What I Bought 8/11/2022

And we're back. It did turn out to be a good vacation. Saw a lot of interesting things. Weather was warmer than I would have liked, but not awful. Low humidity. Driving was exhausting, but I knew that was gonna be the case. Whoever puts up billboards in Kansas sucks at math. So many times a sign would say, "x miles to exit insert number," but when you compare against what mile marker you're at, they're off by 4 to 6 miles. Thank you for confirming stereotypes, Kansas! 

I even found a little time late in the week to hit a comic store in the area. It didn't work out for me great a couple of years ago, but I found two things I wanted this time.

Slumber #6, by Tyler Burton Smith (writer), Vanessa Cardinali (artist), Simon Robins (colorist), Steve Wands (letterer) - Everyone feels that way when they have to use gas station bathrooms.

Stetson seems to be going along with Valkira, but it's really just to give Finch the chance to toast them both with the flamethrower. Except he's a little slow to react - Stetson again not realizing not everyone is on her frequency - and Valkira gets free. More fighting ensues, but eventually Stetson and Valkira end up in the real world. Where Stetson shoots Valkira, seemingly killing her.

Just a few problems with that. One, Jiang killed several cops before being arrested by Finch's partner. Two, Finch is trapped inside Ed's mind and all the equipment is trashed. Three, Valkira lives on because the nightmares Stetson kills in others' minds stay with her.

In a flashback, Stetson told her daughter hearing a voice was something that ran in the family. She tells Finch that Valkira is the last part of her daughter that's left. Valkira's vague about what she's trying to do, other than that she was created because of something done to a particular soul, and is trying to reunite and fulfill her purpose. It feels like she's saying she was supposed to exist as part of Lyla, but with nothing else left, she wants to enter the physical world and be Lyla. But she's also telling Finch this while sneaking up on him, so, pass the salt. And I don't think they've explained how Valkira could hear Stetson's thoughts in previous issues, unless this is something that goes back further than just Lyla.

I feel like Cardinali going for the empty, cartoon-style hole in the chest when Stetson offs Valkira was kind of a mistake. It almost feels like a gag from Looney Tunes. Daffy Duck yelling, "Shoot the rabbit," while not realizing he's got rabbit ears on. Like all the over-the-top killing of spider-chickens in earlier issues that was kind of absurd because it was all in someone's mind. It didn't have to be grounded in reality. You could argue it fits here because, like when Daffy gets shot in the face by Elmer Fudd, it didn't really accomplish anything.

Stetson had to realize this was how it was going to end, right? Nightmares she kills stay with her. If she kills Valkira, then Valkira will stick with her even if everyone else is free. Would it have been different for Finch if he succeeded in killing them? Is he going to see all those manifestations of Ed he torched in his sleep? Can he even sleep while he's in someone else's dreamscape?

I wondered if there was going to be a second arc to this, and I'd say there will have to be. What exactly happened when they tried to use this technique to treat Lyta is still up in the air, not to mention what's going to happen to Finch, Ed, Jiang, or Stetson who is, after all, wanted for questioning in connection with several murders.

She Bites #1, by Hedwig Hale (writer), Alberto Hernandez R. (artist), Dave Lanphear (letterer) - Walking around neighborhoods alone in the middle of the night is pretty fun. I used to do it all the time when I was a kid.

Like the solicit said, Elsie is a 134-year-old vampire who was turned as a child. This keeps her from buying smokes when she wants. So she puts up an ad for a babysitter, and Brenda applies. The interview reveals that Brenda tends to quickly reveal too much about her life, but also that she needs the money badly enough to take the job even after she sees the two corpses hanging in the shower.

There's not too much else to this issue, as it's broadly focused on establishing the two characters so they can play off each. That Elsie is very sarcastic and profane, almost always sporting an intense expression. Even when she smiles, Hernandez always makes sure her teeth are sharp and prominent. Elsie also enjoys messing with Brenda, such as letting her go into the bathroom, when there are corpses (naked corpses!) in there. Brenda tries a cheerful face at first, makes glib comments about how she's even kept most of her past babysitting clients alive, or joking about how she can handle a kid who thinks she's a vampire. But Brenda also can't help immediately laying out the unpleasant circumstances of her life at home. 

Which seems like an odd thing to do when speaking to what you believe is a child. Like Hale was not certain we would pick up from the brief glimpse earlier in the issue that Brenda's home life is, as Ally Sheedy put it in The Breakfast Club, "unsatisfying." I mean, they went to the trouble of having a panel to show Brenda keeps a scrapbook for, 'Dream Suicide Locations.' Even the convenience store clerk seems worried about her!

I did like having both characters visit the same convenience store as a way to compare and contrast. Hale and Hernandez have both scenes mirror each other in page layouts and how the panels are staged, but Elsie's eyes might be visible between the shelves, showing her sharp gaze, while in Brenda's version, the upper half of her face is above the panel border, so we're left to infer from her slumped shoulders and the way her face is aimed towards the floor. They might both be on a mission, but one is considerably more focused than the other.