What I Bought 3/30/2024 - Part 1

Sometimes when I drive at night, I think about the person who came up with these blindingly bright headlights. Seems like three-quarters of all cars have them now. I think about having that person flogged. Headlights that blind all the other drivers, what a brilliant idea.

Morning Star #1, by David Andry and Tim Daniel (writers), Marco Finnegan (artist), Jason Wordie (colorist), Justin Birch (letterer) - Nothing like a family vacation in nature. The ticks, the humidity, sleeping on rocks, the ticks. . .

The book opens on two wildfire-fighters, trying to escape a blaze that's gone beyond their control. Instead, they find the rest of the guys in their squad, curiously frozen in a pile. Wordie colors them in an orange-hued negative look, and no explanation is given as it happens to at least one of the other two.

A year later, the widow of the guy we didn't see get frozen is preparing to take her two kids and the urn containing her husband's "ashes" to the forest. But first she's getting a lot of static from her mother, via her sister, as they want her to move back to Connecticut. The sister is, however, incredibly bad a diplomacy - calling your niece and nephew "screwed up" to their mom's face is not a winning argument -  so that goes nowhere.

The remainder of the issue is the trio traveling to the forest. Mostly this establishes that Charlie, the younger sibling, spends a lot of time lost in his imagination, or "exploring other dimensions" as he apparently describes it. Wordie uses a lot of off-color or neon blues and greens for when Finnegan draws what Charlie's seeing. And he sees something that looks like his father floating in the air outside the fire tower that first night.

So it feels like the book will focus on Charlie. We see that Jolene (the widow) takes no crap from anyone, and maybe drinks a bit. There's a comment near the end of the issue that makes me wonder, anyway. But she seems to keep a cool head with her kids. Takes Charlie's reluctance to speak in stride, at least.

Marabeth we're not given much on. She isn't complaining about spending time in the woods, seems comfortable in the ballcap/t-shirt/jeans look she's rocking (this is set in the 1950s), and is very concerned at the possibility of being moved cross-country and away from her friends. She only seems mildly annoyed by her brother, if I'm reading the eye roll Finnegan gives her correctly when she comments, 'He's exploring other dimensions. Again.' But there's no name calling or second-hand embarrassment at the behavior.

Jackpot and Black Cat #1, by Celeste Bronfman (writer), Emilio Laiso (artist), Brian Reber (color artist), Ariana Maher (letterer) - What's sparked this sudden burst of generosity by the Black Cat?

Felicia's robbing Chance's flying, invisible casino, and very quickly we're off to a questionable start. Why? Because Bronfman writes Chance as saying the casino's great because, with the patrons being criminals burning their ill-gotten loot, it's all reward, no risk. This is the exact opposite of how Chance operates! This is the character who said "Life is dull at best, made tolerable only by risk." He's a bigger thrill-seeker than the Black Cat! 

OK, fine, whatever. Chance is just a guy getting robbed by Felicia, whose heist is noticed by Jackpot. Felicia explains some app on her phone is threatening her if she doesn't commit crimes. MJ, recognizing Felicia doesn't typically kowtow to threats, follows her (as a little pink energy butterfly similar to how Psylocke's power used to be drawn), and finds out Felicia's got a new girlfriend.

Jackpot has this Paul guy all the Spider-fans seem to hate do some snooping, interrogates the original creator of the app, then has to keep him and her self from being killed by a bunch of weirdos following orders from an app. Which she does by getting essentially Medusa-hair for a superpower. Oh, and now the app is on her phone, threatening to kill Paul if she doesn't commit crimes.

So, this is a sentient program trying to gather resources for some big plan, right? Basically what Ryan North did in Fantastic Four a few months ago, just more ethically compromised? I mean, that was my first thought, when the app is just appearing on people's phones, and it already knows Jackpot's connection to Paul and who Felicia is, and the guy who originally created the app is clueless. The program's running itself.

But, OK, positives. Mary Jane wanting to stick by her friend, even when her friend tries to keep her out. Felicia being suspicious of someone following her, and not pleased when they don't take the hint. Those character bits felt well done. Don't know what happened to Odessa, but Felicia's got a girlfriend besides in flashbacks, that's nice. I feel like Bronfman and Laiso are being more creative with the powers Jackpot gets. Not wildly so, I mean Darkforce portals and prehensile hair aren't reinventing the wheel, but the energy butterfly thing was kind of nifty. If you're going to give Mary Jane an H-Dial, then get friggin' weird with the thing.

(Along that line, I don't like that she can just immediately spin the thing again if she gets a power she doesn't like. Make her find a way to use what she's got, or wait a while. It's too overpowered to just let her spam the thing until she hits the lotto.)

I don't know if either book convinced me to buy issue 2. I can see talking myself into them, but that's not exactly a high bar. They're both definitely me gambling on the things I like being more prevalent in upcoming issues than the things I didn't care about.