My Friday got off to a great start with a notice from my bank they put a freeze on my debit card because of some strange charges. At least they caught it, but no debit card until they get the new one to me. Most annoying.
In the other annoying developments, the guy that runs the local store apparently didn't realize the credit card the distributor had on file for him expired two weeks ago until this week, so I had to wait until I met up with Alex in the next town over on Saturday to grab any books. Plus side, that store had at least one book the local guy wouldn't. Plus, Alex was playing the country club gig, which meant plenty of good food for him and me.
Who says I can't look on the bright side? Besides me, obviously.
Alicia narrates as she, Sue and Johnny try to hold off Ben and Reed, under the cntrol of Xargorr, who actually is one of those early Marvel sci-fi monsters. The rest of her people left Earth, but Xargorr stayed behind and set herself up like a queen, with an army of people who don't remember anything else. Man, Xavier and those other X-telepaths could take lessons from this lady, since she can remove any knowledge of Johnny or Sue from Reed and Ben as friends or family, but still know Johnny won't burn them.
So Alicia gets the idea to use her creative talents to help Sue and Johnny come up with a combo attack the other two won't expect. Sue gives her a small force field projection to mold as a model, while Sue copies it on a large scale. North sets it up with a page of nothing but dark panels and voice balloons, then lets Fiorelli and Arbutov go big with the double-page splash.
Also, Fiorelli draws a very good homicidally deranged Reed Richards. Little bit of spittle in the corner of his mouth and crazy eyes. The works.
Even with force-field calamari kaiju, things are looking bad, so Sue plays the old gambit of goading the villain into of trying to use their power one more time, and sends it back at her. The previous issue had established Sue force fields can block the telepathic waves. North's pretty good at that aspect of writing, which is something I appreciate.
Breather issue, guest artist. Did Burnham need a skip month to stay on schedule? Is that why this thing went from 6 issues to 7?
Anyway, the doctor's power lets her commune with 5th-dimensional entities who see beyond space and time and help people visualize what's in their mind. So she talks with everyone on the team individually about what they're feeling, while Lafuente draws parts of their past or their present in the background. And each session ends with some bit of profound realization by either the character or the doc, though of course the characters aren't always receptive. Still, it feels trite how they all conclude like that, when you would expect them all to be at different stages. Some hear but don't accept, some won't even hear it. Some won't interact.
I guess that's the new Chief's spot, as she's apparently lying about how all the others in their system are fine with her being out all the time. Can't the others stage a rebellion and force themselves to the forefront, so to speak? I'm sure that won't happen at an inconvenient time!
Lafuente's a good choice for artist, though. His style's much looser, more animated than Burnham's. Better suited to an issue focused on what people perceive inside their minds, which won't match reality. So Rita's mind makes Flex Mentallo out to be even buffer than he actually is, really cartoonish, while her version of herself swoons against him, hair obscuring one eye in a classic actress look. Beast Girl thinks of the Chief as a holy figure, the sun encircling her head as she holds up a uniform.
The real question is whether any of what's discussed here will prove important later on. Will Robotman be willing to trust the others and not do everything himself? Will Rita self-sabotage her happiness somehow? Will Negative Man realize he's not alone, or realize he doesn't have things figured out as neatly as he thinks? Three issues left to find out!
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