Saturday Splash Page #147

"Spiders Unite," in Spider-Girls #1, by Jody Houser (writer), Andres Genolet (penciler/inker), Triona Farrell (colorist), Joe Caramagna (letterer)

Spider-Geddon was, as best I can tell from reading the credits page, the second time a bunch of Spider-people from across the multiverse teamed up to fight JMS and Romita Jr. creation Morlun and his extended family of 19th-Century-finery wearing energy-vampires. This mini-series is the one and only thing I bought from that event. Why did I do that?

Probably in part because 2018 was the year the amount of stuff Marvel published I was interested dropped off sharply. They'd been solidly in the low-70s each of the previous three years, but in 2018 dropped into the 50s. Which is where they've languished ever since. So I likely hadn't adjusted and was taking chances on things I normally wouldn't.

Beyond that, this mini-series promised to focus on a small cast. Mayday Parker (going by Spider-Woman now), Anya Corazon (formerly Arana, now Spider-Girl, with predictive visions), and Annie Parker, the daughter of Peter and Mary Jane in the Renew Your Vows universe. Free of the literal armies that made up the main storyline, Mayday might get some actual focus. One of Morlun's family killed her parents in the previous event, leaving Mayday an orphan responsible for her infant brother. 

Which wasn't an isolated thing; Slott killed a lot of Spider-characters in that event. Not even in ways that really upped the stakes. Just to make numbers. Here's a one-page comic of Hostess-Fruit-Pie-Ads Spidey trying to stop Morlun with mass-produced pastries! And he's dead. Wasn't that great? Now let's spend more time on Octavius running around in Peter's stolen body!

(I have seen arguments online that's a different Mayday because the eye color is wrong. As though Marvel's paying attention to that. They can't even remember big events from a given character's past consistently.)

I thought maybe there'd be something to Mayday interacting with a younger version of both her parents (she met a high-school-aged version of her dad in a time travel adventure early in her solo series), but Peter and MJ are quickly drafted into the larger fight. Outside of a brief scene of MJ thinking about how they lost another daughter in childbirth years before Annie, nothing comes of it. Most of the mini-series is Mayday, Anya and Annie trying to figure out what Annie's powers are telling her while surviving against two of Morlun's siblings. There is a bit where Anya and Mayday try to use some sort of Green Goblin-themed battle armor to fight, but the goths completely no-sell it, so it's kind of a dud.

Random Back Issues #81 - Runaways #36

Well, far enough in the future and we'll all be dead, Chase. Be more specific.

A new leader in the most recently released comic to get Random Back Issued, taking over from Coda #8. We're two issues from the conclusion of Rainbow Rowell's stint writing Runaways, not that I was entirely sure of that at the time. This issue is focused entirely on Chase, Gert (both of them), and Victor.

Chase, having accepted Gert's moved on with Victor, works up the nerve to ask out Van, the lavender-haired girl at Haul Mart who helped Chase when he had to buy various hygiene products for a house full of women. Old Lace is pretty judgmental towards the one who most often provides him with cheeseburgers, but all that's forgotten when they get home and they find Gert waiting.

Not the current-day Gert, back from the dead but now several years younger than Chase. A Gert probably the same age as Chase, who time-traveled from the future specifically for him. More specifically, to take him with her back to the future, which she tries to do on the sly while they're hugging. Chase, showing more intelligence than I'd normally credit him for, catches her and demands answers. Gert, naturally, won't give them, other than she loves him, and she can't tell Chase anything else about why she came back now.

Which is pretty suspicious, as Gert is just about the last person I'd expect to give a shit about something like preserving the timeline. Her solution to the Gibborim problem was to just send two of them 999 years into the future and let them eat the souls of whatever humans were still alive.

Back at high school, Present Day Gert and Victor walk home from school! Look, this is a very talky issue, you'll have to take your action where you can get it. Gert may have actually made a friend with her partner on a group project, and Victor might be a little jealous. This segues into a whole thing about the recent fiasco with Doc Justice and how the rest of them just left Gert - no powers, no special training or skills Gert - behind to go superhero.

Gert's trying to find what she's good at, since being a superhero doesn't seem like it's in the cards. And she expects her friends to all ditch her for other superhero friends. Victor's attempts at reassurance are of limited use in the face of her sarcasm and cynicism. See, she does have a superpower. The same one as me.

Victor is frustrated he fell for Doc Justice's spiel so easily, because Ultron programmed him to be a big superhero fanboy. So he's back to angsting about if he's destined to go evil because of his parental figure. Didn't he just talk Doombot out of this same line of thinking ten issues ago? Gert figures either Chase or Molly are far more likely to go evil, which is just stupid. Nico is obviously the one most likely to abuse her power for evil ends.

All the talking about emotions leads to kissing, which leads to finding a secluded spot, which leads to Victor and Gert finding Chase and Future Gert making out. Which is just awkward for everyone. "The future version of present-day girlfriend has her tongue down the throat of my present-day girlfriend's ex-boyfriend." I thought that only happened to the X-Men.

{9th longbox, 45th comic. Runaways (vol. 4) #36, by Rainbow Rowell (writer), Andres Genolet (artist), Dee Cunniffe (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer)}

Picking Up the Pieces

Doombot is beyond such laughable frailties as shame. Besides, Doombot has abs of, well, something stronger than steel. Titanium?

Volume 4 of Runaways, "But You Can't Hide", is an opportunity for the characters to sort of take stock after the mess with Alex and the Gibborim in the previous arc. And so there's not necessarily one big plot that dominates. There's no external threat, it's more that most of the cast are trying to cope with loss. The first issue is entirely about Molly chasing after Alex and traveling with him, in the hopes he'll help her recover the clone of her mother her grandmother made from, as Alex puts it, "Avengers jail." But that clone isn't Molly's mom, so that's another person she's lost that isn't coming back.

Victor starts to feel the loss of his weaponry and advanced abilities, his inability to protect those he cares about, while still being afraid that he might repeat his murder of the Vision's son in Tom King's Vision series. He does end up growing himself a new body out of bathtub water(?), but then he and Gert start making out. Which sends Chase into a tailspin, but he focuses on work and gets Doombot running again. A success! Except Doombot reverts to shouting about Richards and attacking everyone. He's lost whatever progress he'd made on becoming his own being, but it offers Victor the chance to confront his fear of losing someone in a way where he doesn't risk electrocuting anyone. Nico Henrichon draws the conversations inside Doombot's consciousness, where all the panel borders are mechanical junk and cables.

Also, this reminded me Nico and Victor dated at one point and jeezus, did Nico date everyone in the cast? Chase, Alex, Victor, Karolina, didn't she date Xavin, too, or was that just Karolina that did that?

Gib is still there, minus his two siblings, in a world that is not what he was promised. Join the club. The crew are trying to figure out how to feed him, but even once he grasps how to eat like them, it doesn't help. Their attempts at "sacrifice" don't cut it, either. Karolina has fallen hopelessly behind at college, and maybe it's not even worth continuing, but she does realize she likes using her powers to actually help people. I mean, on purpose, rather than just falling into it like they normally do.

Nico seems to be the only one doing OK throughout, but she spent half of the previous arc struggling with the knowledge there's a wizard trapped inside her staff. She's got a better deal, or so she figures, so she can afford to be in a better mood. Still odd that, knowing the wizard's soul will bleed into hers when she uses the Staff of One, she agrees to go patrolling with Karolina. 

(It goes horribly, fyi. Hard to believe Nico was on an Avengers team, although at this point, who hasn't been an Avenger? Dr. Druid is ecstatic because it means there must be someone who was a worse Avenger than him. I'm not saying it's Nico Minoru, just the odds are good the title belongs to someone new.)

This arc marks the point where Andres Genolet takes over as regular artist from Kris Anka, a role Genolet maintained until the book's cancellation. I'm still trying to figure out when Molly makes the major jump in height I noticed in the last few issues, but it hadn't happened as of this story. She's still a lot smaller than everyone else. Genolet continues to give each character their own style in terms of clothes, though I couldn't describe it to you for anything. Just Nico doesn't dress like Gert, who doesn't dress like Victor, etc.

Genolet's also got the ability to draw expressions and body language in a way to sell the beats Rowell likes to use. Those two-to-four panel silent bits between a couple of characters. In the first issue, there's one where Alex leans towards a guy making creepy comments towards Molly, then in the next panel he touches him, and the panel after that is the guy getting the hell away. There are a lot of those, but Genolet illustrates them the best they can.

What I Bought 8/11/2021

I went to the comic stores Wednesday, hoping to get five books. More realistically four books, since Count Draco Knuckleduster was a real long shot. I only managed to get two. Bummer. Also, it's been hot as shit all week, which has really put a crimp in my vacation. Not that I wanted to actually go many places, but it's made it where I haven't wanted to do hardly anything. Oh well, I can use the sleep.

Defenders #1, by Al Ewing (writer), Javier Rodriguez (artist/inker), Alvaro Lopez (inker), Cory Petit and Jay Bowen (colorists), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - Strange looks like he can't figure out who farted.

Strange gets a visit from the Masked Raider character Ewing created a few years back. Seems the guy was trying to stop some evil scientist, said scientist tried to escape with a magic spellbook, Raider shot the book, guy has landed somewhere in time, likely planning to alter history. Apparently you can change things if you time travel with magic, but not science. OK, sure, I'll roll with that.

Strange busts out the old Secret Defenders tarot deck to find some allies, but it's not a great draw. Every card is reversed, which I think is bad, and nobody seems terribly happy to be there. Not that the Suilver Surfer (restored to his classic look) is ever happy. Also, Strange drew Cloud, who is a sentient nebula now compressed into a house, so he's about to destroy the world. Oh, this is one of those stories about how trying to avoid destiny brings it about! Or not. Strange averts that disaster, but the team is thrown into the previous universe to Galactus' homeworld. I thought they were two universes on from that one after Hickman's Secret Wars? Didn't Ewing have an entire series about this, where it was a new universe, so Galactus could have a new role or something?

OK, so on the last couple of pages, when they're on Taa, Ewing does that thing people do when they homage or parody Jack Kirby. Where there are quotation marks around certain things they say? Example: 'So! "Space-time Hoboes," are you? Well, you "Made It," friends!!' I kind of hate that stuff. With Kirby, I suppose it felt like a genuine thing he thought he should do, whatever his reason, but when anyone else does it, it just feels like a kid trying on their parents' clothes. Throws me out of the story. 

But maybe I should expect this thing to be extremely meta-textual. In the Raider's flashback, when the evil scientist is trying to use the spellbook, the three candles he has lit around him are cyan, magenta and yellow. The three true primary colors, the ones used in color printing. The smoke drifting up form them is the same colors, and so are the pages in the book. So Zota's going to mess with the text of the Marvel Universe? It's not as though he could mess things up worse than Bendis or Mark Millar.

So I'm not totally sold on the writing, but it's a lovely comic to look at. Petit and Bowen's color work is vivid and varied, able to go blindingly bright when needed, or tone it back to something more subdued when that's what is called for. Rodriguez' work is detailed without being fussy, and the colors mesh with it, making sure we don't lose any of his or Lopez' linework. The page that tells the story of Raider's mask through clouds of steam rising from Stephen's tea cup is excellent. The two pages of Strange trying to keep Cloud from destroying the world, where all the panels are converging on the location where their mass is about to form a star.

If nothing else, the comic will be well-illustrated.

Runaways #38, by Rainbow Rowell (writer), Andres Genolet (artist), Dee Cunniffe (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - So long kids. Hopefully the next time we see you it isn't as cannon fodder in some bullshit event comic.

The comic is ending, so all dangling plot threads must be at least sort of tied off, or at least brought to a place where there's some idea what to do next. So, in no particular order: Gert's parents appear in their time machine right in the middle of everything, muttering about instability, and Nico banishes them.

Karolina's people are actually here to help treat her injuries, since Xavin got her acquitted of whatever she did wrong previously. Or so they say, the last page showing Xavin (drawn by Kris Anka) is giving off strong "evil" vibes. I've never seen a fictional character that does the "hands clasped behind their back while someone calls them General" pose yet that wasn't bad.

But Karolina doesn't know that, so into space she goes, after some relationship drama with Nico that resolves mostly peacefully, and ends with Nico telling her to take the Staff of One away.

Future Gert convinces Present Gert and Molly they should help her abduct Chase to the future to keep him from becoming a Mad Max cosplayer. Well again, we see that's the future, but Future Gert doesn't actually tell them, which is odd when she says she made no promise to protect the timeline's integrity. Then fucking tell them what happened, you asshole! Either way, Future Gert and Chase both poof!

Alex is wearing that Doc Justice guy's costume and watching all this (in a page drawn by original Runaways series artist Adrian Alphona, whose are looks grainier than I remember from Ms. Marvel.) Molly may still be considering visiting Krakoa, but Clara (still happily living with her foster parents) is not interested. At least one character in this book isn't a moron.

And that's pretty much it. The crew for now is Present Gert, Molly, Victor, Doombot, Gib, and Nico minus her staff. Which leaves Nico and Doombot as the closest things to responsible adults. Wait, am I implying Chase was a responsible adult? That can't be right.

Of course, the next writer can handwave all that if they want to. Bring Karolina back, with or without Xavin. Bring Chase back, changed or not, never reference his time in the future if they wish. Do something with Alex or not. Do other people have old friends they no longer like who won't take the hint? Because for someone as smart as Alex is supposed to be, he sure hasn't caught on they want him to get lost. 

I'd expect Doombot will get ejected into limbo by the next writer, much as Rowell (mostly) did with Clara. Gib, too, most likely. "Oh, he didn't receive sufficient sacrifices from the kitties, so he died and we never speak of him." I could be surprised, but I doubt it. It's a little frustrating, because we only saw hints of how things were going to play out. I was curious what the end result of the time shenanigans was going to be. The Xavin thing is less interesting to me, because I just sort of vaguely remember Xavin being around. I'm guessing a lot more happened with the character after BKV stopped writing the series, which is the point I stopped picking up used copies of the trades.

Genolet's art is really better suited to smaller panels. When the tried to go for the almost double-page splash of Future Chase squaring off with Future Molly, it's kind of blurry and lacking in his usual crispness. Like taking a small image and blowing it up a couple of times. Plus, there really wasn't much on the page that justified the need for that much space. Could have kept it to a single-page splash and been just fine. Other than that, this issue is Genolet's usual solid work, and it was 28 pages of it, which might explain last issue being short.

What I Bought 7/10/2021 - Part 1

So, three books last week. The two for today are both in the penultimate issue of an arc. One of them does a lot more with that than the other.

Runaways #37, by Rainbow Rowell (writer), Andres Genolet (artist), Dee Cunniffe (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - I'm really not sure what everyone is so shocked about in the context of this issue. Although Nico only looks mildly concerned at best.

This issue is almost entirely silent for 16 pages. Then the last two pages have a bunch of dialogue. Yes, that only adds up to 18 pages, because that's how many pages there were in this comic. Swell, right? I think that's the second time this year they've stiffed us on pages with an issue. And Genolet is a good artist, the work is pretty and all. Emotions are clear, even if I'm not always clear on why exactly they're having that emotion. Still, it's not so great it demands to be seen sans any actual talking.

So what did happen? Nico is frustrated about her fight with Karolina about letting a genie steal part of her soul when she uses the staff. Which is, to be clear, a stupid thing to agree to, but they seem to make up. Although some of Karolina's people show up looking for her, whatever that means. Present Gert and Victor find Future Gert and Present Chase making out, and Present Gert is not happy and runs off. Is she not happy about how she turns out, or that she seems fated to end up pining over Chase?

Admittedly, that would be a rough realization to have, but I don't know for sure because nobody says anything. Oh, and Future Gert cries while hugging Victor, which probably doesn't bode well for him.

Gib found someone to offer him sacrifices. Relax, it's cats, who bring him mice. Mice which Doombot must then vacuum up, and why doesn't he build something to do housecleaning? Wouldn't that be beneath a Doom? Also, Alex Wilder is still around, which is probably bad news.

I don't see why this issue needed to go Silent Era, and if you're going to do that, then fucking commit. Don't half-ass it.

Jenny Zero #3, by Dave Dwonch (writer/letterer), Brockton McKinney (writer), Magenta King (artist), Dam (color artist) - Seeing your emotionally distant and deceased father figure in cloud formations is a common coping mechanism.

The government agency is becoming increasingly evil, as they try to intimidate Jenny hotel heiress friend, to no effect. But, their telepath pokes through Jenny's uncle's mind and figures out where she went. And their evil leader orders them to either get Jenny to work for them, or bring her corpse back so they can incorporate her DNA into their stormtroopers. I feel as though that development happened extremely quickly, but to be fair, the comic has largely been focused on Jenny making an ass of herself for two issues as an avoidance technique, so there probably wasn't an opportunity.

Anyway, Jenny's busy tracking down an old associate of her father's, who tried to approach her about training years ago. It's a middle-aged lady who is the master of an entire temple, and she's gonna teach Jenny some drunken master stuff. Well, Jenny's a drunk, so she's halfway there! I think they get approximately one day of training in before the government dorks show up and there's a big fight. And once Jenny gets involved, it's really a "big" fight. I'd see myself out, but this is my blog, and my ass has fused with the chair.

Somewhat abrupt shift into cartoonish supervillainy by the mostly unseen Action Science Police aside, there's actually several bits in here that made me laugh. Ms. Sheratin deciding to call the terribly named Alpha Major "Chad". Aiko's ways of testing Jenny. First, knocking her flat on her ass. An oldy, but a goody. Then throwing a cup of tea at Jenny to catch, only for Jenny to punch it, and both of them being very confused by the other's actions. The dog is as amused by it as I am.

The best might be when "Chad" is trying intimidate Aiko and he snaps his fingers, and nothing happens. You turn the page and all his guys are still down the hill waiting because 'The snow is really giving us hell on the comms', so they couldn't tell if that was a signal. Idiots trying to look cool and failing miserably will always be funny. At least, I hope so. If not, this world may not be worth living in.

So, is the fin on the head for these Ultraman types always a natural growth like it is for Jenny, or is it usually a helmet, like the Rocketeer? I'd always assumed the latter, that it was something added to the costume to look cool, but Jenny actually has a headfin, because either her faces uniform didn't have his helmet, or she opted not to wear it. It looks fine as is, although it's kind of weird how much it seems to cause King to flatten out Jenny's nose when drawn from straight ahead, versus in profile. The bridge kind of disappears.

King does a really good job drawing "Chad" to look like a complete ass. Although I'm not sure I've seen a fictional guy with pink hair who wasn't. This doofus, Quentin Quire, there's probably some others I'm forgetting, but those two are strong date points in favor of my hypothesis. He's wearing a purple band-aid under one eye at the beginning of the comic for no apparent reason. He's not wearing it when they attack Aiko's temple, and there's no noticeable scar. So it's an affectation, and an incredibly dumb one at that.

What I Bought 6/1/2021 - Part 1

I hope everyone had a wonderful Clint Eastwood's Birthday Day on Monday. It is the most holy of days on the Reporting on Marvels and Legends' calendar. I observed the traditional ways, watching the Leone trilogy while eating pizza.

The Union #5, by Paul Grist (writer), Andrea Di Vito (penciler), Le Beau Underwood (inker), Nolan Woodard (colorist), Travis Landham (letterer) - Runnin' away from a ghost like they're the Mystery Inc. crew.

The tech bro has the Empire Stone. The heroes' attempts to stop him all fail, not that we see them try much. Doc Croc and his gain take a run at it and don't do any better. Britannia's sort of a ghost that's been lurking inside Union Jack to survive (and keep him from dying when he does stupid crap), but neither of them can stop tech bro alone. Together? Sure, that works. Doc Croc briefly gets the stone, then loses it to the government official, who impersonates a the intelligent corgi and eats it. The day is saved!

I am not sure what this was supposed to be about. The conclusion says Britannia kind of faded away after making some cryptic/uplifting statement. Union Jack's in the hospital, and the rest of the team has apparently vanished. There's no moment where the team really comes together and gets anything done. The public reacts negatively to their actual appearance, but there's no follow-up with that. I wonder if Grist had something entirely different planned for this when it was sort of tying in to Empyre instead of King in Black, but I doubt it. Maybe the point was you can't artificially create a super-team, just because some billionaire wants it to happen? If they aren't on-board with some common purpose, it'll fall apart. Or if it all hinges on one person - Britannia in this case - it's not going to work.

I don't know. I'm just guessing.

Runaways #36, by Rainbow Rowell (writer), Andres Genolet (artist), Dee Cunniffe (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - Gert's wisely decided to get the heck out of this book before she gets killed again.

The issue focuses on two conversations involving Gert. One, set several weeks before the previous issue, has Chase come home and find Gert from five years in the future waiting for him. She's 21 now too, and she's here to a) be with him, and b) take him back to the future with her. Chase is actually suspicious of this, especially when Gert won't tell him what she's trying to save him from. He won't go, so Gert's just been coming by to visit and make out with him off-and-on ever since.

The other conversation is between 16-year-old Gert and Victor, at the same time as the previous issue. There's a little tension after that whole Justice Inc. thing, and Victor worrying that since he can't fight against the programming Ultron gave him that makes him geek out over heroes, he won't be able to fight the programming that will make him evil, either. Gert figures everyone on the team is likely to go evil, and she's more concerned about getting left behind. And while they're walking, they find Chase and 21-year-old Gert making out.

I have no idea how this is gonna go. Future Gert seems sad or worried about seeing Victor, which seems like the kind of thing that could lead to explosions and "How could you?!" On the other hand, Gert's not typically the sort to freak out or get violent. So there might just be a lot of sarcasm between the Gerts, and confused stammering among the guys.

 

You can see similarities in the Gerts based on facial expressions - they both love rolling their eyes - but Genolet adds some differences in body language. They're both talking to guys who are taller than them, but Future Gert is constantly looking Chase in the eye, while Present Gert spends a lot of time looking at the ground or just down in general. Future Gert's body language is a lot more confident. Hand on one hip, or just willing to reach out. She's not holding herself in, while Present Gert seems like she's trying to minimize contact with anything for most of her walk with Victor. She won't even let her arms swing at her sides while she walks, she keeps them both on her backpack straps. It's a much more reserved, withdrawn posture.

I even think Present Gert and Victor are viewed at more of a distance than Future Gert and Chase. That may just be a matter of the two of them not standing as close to one another, so the p.o.v. has to be from further away for them both to be in the same panel, but Present Gert seems to sit lower in the panels, and just generally is less of a presence than her future self.

What I Bought 4/14/2021 - Part 1

My best week for new comics in months. Maybe over a year. Five comics, plus one from last week. Huzzah! So let's look at a couple of those on this lovely spring day.

Iron Fist: Heart of the Dragon #4, by Larry Hama (writer), Dave Wachter (artist), Neeraj Menon (color artist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - This needs an old Joe Kubert cover-style, "There's no sign of the giant spider, Immortal Weapons!" dialogue balloons.

We find out who the mysterious dragon killer is and it is. . . I have no idea who Brenda Swanson is. The internet tells me she's from the Iron Fist series Kaare Andrews did 7 years ago. Credit to Hama for using all kinds of stuff, I guess. Another person with a grudge against Danny's family, apparently, and she wants some of that good dragon chi. Who doesn't?

Okoye's in the Heart of Heaven and speaks with another dragon who encourages her to look at the big picture and decide what's necessary to fix things. Which is, as Danny and the others find out after another seemingly pointless round of running around fighting undead ninjas, to kill the remaining dragons. I feel like Pei is going to have some objections to Okoye trying to kill her baby dragon, Gork. Which I figure is coming next issue. Danny tries to stop her, there's a lot of arguing about him not understanding what needs to be done to solve the problem.

One thing, among many, I'm confused on is where all these undead ninjas are coming from if that gate Danny pushed closed a couple of issues ago is still closed. Nothing anyone is doing seems to actually be making a difference. I really hope this doesn't turn into one of those stories where a bunch of characters are fooled into thinking they're accomplishing something, because one character is leading them around by the nose.

The design for the dragon from the Bride of Nine Spiders' dragon is terrifying, but appropriate, I guess. Strange none of the others seemed so unique, though. The fight scenes are brief, and like I said, seemingly pointless to the story, but Wachter draws them well enough. The roughness to his line makes the characters look more worn down and weary.

Runaways #35, by Rainbow Rowell (writer), Andres Genolet (artist), Dee Cunniffe (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - This is your life when you pay for magic on the installment plan.

Nico avoids doing something really stupid with Pixie. First time for everything. They find the young mutant, whose mother contacted Krakoa. Jodi doesn't want to go, because she thinks she'll never get to go home again. Oh, but after the first time you die horribly and get resurrected, why would you ever want to leave? Anyway, Jodi agrees to at least give it a try, and Logan agrees to not try and abduct Molly. Chase is also dating an older Gert through the magic of time travel. Er, science of time travel. Whatever.

The most important point - other than Molly remaining safely out of the clutches of the X-books - is that weird guy we see when Nico uses her magic finally got explained to me when Nico explains it to Karolina. There's a magician sealed inside the staff, and in exchange for Nico not having to cut herself to use it, he gets to put a bit of his soul in her instead? Yeah, no way that ends horribly. So, lover's quarrel as Karolina wants to destroy the staff, and Nico doesn't want to give the staff up. Which could be seen as her not wanting to surrender her power, but is also entirely likely about her friends' tendency to die, and magic being a useful tool to bring them back.

I'm still amused by the fact Molly is already taller than Nico. Although looking at volume 2 of the series, Kris Anka didn't draw her that tall. I guess she hit a growth spurt. Makes sense for a 13-14 year old. Anyway, I couldn't help laughing at Nico's expression in the second panel there. So excited about the idea she could trick the magician trapped in her staff for generations. I mean sure, the guy was dumb enough to get trapped in the first place, but given Nico's poor track record of decisions, I doubt she's going to sucker him.

Maybe they could call Hawkeye. When you need someone to trick a powerful being that's not as smart as they think, he's your guy.

What I Bought 3/4/2021

Well, I hoped to also get the last issue of Sympathy for No Devils when I swung by the store last week, but no dice. So we'll just look at the two comics I did manage to get. The theme this week is Wolverine guest appearances! Are they gratuitous? Maybe!

Power Pack #4, by Ryan North (writer), Nico Leon (artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (color artist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - Wolverine smiling like that creeps me out. Also, if he's about to stab a dude, that is not the best place for Jack to be perched.

The other Power kids use what little power they've got left to bust free and keep Julie from dying horribly. Unfortunately, that means they're basically out of power, against the Wizard, who has all their powers, and is talking a bunch of shit about it. Katie's got a little left and actually tries to kill him, to their extreme concern of her siblings, but the dude can move at lightspeed, so good luck with that.

He talks some more junk about how they're dumb, and he's great, and that's why he should have this power, and then he flies off. The kids yell at each other, Julie puts forth a highly questionable theory that while the Wizard drained their powers, some of his personality went into them and that's why Katie's trying to murder people and complaining about how adults have screwed everything up for them. Or she's justifiably pissed about how adults have, in fact, screwed everything up for them.

Deciding they a) need help, and b) still need a mentor, they leave a note at the Krakoan embassy for Logan, and he shows up at their apartment, where the kids introduce him as "Dr. Brucie Mansworth", and tell their parents an extremely convincing story about how he tutors children from kindergarten up to college. I really hope their parents are just playing along, because no one can be that stupid. 

 

North wants us to take Julie's explanation for them being angry at face value, but it really just sounds like someone who doesn't want to admit they're angry they fucked up and wants to blame it on something else. I mean, she's chastising Jack for saying "frig", I'm pretty sure she's just grasping at any control of the situation she can manage.

Is the Wolverine appearance gratuitous? Well, he doesn't do much of anything here, and I feel like Katie just as easily could have contacted Shadowcat, so for the moment, yes.

Runaways #34, by Rainbow Rowell (writer), Andres Genolet (artist), Dee Cunnifee (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - Here we see Molly following in the proud tradition of Shadowcat and Jubilee by already being taller than Logan by the age of 13.

So Molly did check out Krakoa on their official website, and the X-men (or whoever) did receive two e-mails from Griffith Park. One asking to be picked up, the second telling them to stay away if they know what's good for them. So they assumed it was Molly, until Chase points out Griffith Park is over 4,000 acres, so there's probably more than one damn mutant living there.

Good to see Krakoa has failed to solve the issue of bureaucratic incompetence, in addition to the issue of populating your government with fucking war criminals and the equivalent. So much for mutants finding a better way.

The X-jerks prepare to leave, while doing a piss-poor job apologizing (another thing mutants apparently haven't improved upon), when Molly insists she's going to help find this other mutant. They find a suspiciously vacant lot, then march into an invisible passage to some empty mist-covered place, where they all get attacked by monsters.

Hey, Chase actually found something he can fight without getting his ass whooped! I'm frankly disappointed by that.

Nico does a spell that disperses the void and reveals a big mansion and all of the sudden she and Pixie are into each other? I have made no bones of the fact I don't get relationships where you just show the characters fighting and arguing constantly, but even allowing for that, this development makes no goddamn sense. And I have no idea if I'm supposed to know who the Legolas-looking guy we keep seeing each time Nico uses her magic is supposed to be. If he's shown up previously in this run, I haven't bought that tpb yet.

 

Rowell seems to be hinting that Molly might be getting frustrated their her friends are still treating her like a kid, instead of an equal. Chase tells her if he and Nico decide she needs to leave the search for this missing mutant, that's it. I know they legally adopted her, but I imagine that gets a little frustrating. Especially considering Molly is stronger and more capable than probably either of them. Certainly more so than Chase.

That said, if she's thinking maybe Krakoa would be better, she's got another thing coming. I'm pretty sure she'll get dismissed even more readily there, based on the bits I've seen from the current New Mutants run. Gabby (aka, Honey Badger/Scout) is not having a good time.

I like Genolet's designs for the monsters. They're sort of generic, with the yellow eyes, and the teeth, and a couple of them have mechanical parts, but I think that's the point. This was a defense system, probably generated by someone's mind, and they defaulted a sort of basic "Scary Monster" look.

Is the Wolverine appearance gratuitous? Well, as he notes, almost anyone would have been a better choice to send on this mission than him. He clearly doesn't want to be there, and spends all the time he's not fighting monsters rolling his eyes and making sarcastic comments. So I'm going to say "no", because it's a good representation of how poorly Krakoa is being run, and that's why Molly should stay far away.

What I Bought 2/5/2021

I thought I was going to have two comics to pick up last week, although I was confused by why the Black Knight mini-series was starting a month earlier than solicited. But no, that was actually a King in Black one-shot that I guess leads into whatever the mini-series is gonna be about. Never mind, then.

Runaways #33, by Rainbow Rowell (writer), Andres Genolet (artist), Dee Cunniffe (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - Oh, I get it. because the big guy plays for the Sabretooths, and all the hapless little guys play for the Wolverines.

Chase has something going on so that he's not around to drive the kids to school, so Doombot offers, because Nico doesn't want them riding the bus. Because then people will think no one loves them? Jesus Nico, what the hell? In other news, Karolina's still recovering from nearly dying in the last storyarc, and Gert doesn't seem to like school much better than she liked not being in school. But maybe she made a friend. I'm sure that won't end horribly.

Speaking of things ending horribly, Wolverine and Pixie show up at the end of the issue to abduct Molly back to their mutant prison island. Sorry, they show up to take Molly to their mutant utopia *loudest fart noise possible* because Molly contacted them. What the shit, Molly? I thought Chase was the resident dumbass.

I'm left wondering why, other than comedic value, the X-Men would send Logan to get Molly. They have literally never had a good interaction. The first time they met, he went all, "grr snarl snikt" and she punched him out of a church. Why not send Nightcrawler, or X-23 and the Honey Badger? (I heard they changed her codename to "Scout", which is much less cool than "Honey Badger". I assume this is Hickman's fault.) 

 

On the other hand, it's good to see Molly continue to increase her height advantage over him. I also noticed Genolet draws Molly as taller than Nico, which kind of surprised me. Maybe because there are so many times I've seen Nico floating above people or ramped up on magical energy, she it seems like she'd be taller.

What I Bought 12/21/2018 - Part 1

Current plan is that the last two comics from 2018 I want will be here next week. Review those by the end of that week hopefully, then spend the following week on the Year In Review posts. We'll see if things go according to plan. I found basically all the new comics I wanted that came out this month last Friday. All six of them. Yeesh. Anyway, let's get started on those.

Spider-Girls #3, by Jody Houser (writer), Andres Genolet (penciler/inker), Cris Peter and Jim Campbell (colorists), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - I have to wonder what Annie thinks that webline she's shooting is going to stick to.

While Mayday and Arana try briefly and futilely to delay Morlun's siblings with a goblin-mech suit, Annie somehow uses a scroll to open a portal and cure the mutated spider-people. The ones that hadn't been killed already. The ladies go through the portal, and maybe figure out that Annie can do something with some mystic web thing on the world they landed on that might save the day, in a different mini-series. I don't know. I have a vague idea of 40% of the shit they're talking about in this issue, but trying to explain it? No chance.

There is a nice moment between Annie and Mayday, near the end. Watching Mayday and Arana try to figure out the goblin-mech was kind of amusing, if they'd played it up a little more. But I guess these bad guys are supposed to be too serious to do a sequence where two people try to pilot a suit they're unfamiliar with, while not getting their asses completely kicked.

Genolet normally draws Annie with the blank white eyeballs, except for one panel, because I guess it was necessary to show she was rolling her eyes. So I suppose it was for a good reason, but it was kind of a surprise. Also, several instances of two of the characters discussing one thing, and the third abruptly cutting in with some other statement. Usually Mayday and Arana talking to each other, and Annie wants to get their attention about something. It's not quite a recurring gag, since they aren't funny, but it feels a little like that's what was being aimed for.

Smooth Criminals #2, by Kurt Lustgarten and Kirsten Smith (writers), Leisha Riddel (artist), Brittany Peer (colorist), Ed Dukeshire (letterer) - That guy is a little too smug about his hair. Needs to have an accident with a weed-whacker.

We find out a little about how Mia wound up frozen, which involves trying to steal diamonds from a so-called "Ice Man", who may be the blonde guy on the cover, who is also having a building at Ospina's university dedicated to him. And his daughter is engaged to the guy who was Mia's top rival, who does not look nearly old enough when he shows up at the end of the issue. Oh, and the special diamond thing Mia wanted to steal will be on exhibit in town next week, so our protagonists are going to try and steal it. What can go wrong?

So we have a mystery of why Mia was frozen, rather than just killed. I'm also guessing Hatch (the rival) was frozen, but by choice or because he got caught as well? And whether Mia can teach Ospina how to pull a heist, or whether Mia can even still pull one, given technological advances in security. So that's a fair amount of plates spinning, which is nice.

Ospina tries to get Mia caught up on late '90s culture with magazines and man, I didn't know what a "riot grrl" was then, and I still don't know now, so Mia might officially be more in the loop than I ever was. Low bar to clear there, but we have to grade on a curve since her brain might have freezer burn.

I'm a little concerned about the art, because around halfway through, things start to get a lot sketchier and rough-looking. The linework is looser, the backgrounds and other characters get less detailed. You can still follow what's going on, distinguish the important characters, but it's like Riddel didn't have time to finish inking everything. It's worrying, considering this is only issue 2. The bit in the middle of the book where Mia has an abrupt, nightmarish flashback (as seen above), is kind of nifty. The distorted perspective, the swirling colors, any spoken dialogue is in big, red letters. It's distinct from the rest of the book, even the other dreams and flashbacks Mia has during the issue.

What I Bought 12/6/2018 - Part 1

I haven't been able to track down all the books from last month I wanted. November's issue of Coda being the one I'm still on the hunt for. In the meantime, let's look at the books that I did find, starting with two from Marvel.

Spider-Girls #2, by Jody Houser (writer), Andres Genolet (penciler/inker), Jim Charalampidis and Triona Farrell (colorists), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - I don't think you need a spider-sense to warn you of a knife one inch from your nose.

Pete and MJ head off to join the fight against the Inheritors, while the Spider-Girls go to warn the only other spider-person in that universe, which is Normie Osborn, thanks to mad science, I think. Then Normie turns into a full-on giant spider, and while the girls try to deal with that, two of Morlun's siblings show up. That's it, that's the issue.

So, no real progress whatsoever on whatever Annie is supposed to figure out from the scroll things. Which, you know, were the whole reason Mayday and Anya came their in the first place, to find a solution to the problem. So either the solution is going to be rapidly crammed into the third issue along with the big fight, or it's being saved for the main mini-series. Which is really what I should expect.

There are a couple of moments of humor, mostly involving Anya being sarcastic about things, but the levity is nice. That one relative of Morlun's thinking the world is primitive because they poofed into the Cloisters or something when New York City is right there if he turns his head two inches to the left was a good chuckle. I appreciate that Houser didn't even bother naming the two villains. We don't care, not really, they're just something to punch and have act menacing. They barely have one dimension to their characters, forget about two.

Genolet does a good job conveying tone with body language, kind of important since most of the cast are wearing masks for the entire issue. There's a scene where they're heading to warn Normie, and their postures and positions while web-swinging are all different. But Mayday and Annie's are much more similar to each other than Anya's. Which makes sense if you figure they were raised by Pete and MJ, and their versions of their dad were probably fairly similar (except for Mayday's being a bit older and having one artificial leg). It's a little detail, but a nice touch.

Ms. Marvel #36, by G. Willow Wilson (writer), Nico Leon (artist), Ian Herring (artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - Uh-oh, Kamala's doing the "grim avenger" posing bit. Everybody watch out.

The entire issue is about why that one guy Kamala and Singularity met a couple of issues ago thought he recognized Kamala. The answer being, he met an ancestor of hers who looked just like her 800 years ago while he was sword-fighting a damn Skrull. Or it's just a hypothesis, since there are also people who look just like Bruno, Zoey, and Josh there. You know, I had almost forgotten about good ol' Josh, the guy who was arrested because they thought he was gonna blow up the school, then decided to become a fascist tool. He just kind of wandered off without facing consequences for that.

Where's the Punisher when you need him?

Breather issues are fine before the next big disaster, but maybe use them as an opportunity to set up or advance subplots with the supporting cast? Maybe it's just that my eyes cross when the Inhumans get brought up.

The swordfight wasn't bad, although you'd think a skrull would be a little more creative about incorporating shapeshifting into his technique. Watch One Piece or something. There's like 500 swordsmen with weird powers in that series, and they use their powers in ways that compliment their styles. No wonder the Skrulls could never finish off the Kree. What a bunch of putzes.

What I Bought 11/13/2018 - Part 2

I am enjoying taking a little time off from work for the holidays, even if I've mostly been using that time to run errands I put off for several weeks. Today we have the first issue of a mini-series tying into an event I'm otherwise ignoring, and another mini-series reaches its midpoint.

Spider-Girls #3, by Jody Houser (writer), Andres Genolet (penciler/inker), Triona Farrell (colorist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - I wish there was some kind of background, but it's nice drawing anyway.

This ties into Spider-Geddon, which I otherwise don't give a crap about. If it killed off Octavius for a few years, I might care, but we know that isn't happening. Mayday and Anya are looking for something to turn the tide against Morlun and his family (still disappointed he's the JMS villain that hung around, but whatever). This leads them to the Renew Your Vows universe, where Pete and MJ fight crime together with their daughter Annie. Who has been having visions of some threat lately. Pete and Mary Jane opt to go help in the larger fight, while the Spider-Girls stay and try to figure out what Annie's visions are trying to tell her.

I keep wanting to type "April" instead of "Annie", but April was that combo clone/symbiote DeFalco, Frenz, and Buscema introduced late in Amazing Spider-Girl.

Apparently Mayday is "Spider-Woman" now, going by what Anya said. She seems much more serious. Understandable under the circumstances (her baby brother has powers and he'll get killed too if they don't stop this), but Grim n' Gritty Spider-Girl isn't my jam. I was curious to see Mayday interact with a version of her parents who are together, since her dad was killed in the last of these big Spider-Event things, but we only get that briefly. It's interesting though, because in this reality, Annie is their second daughter, the first would have been May, but she died during birth, like she did at the end of the Clone Saga back in the '90s. Annie and May get a chance to meet a sister they maybe could have had, if things worked out a little different. Given that, I'm curious to see what role Anya winds up with in this trio.

I like Genolet's artwork. At different times it reminds me of either Stuart Immonen's or a little of Colleen Coover's, neither of those are a bad thing. It's expressive, the brief action scenes are well-drawn, and she lets the mask be expressive. I'm always in favor of letting the eyes squint and change shape, regardless of how improbable it may be. I like that Peter starts walking up a wall and onto the ceiling as he's thinking out loud. No reason his version of pacing would be confined to the floor. Triona Farrell's colors are what I'd describe as soft and light. They aren't extremely bright, and they don't weigh things down with a lot gloom or heavy shadows. But this is a mellow chapter, nothing has started going wrong yet. We'll see if the colors get heavier or more intense as the action ramps up.

Coda #6, by Simon Spurrier (writer), Matias Bergara (artist), Michael Doig (color assists), Jim Campbell (letterer) - Man, I remember playing "Keep the screaming head away from everyone" back in college. Good times.

The angry fellow from the end of last issue tries to kill Hum, but is killed by Notch, the bandit lady who is also the daughter of that crazy wizard. She doesn't know if that's really a Whitlord controlling their city, either. But she won't rat Hum out, yet. Which is good, as Hum's got his hands full trying to keep Serka from charging up to attack right off. That they're sent out to find more sources of magic with a guy who admits to joyfully killing the innocent doesn't help. He ends up dead, but his steed is a pretty great source of magic. And that reveals to Serka a path to the Whitlord, and Hum a path to the akker he needs.

What I'll be curious to see is, when Serka goes to kill the Whitlord, will Hum be willing to abandon the shot at the akker, to watch her back? The spell to lift this blood curse she has won't do much good if she's dead because it really is a Whitlord. Will she even want him along? She's seen through his plans to try and distract her from her goal, will she doubt whether she can trust him? Or will she want him to have their steeds ready so they can get the hell out of Dodge once she's done? Assuming it is a Whitlord, of course.

Really like the effect for the death stare or whatever it is the cockatrice has. The eyes look like a roulette wheel, and then a mixture of purple and white around them, with the white sparking out in jagged lightning bolts. Very cool. The whole nighttime raid is colored very well, but it's mostly this sickly dark green for all the backgrounds, and then everyone is done up in dull colors. Until you get to the death stare, or the living firebombs, or blood as Serka beheads someone. All of that gets to pop that much more in contrast to the surroundings.