian Connelly (writer/artist), Annabella Mazzaferri (letterer) - Sage's stomach looks a little like a face.

Sage's big plan seems to kind of go bust. Sort of. His crew actually do pretty well trouncing the Anti-Everything's supporters, but Sage himself gets controlled by the two lovers, Diva and Ophelia and flattens Sebastian. Yuko's power somehow shuts them down by showing them the darkness that holds them all back, and then taking it in.

Then the Anti-Everything seems to kill her. Sebastian loses his shit and between he and a couple of Sage's folks also out for revenge, kills the Anti-Everything. But that's not the end of his malignancy, and the path leads to Alaska. Sebastian's being guided there by Yuko, or something in the shadows calling itself Yuko. Hell if I know which, and since I don't think I'm going to buy Follow Me Into The Darkness whenever it shows up, I suppose I never will.

I don't know how I feel about the ending. The idea that this didn't really "save the world" doesn't bother me. There's always going to be something bad happening. Stop one, another problem will come along, or make itself known if it was already there. I'm curious about whether Sage was manipulated, set up to go this way, or if his plan was just bad all along. Is it important that Yuko (if it is Yuko) becomes part of the darkness? If so, important to who? When she speaks to Sebastian, she mentions the comet as if it's part of something. 'The comet and I. . .we weren't.' Is the comet working to some purpose?

You know me, the hypotheticals are always catching my attention, but I really can't deal with the art style. It's gotten easier to follow, maybe that's Connelly or maybe I'm just getting used to it. Either way, it hasn't grown on me as I hoped. The book may have promised darkness, but some of these pages tip too far into it. Outside of a few examples, any time action starts happening, it's not too clear what's I'm supposed to be seeing.

Black Jack Demon #2, by Nick Hermes (writer/artist) - Once again, crime doesn't pay. If you get caught.

Silas is still chasing the demon, with limited success. Horse died, couldn't rope well enough to keep a job at a ranch, got mugged in the next town he came to, after getting laughed at by a cute, intelligent girl. He steals a horse, gets waylaid by the sheriff in the next town he comes to. Sheriff does have a posse out hunting a mysterious "leper" who attacked some people. Silas gets away from John Law and his dipshit, Bible-thumping Barney Fife and into the hills. Finds his demon right about the time the sheriff and the posse find their "leper", wondering why the kid is so intent on him. The demon points Silas out, then grabs him and does a Hulk leap into the sky.

I mentioned in my review of issue 1 Hermes' art reminds me of the old EC horror comics, or maybe just Golden Age comics in general. The large amount of smaller panels, the almost garish coloring, even just the way he draws the characters, a little old-fashioned compared to more recent artists. In the first issue, the demon was kept entirely in shadow if seen at all.

This issue, we get to see it more clearly and it's reminiscent of a super-hero a bit. The cloak with the hood, the bright purple shirt that shows off the musculature. Has some bandages across parts of his (green?) face. Not a mask, but sort of close. Was somehow able to sense Silas hiding in the bushes behind him. When he does the super-leap, the cloak is trailing behind him and he's got one arm extended in front of him, pretty classic flying hero pose. Not sure what the significance is yet, if any. We'll see if Hermes changes how he depicts the demon again in issue 3.

One thing about the writing is sometimes I feel as though I'm missing pieces of the conversation. Silas gets information out of a general store owner by pretending to have seen a leper in town. No one has mentioned this up to then, and it's just the two of them in the building. Yet the two girls, who already left, somehow know Silas is asking about the leper. 

But it fits with how Silas is losing track. He realizes after escaping from jail that he's not only missed Christmas, but his birthday somewhere along the line. Time had ceased to exist for him, only the chase on his mind. When that's taken away from him, when he can't pursue, then those thoughts can intrude again. Like the thoughts about how he already had a shot at the demon once, and he froze. We don't know if anything has changed on that score, because he never gets the chance here.