What I Bought 2/22/2022

It's Wednesday night, and Friday I'm driving 600 miles with Alex to one of his gigs, then coming back on Sunday. Fingers crossed things go well!

I was only able to find two of last week's six books at the local store, but they're both from Marvel, they're both on the 4th issues, and they're both kinda disappointing me. That's enough of a theme.

Deadpool #4, by Alyssa Wong (writer), Martin Coccolo (artist), Neeraj Menon (color artist), Joe Sabino (letterer) - Why's Deathstrike need a sword anyway? She let Spiral rebuild her so she'd have built-in weapons! Not like Deadpool's healing factor is useless against sword wounds.

Deadpool, with the symbiote, are doing pretty well against Harrower's experiments, so Ock tries taking Valentine hostage, but doesn't pay attention and gets shot. Despite the fact we see blood, he doesn't seem all that hampered by it three pages later, when he destroys one of Valentine's arms. Which is about when things go wrong.

Deathstrike shows up, trying to kill Deadpool. She has to kill him and Ock, why not go after Ock first? As long as Deadpool's alive, he's a distraction she can use in her favor. Anyway, Harrower yoinks the bag of sedatives keeping the symbiote free of her control, Deathstrike gets multiply impaled, and off the bad guys go. Valentine gets Deathstrike on her feet and demands she help rescue Deadpool, or she'll die screaming in agony. In the meantime, the symbiote has matured and, sigh, Cletus Kasady bursts out of Wade's chest like a Xenomorph.

Oh goody, said no one whose opinion is of any relevance to me whatsoever. After a promising third issue, Wong returned to the stuff I don't care much about. The symbiote as antagonist, Harrower, Lady Deathstrike. The symbiote as sort of a supporting cast member that we saw glimpses of last month? That I liked. There's something there, where the symbiote could act as most of Wade's historical supporting casts. Sometimes they bail each other out, sometimes they screw each other over, sometimes they just annoy each other. Valentine as supporting cast/love interest/person of mystery? That I like.

So I'm back at the point of whether I want to continue buying this book on the chance I will get more of the stuff I like. Example, at the end of the issue, Wong nods towards the question of, why exactly Ock has hung around and helped Harrower. We don't get an answer, but am I intrigued enough to hang on and find out?

Tiger Division #4, by Emily Kim (writer), Creees Lee (artist), Yen Nitro (color artist), Ariana Maher (letterer) - I wonder whose metal hand that could be, holding the mystical gem? OK, I actually know who it is because the solicit for issue 5 spoiled the surprise.

Min-Jae gets ready to steal Tae's powers and transfer them to himself, so Lady Bright busts through the window. Then she pauses she Tae can give us another flashback about how he decided to turn his life around and make up for all his past misdeeds. Then, having not destroyed the machine or incapacitated Min-Jae during all this, Lady Bright has to try and fight him when he dons the ugliest, stupidest looking armor I have ever seen.

It is like a grey version of a Mandroid armor, but instead of the clear faceplate, it's just open in front like Magneto's helmet. Or maybe like he's wearing a Mindless One as a meat suit. It's made of a bunch of little flat pieces of metal, which he can shoot like projectiles, but also he can channel energy through it. Or electricity, maybe it's electricity.

He triggers the machine, Lady Bright tries to destroy it and fails, then gets beat easily by this moron in his shitty armor. Then the rest of the team shows up, but Tae's lost his powers. I think Nitro colors Tae with duller tones, like he's a plant that's been kept out of the sun and is slowly dying. Lee shrinks Tae's muscles too, and while he doesn't make Tae's clothes hang off him, he draws his shoulders as slumped and the pauldrons don't seem to be almost floating off his body any longer.

Then the guy who helped Mae-Jin build this device shows up. It's Dr. Doom. Well, at least it's a character who wears armor with some damn style. As well as a character with a track record for seeing sources of great power and saying, "I'll take that." I mean, "It is only logical that DOOM should be the one to wield this power to its full extent." Yeah, that sounds more like Doom. So credit to Kim for that.

I wouldn't exactly give this squad a great chance at beating Doom, but it may be as simple as Tae taking a crazy risk to reach the gem and regain his powers and Doom leaving. If he can't get the power, then he's not going to hang around fighting South Korea's government super-team. That's just a recipe for a lot of tedious diplomatic meetings.

What I Bought 1/19/2023

Only found one of last week's four books at the store in town. I was hoping for two, thought they'd have Immortal Sergeant since it's from Image, but that's how it goes. Today, will Deadpool survive (on my pull list?)

Deadpool #3, by Alyssa Wong (writer), Martin Coccolo (artist), Neeraj Menon (color artist), Joe Sabino (letterer) - Wow, Wade sprang for an extra set of swords for the symbiote. They must be pals now!

Valentine has actually tried to help Deadpool with his symbiote problem, but to see if the sedative is working, they need a "field test." So it's off to the zoo! Wait, what? Supposedly, the variety of circumstances will let Valentine establish a baseline for the symbiote, so they can develop a better drug. Also, Valentine thinks Wade is cute, which befuddles him, so Coccolo draws the montage of their zoo adventure with the word "cute" in various fonts hovering around Wade, when it isn't a giant stone block crushing him (metaphorically).

Wade keeps calling the symbiote Renesmee, which I had to look up. It's a Twilight reference, boooooooo. I was quite content knowing almost nothing about those books, and now I know a little less nothing than before! Boooooooooooooo!

Deadpool and the symbiote may be coming to an understanding, although the fact it's encouraging him to kiss Valentine concerns me. Fortunately, Doc Ock and Harrower show up with a bunch of mutated zoo animals, so there's no smooching while the symbiote looks on like a creepy voyeur. Also, Lady Deathstrike got a second chance to join the Atelier, but she has to kill Octavius and Deadpool by herself. Yeah, good luck with that. I wouldn't give Deathstrike a 10% shot one-on-one against Ock.

I liked this issue more than the previous two. Something about the more mundane aspect of Deadpool going to a zoo with someone was appealing. Wong tried to throw a lot at us in the first two issues, but she slowed down a bit here to dig into it. Let Wade actually interact with Valentine, so we can get some sense of this character he's so immediately infatuated with. That way, if this turns out horribly, their inevitable betrayal has some kick. If it somehow doesn't turn out horribly, then great! We like Valentine and are happy they and Wade are together.

So, I guess, the answer to the question at the start of the post is, yes, Deadpool survives for another month.

What I Bought 1/2/2023 - Part 1

I have eight books from last month that showed up on Monday. That's the last of the new books from 2022, so once we get through these reviews, I'll jump in the Year in Review posts. Either the 12th or the 13th, depending on whether I've got a book/movie review to post on the 12th or not.

Moon Knight #18, by Jed MacKay (writer), Federico Sabbatini (artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (color artist), Cory Petit (letterer) - Why does Moon Knight only have spikes on one fist? Ya got two hands, Spector, dual-wield those things.

Marc and Tigra march into the Tutor's big show. The Tutor makes a speech about how ineffective and foolish they are, as the old way, versus all his buzz speak and TED talk horseshit. Moon Knight promises to kill him, and Solider uses his HYDRA training to hack into a trigger the sprinkler system. At which point Marc consecrates the water in the name of Khonshu. Burn, baby, burn.

Vampires destroyed, one human servant left alive to tell Dracula to stay out of New York. Yes, I'm sure that's what will keep him out, a trick they pulled in the Constantine movie, not the presence of the Sorcerer Supreme, who whipped Drac's ass more than once.

It's a very perfunctory conclusion. Walk in, talk a bit, trigger the sprinklers, boom, vamps beaten. So easy there's no real sense of any triumph. I guess the point is Tutor's plan was built on him being indispensable, which made bringing everything down rather easy. He just figured he was safe because he was sure he was smarter than everyone else.

With Rosenberg as colorist, Sabbatini's work continues to look very similar to Cappuccio's, the exception being Tigra. Sabbatini softens his lines on her, so she looks softer and more rounded, especially her face. The eyes are rounder, and he makes the stripes on her face wider, less like sharp slashes. The overall effect makes her less fierce, younger looking. It's the first time I've really noticed a big difference between how the two portray a given character.

He also substantially reduces the amount of cleavage revealed by her dress and removes the sleeves.

Deadpool #2, by Alyssa Wong (writer), Martin Coccolo (artist), Neeraj Menon (color artist), Joe Sabino (letterer) - I bought the Peach Momoko variant cover rather than the McFarlane Incredible Hulk homage cover.

Deadpool tries to kill Doc Ock and not get recaptured by Harrower, while symbiote arms keep bursting out of his body. Although the arms are sometimes helpful, they don't have the same priorities as Deadpool. With Deadpool's healing factor and tendency to make jokes about terrible injuries, it's hard to make damage he sustains really look bad, but I'll say Coccolo did a good job here. Especially when one of the arms bursts out of Wade's mouth. I think it's how he shades the fabric of the mask so you can see Wade's body being stretched and his eyes are actually shut from the pain.

The fact Ock then flails his tentacles about trying to dislodge Deadpool, like a frightened housewife leaping on the kitchen table in a Tom & Jerry cartoon, somewhat undercuts the moment, but oh well.

In the middle of the fighting, Lady Deathstrike shows up. Because she and Deadpool were supposed to work on this hit together. Apparently she was there during the entire expository flashback with the Atelier, and we didn't see her because it was Wade's flashback and he was fixated on Valentine, the person with the needles. Which isn't a bad way to play with Deadpool being an unreliable narrator, really, although it feels like the sort of thing that could easily be abused and get really tedious.

Anyway, Deadpool bails on Deathstrike again, they fail to kill Ock, meaning they're not getting into the super-secret assassin club. Which seems like a waste, but I assume the Atelier will become antagonists now. On top of Ock, Harrower, and Deathstrike, who are all pissed at Deadpool, who ran to Valentine for help. Who I'm sure is not going to do anything unethical with Wade or the symbiote.

What I Bought 11/2/2022

If things hold true with this week's books, all the Marvel comics I was planning to get this month will be out by today. And absolutely nothing else I was looking for will have shown up. Little strange, but it gives us books to review, so I guess it could be worse.

Deadpool #1, by Alyssa Wong (writer), Martin Coccolo (artist), Neeraj Menon (color artist), Joe Sabino (letterer) - It took me several tries to realize Deadpool is supposed to be floating on a pool of the dead. Mostly because I didn't realize that was an inner tube he was laying on. I thought it was a watermelon foot stool or something.

Wong introduces two plotlines. In one, Deadpool has been offered a spot in some exclusive assassin's club called the Atelier, which I guess will get him really high-paying jobs. The money from which he would just waste on cheap tacos, but whatever. It would be a lot of tacos. However, he has to pass a test first: kill Dr. Octopus in 48 hours. Finally, some comeuppance for Octavius stealing Spider-Man's body!

After wasting 24 hours planning and swooning in front of the conspiracy board from that one Always Sunny in Philadelphia meme (that is very clearly what Coccolo is referencing) over the point of contact person the Atelier provided, Wade goes and gets himself captured, which brings us to plotline #2 (where the comic actually started). Some lady calling herself the Harrower wants to use a little bit of the, sigh, Carnage symbiote to create a new form of life to displace humans as the dominant lifeform. Ain't you been paying attention lady, that's what Krakoas for. Mutant supremacy!

Anyway, the symbiote keeps killing everything she bonds, sorry "biofuses" it with, but she figures Deadpool's healing factor will keep him alive long enough for it to grow and mature. Wade escapes to try and complete his hit in the 2 hours he has left. Octavius somehow did not notice Wade getting eviscerated on the roof of his hideout the night before, and is entirely surprised when Deadpool crashes through his skylight. Deadpool is very surprised when two arms burst out of his chest cavity (Octavius is merely intrigued. You'd think after the whole King in Black thing people would be more concerned about symbiotes.)

Deadpool joining an exclusive assassin's guild isn't a bad hook. Coccolo came up with some decent designs, some variety to the group. Play with his morality a bit, where he draws lines, use it for conflict with the other members as a way to flesh them out. There's potential there, although it's extremely hard for me to believe Marvel's going to let Alyssa Wong kill Doc Ock in a Deadpool comic. And if not, and Wade only has two hours to the deadline, that potential hook is gonna fall apart real fast. 

The Harrower isn't a bad antagonist. Another person who sees Deadpool not as a person, but a resource she can exploit with no concern for his well-being. Exactly the sort of person the audience enjoys watching Deadpool brutally kill. That said, I'm sick of symbiotes. The cynical part of me thinks Wade hosting a symbiote in some constant struggle between it trying to eat his body, and his healing factor trying to kill it, is going to be the actual thread that runs through the book for a while. I hope not. Fingers crossed his body expels the symbiote like some bad sushi!

Coccolo's art feels a bit photo-referenced. His Deadpool definitely seems to be trying to look like movie Deadpool, and Harrower has a certain fashion model look to her that reminds me of Greg Land. Maybe it's the hair, which seems like it would get in her way. Not as plastic as Land's art, Coccolo's better at facial expressions, especially her evil grin. But there's something that feels uncanny valley about her.

Anyway, not a totally discouraging first issue, but also not a totally encouraging first issue, either.

Tiger Division #1, by Emily Kim (writer), Creees Lee (artist), Yen Nitro (color artist), Ariana Maher (letterer) - Cooler card related power: Throwing them and they blow up, or riding them like a flying carpet?

Kim introduces the team by having them stop a big cargo ship from crashing into a crowded riverfront area. She changed one character's name, which the previous codename was "Auntie Ante," so I can't argue with the decision, but "Lady Bright" just makes me think of Storm calling to the "bright lady". Lateral move, at best. Then the team has to investigate someone stealing a gem from one of their storage units and walks into an ambush.

However, the story seems more focused on Taegugki, who is the Superman-level guy on the team. He's seeing visions of his dead mother figure, warning him to stop hiding secrets. Then we get a flashback to him as a baby, surviving an attack on his village by a Chinese soldier during the Korean War. The lady carrying him got crushed by a falling wall, which missed him, and then another lady found him while looking for her brother, and gave him her brother's name. Lee doesn't draw him looking 70, so I'm guessing he doesn't age like most of us.

Not sure what Kim has planned there. Is Tae-Won an alien, is he the embodiment of Korea (and would that mean there's a North Korean equivalent, or other half of his soul or something?) She does seem to be indicating there's something between him and Lady Bright, or maybe it only goes one way. Tae-Won is kind of in a daze most of this issue, so it's hard to tell.

Lee's art has a similar feel to C.F. Villa's, but there's a lot of artists at Marvel these days that seem to be in that vein. Mostly clean lines, not a lot of extra cross-hatching or anything, expressive within a certain range, straightforward panel layouts. He includes some details when the team is waiting to be debriefed to hint at certain characteristics. The pop star with ice powers takes videos of herself eating some kind of fruity gel thing in a squeeze package. The demigod always booze on hand, The General prefers couches to chairs, probably because he's very large. Little things, but combined with Kim having the team make references to things we haven't seen, but they all recognize, it helps create a sense of them as a group of individuals with shared backstory.

What I Bought 5/18/2022 - Part 1

Work yesterday was pretty lousy, which I knew was going to be the case for weeks, but yeah. Just not enjoyable, dealing with lots of anger and stupidity. So tired. Speaking of tired, here's two comics from this week on their last legs with me.

Iron Fist #3, by Alyssa Wong (writer), Michael Yg and Sean Chen (pencilers), Michael Yg, Victor Olazaba, Keith Champagne and Don Ho (inkers), Jay David Ramos (colorist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - Great, now he's got even more pieces of sword stuck in his arm.

Bishounen-looking guy from last issue is Lie's older brother, who gained power from the destroyer god at some point. The demons work for him, and the one impersonating Min's father tries to steal the pieces of Lie's sword. Lie and the others fight him, but he gains the upper hand and demands the shards. So Lie. . .jams them into his arms. Goddamn, kid, just buy some pouches. Cable and Deadpool can't possibly own all of them.

He tears through the demon, who delivers a message on where to meet his brother. But before they get there, Lie, Min, and the grumpy teen jerk from last issue are caught by Fat Cobra and the Bride of Nine Spiders. Nobody ever captures the Bride's look properly, compared to how Aja drew her. That reserved, creepy look. They always make her too expressive and loudly aggressive. There were other Immortal Weapons for that, except other writers keep killing them. She's carrying knives now. Why?

But with four inkers, things were going to be a little weird. Chen draws the middle section of the book, the part that encompasses all of the fight with the demon, and Yg handles the rest. I don't know which inkers are with which pages, although I'm very curious who drew the last couple, when they run into the Immortal Weapons. Yg's art looks much looser, and there's one panel (above, on the right) like a caricature or cartoon. It was a nice change of pace, although I don't think it was an intentional so much as a necessity to save time. Sometimes shortcuts are good!

Overall, though, I just don't really care. I feel like I should want to find out if Lie will remain Iron Fist, or repair his sword, or why Shou-Lao chose to do him a solid, or at least be excited Fat Cobra showed up, but I'm not. 

Wolverine: Patch #2, by Larry Hama (writer), Andrea Di Vito (penciler), Le Beau Underwood (inker), Sebastian Cheng (colorist), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - I feel like landing on flat on his left foot is going to really jar his leg.

This issue is "Patch's Crappy Trek Through the Jungle." He's still trying to heal from the beating last issue. Then he gets shot with some poisoned arrows by the locals, who think he's out to hurt the two Russians. Logan convinces them he's not an enemy and they start guiding him to the Russians' hiding spot. Then he gets shot by some of General Coy's guys, who want the locals to lead them to the Russians. He kills them. Then he gets shot by some Yakuza working for the guy doing monkey experiments. He kills them. Then more of the general's guys show up and he kills them (off-panel). He reaches the Russians, the locals convince them to help, because there's a third one, a little girl with weird powers who goes inside Logan's brain and finds Jean.

I guess some of Logan's time as Patch did happen while Jean was "dead". Or it could just be Logan has her on his mind a lot. In which case, that kid should really get out of there. Not age-appropriate.

Hama uses SHIELD as an almost narrator. I was going to say omniscient, but there's a lot they don't know, so that wouldn't work. The Helicarrier is still just hovering there in the sky, in full view, wondering why they can't find these Russians. All the cigars must have clouded Fury's brain. I went back to check, because I thought I remembered Di Vito drawing Fury smoking, but my mind must have just autofilled that image. Anyway, SHIELD is somehow surveilling all over Madripoor at once and so as they discuss one place or the other, the story cuts to that location, then back, then off somewhere else. 

It's not a bad way, and it works to contrast Logan tromping through the woods, getting more tangled up in all this by fighting guys for reasons he doesn't even know, with everyone else doing reconnaissance or forming alliances to try and achieve their goals. Logan just takes the direct approach. But when all you've got are unbreakable adamantium claws, the whole world looks like something to cut through.

What I Bought 4/4/2022 - Part 1

Alex and I did go the that comic convention on Saturday. Neither of us bought anything; me because I didn't see any of the comics I was looking for, Alex because he forgot to bring more than 4 bucks. But it seemed like a nice enough little convention, so maybe we'll try the larger one they have in the fall.

In other news, I am caught up on new comics for the year! Except for the ones that came out today. Gonna start with a pair of second issues.

Iron Fist #2, by Alyssa Wong (writer), Michael Yg (penciler/inker), Sean Chen (penciler), Victor Olazaba (inker), Jay David Ramos (colorist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - Is that demon in the foreground encouraging use to stare at the new kid's crotch? Creepy.

Lin Lie is still running around Earth killing demons and collecting shards of the sword of his. He's also still struggling to control the Iron Fist, which has some of the natives of K'un-Lun feeling less than kind towards what they see as usurper. Lie's gets a pep talk from his friend Min and the new Thunderer (that's the part of the issue Sean Chen draws). It boils down to not being too hung up on being Iron Fist the way it's always been, and instead focusing on how to actually be good at it. Unfortunately, Lie's brother appears ready to release Chiyou, the Dark Destroyer, so Lie's going to need a better training montage.

I'm still confused as to why they don't remove the sword shards from Lie's hands if they are not only causing intense pain, but messing up his chi flow and thereby making it harder for him to use the Iron Fist. I guess because they react to the presence of other pieces, so that helps him find them, but couldn't he just carry them in a pouch?

I assume Wong's going to reveal it wasn't a fluke that the chi of Shou-Lao wound up in Lie. The first page of this issue shows some past Iron Fist fighting the dragon, which narration boxes talking about having to face fear and transcend it. So that's probably what Lie has to do. He feels he failed by letting the sword be broken, and that he's not cut out to be Iron Fist, either. He doesn't really defend himself from the accusations he's not fit to be Iron Fist, and I get the feeling it's because he's afraid he might fail miserably if he tried. Let his mouth write a check his skills can't cash.

I don't know if there was a particular reason Chen drew the pages he did, or if it just worked out that way to get the issue out on time. He and Michael Yg's art are close enough (possibly helped by Olazaba's inks softening Chen's work a little, the characters don't all look like you could cut a roast on their jawlines), there isn't a jarring shift. Yg adds a little more detail to hair, though. Lie's evil brother definitely has a bit of that bad boy manga heartthrob look.

Step by Bloody Step #2, by Si Spurrier (writer), Matias Bergara (artist), Matheus Lopes (color artist), Jim Campbell (glyphologist) - At least the giant taught to her to run from unmarked flying battleships.

The giant and the child continue their journey. The child grows increasingly resentful of the giant dictating their path. There's more going on than just the two of them, though. There seems to be a war between at least two peoples, or maybe an invasion by a group that look like basically white humans, of a group of people that are shaped similarly, but their skin is green and the eyes have no pupils. Not sure if they're like elves or zombies or what. The invaders seem to have an idea where the giant's going, and start taking steps to intercept it. As of the end of this issue, they haven't succeeded - yet.

So it's pretty clear this is some cyclical thing. Before they cross the sea, the child carves a picture of herself frowning in a tree, but notices other carvings in nearby trees. Possibly each child eventually becomes the giant who then retrieves and ferries the next child to wherever they're going. To what purpose, I don't know. The child's blood sparks growth of plant life. Does it sustain people the robed invaders are trying to subjugate, or do they just want that for themselves? But her blood landing in the ocean also sparked a berserker fury in the giant. Something exclusive to it, or the sort of thing it can prompt in any person?

Has the giant explained any of this? My guess is no. I'm not sure the giant can speak at all, or that it would tell her anything if it could. The girl is becoming more accustomed to being herded, but not any happier about it. She looks back with dull eyes when he keeps her in the shadows at the end of the issue. Of course he won't let her meet anyone else. In the first issue, the child tended to hang back and watch the giant fight with an awed or curious expression. In this issue, Bergara draws her more often glaring at the giant, or sitting to one side staring sullenly at something else. That something else may become the woman in the carriage she saw at the very end.

There's fewer scenes of the two of them just traveling peacefully, but they're still here. There's a two page splash that is just an ocean at night, with a couple of rocks rising from the water, and a trail of white showing the passing of the giant and the child. But as they're being actively hunted, I suspect those moments will grow sparse in the second half of this series.

What I Bought 2/16/2022

Given how few books from any other publishers have shown up lately, I guess it's a good thing I did this brief foray back into Spider-books. I'd have practically nothing to review otherwise.

Amazing Spider-Man #89, by Patrick Gleason (writer), Mark Bagley (penciler), Andrew Hennessy and John Dell (inks), Bryan Valenza (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - I'm very confused as to how they're falling like that while the Goblin glider is swinging around the building in the shot far below.

So, Beyond Corporation combined some Goblin, stuff, I don't know what, with the clone of Ashley Kafka they have on staff and created this Goblin Queen lady, who is tearing up a lot of stuff. Peter wants to go play hero, so Felicia webs him to his hospital bed and heads out herself. She manages to save Mary Jane, who is mixed up in this for reasons not worth explaining, but gets otherwise whupped by a knockoff Penance Stare. Except it doesn't make you feel the pain you inflicted on others, but all your worst self-doubts or something.

Felicia's about to be street pizza, but Peter managed to get himself free and save her. Actually a pretty nice sequence where she's falling and we're watching her face through a tear (because of the emotional trauma attack), and then the web bursts the tear. I thought it was a nice bit, anyway. Peter finally gets the costume back and jumps into battle because hey, he was able to break through his webbing, he must be almost back to normal. Except we see in a flashback it was Ben Reilly's girlfriend that cut him loose.

That probably won't end well. Especially considering Dr. Kafka already had a pretty good idea of all the crap running around inside Peter's skull. Not like he has a massive guilt complex or anything! On the other hand, attacking him on that level might actually work better for him, since his spirit seems willing to fight crime, but the flesh ain't up to snuff.

I'm guessing Hennessy inked the first part of the issue and Dell the second based on the order they were listed in. If so, I'd say Hennessy did the stronger job because on the last few pages, some of the faces are really indistinct and vague. Like "Rick Leonardi when he doesn't have a strong inker," vague. Bagley's Peter Parker is also a little different looking from how I'm used to, but the look does convey the fatigue he's under just trying to climb walls. The sense that he's still not right inside, but he's itching to get back out there.

Iron Fist #1, by Alyssa Wong (writer), Michael Yg (artist), Jay David Ramos (colorist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - I thought he was supposed to be Iron Fist, not Gun Show.

OK, the new Shou-Lao hasn't hatched yet after the events of Heart of the Dragon and when the egg does crack open, people are shocked by what they see. Back in New York, Danny Rand's fighting some demons when he gets an assist from a guy in a Iron Fist outfit. Who doesn't seem to have much control of the old dragon chi, but does have some glowy green fist thing working. Danny tries to ask the kid questions, but he just runs off.

Wong doesn't waste a lot of time on the mystery, revealing right off this is a character called Sword Master. Got introduced with White Fox, Aero, some of those others characters they put in that new, more Asia-themed Agents of Atlas group a few years back? Anyway, he nearly died in something spinning out of Dr. Strange dying and his sword got shattered. Which is bad, because it's supposed to help keep some demon locked up. A demon whose henchmen are after the pieces of the sword, some of which are embedded in Lin's arms. Hence, the glowy green thing. They also hurt, raising the question of why, if he's trying to reassemble the sword, he doesn't just, you know, take the pieces out of his flesh. 

Anyway, he hasn't, but when he fell to his apparent death, he somehow or the other got infused with Shou-Lao's chi. Maybe all of it. Which he can't control, and will destroy him if he doesn't figure it out. And the family he's staying with in K'un-Lun seems nice, but the dad is secretly one of those demons, and he's after the sword (although it's supposed to be in a box no one but Line can open.)

Well, they definitely hit the ground running with this issue. A lot going on. Lin's got this quest to repair his family's sacred weapon, while also trying to figure out how to be Iron Fist. There's the inevitable family drama, the dad being a demon, and the daughter helping Lin by somehow opening portals to Earth from K'un-Lun, which is unfortunately helping demons enter K'un-Lun. And now Danny's clued into the fact something's going on, so he's not going to let this drop. Not sure why Lin wouldn't at least ask a guy used to using the Iron Fist for some help, but he figures everything is his fault, so he probably figures he has to fix it himself.

Michael Yg's is nice. The costume's not bad, could probably ditch the single shoulder guard, though. Yg can make Lin look cool when he has the mask on, then he removes it and looks more like an exhausted teenager. I don't know if that's what you'd expect since he's been fighting demons and things prior to this, but he's also struggling with feeling like a failure on multiple levels, so maybe it fits. I think he overdoes it on Danny's jawline though. A couple of panels his chin just looks massive relative to the rest of his head. Maybe just the angle, or the particular expression.