What I Bought 5/5/2025 - Part 2

I've really been digging the NBA playoffs this year. Even the series that were over quickly had at least a couple of games with cool performances or huge comebacks. Overtime games, last-second shots, the Western Conference just being a Thunderdome of good teams beating the crap out of each other. Fun times.

Dark Pyramid #2, by Paul Tobin (writer), PJ Holden (artist), Sara Colella (color artist), Taylor Esposito (letterer) - I doubt she's going to be happy when she turns around.

With Shailene's help, Becca escapes the giant, bizarrely-speaking murder creature (which we'll learn is named Eve.) That gives Shailene time to explain a little more about the situation. Measurements of seismic shockwaves revealed a pyramid beneath Mt. Denali. Now the locals all look at you funny if you bring it up. Probably a violation of the "Never Mind All That, Then," ordinance.

Shailene explains a lot of Hooky's fans that showed up to help are staying in the big house of some rich lady Shailene used to date, and it might be a good place to rest and prepare. Unfortunately, Eve got there first. I laughed at the bit where Becca insists they should go in and help, and promptly gets herself and Shailene trampled by a panicked crowd. It's not funny for them, because now Becca's trying to carry an unconscious Shailene to safety, only to run into the military, who apparently work with or control Eve. But still, seeing the altruistic intentions backfire so spectacularly was kind of funny.

Tobin spends four pages on what was going on in the house before Eve showed up. It's mostly people getting drunk and talking about random crap. Holden doesn't draw anyone making preparations for a search-and-rescue mission, just people standing or sitting around, drinking and talking.  'I found a banjo but it doesn't have strings. I realize this is a problem,' is uttered at one point. One lady is just walking around topless. Very comfortable with her body, I suppose. Or she was, until Eve ripped her apart.

It feels at first glance like it's just establishing that no, these people were not going to be much help to Becca or Shailene. But the scene is focused mostly on this one guy, Hermann, who seems to like meeting people and learning stuff. Tarot, how to play the banjo, whatever. So I assume he's going to evade the military's attempt to round up whoever Eve doesn't slaughter and prove useful.

Past Time #1, by Joe Harris (writer), Russell Olson (artist), Carlos Mangual (letterer) - Who is throwing red paint all over the scoreboard? That's really inconsiderate. 

Harris uses a framing sequence set in Chicago in 1988, as the Cubs are about to finally have nighttime baseball games at Wrigley Field. One old guy who has a bite mark on his neck has tracked down a blind black man named Ronald Harris. Ronald doesn't have a reflection, but "Jack" wants to know about someone else, someone Ronald met in 1923.

Which is where most of this issue takes place, 1923 Nebraska. Horrifying. We see a little of a night game between a local team and a barnstorming group Ronald helped coach. Olson keeps the uniforms baggy and the players kind of crappy. Also, the umpire's wearing a top hat, which I can't recall being the fashion at the time, but what the heck. On the down side, when a player slides into what I think is second base, its drawn wrong. It looks like he slid coming from the outfield instead of second base, which I'm positive is not how baseball was played in the 1920s.

After the game's over, Ronald has a brief conversation with a man the sheriff may be looking for. The mystery man seems more concerned that someone he beat and left unconscious in the cornfield wasn't there, but when Ronald's getting beat up at some later point over money he owes, the mystery man rather violently saves his life.

So there's a few mysteries. Who Jack is, how Ronald ended up a vampire, what's up with Henry and the man he left in the cornfield. How Jack found Ronald in the first place, maybe? I'm curious to see how Harris doles out the answers, if we get them. And I'm curious how he and Olson weave the baseball into the story.