What I Bought 4/4/2022 - Part 1

Alex and I did go the that comic convention on Saturday. Neither of us bought anything; me because I didn't see any of the comics I was looking for, Alex because he forgot to bring more than 4 bucks. But it seemed like a nice enough little convention, so maybe we'll try the larger one they have in the fall.

In other news, I am caught up on new comics for the year! Except for the ones that came out today. Gonna start with a pair of second issues.

Iron Fist #2, by Alyssa Wong (writer), Michael Yg (penciler/inker), Sean Chen (penciler), Victor Olazaba (inker), Jay David Ramos (colorist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - Is that demon in the foreground encouraging use to stare at the new kid's crotch? Creepy.

Lin Lie is still running around Earth killing demons and collecting shards of the sword of his. He's also still struggling to control the Iron Fist, which has some of the natives of K'un-Lun feeling less than kind towards what they see as usurper. Lie's gets a pep talk from his friend Min and the new Thunderer (that's the part of the issue Sean Chen draws). It boils down to not being too hung up on being Iron Fist the way it's always been, and instead focusing on how to actually be good at it. Unfortunately, Lie's brother appears ready to release Chiyou, the Dark Destroyer, so Lie's going to need a better training montage.

I'm still confused as to why they don't remove the sword shards from Lie's hands if they are not only causing intense pain, but messing up his chi flow and thereby making it harder for him to use the Iron Fist. I guess because they react to the presence of other pieces, so that helps him find them, but couldn't he just carry them in a pouch?

I assume Wong's going to reveal it wasn't a fluke that the chi of Shou-Lao wound up in Lie. The first page of this issue shows some past Iron Fist fighting the dragon, which narration boxes talking about having to face fear and transcend it. So that's probably what Lie has to do. He feels he failed by letting the sword be broken, and that he's not cut out to be Iron Fist, either. He doesn't really defend himself from the accusations he's not fit to be Iron Fist, and I get the feeling it's because he's afraid he might fail miserably if he tried. Let his mouth write a check his skills can't cash.

I don't know if there was a particular reason Chen drew the pages he did, or if it just worked out that way to get the issue out on time. He and Michael Yg's art are close enough (possibly helped by Olazaba's inks softening Chen's work a little, the characters don't all look like you could cut a roast on their jawlines), there isn't a jarring shift. Yg adds a little more detail to hair, though. Lie's evil brother definitely has a bit of that bad boy manga heartthrob look.

Step by Bloody Step #2, by Si Spurrier (writer), Matias Bergara (artist), Matheus Lopes (color artist), Jim Campbell (glyphologist) - At least the giant taught to her to run from unmarked flying battleships.

The giant and the child continue their journey. The child grows increasingly resentful of the giant dictating their path. There's more going on than just the two of them, though. There seems to be a war between at least two peoples, or maybe an invasion by a group that look like basically white humans, of a group of people that are shaped similarly, but their skin is green and the eyes have no pupils. Not sure if they're like elves or zombies or what. The invaders seem to have an idea where the giant's going, and start taking steps to intercept it. As of the end of this issue, they haven't succeeded - yet.

So it's pretty clear this is some cyclical thing. Before they cross the sea, the child carves a picture of herself frowning in a tree, but notices other carvings in nearby trees. Possibly each child eventually becomes the giant who then retrieves and ferries the next child to wherever they're going. To what purpose, I don't know. The child's blood sparks growth of plant life. Does it sustain people the robed invaders are trying to subjugate, or do they just want that for themselves? But her blood landing in the ocean also sparked a berserker fury in the giant. Something exclusive to it, or the sort of thing it can prompt in any person?

Has the giant explained any of this? My guess is no. I'm not sure the giant can speak at all, or that it would tell her anything if it could. The girl is becoming more accustomed to being herded, but not any happier about it. She looks back with dull eyes when he keeps her in the shadows at the end of the issue. Of course he won't let her meet anyone else. In the first issue, the child tended to hang back and watch the giant fight with an awed or curious expression. In this issue, Bergara draws her more often glaring at the giant, or sitting to one side staring sullenly at something else. That something else may become the woman in the carriage she saw at the very end.

There's fewer scenes of the two of them just traveling peacefully, but they're still here. There's a two page splash that is just an ocean at night, with a couple of rocks rising from the water, and a trail of white showing the passing of the giant and the child. But as they're being actively hunted, I suspect those moments will grow sparse in the second half of this series.