Random Back Issues #136 - GLA #4

Yep, we're starting with Identity Crisis jokes. Or, maybe "jokes" is more accurate. But that's the recap page, and Cable/Deadpool taught me that's not in continuity, so everything's fine!

Anyway, in the Quinjetta, Flatman is pretty sure if Maelstrom combines the chronal accelerator he stole with an atomic inverter, he could push the universe to the point of cosmic implosion. Doorman dismisses the notion the GLA could ever get mixed up in something so big, until they find Dr. Doom trapped beneath Bertha inside their HQ! Wait, no, it's not Doom, it's past team member (at some point), Gene Lorrene, aka Leather Boy. Angry at not being invited to rejoin during the membership drive that netted them Squirrel Girl, he killed Mr. Immortal (it didn't take, any more than Craig's attempts to get alcohol poisoning will), and, uh, oh, did something awful to Monkey Joe.

While Flatman and Doorman debate whether wearing leather makes a person homosexual, resulting in Flatman coming out of the closet, Deathurge shows up for Monkey Joe's soul. He's been hanging around Mr. Immortal all his life, but now he's in squirrel form, so Craig can beat him up for some answers about why. And the answer is. . .?

Yes, it's Craig's destiny to be the last thing alive in the universe - until Al Ewing insists he can be killed in Immortal Hulk, but that's 15 years away - and Deathurge has been preparing him for that. Why? If Craig can't die, there's nothing he can do except sit and wait for a lot of years to pass. Or is it no good if the grief and isolation drive him mad? Whatever, if Maelstrom succeeds in his plan, there's no cosmic destiny, because the universe will be gone.

Wouldn't Craig still be alive in whatever it is universes exist in? The gaps between the different realities or something? Whatever. Craig, as a one-man species, Homo supreme, has to stop Maelstrom. Does the comic then make a joke about the word "homo"? You know it.

The GLA arrive at Maelstrom's base, but he's got Batroc's Brigade to keep them busy, Batroc being unaware Maelstrom plans to end all existence. Mr. Immortal leaves that fight to the others, so it's fortunate Squirrel Girl brought the squirrel army. Zaran the Weapons Master's gonna have a hard time living this down next time he goes after Shang-Chi. Maelstrom activates the machine, but Mr. I's sure he could stop him if he could just get through the, 'impregnable dome of proto-natural force!' So Doorman throws himself against the barrier to allow Craig to pass through via his very-limited teleportation powers. And that's the third member of the team killed in 4 issues. 4, if you count Monkey Joe.

As the universe collapses in on itself and Batroc realizes he's not gonna get paid, Doorman arrives in Oblivion, finding a poker game held by his former teammates. Including Monkey Joe, so I guess he counts. Hawkeye's the exception, because the Internet says he's the Swordsman. I do not remember that rumor, but I wasn't in the comics blogosphere back then. Back in the waning moments of the universe, Craig talks it out with Maelstrom, who admits to feeling terribly alone as a unique being, a mutant and an Eternal. Mr. Immortal points out if Maelstrom destroys the entire universe save himself, he'll have nothing but his loneliness. Having not considered this, Maelstrom pleads for a solution to this self-created dilemma, which Mr. Immortal offers in the form of. . .shooting himself in the head. There's no way Maelstrom could be that stupid.

I bet Quasar will really feel like a loser when he finds out that's all it takes to stop this guy. Mr. Immortal gets back up, obviously, and deactivates the machine. But it was too late for many of the squirrels, save one plucky gal Doreen decides to name Tippy-Toe, not to mention Flat - oh, no, never mind, he's alive, just standing at an angle because his costume got sucked off. Before Mr. Immortal can explain Doorman died, Doorman returns! On skis. With a cape. 'Cause he's the new Swordsman. I mean, Deathurge.

The mini-series concludes with no mention of the GLA saving existence, and the team being sued by the Maria Stark Foundation to stop calling themselves Avengers. But hey, Mr. Immortal mentioned being some sort of mutant earlier! Squirrel Girl's a mutant - or not, per her own series, but that retcon's over 10 years away. So are Flatman, Bertha, and Doorman. So it's the Great Lakes X-Men now!

(The X-Men would subsequently use mind control to make them stop during the last issue of Dan Slott's The Thing series. Because the X-Men are gatekeeping assholes. But Mr. Immortal would win the name "Champions" in a poker tournament later that issue, much to Hercules' displeasure.)

{4th longbox, 209th comic. GLA #4, by Dan Slott (writer), Paul Pelletier (penciler), Rick Magyar (inker), Wil Quintana (colorist), Dave Lanphear (letterer)}

Sunday Splash Page #210

 

"Yeah, You Left a Corpse," in Great Lakes Avengers #4, by Zac Gorman (writer), Jacob Chabot (artist), Marissa Louise with Tamara Bonvillain (color artists), Joe Caramagna (letterer)

In late 2016, Marvel gave the Great Lakes Avengers their own ongoing series. It ended after seven issues. Chabot only drew this issue, all the others were by Will Robson, but this was the best splash page in the series. Zac Gorman tried to present the GLA, who were standard superheroes (if questionably successful at it), with situations where standard superheroics were of limited use. 

He moved them from Milwaukee to Detroit, setting them up in the remains of some old Stark factory (this during a period when Tony Stark was, by his standards, broke. Only one Quinjet for his Avengers team, the horror). They ended up against a former third-rate superhero, now politician, who was using supervillains to aid in gentrifying neighborhoods. By destroying what was there and driving out the people who lived there. That's what's left of him there in the background. After this, they dump his body in front of a hospital with a note describing him as a supervillain pinned to his chest.

I don't know what to make of that decision.

After that, they gotta face some quack scientist who captures Bertha to figure out how to reproduce her powers in a vitamin supplement. The team has to get themselves together enough to stop him, and then Deadpool shows up to personally tell them they got canceled. And during all that, Doorman's being followed around by a ghost that looks like a Mario that's fallen on hard times, who can't grasp he needs to move on.

Flatman was now leader of the team, as no one was sure where Mr. Immortal was, though he shows up eventually. When he does, he makes things worse. He and bertha have some bad history now, and he just seems to assume he gets to be leader again. Bertha reinvented herself as a plus-sized model and seemed much more short-tempered than before. Just kind of fed up with being on this team. Doorman had apparently been off working for Oblivion so long, he was largely out of touch with his friends and humanity in general. Also, he kind of sucked at ferrying dead people to the next world. Squirrel Girl's apparently too good to hang out with her old friends now. Ooh, la-de-da, she's on a real Avengers team. 

I mean, not really, it was the crappy one Sunspot was leading after he bought A.I.M. It had Red Hulk on it, that is a clear sign of a shit Avengers team.

Gorman added two new characters to the team. One is Good, the girl covered in blood up above, who is also a werewolf. The supervillains hospitalized her brother, so she threw a bottle at the politician's head. This was during a different interaction, before she nearly mauled him to death. For some reason, I thought I'd read Good was supposed to be trans, but I'm not sure of that. Everyone always uses "her" when speaking to Good, so that's what I'm going with.

The other new character was Pansy, a vaguely goth young lady that found Mr. Immortal's phone in a graveyard and when Flatman started texting him about the team getting back together, decided to show up, because she didn't like to assume the texts weren't really for her. She never does much other than hang around and occasionally point out things nobody else is noticing. I don't know what, if anything, Gorman had planned for her down the line.

That first four issues, it feels like a book about friends who can't remember why they're friends anymore. Flatman's the one who seems to really need them to be a team again, desperate to prove he can hold this together. Doorman's been away so long, it's hard for him to remember what he's even supposed to know about things.Bertha's happy to see him and Doorman initially, but over the course of the first issue, it's like she remembers what idiots all her friends are, and she gets progressively more annoyed. 

Mr. Immortal's return only makes it worse, and he's only there because Doorman pulled him out of the hole he was in. Good's there because she was being hauled into jail when the GLA's lawyer was showing up to get them out, and they covered for her. Pansy, as mentioned, showed up because she found a phone, and hangs around because. . .lack of anything better to do.

The fact they pull together in the second arc, and maybe even become inspirational figures to the people of Detroit suggests maybe was Gorman was going for the notion that even if you can't fix gentrification, corrupt politicians and urban infrastructure issues with punching, heroes can help people take pride in their city, and if you take pride in your city, maybe you can fix it up? I'm guessing. With more than 7 issues, maybe it would have become clearer.

Sunday Splash Page #208

 

"The Happy Few, These Doomed" in GLA: Misassembled #1, by Dan Slott (writer), Paul Pelletier (penciler), Rick Magyar (inker), Wil Quintana (colorist), Dave Lanphear (letterer)

In the wake of the regular Avengers disassembling, the Great Lakes Avengers are the only ones who can stop Maelstrom from ending the universe. Assuming the GLA can avoid falling to pieces themselves. Not just because four team members die (not counting however many times Mr. Immortal offs himself, it's a lot). Most of the others are thinking about giving up for one reason or another. It's hurting their career, or it just doesn't seem like they're making a difference. Everyone has to decide what really matters, and whether anything they're doing matters at all.

It's not a serious mini-series. The first cover is an homage to New Avengers #1, except one of the lightning bolts is hitting Mr. Immortal while most of his team looks on in surprise or embarrassment. Grasshopper joins and get killed four panels after he accepts the offer. Squirrel Girl joins the team, but her partner Monkey Joe gets killed by former team member Leather Boy (see in the picture above), who has dressed himself up like Dr. Doom in that leather armor he made of his lover's skin in Waid's FF run. Mr. Immortal saves the day by tricking Maelstrom into a suicide pact to stave off loneliness.

Paul Pelletier's art works for the classic superheroics. The Kirby Krackle energy around Maelstrom's machine, the fights against Batroc, Zaran and Machete (who are unwitting hired help to their own extinction). He can also do the humor bits, or the attempts at humor, anyway. The after effects of Mr. Immortal's attempts to kill himself. The "Monkey Joe Says" panels with the squirrel as a cartoon rather than a more realistic squirrel.

But it's kind of an odd book. I could see the old "it's satire!" defense, but I don't know if it fits. Slott does this thing throughout where he makes what I assume is supposed to be a joke, then there's a small panel with Squirrel Girl's at that time partner, Monkey Joe, making some bit of commentary. For example, Big Bertha's secret identity is a super model. Slott and Pelletier do a bit where the way she gets rid of all the mass from her superhero identity is through. . .throwing up. In the lower right corner of the panel where the title of the issue is spelled out in projectile vomit on the bathroom wall, Monkey Joe reminds us bulimia is never funny. OK? It feels like when a comedian says something controversial, then immediately backpedals with the "I'm just making jokes here!" to downplay any backlash.

Slott establishes in the first issue that Dinah Soar's species lives a long time, and they can soulbond with one person who will then be able to understand them. She chose Mr. Immortal, and the idea they'll be together for who knows how long - centuries? longer? - is comfort to both of them. 

Maelstrom kills her one panel later. Pretty much so Slott can send Mr. Immortal into a tailspin for the next 2.5 issues. Because Mr. I is sick of Deathurge (who he can see) keeps taking everyone he cares about, but never Mr. Immortal. But eventually he learns an important secret about himself and accepts this fate. Dinah's death is kind of pushed aside. Is it commentary on killing female characters in a perfunctory fashion so male characters can be sad about it, or was it just a case of killing a female character in a perfunctory fashion so a male character can be sad about it? Or the fact Mr. Immortal repeatedly tries to kill himself out of grief and loss, but it's shown as a joke. Is that about how superhero stuff is always melodramatic, or is the reveal that Mr. Immortal has some great purpose a comment on the fact that once you're dead, whatever you might have achieved is gone. Never to be realized.

Before this 2005 mini-series, the Great Lakes Avengers were second-stringers (at best), but taken at least somewhat seriously as well-meaning heroes who maybe didn't save the world, but did their bit to keep their corner of the U.S. safe. Hawkeye and Mockingbird even trained them for a time. Sure, it was kind of silly when the GLA changed their team name to "The Lightning Rods" to capitalize on the T-Bolts' popularity, only to find out they were copying villains and decided to hunt them down. But Kurt Busiek played off that and wrote them as actual competent heroes the main cast underestimated. Not the most powerful, but a team who spent half that comic working well together and kicking the T'Bolts' disorganized asses, then helped them face down Graviton.

After this mini-series, they're pretty much a running gag. All the jokes about the high mortality rate of their roster, Mr. Immortal sort of succeeding at committing suicide (he dies, he just doesn't stay dead), Squirrel Girl joining the roster? Far as I can tell, this is where all that starts. Is that better than never getting used at all? I guess if you're the character who can't stay dead (until Al Ewing tries to make some big point about his Hulk mythos), it's not so bad. Everyone else is potentially fucked.

Sunday Splash Page #140

 "Great, Deadpool's Confused About His Powers Again," in Deadpool/Great Lakes Initiative Summer Fun Spectacular, by Fabian Nicieza and Dan Slott (writer), Nelson DeCastro (artist), Giulia Brusco (colorist), Dave Lanphear (letterer)

Skipping past Deadpool: Games of Death, which is an enjoyable, but sadly lacking in splash pages, one-shot by Mike Benson and Shawn Crystal where Deadpool goes undercover in a death stunt reality show with a bunch of parodies of various action heroes, we come to this. 

Released in the post-Civil War Marvel of 2007, when the Great Lakes Avengers were part of the Initiative as Wisconsin's official super-team, and Cable was "dead". It's a bunch of short comics with two threads that run through it. 

One is Squirrel Girl finding out that thanks to Mark Millar and Paul Jenkins, her crush Speedball is now the completely idiotic Penance, and setting out to fix this. This involves Doom's time machine, references to a story from the at-that-time current volume of Marvel Team-Up (the same volume Robert Kirkman used to do a Spider-Man/Invincible team-up), and Niels the bouncing cat becoming P-Cat, the penitent puss.

The other is that, after they team up to stop an AIM plot to incapacitate all the "real" superheroes with an inebriation ray created by harnessing the power of the completely wasted god Dionysus (seen above), the GLI invite Deadpool to join the team and then can't get rid of him. Eventually the two storylines dovetail and the comic ends. Speedball is still not released from the ridiculous hell the character was dumped in, but oh well.

It's silly, and treats the entire idea of Speedball becoming a character whose powers are triggered by pain so he wears an iron maiden for a costume with exactly as much respect as it deserves. I love it.

What I Bought 5/3/2017 - Part 1

One comic that I wanted came out this week, and I was pretty sure neither store in town would have it, so I didn't even bother to go look. But I do have books from last month, so let's look at those, starting with the last issues for two books.

Great Lakes Avengers #7, by Zac Gorman (writer), Will Robson (artist), Scott Hanna (inker), Tamra Bonvillain (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - I'm surprised Deadpool doesn't have his own weight loss supplement, aka him coming to your house and slicing parts off.

The team defeats Dr. Nod with Maneuver 33, which really needed to be accompanied by the phrase, "My immortal brain needs beer,", but Mr. Immortal is an alcoholic, so probably it'd be more a call for help. Fresh off their victory, which has given Detroit bragging rights over Green Bay - well it's not like the Lions or the Pistons have done anything for Detroit on that front in the last 10 years, or 50 in the Lions' case - they're told they've been fired by none other than Deadpool. And that's how the book ends, the team sitting in stunned silence as they learn of their cancelation.

When Bertha is fighting Dr. Nod at the start of the issue, she's a couple stories tall. During the fight, the drugs wear off and she shrinks back down while fighting her agent and the doctor's assistants. And it's about that time the wolf-girl shows up. But since Robson didn't really draw anything around them to give a sense of scale, I thought Good had gotten into the drugs to become a huge wolf-girl, rather than Bertha having shrunk to closer to her normal size. The agent and the goons show up in a van full of the drug, so i figured they loaded themselves up before fighting, and you can see in the panels where they fight Bertha is various large people and some bricks. There's nothing to give it scale.

Having Dr. Nod's teeth apparently not grow with the rest of his flesh, so that he's a blobby-looking monster with a huge mouth and relatively tiny teeth was kind of nifty. I'm not clear on how Bertha's powers work, beyond having control over her mass. Presumably she'd need to increase bone density to support the extra mass, but would that extend to teeth? Anyway, it was a little touch of the absurd to the visual I liked.

The book was probably always doomed to a short life, but I would have liked to see it come together a little more. I'm still not sure what Gorman's overall plan was for the book. He had something in mind, but it didn't get very far along. Oh well.

Patsy Walker, aka Hellcat #17, by Kate Leth (writer), Brittney L. Williams (artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (color artist), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - Playing as yourself in a video game would have to be strange and frustrating, especially if they made you a joke character like Dan Hibiki, or Phoenix Wright in Marvel vs. Capcom 3. "My attacks are better than that! Iron Man doesn't have a huge shoulder cannon!"

Patsy receives a letter from Jennifer Walters, telling her Jen negotiated her an excellent deal on various rights related to her childhood adventures and so she's freaking rich. Patsy takes her friends to the mall, where they are menaced by a couple of her fans pretending to be villainous vampires, who actually have crushes on each other. So things are resolved with a minimum of fuss, as Jubilee notes Patsy hasn't sent many of her enemies to jail over the course of this title. Ah well, HYDRA Captain America would probably just let them out again, so why bother?

So the book ends on an upbeat note. Like the GLA, Patsy doesn't seem sure what she's going to do next, but she has options, and she satisfied with where she's at in life. A check for an amount so large you doubt its validity will do that for ya. I'd hope she would keep the temp agency going, even if she hired someone to run it. Probably a lot of people using that to help pay the bills.

I appreciated the letter from Jennifer Walters bit. Reminds me of Cable sending Deadpool a psimitar in the last issue of Cable/Deadpool (after Cable had been absent from the book for the final 10 issues thanks to Mike Carey's X-Men run). I don't think Jen leaving the book was entirely Leth and Williams' call - I imagine they could have kept her in, given Marvel's lax approach to inter-book continuity these days, but it might have been an awkward clash with Jen's new title - but it's nice to acknowledge these characters are friends. And friends wouldn't just entirely forget about each other. If a person really matters, you'd at least check in with them somehow.

The fashion sequence thing was a cute callback to Patsy's earlier books I assume. And it got Jubilee back in the classic yellow jacket and huge pink sunglasses, which is appropriate for a return to her mallrat days. And Williams draws it very well, like I figure there are certain artists it would be a weird look, but with Williams it doesn't seem out of place at all.Also, in looking at the panel of her room, I notice there's a picture of her giving Dr. Strange bunny ears while Ian laughs and Wong, well Wong is probably suppressing the laugh. The shock lines combined with the brighter, deeper color in the panel where Patsy's tossed the cross at the Somnambulisters was a good attention-getter. Then the color fades to a duller pink in the next panel because these aren't actual vampires and they can't keep up their acting. The defeated posture and 'Ahhh, help,' were a funny combination.

So the Patsy Party is over, but it lasted longer than I thought it would. That's something.

What I Bought 3/25/2017 - Part 1

I ventured to Columbia Saturday and was able to find most of the books from this month I'd missed. There was one I couldn't track down, but I should have it by next week. For now, let's start with the two comics that are about to be canceled. Time to wrap everything up!

Great Lakes Avengers #6, by Zac Gorman (writer), Will Robson (artist), Tamra Bonvillain (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - Homage to that Excalibur cover with the apologetic janitor?

Doorman is trying to carry out his duties for Oblivion, but the ghost of Greg Garlick is really taking advantage of his good will to remain on this plane. Elsewhere, Bertha has some trouble dealing with Dr. Nod, who has taken way too many of his pills based on her powers. And a couple of, I don't know if they're hipsters, but they seem like jackasses, try to buy the GLA's RV. Then the team assembles to fight Dr. Nod.

The parts about Doorman trying to do his job, but not even being sure how old he is any longer was probably my favorite part. That whole thread about how much being a servant of the manifestation of some cosmic force can mess with your sense of perspective is just very interesting to me. The rest, not so much. I'm curious about Gorman's attempts to have the team interact with the local community in their own peculiar way. That felt like it was building to something, but not much chance of a successful resolution there, I imagine.

I really can't think of much else to say. The ghost of Greg reminded me of the Violator from Spawn, when he was in his creepy clown form. When Dr. Nod clocks Bertha and leaves, I think she's meant to be losing consciousness, but initially read it as her not bothering to try. A "why bother?" 

Patsy Walker, aka Hellcat #16, by Kate Leth (writer), Brittney L. Williams (artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (color artist), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - Somehow I can't imagine Jessica Jones being much fun at a pajama party.

Patsy's magical sneezes are getting worse, but Hedy is dating Belial as a result of Hellstrom trying to get some payback for being suckered, and the two of them actually attempt to help Patsy. By Belial giving her a quiet place she can talk about all the stuff she's bottling up, because the stress is wearing her down and mixing dangerously with her own magical abilities and all the other magic shit she's been mixed up in so far.

Gotta love Hedy trying to dodge responsibility for sending Daimon after Patsy. Oh, you told Son of Satan his ex was out to get him and you're surprised when invokes Hell as a pre-emptive strike? Also, I know this is something likely beyond Leth's control, but Jennifer Walters is out of her coma. She's not checking in with any of her friends, letting them know she's OK. She's not, but certainly trying to convince herself and everyone else she is.

The issue has to have a lot of exposition, with the need to explain what's happening to Patsy, plus how Hedy started dating a demon. But it's still funny in places, and fairly interesting. I didn't really understand why everyone was glaring at her in that one panel before she sneezes them into Hell. As opposed to the panel of everyone glaring at her one page earlier, right after she insists she's fine. They're on her about keeping stuff bottled up, then she's supposed to just let bygones be bygones for all the crap Hedy's pulled, and then they're telling her to calm down, and my sympathies were firmly with Patsy. She's clearly been trying not to explode, not to let stuff out, and frankly, she deserves the chance.

Williams drew some great expressions for Patsy, pretty much the entire time she was at Hedy's. The screaming, "I AM RELAXED!", followed by a moment of trying to get herself together, then frustration, then despair in the course of 3 panels. Or the near-eruption at Hedy and Belial's nauseating lovey-dovey talk. That "w h a t" panel, and the way Cowles put that word in their helps. Catches the eye, though I admit I don't know if it's meant to be she can barely get the word out she's so pissed, or that she's still trying to rein herself in. I can't quite figure America, Jubilee, and Bailey all being extremely into Hedy/Belial, but Williams gave them some pretty great looks for the panel. I think Sharon's, "I'm not sure how to react to what I'm seeing," would most closely resemble my reaction.

I'm surprised Marvel gave this book as long a leash as they did, but I'm glad they did.

What I Bought 2/28/2017

No new comics came out for me this week, so here's two books from last week. Both nearing the end of the line.

Avengers #4.1, by Mark Waid (writer), Barry Kitson (penciler), Mark farmer with Rafael Fonteriz and Drew Hennessy (inkers), Jodan Boyd with Matt Yackey and Wil Quintana (colorists), Ferran Delgado (letterer) - Christ, how many people does it take just to do this one issue?

Cressida's attempts to shatter the team almost pay off. Pietro sulks in bed and lashes out at Wanda, Cressida has the Acrobat frame Hawkeye for theft, leading to a blow-up between he and Cap. But Steve pulls his head from his butt in the nick of time, and the team tries to right the ship by challenging the Frightful Four to a rematch, minus Quicksilver. They're doing OK until Cressida boosts Sandman's power, but Hawkeye is able to get Pietro back in the fight, and Cap confronts Cressida. Who appears to instantly kill the team. I'm assuming this all has something to do with whatever Kang is up to in this book's main storyline. Trying to unmake the Avengers in early days or something.

Waid writes a very good early Hawkeye. Always running his yap, always trying to spur people on with jibes and negative reinforcement. Always able to take a heated situation and throw some gasoline on the fire. Overall, Waid seems to get most of the characters, although I've gone back and forth on Jarvis getting back at Hawkeye with itching powder in the costume. It's a good gag, but seems too overt for Jarvis.

Kitson's artwork continues to remain clear and expressive, although you can see the influences of the different inkers (not that I can tell which is which). At the point when the team leaps into battle, Captain America's head is rounder than it was two pages earlier as they left the mansion. The shadows make the chin more pronounced, the "A" on the forehead looks wider. Just little variations. I like the outfit Kitson gave Cressida when she secretly hires the Acrobat. It's strange, the hood and cape combined with wrapping her face in bandages with almost a couple of robot eye things poking out. But it's fairly simple, and kind of cool, which is enough for me.

Great Lakes Avengers #5, by Zac Gorman (writer), Will Robson (aritst), Tamra Bonvillain (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - Little surprised there's no "After MacFarlane" on the cover like you see sometimes with these homages. Still a solid cover.

The team has agreed to keep quiet about what happened to Snerd, but Good and her brother are leaving town. Alive, which, as she points out to Flatman, is a leg up on what Mr. Immortal typically managed. Beyond that, Bertha reluctantly agrees to take a modeling gig as both the before and after for some weight loss drug. But it turns out to be a trap - one her agent is in on - to copy her power.

Seems Gorman has dropped whatever he might have been starting with Doorman's boss, Oblivion, being displeased with his work recently. Or even the stuff about Doorman having been away so long, and in such a strange place, he's kind of lost touch. Basically, it feels like once Mr. Immortal was back in the fray, there weren't enough pages for the team.

It is a recurring theme with most of the team that no one believes in them. I'm sure Bertha's agent is going to make her betrayal somehow Bertha's fault, for deciding to go a different direction with her career. Flatman can't get anyone to buy into him as a leader, or even as a hero. Oblivion clearly isn't impressed with Doorman, though the guy is slacking on whatever his job is supposed to be. But none of the GLA really stick to their guns. Mr. Immortal said to bury him alive for a year, and then changed his mind. Bertha had misgivings about taking the gig, but said to hell with it once offered 20 grand. Flatman is decidedly not rallying the team around him. They're all covering up what happened to Snerd, although I don't want to see Good jailed for it, so I don't mind that. They want to be Avengers, without acting like Avengers are supposed to (though hardly alone in that sense these days). I would say the one genuinely good thing they did was sticking up for Good, but even she realizes it's a smart time to get out of here, before her luck runs out.

I'm very surprised that Bertha falling on her agent's legs after they toppled out of at least a fourth or fifth story window didn't, you know, smash said legs into goo. The page where the photographer is encouraging Bertha (in her bigger form) to look as sad as possible ('Frown with your eyes. Perfect!') was some of Robson's better work on the title. The photographer's expressions, from dismay, confusion, irritation were good, too. Robson is capable of doing more understated stuff, but he keeps giving characters that extremely pissed off look, teeth-clenchingly angry, even when they shouldn't be that angry.

What I Bought 1/12/2017 - Part 2

I'm typing this last Friday, as much of Missouri braces for Ice Deathstorm: The Slip and Break Your Butt-Pocalypse. Maybe Icepocalypse is better. Either way, by the time this posts, hopefully I have emerged unscathed.

Great Lakes Avengers #4, by Zac Gorman (writer), Jacob Chabot (artist), Marissa Louise with Tamra Bonvillain (color artists), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - I keep thinking Flatman is getting ready to scratch under his nose, rather than making the "ssh" motion.

Bertha and Good Boy brought Snerd back to their HQ and tied him up in the closet. Snerd tries to justify his actions by arguing he's making real changes and improvements, and so what if a few people get hurt. Unfortunately they can't prove any of it, and they weren't supposed to be superheroing anyway, since Connie hadn't gotten the injunction lifted. But Snerd does a little too good of a job arguing the strength of his position, and Good may have killed him. I guess he was still making noises when they tossed him in front of the hospital and sped off. And he survived a gunshot wound in the chest in his flashback, so maybe he has healing  powers?

Story took a dark turn there in a hurry. I thought Chabot's art in the panel where Good pounces on Snerd has a resemblance to '50s horror comics. The stories where the asshole main character gets a bad surprise comeuppance right and the end, maybe a cackling narrator to finish things off? I think it's the look of horror on his face, combined with the shading for Good's musculature. Maybe also the shades of orange Louise and/or Bonvillain used, and all those emphasis lines around the edge of the panel. Or maybe it's just because it's a werewolf pouncing on someone with intent to kill them.

Overall, Chabot did a fine job as fill-in artist. He draws Bertha a little more pear-shaped than Robson, but close enough. Maybe there's just less definition in her upper body. He dialed Connie's facial expressions way back, which is a plus. She can still look angry enough to tear off your face at times, but she doesn't look that way all the time here. Ditto for Snerd, although I was less bothered by him looking like he was so angry he was about to mess his drawers. Still, it wouldn't make sense as his expression in every situation. Sometimes a guy needs to look more smug, or conniving, or just scared. I do notice Mr. Immortal's stubble is gone, thank goodness. Going to assume Flatman stopped a bought him a razor. Oh, and the drunk guy from last issue does not seem to have joined the team. Oh well.

Deadpool #24, by Gerry Duggan (writer), Matteo Lolli (penciler), Christian Dalla Vecchia (inker), Guru-eFX (colorist), Joe Sabino (letterer) - I wouldn't be surprised if Preston shot Wade in the leg there, just for partially blocking her view. Or just because.

Wade provides the cure for the disease he got from Stryfe, for which Stryfe expects him to kill some people for him later. Didn't wade go through this once already with Vetis, the demon? Whatever, worry about it later. Wade realizes Madcap faked the call from Ellie to get him there to infect her, and uses that to track Madcap to a HYDRA base because Madcap is riding around on Bob. Deadpool tells Madcap everything he thinks he knows about himself is a lie (must have missed that issue), Madcap triggers explosives, tears loose from Bob, and escapes.

He fucking escapes. So this carnival ride is going to continue? Duggan is starting to try my patience. I was pretty much ready to be done with Madcap, and hey, Wade could still be stuck dealing with fallout from whatever Madcap got up to disguised as Deadpool. But no. On the plus side, I think we've established Preston might be almost as into Cable as Wade is, given she keeps referring to him as a "silver fox".

The assault on the HYDRA base was pretty good, for the sheer fact neither Wade nor Preston were messing around. In one panel, Preston smashes through a ceiling, and as she bloodily jams a pipe into one HYDRA guys shoulder, she's bringing her LMD-knee down on another's head, popping it like a water balloon. I don't know if the eyes would go shooting off in opposite directions like Lolli drew, but it's a distinctive image to be sure. And then you get one HYDRA guy asking to be arrested, and Wade shoots him. So the last HYDRA guy tries surrendering to Preston, and she punches through his chest with a line about being off the clock.

I should probably be more bothered by these things. Those guys were surrendering, and that does bug me, but 1) It's not like I'm surprised if Wade makes choices I find morally questionable. 2) Preston is pissed and after the being who nearly killed her husband and children. 3) The surrendering guys in question work for HYDRA. They are basically Nazis (or Nazi collaborators). However much I might laugh at the antics and misfortune of HYDRA Bob in Cable/Deadpool, HYDRA is bad news, and these guys signed on to further that, even if they're doing it for the healthcare or whatever. Also, in that universe, they signed on for encountering costumed types. Sometimes they get Spider-Man or Captain America and it's off to jail. Sometimes they get Wolverine or Deadpool and it's off to the morgue, assuming there's anything left of them.

What I Bought 1/6/2017 - Part 2

Last two books of 2016! Wrapping up a mini-series, and continuing slowly with an ongoing.

Atomic Robo: The Temple of Od #5, by Brian Clevinger (writer), Scott Wegener (artist), Anthony Clark (colorist), Jeff Powell (letterer) - I have no idea what those things crawling over Robo are. Mechano-mantises? Scorpions?

Matsuda survived the dynamite, but is glowy green energy goop, with the Spot's portal powers. Which is making it pretty hard for Robo to keep him busy while Dr. Lu tries to shut down the zero-point reactor and divert the meltdown to somewhere outside the universe. But the day is saved, Matsuda mostly dissolves (though the Soviets took whatever is left), Lu dies with his brainchild, the Ghost Bandits extort more money from Robo to get him back to safe territory (because he's too lazy to walk), and Helen and Zheng ride off into the, twilight/sunrise? I don't know, we saw it as Robo's memory and it was in grey tones.

Not one of the stronger Atomic Robo mini-series, frankly. The pacing has just been off in terms of the confrontations with the bad guys. It's hard to pin down what bothers me exactly. I was going to say that I was expecting some point where the heroes sit down and plan out how they're going to stop Matsuda, then try to implement it, and then have to adapt when it goes wrong. But that sort of happened, at least as far as Robo trying to make some plan with the Bandits. Except that scene was more about how neither side understands the other, so they're making their own plan Robo is completely unaware of. It's less building for the climax, more an extended gag. Ultimately, there were parts of the story that needed a little more time to breathe, for effect, and they didn't get it, so everything comes off as rushed and lacking impact. if Helen, Lu, and Zheng get captured, is that supposed to be a big deal? If the Soviets are finally getting involved, is that supposed to be important? Because a lot of it didn't feel important.

Wegener's art was stronger in this issue. Fewer panels where he skimps on the details in faces. Even when he goes with a single dark line or blob for eyes, he does enough with the rest of the face and body language to carry it (and Clevinger knows when there needs to be dialogue or not). That first panel of Robo punching Matsuda was really nice, just a solid, well-drawn image. And Anthony Clark set it up so the panels with Robo and Matsuda are nearly overwhelmed with the green light Matsuda's composed of now, and then that contrasts with the darker colors for the scenes of Helen and Zheng, since they're on separate paths at that point. Once their paths cross, the green shades dominate everything, except the panels for Dr. Lu. There's some of the green, but it never feels as pervasive, even though he's in a room pumping out the same energy as Matsuda. But he's in control of the situation (roughly), so it isn't overwhelming him.

Great Lakes Avengers #3, by Zac Gorman (writer), Will Robson (artist), Tamra Bonvillain (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - Shouldn't Mr. Immortal's gravestone have a lot more years listed for his deaths?

So Flatman's name is actually Matt, not Val, and he's not a doctor of anything. He originally dressed up as Mr. Fantastic at super-villain parties to get booed (seems like a good way to get disintegrated), but decided to be a super-hero instead. In the present, Councilman Snerd has filed an injunction against the GLA so they can't operate in Detroit. Which doesn't stop the returned Mr. Immortal from insisting he and Flatman go investigate one of the neighborhoods, where they argue about various stuff. For that matter, it doesn't stop Bertha, Doorman, or Good Boy (that is a terrible name) from going to that nightclub, where they discover the villain is also the councilman, passed out drunk on his desk. And Oblivion wants to know why Doorman isn't doing his job, whatever that involves.

I don't know about this, mainly the thing with Flatman. I know the joke about what exactly he's a doctor of has been around for awhile. And there's no reason he can't be a reasonably intelligent guy in some fields other than science. But is the idea the GLA are ultimately a bunch of fakes who hope to become the real thing if they just keep trying long enough? is it going to turn out being middle-of-the-road heroes is the only thing they're actually good at? Mr. Immortal doesn't seem to have anything else going, Flatman clearly wasn't feeling fulfilled as a barista or as a cosplayer for villain parties. Doorman isn't doing a great job for Oblivion by all accounts. Although Bertha had a solid career as a model, so it falls apart there.

The new members of the cast, Good Boy and Pansy (the redhead who had Mr. Immortal's phone and is just kind of hanging around headquarters), they seem OK. It's hard to tell because they haven't really done anything yet. Things are happening, but they seem to be happening around the team, without them being actively involved? The wolfperson, Goodness, seems nice but uncertain of herself, Pansy seems fairly blase about the whole thing. I think it's just a place to crash. I need to see them do something at some critical point to get a better grip on them. I can see Mr. Immortal struggling with alcoholism, since it isn't like it can kill him. Plus the whole thing about being the last being alive at the end of the universe is heavy. He needs to shave though, the stubble thing looks terrible.

Robson's expressions worked better for me this month. Maybe because the attorney wasn't in this issue. She always looked angry beyond what seemed appropriate. Snerd looks extremely angry in one panel, but that's fine, he's a bad guy, he's a demagogue (to the extent a city councilman can be one), he's out to use suffering to enrich himself, it fits. And Good Boy with the sunglasses perched on his(?) nose was a nice visual. He's not doing anything terribly flashy with the layouts, but he tells the story effectively for the most part.

I wonder if Mr. Immortal is going to recruit the drunk guy who puked in front of their Winnebago. That might be something, the GLA as a team of people with no place else to go, the ones being hurt directly by Snerd's bullshit. Or is that what the Occupy Avengers book is doing? Eh, given the casualty rate for the GLA, probably better to keep civilians out of it as much as possible.

What I Bought 11/30/2016

I've been seeing trailers for this film, Why Him? I appreciate Hollywood has cut the crap and done a film about how you don't want your daughter to marry James Franco because he's awful. At least I hope that's what it will tell people. Though he'll probably somehow convince Bryan Cranston he isn't such a bad guy, considering normal plot mechanics.

Great Lakes Avengers #2, by Zac Gorman (writer), Will Robson (artist), Tamra Bonvillain (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - Feels like a million years since the first issue came out.

So the guy who owns the bar across from the GLA's new HQ is purposefully staying open past when he's supposed to, because he's a dick. He's good enough at it that Bertha trashes his club, landing them in jail. There's also a councilman Snerd decrying these superheroes interfering in the actions of villains who destroy economically distressed neighborhoods, which angers the young artist girl to the point she may or may not have thrown a bottle at him. Either way, the cops grabbed her, and were sufficiently brutal she wolfed out in a police station. Fortunately Bertha calms her down, and the angry lawyer from the first issue is back and comes to their aid. The councilman is unhappy, and also is the bar owner guy. Also Doorman senses Mr. Immortal dying of asphyxiation in that coffin and gets him out. Mr. Immortal was in there to try and kick a problem with alcohol, I think.

I want to like Robson's art more than I do. There are certainly parts of it I do like. The three-panel transition in the bar as Bertha begins to grow was done well. He's good with making Doorman expressive despite us not being able to see his face. The way he draws his cape, so that it looks far too big for Demarr seems appropriate. I think it's how loose it is around his neck, as though it was meant for someone much larger. But overall, he doesn't seem to know quite when to dial back on the emotion a bit. Everyone is too expressive, all the time, jutting parts of their faces out to comical degrees. It's fine in small doses, but not constantly.

It feels like Gorman is trying to walk this line between doing the kind of typical stuff with the GLA as third-rate heroes, and using them to deal with some more serious stuff. Snerd seems more than a little of a reference to Trump, especially with that rant about how powerful he is, and how it's only barely contained by his bigness. And Snerd's comments about poorer neighborhoods being breeding grounds for crime, which feels like him coding minorities as criminals. I'm just not sure about the GLA trying to deal with that. The tones seem like they'll conflict, but hell, it's early days. I'll give him a chance.

Patsy Walker, aka Hellcat #12, by Kate Leth (writer), Brittney L. Williams (artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (color artist), Clayton Cowles (letterer) -  The cats seemed so entranced by the chase. It's not like it's a laser pointer.

Zoe was a terrible roommate for Ian, and a terrible girlfriend. Basically, she's just horrible. Could the Punisher show up? I'd like to see Zoe die horribly, but it's not going to happen. Felicia has figured out she can't control Bailey's bag without Bailey, but it's going to prove difficult to control her. So she steals something from a museum that enables her to control Bailey. I would have guessed they were the Controller's control disks, but it seemed like a gem that splits into smaller pieces, so I dunno what that is. And Ian is finally ready to be a superhero and, look, I know I'm not much of a judge of fashion, but that is not a good costume. The buckles across the chest make him look like a damn drum major or something. I know, that's not the point, it's about Ian deciding to try and fight crime, or at least stand up to his crappy ex.

The extremely subdued colors in the flashback sequence were a nice touch. Compared to the vibrant purples, pinks, etc. in the rest of the issue, it really stands out as a period of dull misery for Ian. I still enjoy how Williams and Rosenberg depict Jubilee's mist form: A fluffy pink cloud with sunglasses. It makes me chuckle.

Things are going to get worse for Patsy in this story before they get better, but I'll have to wait until the next issue to see how much worse.

What I Bought 10/12/2016 - Part 4

If I'm really going to start buying comics weekly again, I might want to get to where I'm reviewing them that week. I bought at least one of these two the week it was released, and here we are two weeks later and the review goes up. The other one is even older

Great Lakes Avengers #1, by Zac Gorman (writer), Will Robson (artist), Tamra Bonvillain (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - The heroes sitting around a table talking, rather than dealing with the super-villains and rioting? Are we sure Bendis isn't writing this?

Through some contractual foofraw I don't understand, Flatman is able to wrangle the GLA being official Avengers, permanently. Hardly seems like a big deal considering they'll let anyone in these days. So, get the band back together. Except Mr. Immortal won't respond to their texts (because he's trapped in a coffin), and Squirrel Girl, well, she's moved on and forgotten her friends. Tsk, tsk. They're setting up shop in Detroit, where there are super-villains lurking. Well, Firebrand and Shriek, who I guess qualify. There's also a girl artist who turns into a werewolf. She hasn't met the team yet, but I'm sure that will happen soon.

There's some mystery revolving around something Mr. Immortal must have said or done to Bertha that Flatman and Doorman are tiptoeing around. Guess we'll find out about that soon. I'm sort of curious about this girl, Pansy, who had Mr. Immortal's phone. What's her deal? Can she and the werewolf girl survive being members of the team? I'm actually kind of into this thing about Doorman having been away in other realms so long he's forgotten things about earth, and all his references are dated. That bit about being pretty sure his mother's hair was the color of wet fall leaves, was creepy and sad, but in an intriguing way. I may have problems.

Robson's art reminds me of Art Adams crossed with someone I can't place. I keep wanting to say Kevin Maguire, but I don't think that's right at all. Maybe Ryan Stegman from a few years back? I don't know. The main thing that jumped out to me was how young Flatman looks in some of those panels where he's three-dimensional. He looks about 16. I like how he draws werewolves. That's pretty much how I envision them (if perhaps a bit more fearsome), so no complaints there.

Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #12, by Ryan North (writer), Erica Henderson (artist), Rico Renzi (color artist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - Oh look who it is, Little Ms. "I'm too Good to Respond to Texts from My old Teammates". Like she's some bigshot Avenger now. She's not even on a good Avengers team. They're sticking her on a roster with Red Hulk and frickin' Sunspot! I'd sooner be on a team with Deathcry, or one of those Jonathan Hickman characters I don't give a shit about. OK, I'll drop that now.

With Brain Drain doing a good job fighting crime, Doreen consents to going on a vacation with her mother and Nancy to Canada. There she is bored out of her mind until her mother reveals a muffin she baked has been stolen. It turns out to be the work of a bunch of little guys called Enigmo, who can form into one big guy, also called Enigmo, who defeats Squirrel Girl. Back in civilization, Enigmos have infiltrated every aspect of government, and claim they now run the world. Well sure, can't be worse than the folks doing it now.

I had a good time reading this. Both plot lines, Brain Drain dealing with a bunch of criminals that look suspiciously alike (but he can't figure out there's a problem), and Doreen being bored trapped away from any modern luxuries. I am disappointed that on the splash page of Brain Drain hefting the car, the page is cut off so you can't see Larry the Bank Robber's face as he freaks out. I know he's running off page to be grabbed by Doreen on the next page, but I wanted to see Erica Henderson's rendition of a guy freaking out about someone lifting a car. Also, Brain Drain's attempts to educate criminals on the folly of their ways is pretty great, along with the responses. 'Man I just need a new laptop, don't make this so dark!'

The cottage magazine gags are pretty great. I might need to read that painting one. There are certain images in my head I think my only chance of making look as I envision them is with paint. But I suck at painting, so it's a conundrum. If only there were a way to gain experience, possibly from another human being with more experience. But alas, no such thing exists. Back on topic. The image of Tippy with her little doll sunglasses, ready for vacation, was pretty cute. Doreen's frustration with the lack of electronic diversion, and how quickly she seized on any mystery was funny. That reaction panel when her mother mentions the mystery, and the view zooms way in on her eyes as she says, "I'm listening," that worked well for me. The extreme close-up suggested how intently focused she was on this possibility of excitement by how intently focused we were on her reaction. Seems odd when I type that, but it's how it worked with me.