There's supposed to be a baker's dozen worth of comics out this month I'd like to buy, but absolutely none of them are available this week. And only two from last week, both of which I've got here to discuss. Either the back half of this month is going to be crazy stuffed for me, or there's a lot of stuff running behind.
Bet on the latter.
She-Hulk meets Patsy Walker at a cake shop. Because it is Eat Cake in Fancy Dresses Wednesday. Patsy's also borrowed Tony's file on Jack of Hearts for Jen. Cannot believe they're having Patsy marry Tony Stark. Her taste in men is somehow getting worse than the Son of Satan. Back at the office, Nightcrawler is waiting with a request for She-Hulk to be the lawyer for every legal issue for the mutants who decided they didn't like shitty human countries and fucked off to their island paradise, but still want' to be able to vote and have driver's licenses. I would have thought "licenses" for "driving" would be considered inferior human concepts mutants wouldn't bother with.
Then Jen and Mallory have an argument where one page, Mallory is pissed Jen is taking superhuman clients after Mallory said not to do that. Two pages later, after Jen has pointed out Mallory was an expert in superhuman law and she hired She-Hulk (and pointed out she's on retainer with Krakoa now), Mallory is happy and like, "well maybe I do like superhuman law after all.)
This feels like such awkward pacing. Rowell's been trying to sell the notion Jen has no non-superhuman clients in the background, but the whole thing about why Mallory is so set against that comes up and gets resolved and/or shoved aside in one conversation that spans a couple of pages. Then she spends the last 11 pages on the Jack of Hearts plot, where Jack is thinking of moving home, but he cooked lasagna for Jen and then they make out and that's the issue.
The second-to-last panel is of Jen, as she's following Jack to the bedroom, pausing and looking at something in the living room quizzically. I have no idea what. I've been treating that page like one of those "spot the differences!" challenge puzzles, but I can't see that Maresca drew anything differently between any of the four panels. Nothing moved suddenly, nothing vanished. Is she just looking at the wine bottle, wondering about Jack being willing to touch her now (he is apparently not radioactive at all now)?
If you could say anything was resolved by the end of the sixth issue, I guess it's that Jen no longer has to hide the fact she's meeting superhuman clients from Mallory. Again, though, Rowell has put that so far on the back burner I can't reach it with the spoon to see if it's done yet.
Marc speaks with Dr. Sterman about Steven Grant and Jake Lockley. Sterman has not brought them up at all, and she explains to Marc that was because everything about Moon Knight that was a cause for concern circled around Marc Spector. I kind of wonder if that's always been macKay's plan, or if he shifted it when there was such a positive response to how Marc's D.I.D. was portrayed in the TV show. Granted, I'm basing "positive response" on what I see on the two or three tumblr blogs I read that discuss the show.
Given how MacKay has shown that Marc looks like hell when he's running the show solo, and that he has been consistently behind his enemies through most of this book, I'm inclined to think that was all part of a plan.
Anyway, intercut with the therapy session are scenes of Steven and Jake out getting information. Jake hits up a bar about the vampires, which leads to a section of Chinatown where this Structure group doesn't go. Which suggests a pretty powerful vamp already lives there. Hunter's Moon is not thrilled at the idea of a parlay with said vampire, which will probably be an issue later. He is, however, entirely cool with Moon Knight have D.I.D., because it reflects the different phases of the moon. I'm not sure that's the best logic, but OK, fine.
Steven, meanwhile, hits up a guy with the notion that supervillain movies will be the next big thing, and maybe he could get some info on a couple of European killers as a rough draft? And that's how Calvin learns about pankration, an ancient Greek submission style. Who says comic books aren't educational?
It's a contrast in settings. Steven sits in a comfortable chair in a high-rise lounge after going to his stylist to fix the disaster Marc made of their hair. Jake is literally drinking in an alley, wearing his fake mustache. Not sure where that leaves Marc, who spends most of the issue in Sterman's office, or standing on the rooftop of said building. That's up high, but it's also kind of on the street. It's also precarious, I suppose. One more step and he's over the edge. I would think that with no longer trying to suppress Steven and Jake, Marc would be at less risk of doing something stupid. But if it's going to bring out his insecurities about his value compared to the other two, maybe not.
4 comments:
I had always assumed that Nightcrawler was small, but he looks about the same height as Shulk on that cover!
I haven't read the comic, but regarding that "spot-the-difference" thing, could Jen be looking at the reader? A sort of "see you later" glance? That would be my guess, but it would be more clear if she was winking or something.
Nightcrawler should definitely be a lot shorter than She-Hulk, and the artist inside definitely keeps them at appropriate sizes (same with She-Hulk and Jack of Hearts). Although I don't know how tall Kurt is, exactly. Taller than Wolverine, but shorter than Colossus or Captain Britain for sure.
Rowell has been tapping into a lot of old She-Hulk runs, including Byrne's Sensational She-Hulk, although she hasn't had Jennifer break the 4th wall yet, at least not in any overt way. But her looking at us would make sense, I think.
Nightcrawler's height is 5'9" according to the Official Handbook. Not as short as I thought, but much shorter than Jen.
Colossus is 6'6" or 7'5" in metallic form, apparently. To my considerable surprise, Captain Britain is 5'11", the same height as Spidey. I always thought Brian was a big chap, but apparently not!
Well, Braddock's a lot beefier than Spidey, and he was the biggest character in Excalibur. Standing next to Kitty or Rachel Summers, especially when they're drawn as pretty skinny by Alan Davis, would make Brian look bigger by comparison.
But I would have figured him for at least 6'1" or 6'2".
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