So, we made it back alive. The gig went very well - capacity crowd and they were into it - but everything else was kind of a wash. We stopped in another town on the way, intending to sightsee, then Alex slept for 6 hours as soon as we checked into the hotel. Then we didn't really get around to any sightseeing when we reached Cincy, although we drove around enough to conclude it has the most horribly laid out streets we've ever seen.
I also thought I briefly broke my computer trying to connect to the hotel wi-fi, but it seems OK, so let's get to the remaining comics from February. First up, a couple of books I wasn't sure about going in and, frankly, remain unsure of.
The lead character appears to be a woman named Kai, who is looking for the man who raised her after killing the drug lord/human trafficker that kept her locked in a cage. The circumstances of their meeting are detailed in a flashback that covers half the issue. The colors are extremely grey and dusty, except the blood, which is a sort of faded pink that spurts and jets like geysers.
The characters and their surroundings are a mixture of rundown and high tech. Almost like a sci-fi movie thatThe trafficker's office may look like poorly lit and furnished, but some of his men have eyewear that look like Cyclops' visors, or eyes that are drawn as bright empty voids. Although on the latter, I don't know if that's meant to signify the character is blind, that they have some sort of implant, or it's just a trick of the light.
Quite why Kai is questioning men working for the United States Geological Survey, I don't know, but they are somehow aware of what she's talking about, but don't give her much information before dying, other than the kidnappers are not men. Indeed, there's a mysterious masked woman in some sort of undersea cave/grotto eagerly awaiting Kai and her team's arrival.
One thing I find odd is a lot of panels with dialogue, we either can't see the speaker's face, or it's at a distance or angle that makes it indistinct. So it's rare to be able to match the expression with the words, and, combined with the video-game text box approach to the speech balloons, it makes the dialogue come off flat. When one of the characters says, "How fortunate! 'Cause you're going to guide us face first into the inferno!", I don't know if it's meant to being angry, defiant, arrogant. It mostly comes off as silly, tough guy posturing. It isn't as though Iumazark can't draw facial expressions, so I don't know if it's a scripting choice, an artist choice, a fluke.
Darkwing, Gosalyn and Launchpad visit a toy store. Quackerjack shows up, somehow able to multiply his toys. Not sure how, but more and more rubber ducks kept popping up. Gosalyn almost gets hurt trying to help, so after Darkwing wins - actually capturing the villain this time - he decides to retire. Maybe get a real job. But if he's not superheroing, then he doesn't need a sidekick, so Launchpad leaves.
Something I didn't mention in my review of the first issue was Lauro was frequently drawing characters so they were looking at us as they made some sort of comment. Which is on point for cartoons of the era, but was kind of distracting. It doesn't happen as often in this issue - maybe one or two panels - so that's good.
I can't quite figure his periodic tendency to give Darkwing red pupils, though. It isn't strictly in scenes when Darkwing is angry. It happens in consecutive panels when Quackerjack (who gets red pupils in almost every panel) makes his appearance, then is gone in the next panel when Gosalyn's been grabbed by some angry Winnie-the-Pooh knockoff. It's an especially weird choice to use in the panel where Darkwing's freaking out because he thinks Gosalyn's hurt. Why red pupils for fear?
This issue was an improvement over the first. The plot was straightforward but the tight focus allowed for attempts at gags or jokes. I didn't really laugh at anything, but I appreciate the effort. The closest was probably when Gosalyn asks why he keeps Launchpad around if he doesn't want help, and Darkwing looking over at a tied-up Launchpad and saying he asks himself that. Lauro's got the look of the characters down, although there are times it feels like he's trying too hard to match or use a particular posture or expression, to the point it makes the character look unnaturally posed in the panel.
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