What I Bought 6/5/2026

The week is over. Finally. Blessedly. I've been ready for it to be over since at least Tuesday. Next week, I get to return to just caring about my usual responsibilities, and Bill can spend two days trying to get through all his e-mails. I picked this last book up while on the road last week.

It's Jeff! Brand New Week #1, by Kelly Thompson (writer), Gurihiru (artists/color artists), Goodman Yamada, Jim Campbell (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - I actually ended up with the Todd Nauck variant. He gives Jeff fingers and toes instead of flippers that can fold or bend in such a way as to form fingers. It's very disturbing.

The material that's actually new to me is a single story where Jeff visits a boardwalk amusement park and uses some magic rock that gives him a bunch of tentacles so he can earn enough tickets at whack-a-mole to win a gigantic lollipop. But once he wins, he finds a fuzzy pink octopus stuck to the lolly, and he can't get it to go away. Gwenpool seems to recognize it, or at least calls it "Ken", but otherwise takes no action.

Jeff and Ken roam around, get captured and thrown in a glass case by someone, all we ever see are their shoes and pants legs. But Ken, who had been grabbing stuff earlier, turns out to be a lot like Captain Marvel's cat, in that it can apparently store a bunch of stuff inside itself. Including a blowtorch, which Jeff uses to help them escape. Jeff notes Ken is starting to dry out being away from the water so long, but Ken refuses to leave his new pal, so Jeff steals a bunch of stuff from various stands to construct a mobile fish tank for Ken to ride in.

The rest of the pages are devoted to Ken's introductions to Elsa Bloodstone and Deadpool, but where I expected these to be humorous new encounters by Thompson and Gurihiru, they're actually reprints of earlier stories. The Bloodstone meeting is a single page from Marvel Comics #1000, and the Deadpool meeting is from the Deadpool series Thompson wrote and Chris Bachalo (briefly) drew. So those were kind of duds.

The art on the story with Ken switches over from Gurihiru to Yamada about the time Jeff finds that fleeing into the Ferris wheel didn't get him away from Ken. Yamada's art is very expressive, in a similar simplified vein to Gurihiru, though I notice Ken is less fuzzy and the red spots far more prominent in his version than theirs. Also, his Jeff is a lot chunkier. Looks about like he did after he ate that entire wheel of cheese in the previous one of these It's Jeff! books. Yeah, it's hell when the metabolism slows down, and you can't just eat whatever you want without repercussions. . .

Saturday Splash Page #57

 

"Eleventh Commandment," in Unbelievable Gwenpool #20, by Christopher Hastings (writer), Gurihiru (artists), Clayton Cowles (letterer)

Gwenpool wasn't the first Marvel costumed character to be presented as a huge fan of superheroes. That feature was part of Kamala Khan's backstory, for one, and there was the "Spectacular Spider-Kid" from the '80s Amazing Spider-Man comics (although he turned angry in the '90s, because of course he did.)

Gwen Poole was, however, the first Marvel character I can think of who fell into the universe from a stand-in for our universe. Where all the heroes only exist in comics, movies, posters and whatnot. Which means, at least at first, Gwen's superpowers consistent of being a fangirl. She knows everyone's names, powers, and abilities. More important, she's genre-savvy enough to know the only way to survive is to make yourself important enough The Powers That Be won't kill you off (or won't let you stay dead.)

So she finds a woman who makes costumes, gets one in pink - because there's a lot of pink fabric available, though not enough for pants - and starts taking gun-for-hire jobs. This is how she's presented in her earliest appearances, in the Zdarsky/Quinones Howard the Duck series. Although viewed from Howard's perspective, Gwen just seems insane. In her own book, we see Gwen treating it as a game, or a vivid dream. These are fictional characters to her, which means none of it is real, so nothing she does really matters. It's OK to shoot nameless henchmen, or steal a terrible virus for AIM.

What Chris Hastings does is play up the difference between Gwen's expectations and the reality of them. Gwen thinks she's the star, so when MODOK appears, insisting she work for him, Gwen laughs it off. It's MODOK, she's not scared of him. So he disintegrates her new hacker friend Cecil. She's not able to simply instantly learn combat skills. The heroes, like Miles Morales Spider-Man, don't find her willingness to kill people charming. The friends she makes working for MODOK, most of whom are new characters, plus Batroc, get mad when she tries to do the right thing and costs them their jobs.

The final six months of so of the book are Gwen struggling with how to continue existing. Even as she starts to learn how to manipulate being in comics, by stepping outside the panels or dumping villains into the gutters, she may be running out of time. And if the choice is between becoming a villain and staying important, or trying to stick it out as a hero and fading to obscurity, what's she gonna pick?

Hastings fills the book with a lot of humor, whether it's Gwen drawing dollar signs on her eyepieces when she sees how much a job pays, or how other characters react to her unusual behavior. But you also have Gwen's desperate struggles to make herself more relevant by beating Dr. Doom, or trying to help Cecil get some sort of a physical body. Batroc gets written as a honorable rogue who grudgingly acts as a mentor to this crazy girl and the rest of her cast.

The Gurihiru art team does make Gwen look a little young for someone meant to be at least out of high school, if not in her early 20s, but their style is great for the humor parts and the violence parts. Especially when Gwen is still operating under the thought that nothing really matters. It's (mostly) bloodless violence, nobody's getting hurt! Except that guy that HYDRA guy she pushed in the furnace. But whatever, he didn't have a name, and he works for HYDRA!

The book ended in early 2018. In 2019, Gwenpool got a mini-series about trying to remain relevant, which ended with her being retconned into a mutant and shipped to Krakoa, where nobody ever does anything with her. Beats being brutally murdered on-panel (or off-panel) by some hack going for a cheap pop, I guess.

Sunday Splash Page #226

 

"Edge of the Gweniverse," in Gwenpool Strikes Back #4, by Leah Williams and Christopher Hastings (writers), David Baldeon (artist), Jesus Aburtov (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer)

Mid-2019, a year-and-a-half after her ongoing series ended, Gwenpool got one last mini-series to allegedly determine whether she would continue to exist or not. Gwen, being meta-aware, knows her head's on the chopping block and undertakes a series of absurd actions to try and prove she's relevant and important and deserves to stay.

When trying to get radiation-based powers from Spider-Man fails, and smooching Reed Richards also fails, Gwen tricks a bunch of heroes into having a big fight on a beach in swimsuits. She'll beat them all and prove she's relevant! Gwen clearly ignored how that kind of logic ultimately didn't help Red Hulk once Jeph Loeb stopped writing him.

Williams writes Gwen different from Hastings (who only wrote one page in just this issue, where he appears as a cloud to talk to Gwen while she's running from Immortal Hulk). Less knowledgeable and excited, more desperate and just plain crazy. Which fits the story, at least. There are some funny gags out of it. Gwen defeats Hulk by ducking into an issue of Thor to steal his severed arm from Malekith, so she can grab Mjolnir with it and then hit the Hulk in the nuts with an uru hammer. Points for thinking outside the panel.

The end result is that Ms. Marvel, via the power of misguided compassion, retcons Gwen's origin so she's a mutant with reality-warping abilities who probably had a tragic experience when her powers manifested and suppressed the memories behind this whole "I'm from a world where you're comic characters," thing. It takes, and Gwen goes to Krakoa, where I don't think anyone has used her since. Except Googum in his strips, where she's running a comic shop. Wait, Krakoa's been status quo for 3 years?! Ugh. At least she should be safe with the resurrection protocols for when someone gets a good idea what to do with her.

Baldeon's doing most of the heavy lifting here with the fourth wall breaking gags and other humor. One panel nearly being filled with Gwen's purple speech balloon, only for Gwen to burst through it like the Sensational Character of 2016 while fleeing Deadpool. Gwen escaping the FF by startling Baldeon so he spills his coffee into the panel he's drawing and douses Reed and Sue. The Gwens using a panel border to trip the Hulk and disorient him.

And with that, we are done with the Gs! That's like 3 letters we've gotten through in the last year. Don't expect that to happen again any time soon.

What I Bought 12/20/2019 - Part 2

It's Christmas here in the U.S. Hopefully you're having a good Christmas, or you had a good one yesterday, or it's at least a not-terrible December 25th if the date holds no significance for you. Not-terrible days are always nice.

Gwenpool Strikes Back #5, by Leah Williams (writer), David Baldeon (artist), Jesus Arbutov and Guru-eFX (color artists), Joe Carmagna (letterer) - Agh, the real world is so boring and uninteresting! Who wants to hang out with trees, and regular old stone walls. Let her back in!

Gwen's determined to fight Kamala and win this battle royale she made up. Kamala doesn't want to fight, she wants to talk. Boooooo! No talking! Kamala won't accept Gwen's "I'm from a world where you're a comic book character" origin, and instead proposes that instead, Gwen is a mutant with reality manipulation powers. At least she didn't say she's an Inhuman, that would be a real kiss of death. But shouldn't Kamala just go ask Dr. Strange if what Gwen says is true? Gwen pretends to go along with this explanation, but leaves to prepare for her inevitable end.

But wait! Kamala's awful, awful retcon has apparently taken hold, and one of the portal things to Krakoa shows up, so Gwen's a mutant now! And she might get back together with Quentin Quire? Sheeeeeeit, that is a Patsy Walker-level bad relationship decision. Then she says good-bye to the audience because most likely, whatever Gwenpool shows up in her next appearance won't be anything like this.

Also, she acknowledges they never resolved that whole subplot from her ongoing about her brother having gotten lost in the Marvel Universe also. No shit.

I don't see how making Gwenpool a mutant really changes anything. She still has an unusual powerset some writers are probably either going to abuse, or hate because it's too abstract for them. She still believes she's from our world, but is going to pretend she doesn't. Not sure how that's going to work if she's living on an island with a crapload of telepaths. Especially given Hickman's X-Folks don't seem the most ethical to me. Really doubt Pod Person Chuck Xavier is big on respecting the privacy of the people living on the island.

But whatever. The character is still alive (for now), which means someone can come along later and theoretically do something interesting with her. Or they'll let whoever the current version of Mark Millar is (Matthew Rosenberg?) get ahold of her and she'll be given a bad death with no emotional heft that only serves to highlight how hollow and pointless the story it happens in is.

The issue sort of starts out light, Gwen trying to keep all the heroes she put in the VIP booth from getting too angry, and then shifted to sad real fast, since Kamala pretty much treats the whole thing like she's talking to someone with mental illness. Kind of a whiplash, there.

That part where Kamala is rewriting Gwen's origin is kind of wrenching. Great work Kamala, give her an origin where her powers made her so miserable she practically disassociates from reality to deal with them. Super cool. But watching Gwen try to block out the thought balloons it's conjuring up, the nightmares and ugliness, just makes me a little sad. Granting that Gwen didn't really like reality back in our world, it wasn't a nightmare. It just wasn't what she wanted. Putting this over the top of that, I don't know. I guess it fits with most Marvel heroes having tragic origins. Although Kamala and Squirrel Girl don't. Same with a few others. Not sure why Gwen has to go old-school. But the next writer can always ignore it if they want!

What I Bought 11/20/2019 - Part 2

It's nice to find out, every once in a while, that other people's opinions on pop culture stuff can still provoke an indignant reaction in me. The kind where I have to restrain that urge to type something aggressively stupid and confrontational. Not because I want to type that stuff, but it's kinda nice to know I still give enough of a shit to get riled about dumb stuff.

Gwenpool Strikes Back #4, by Leah Williams and Chris Hastings (writers), David Baldeon (artist), Jesus Arbutov (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - Don't worry folks, she's just swinging around some fireworks. Wait, that's kind of dangerous.

Gwen, out of any better ideas to beat the Hulk (who is acting more like a mix of childlike classic Hulk and the creepy one Al Ewing is writing, but whatever), decides to recruit other versions of herself from other books she's shone up in. Like that Civil War II tie-in issue of Rocket Raccoon and Groot. While those Gwens keep Hulk occupied by giving him more things to smash, this book's Gwen goes and steals Thor's severed arm from Malekith(?), then wears it over her arm, so she can swipe Mjolnir when Thor chucks it at Kamala (which, overkill there Thor) and hit Hulk in his gamma-irradiated junk with it.

See, when Jeph Loeb did this kind of shit with Red Hulk, it was annoying. Because he played it straight about how this showed how awesome this new character was. Such a big threat. Since Leah Williams is writing as Gwen herself trying to prove she's an awesome character and big deal so she can continue to exist, I can roll with it. Also, it's just so ridiculous that I can laugh at it. In a good way, rather than, "Holy shit, this is terrible writing. Who would pay this person for this?"

Credit to David Baldeon for doing a good impression of the artists from those other books, which also helps to distinguish the Gwens. At least I assume it was a good impression. Other than Unbelievable Gwenpool, I've never read any of the comics these characters are from. But I can confirm he does a good Gurihiru impression! And since that's the best version, that's really all that matters. They're also all different heights, which plays into one gag about Gwen trying to combine with one of the others. Little disappointed she didn't try the Fusion Dance there. That would only work for two Gwens, but you could have three fused Gwens then!

Kind of surprised when Hulk made his "You courted chaos. I'm consenting." line, none of the Gwens had anything to say to that.

Deadpool #1, by Kelly Thompson (writer), Chris Bachalo (penciler), Wayne Faucher, Tim Townsend, Al Vey, Jamie Mendoza, Livesay, and Victor Olazaba (inkers), David Curiel (color artist), Joe Sabino (letterer) - Holy shit, 6 inkers?! I assume Bachalo is already behind schedule then, and will be on the book for 3 issues, tops.

Wade is alone and depressed, again. Monsters have decided to make themselves a kingdom on Staten Island, and a mysterious guy hires Wade to kill their king. Which he does, with some assistance/interference from Elsa Bloodstone. However, this makes Wade the new king. Which is much less fun than he thought it would be. He can't even get free ice cream! Then Gwen shows up to leave her land shark with him, because she's afraid he'll cease to exist if he's in her book and she gets axed. I thought her land shark was just a backpack. It's alive?! Then Kraven shows up and kills Wade's Lord Chamberlain. Didn't take long for Kraven to revert to type. Again.

Well, I don't see how Wade running a monster kingdom is going to go any better than when he was married to a lady running a monster kingdom. Probably go worse, if Wade's making the policy decisions. But the Blaylock fellow seems like a problem, and Elsa's in contact with someone, and Wade is, as mentioned above, lonely and depressed. Which means he'll do stupid things to try and have some companionship.

Bachalo draws some interesting monsters, although he hardly ever draws the former king's entire body. Which mostly works. What we see of him tends to take up most of whatever panel he's in, which helps to play up his size even in smaller panels. And there are some pages where I'm confused about why they went with the layout they did. The first panel of the page where Wade's arguing with the monster that keeps attacking the ferries, is set at a distance, so that the monster is a bunch of barely differentiated tentacles, and Wade's just a red splotch. I guess to focus the eye on the damaged ferry in the foreground, but considering it's a grey and black object, the eye ends up drawn to Wade or his extremely large voice balloon in the white space next to the panel.

I do really like the crown Bachalo gave him, which looks like Wade stole it from King Koopa. Or King Deedee. Or maybe that evil crocodile guy from Donkey Kong Country. Hmm, I'm starting to think Nintendo might be opposed to monarchies. Either way, Wade wears it at a jaunty angle, and I love it.

Also, we're apparently back to Deadpool not wanting to take his mask off around people. He lifts it to nose level a couple of times, but otherwise, it stays all the way on. He'd gotten more comfortable about it during the Duggan run, or even Cable/Deadpool, but I guess he backslid.

What I Bought 10/12/2019 - Part 1

I am sort of doing Sketchtober this year. No theme, other than trying to draw some stuff I've had in mind for some time. And pretty much just drawing when I feel like it. Which, granted, means I'd only done 5 pieces as of last Saturday. I'll try to pick it up in the second half of the month, I guess.

Magnificent Ms. Marvel #8, by Saladin Ahmed (writer), Joey Vazquez and Alex Arizmendi (artists), Ian Herring (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - That's not a good place for Kamala to be.

Kamala, Nakia, and Zoe are brought to the Rubicon factories, to meet the boss, who tells people to call him Uncle Brett. Kamala's suit gets her free of some shackles, but they have to run when it turns out "Brett" has some sort of contact-based mind control powers. Actually, he's some sort of monster. Lots of faces and eyes. If he had more teeth I'd say he could have come out of John Carpenter's The Thing. He tries to absorb Kamala, but she's been watching some DragonBall Z and flares her ki aura to blast him apart. Or maybe she grows really fast? Not at all clear on what exactly she did, but neither was Brett, so maybe that's by design. Something is going on with the new suit that Kamala's not clear on, because she almost crushed Josh. Oh no, she almost crushed the whiny baby, how awful, he said in the flattest, least sympathetic tone you can imagine.

Not a lot of fighting zombies in this story I had the impression was going to be about fighting zombies. That said, watching Kamala kick the crap out of Discord and Lockdown with relatively little difficulty was fun. Especially while they're trying to talk trash and/or complain about how their current status is her fault, as opposed to them being fascist losers. Ahmed's really expanding the ways Kamala can use her powers, since she pulls out the old "make your arm into a slingshot" bit Reed Richards uses sometimes. I guess it ties into the idea of her powers evolving, the way she used to be able to change her appearance.

The art shifts from Vazquez to Arizmendi in the last 5 pages, right as Brett shows his true form. Arizmendi's style is a bit simpler than Vazquez's so all the additional faces on Brett's body look less like anguished souls in torment, and more almost silly. It still works, although I thought being enveloped looked more gross than terrifying. I guess it would be both either way, although the space inside Brett just ends up looking like some purple void with bluish goo floating in it. I do like the increasing size of the panels as you move down the page and everything closes in on Kamala before she's able to break free.

My favorite panel is Kamala punching Lockdown in the face and telling her to shut it. Doesn't seem like it knocked Lockdown very far away, though. She was maybe a step or two in front of Josh before the punch, and she's still about even with him after, and already shooting at Kamala. I guess her suit was built to handle Kamala and her powers.

Anyway, I think I'm done with this book. Even the stuff I like comes with qualifiers.

Gwenpool Strikes Back #3, by Leah Williams (writer), David Baldeon (artist), Jesus Arbutov (color artist), Joe Carmagna (letterer) - I like that Williams at least references in-story that Dodson plays up Gwen's chest more than Baldeon (or any other artist I can remember) does. Might as well use it.

Gwen escapes from Sue and Reed by terrifying David Baldeon while he's drawing the page so his coffee spills into the panel and soaks them. Wade thanks himself for giving her a sales boost, and then leaves. Apparently he's not mad about her unmasking Spider-Man any more. Or he forgot about it already. Gwen reads her sales figures and learns readers prefer her to be evil. Says who? So, she lures a bunch fo heroes to an island under some fake "kid's dying wish is to see heroes play beach volleyball" plan, then reveals they're all going to have to fight for their lives so she can prove she's a real threat. Or something. Then she shoots Bruce Banner in the head. He comes back of course, since that's his shtick, but he winds up as Gwen's opponent. Which she didn't plan for I guess? Whoops.

I laughed a lot. Gwen charging right through her speech balloon to escape Wade. Her use of her retcon power to both capture Banner and make sure there's a cash prize. Tony taking advantage of the rules to punch Steve Rogers in the face, only to have the "I forfeit" bit not save him in time. Although Baldeon kind of fucked it up, since Steve is clearing throwing a left jab in the first panel, but connects with a right cross in the next. Unless Steve was able to hit him twice before it kicked in. That doesn't seem likely. Reed Richards with a stretched out face and wet hair is kinda weird looking. Like a sad, shaggy dog. Sue looks more like cat, extremely pissed off about this indignity. Squirrel Girl asking to leave because Gwen won't look good if she loses to her.

I don't really agree that Gwen's better when she's bad. "Wild card" is much more interesting, and can be used in a lot of different ways. Versatility is key! It's why Ben Grimm and Spider-Man were both able to sustain team-up books for so long. You can plug them into almost any situation, deep space, street crime, weird magic crap, and they can fit. Also because they were already extremely popular characters. Doom's a great character because he has just enough nobility to be unpredictable. And that's kind of what Gwen's doing here, a little. She's doing anything she can to survive, but she isn't thinking ahead about any of it, so the consequences are getting away from her. Granted that most of it is leaning towards bad - unmasking Spidey, pissing off Deadpool, pissing off the Hulk - but it wouldn't always have to go that route.

Who knows, maybe Gwen will do something good to fix all this stuff at the end? Or at least try to fix all this stuff. I wouldn't put good odds on her getting it right, as opposed to fouling things up.

What I Bought 9/13/2019 - Part 1

Last Friday, after I picked up some comics, and while I was waiting for my dad (who was very late, naturally) to get back from running errands, I had the random urge to see how fast I could run. So without stretching first, I sprinted, and then I felt a pop in my hamstring and I ate it on the pavement. This is why I should stick to distance running.

Anyway, here's two comics from last week.

Gwenpool Strikes Back #2, by Leah Williams (writer), David Baldeon (artist), Jesus Arbutov (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - I still don't think I've adjusted to Reed Richards with a beard. It looks strange.

Gwen enlists Deadpool's help to, I'm not sure actually. Her powers get her into the Fantastic Four's basement, and Wade is either trying to convince her that her idea to seduce a member of the FF for a cover image is a bad idea, or giving her the go-ahead to try it. I'm a little unsure which. Either way, she ends up in Reed's arms and Sue's wedding dress right as Sue walks in. Attempts to escape and/or fight don't go well, as Wade is being unusually stupid and/or random today, and they end up trapped inside a big bubble of Reed Richards. Where Gwen makes the mistake of mentioning she kind of unmasked Spider-Man last issue, and Wade decides to kill her.

Williams writes Wade as being a bit too silly all the time here. Like, if he's going to try to use fruit snacks against the Thing, it would be by offering them as a distraction or peace offering, not literally hitting in the chest with them. Unless it was a giant novelty weapon filled with them, I guess. He asks Gwen at one point whether she wants him to be the voice of reason or the agent of chaos here, and she says the former, but that doesn't seem like what he's doing. Unless he's trying to make a larger point about the viability of her getting an increased role in the Marvel Universe as someone who just shows up to cause mayhem with hijinks. Which is more Mr. Mxyspltz than Deadpool, but people do use Wade that way.

I do like that the FF seem more annoyed and perplexed by this than anything. Well, Sue gets a little angry when Gwen mentions Sue did make out or cuddle or something with Dr. Doom at some point. I don't understand the thing she does with her hands, which Wade did earlier when he thought she let slip she has a boyfriend. But otherwise, they're really just kind of confused by this. Although why they think the police can handle Deadpool I don't know. So Baldeon conveys that well, because none of the FF seem to be fighting particularly hard or intensely. Ben refuses to even get involved, which is a great reaction scene, even if the whole fruit snack thing is dumb. Once they capture them, they sit there and wait for the police to arrive while Gwen and Wade chat with each other in the big flesh cocoon Reed's got them in.

Black Cat #4, by Jed MacKay (writer), Travel Foreman (artist), Brian Reber (color artist), Ferran Delgado (letterer) - Wow, Johnny looks like such a tool there in the upper right. What a doofus.

So Black Fox' big plan is to steal all the accumulated wealth the New York Thieves' Guild take as a cut of everyone's jobs. But they store it in some pocket dimension, and to get in, they needed that deed to Manhattan and a book that Reed Richards has. And she's going to do this by contacting Johnny and flirting her way in, basically. I assume the Mad Thinker and the Wizard are kicking themselves for not coming up with this plan themselves. The idea is Felicia's guys pretend to be dilvering food she ordered, and she hands off the book while paying. Except someone posted a picture of her visiting Johnny on social media, and that security guy Sonny shows up and barges in. Felicia's guys chase him in to subdue him, Johnny shows up confused, and then Blastaar forces his way in through the Negative Zone portal. Felicia's bad luck powers are working on overdrive today.

I know I said this either last issue or the issue before, but this is what I want from a Black Cat book. Her stealing stuff, but taking advantage of the fact she's in the Marvel Universe, so the stuff she steals can be bizarre, and the problems she faces even more so. And MacKay is bringing in stuff from Immortal Iron Fist here, which is A-OK with me.

Plus there are a lot of little bits in here that liven things up. Johnny insisting on showing off the Fantasticar, which he designed and built, thank you. Korpse being a Jim Hammond fanboy and insisting Johnny has no right to call himself the Human Torch. Korpse gives Foreman the chance to draw some great demented expressions. That dude is intense. And it looks like the Black Fox is probably in some trouble with Dracula for ripping him off that one time. Which is a problem you face when you rip off someone who is theoretically immortal.

I like family photo on the wall of Reed playing the saxophone badly, based on Franklin's reaction. I knew Reed couldn't carry a tune. Also, I want to know which foe of the FF they confiscated the "Acme Mine Detector" from. Probably the Impossible Man. Felicia keeping the book hidden behind her back all through the last few pages of the issue, because Johnny's standing right there. I'm curious if she'll have to maintain that all through next issue, or if she'll be able to pass it to her associates. And if we'll get to see that when it happens, or if it'll happen between panels and we just hear about it after the fact.

What I Bought 8/16/2019 - Part 1

I didn't mention it last week, but we officially reached 4500 posts with Sunday Splash Page #74. It snuck up on me, since I stopped really paying attention to my total posts some time in the last few years. I figured now would be as good a time as any to mention it.

We're looking at some books from the first two weeks of August today. The first issue of a mini-series, and a one-shot I took a chance on.

Gwenpool Strikes Back #1, by Leah Williams (writer), David Baldeon (artist), Jesus Arbutov (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - For a second, I thought the expression on Peter's face in the smartphone did not match his actual expression, but I think it's that it's close up, so some more details are visible.

Gwenpool is not actually trying to ruin heroes' lives to keep herself from fading from existence. She is, however, trying to get a superpower that is easier for writers and artists to represent in team books and guest appearances than her current ability to jump into the space between panels. I don't know, I feel like you should be able to work with that. You just play it as confusing the hell out of whoever she teams up with, as she vanishes, then reappears abruptly with something useful.

Setting that aside, Gwen hopes Spider-Man can give powers via radiation, but only succeeds in accidentally unmasking him in front of a bunch of bank customers she took hostage. That puts Spidey in a mood, and he leaves her webbed up, until a cancer ridden version of herself shows up to free her, and sends Gwen on a trip outside the pages to find Radioactive Man and get. . . something from him. Cancer most likely. Not helping disprove all those people who think you're Girl Deadpool, Gwen.

Baldeon's work is loose and expressive enough for Gwen and her hijinks. The weird baggy sweatpants and hoodie look over her regular costume. The 9-panel grid page where Gwen explains her current status feels clunky, but all of Gwen's gestures and twitches make me think of a person giving a presentation who is really uncomfortable with public speaking and can't keep herself still. With Gwen it might just be a matter of struggling to keep still, period. And I like the version of the "gutters" we get as everything is on the verge of ending for her.

Sensational Spider-Man: Self-Improvement, by Peter David (writer), Randy Schueller (plot), Rick Leonardi (penciler), Victor Olazaba (inker), Rachelle Rosenberg (colorist), plus Tom DeFalco (writer), Ron Frenz (writer/penciler), Sal Buscema (inker), Chris Sotomayor (colorist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - The costume inside isn't actually black-and-white. It looks more like a precursor to Spider-Man 2099's costume. Which wouldn't be a huge surprise, with David and Leonardi involved.

Peter's costume (and his back) get trashed fighting Firebrand, so Reed Richards whips him up a new, unstable molecule costume, with upgraded webshooters, which Spidey can barely control. Oh, and the web pits act as glider wings. Peter almost causes a helicopter crash, then barely manages to corral Firebrand before he kills his ex-wife for swiping all his ill-gotten loot. Plus, Firebrand's daughter is scared of Spidey in a black costume, so he mails it back to Reed.

Well, I'm not ever a fan of Peter getting new outfits from other people, so that's a strike there. Especially since Reed's apparently Neil Degrasse Tyson now, as he criticizes Spidey for calling the costume awesome, when that should be reserved for something like the Grand Canyon. Christ, Richards, could you try to not be a complete cock for two seconds?

Also, this is not some of Leonardi's better work. He needs a strong inker, and Olazaba's hit or miss here. There are panels in here where Reed's facial features are barely defined shadows. Like Puppet Master was making a clay duplicate but got bored halfway through. They did a lot better on the climax, with Firebrand's ex and Rita, the little girl. So maybe they just figured nobody cares about Mr. Fantastic and focused their efforts accordingly.

There's also a backup story by DeFalco, Frenz, and Buscema, where Peter tracks down some guys who killed an old many because his nephew wouldn't help them rob a warehouse. The kid did the responsible thing, but it didn't exactly work out, and Peter wonders if that's because the kid had no power. Kind of a bummer, especially when he doesn't give the kid an answer about whether the guilt of losing someone ever goes away. But I guess he couldn't say it does, since his over Uncle Ben hasn't, even if I subscribe to the idea Peter likes helping people and being Spider-Man, and it isn't only a guilt thing.

Frenz and Buscema on art looks pretty much like it always does, which is either good or bad, depending on your preference. Buscema's inks really make it feel like his art work, but I think Frenz' pencils help a lot. Either that or Buscema's going with softer inks than when he was on Spectacular Spider-Man back in the day. I always found his stuff back then a little too, sharp maybe. All the lines on faces were thin and stark and made everyone look kind of old and a little unpleasant (plus he gave Mary Jane what I assume was a beauty mark on her cheek that I thought was a mole every time I saw it). Which isn't the case here, or on their collaborations on Spider-Girl over the years.

What I Bought 2/28/2018

Everybody out of the 'Pools! Or something to that effect. Gwenpool's coming to an end, and this Deadpool storyline is almost there, too. So let's check in.

Unbelievable Gwenpool #25, by Christopher Hastings (writer), Gurihiru (artists), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - So that's what happens to all the characters whose books get canceled: they get to hang out at the pool. I'd expect it to be more crowded, given the rate Marvel gives books the ax these days.

Gwen encounters an older, good version of herself that tells her the story isn't done just because the series is canceled. That people will be buying and reading the stories again for years after they were initially published. And there'll be fan art, cosplay, maybe someday another writer that loved Gwenpool when they were younger and gets to write her into their book. While this conversation is going on, Gwen is also hopping through a bunch of snippets of adventures that clean up (or at least nod in the direction of) various plot threads that hadn't been resolved yet.

It reminds me of the last issue of Bryan Q. Miller's Batgirl series, where the last few pages were dedicated to showing all the future adventures Stephanie might have had if the series had continued on. I'm still sad we never got to see her fight the Royal Flush Gang at her college graduation. Those weren't unresolved points, but it has that same feel. The creative team at least getting to hint at what might have been.

The back-and-forth nature of it feels a little jagged, and the long-winded explanation of why this isn't really the end drags things to a halt, but I appreciate the attempt. Of course, the back-and-forth at least serves to break up the long-winded exposition. The stories we only get hints of looked like they would have been pretty fun (team-up with Squirrel Girl to rescue Gwen's brother from Mephisto!), and it lets the Guruhiru team illustrate a whole mess of other Marvel characters (including Fin Fang Foom!) Can't complain about that. It ends on fairly upbeat note, which is better than the alternative.

I'm surprised the book lasted this long, but I'm glad it did.

Despicable Deadpool #295, by Gerry Duggan (writer), Matteo Lolli (artist), Ruth Redmond (colorist), Joe Sabino (letterer) - The first page says Koblish is the artist, but that's definitely not the case, and the cover agrees.

Deadpool chases Evan and shoots him, despite some well-meaning bystanders. But he actually shot him with a bullet that suppresses his X-gene, so Stryfe just thinks Evan is gone. Unfortunately, the X-Men aren't impressed by this so Shadowcat and Colossus whoop the shit out of Deadpool, with Kitty criticizing Rogue for making out with Deadpool. You know, Kitty, you did it with Pete Wisdom and Peter Quill. A chain-smoking, cynical, antisocial asshole, and an idiot man-child. You combine the two and you basically have Deadpool. Basically, she slept with half of Deadpool, twice. So there. Also, Kitty telling Wade he's a wanted murder and can't just 'walk away from this,' rings hollow given all the times the X-Men looked the other way for their hairy Canadian murderer.

Hmm, I seem unusually hostile towards Shadowcat today. Just kick his ass and throw him in jail Kitty, spare us the cheap moralizing.

Wade escapes with the power of endangering innocents, and kills the last person Stryfe had on his list. But he's sad about it! Then Captain America shows up, day late and a dollar short, as usual.

Marietta Nelson took Deadpool appearing in her bedroom to murder her better than I would. I wouldn't expect her to believe him about his daughter, either, or else not care. Which would be fair, since she could assume (correctly) that Eleanor was in trouble because of Deadpool's fuck-ups, and why should she die to fix that? Maybe she was resigned from the moment she saw him, or maybe it was his demeanor. Lolli draws Wade with slumped shoulders and narrow, downcast eyes for most of the issue. The only time that drops is when the X-Men show up, and I assume Wade is playing at being a loon for their benefit. Just crazy old, amoral Deadpool! Killin' people for shits and grins! Tacos! Play down to their expectations.

Or maybe he's nostalgic for the old days when the heroes just beat him up for being a creep.

I have to think Deadpool is running out of explosives to use as cover for these narrow escapes, so I don't know how he's going to manage to elude Cap. Shooting at bystanders is only going to make Cap angry.

What I Bought 1/10/2018 - Part 2

A friend gave me a TV their parents didn't need back at Christmas, and last night I hooked my N64 up to it. In the 20+ years I've had that console, I've never played it on a screen bigger than about ~21 inches. Between being a broke-ass college kid to a broke-ass wildlife biology guy who bounced from temp job to temp job, there was no point in getting a bigger TV. Also, I'm cheap on non-essentials.

Anyway, point being, it was wonderful to play Starfox 64 on a big-screen. This must be why people buy big televisions!

Ms. Marvel #26, by G. Willow Wilson (writer), Nico Leon (artist), Ian Herring (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - Giant monster needs a name. Chameleio? Chamero, The Thing That Should Not Exist? Extemporo? Skreechy? I'm bad at this.

The Red Dagger, with some help from Zoe, destroys the giant robo-monster. Afterward, Zoe starts to put things together, and returns to the seniors' home to talk to Harold. The two investigate the secret basement, where several of the other seniors are in chairs hooked up to some sort of machine, but are discovered by the Inventor, or someone dressing up like him. And since Zoe didn't tell anyone ahead of time, Red Dagger, Nakia, Mike, and Gabe will have to track her down the hard way. There's also the continuing adventures of Naftali trying to find Kamala, and I still don't remember this guy, and I'm getting more suspicious by the minute.

I got a good laugh from Zoe's attempt to use her crossfit to fight a, well she calls it a dinosaur but that's incorrect. The whole page is laid out well. A big panel across the top of her charging forward boldly, fist cocked, and then the next panel goes vertically down the page and she's this tiny figure ineffectually punching the creature's tail while it stares at her. The tiny "POOMF!" sound effect is a nice touch, Caramagna's work or Nico Leon's? Although she had the right fist cocked and threw the left. No wonder it had no effect. Then it contrasts with the next page, which starts with Red Dagger and his determined look pulling some wires, and then a big explosion takes up the rest of the page and he's flung into the sky, Team Rocket style.

I'm sure I should be more concerned about the elderly folks, but the humor in this storyline has been a welcome respite from the whole "HYDRA takes over the city" story. Leon seems to have a knack for funny stuff, or maybe it's Wilson's writing. Or both. She did the "Loki spoils prom" story when Leon was the artist, maybe she's working to his strengths, and writing something a little goofier.

Unbelievable Gwenpool #24, by Christopher Hastings (writer), Gurihiru (artists), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - I really hope there's a roof somewhere below them or that's going to be an awful mess on the pavement.

Gwen attempts to stave off cancelation by embracing villainy. Cool villainy, which means pulling a heist with Batroc. The heist goes mostly well, as Batroc uses Gwen's powers to good effect, and they escape. It's afterward Batroc reveals it wasn't really a villainous act, because the casino they robbed was run by the old Spider-Man antagonist Chance. Batroc was trying to be supportive of Gwen's attempt to be a hero, and set up a "rob the bad guy" gig to help her pay bills. Aw. Which means Gwen is out of options, or is she?

I like that if, even if Batroc doesn't buy that his life is a comic book, he accepts that Gwen has powers that operate that way, and uses them to pull off the heist. And while, as Gwen notes, Batroc probably won't act like this in any upcoming appearances outside this book, I do like this version of Batroc. He's kind of cheesy and arrogant, but also classy and witty and not a horrible guy.

Also, credit to Hastings for using Chance, even if I'd liked to see him in action a little more. I have a soft spot for that guy.

The coloring on this book for the shots of the city skyline is outstanding. Especially the lighting effects around the skyscraper. Just gorgeous. The page after they complete their escape had so much I enjoyed. Gwen's version of a tuck and roll landing, plus her various startled and stressed expressions, and the punchline to her method of escaping with the loot. A bunch of different silly things I liked. I hope the Gurihiru team work on another book I want to read in the future.

What I Bought 12/8/2017

Now that it's actually occurred to me to use the scanner for these posts, I find myself with a difficult choice. Do I select a panel or panels I think were funny/cool, or one that illustrates some point I was fumbling to make when I was discussed the art? The second option seems like the best, but the first one is awful tempting.

The Unbelievable Gwenpool #23, by Christopher Hastings (writer), Irene Strychalski (artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (color artist), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - In an attempt to really make her win impressive, Gwen has opted to fight Dr. Doom after shrinking herself with Pym Particles! Or maybe she enlarged Doom with Pym Particles!

Gwen's attempt to defeat the "real" Dr. Doom fails. Because Doom is not going to lose by being tossed into a weird dimension. Gwen eventually realizes she is entirely outclassed and tries to run, which doesn't work either. The current, "nice" Doom shows up and bails her out, leaving Gwen depressed at how little impact she's allowed to have, and her rapidly approaching mortality. Doom tries to give her some advice, but Gwen doesn't seem to have taken it the way he hoped.

So Gwen has to figure out how she fits in the Marvel Universe. Her early attempts at being a hero were not at all heroic. Her future self told her she was meant to be a villain, which Gwen rejected. She isn't succeeding at making herself important by trying to disappear villains, either. Which leaves what? Gwen doesn't want to be the person in the back of crowd scenes, who dies unceremoniously in some Big Event just because (fair enough). What's her solution? I doubt she wants to be some updated version of Forbush Man or Howard the Duck, popping up every 5-10 years to issue silly commentary on whatever's going on at the moment. It looks like she might be trying for the "rogue with a grey mortality", kind of a Black Cat/Gambit thing. Neither one sustains an ongoing for any extended period of time, but neither one gets killed or vanishes for too long, either.

I appreciated Hastings' writing for Evil Doom. 'You would open a dam because it is not satisfying enough to drown in a puddle,' is a pretty good putdown. 'But let us see how long you hold under a gaze as fierce and hateful as the Sun!' isn't bad, either. And Gwen telling Doom he's got a long fall coming, and a page later, he's been dumped into the void, with only his thought balloon still on the page (Strychalski gave Gwen a pretty good hardass glare on that page as well. Frank Castle would be impressed). After rereading Volume 1 earlier this week, it was funny to see Gwen trying the leg sweeps Batroc regretted teaching her against Doom.

Strychalski mostly works with 3-6 panels per page, and mostly straightforward squares or rectangles. Nothing too out there in terms of layouts (which would be worth exploring in whether that says anything about Gwen. Can she impact the design of the pages she's in?) But there's one 9-panel page, 8 of those panels as narrow vertical shots of Vic the Doombot struggling to process Doom's defeat, while Gwen moves through the same process much more quickly. Everything had been zipping along through the first 5 pages, but at that moment, it looks as though Gwen has actually beaten Dr. Doom. Two of him, no less. So the story pauses to let that sink in for the characters, even though we know it won't take (and Gwen realizes it as well a page later).

Also, I like Strychalski using what little is available in the Gutters to form panel borders when possible. She uses Doom's cape once, the outline of the pages Gwen is sitting on a couple of times. It's tricky, because how could there be panels in a place that exists outside the panels, but it still helps to have something to guide the flow of the conversation as it moves across the page (although for most of those pages, they go with a 3-panel layout most often, so things can just proceed vertically straight down the page).

I don't know if the book is actually dead two issues from now or not, but I hope not. It's got a good mix of funny and intriguing.

A Stranger Even In A Strange Land

I'll probably pick up this week's issue of Gwenpool tomorrow, and review it middle of next week. In the meantime, I haven't reviewed any trades in a while, so let's look at Gwen's entry to the Marvel Universe.

Gwenpool Vol. 1 - Believe It collects the back-up stories from Howard the Duck where she first appeared, and then the first four issues of her ongoing series. At this point, Gwen is basically jumping at whatever crazy opportunity crosses her path, which eventually gets her dragged into M.O.D.O.K.'s employ. Until she defeats him, in what was equal parts self-preservation and revenge.

It feels as though Hastings was still trying to get a handle on how to play her. In the initial stories, Gwen acts almost like she's a cartoon character, leaping off tall buildings or out of helicopters with no plan on how to avoid going splat. This despite Gwen knowing she has no powers or training. Maybe she's meant to think that trying crazy stuff will make her more interesting and keep her story going. She figured getting a costume and being "someone" was the only way to survive, so maybe that's part of it.

And things do keep conspiring to work out in her favor, to the extent I wonder if Hastings is setting something up with that. Maybe her Evil Future Self has been manipulating things all along!

Danilo Beyruth and Tamra Bonvillain are the art team for the back-up stories (and a first issue prologue), while Gurihiru handle everything else from her series. Beyruth's Gwen (and style in general) is much more angular, kind of jagged. Gwen herself looks older when out of costume (maybe because Gurihiru's Gwen looks barely out of junior high), and a bit crazier when in costume.

I prefer Gurihiru's style myself, but the Beyruth/Bonvillain team works very well if the story is meant to be from Howard's point of view, where Gwen's actions have dragged him into working for and against the Black Cat, and against HYDRA. And he has to try and keep this costumed girl under control when she has no regard for anyone else's life, and possibly none for her own (or she's an idiot). It would be terrifying.

Whereas Gurihiru are illustrating the story as told from Gwen's perspective, where she's treating the whole thing like a game. It's bright and colorful, she gets money for killing people she can justify as being bad. The art and colors make me think of one of those "magical girl" animes. Has her bright costume, and hair color matches it. Has cool weapons, including a sort of familiar (her ghost friend Cecil). Since things keep ultimately working out for her, she maintains that perspective, even as other people are getting hurt and killed around her. The words of the cop who lets her go roll away like water off a duck's back.

The first arc feels a bit clunky, like Hastings is having to really work to get all the pieces in place the way he wants them, but there are still some good laughs, and he knows how to write an interesting fight (and Gurihiru especially know how to illustrate it).

What I Bought 11/9/2017 - Part 1

There were no comics out this week I was interested in. Here's a couple of books from last week I was interested in. There were five comics from Marvel last week I wanted, I found four of them so far. Only two or three other books for the remaining weeks of the month.

Despicable Deadpool #289, by Gerry Duggan (writer), Scott Koblish (artist), Nick Filardi (colorist), Joe Sabino (letterer) - How is Cable missing at that range? Wade at least has the excuse he's missing an arm (and holding his gun sideways). Cable's aim must rival an Uzi-toting bad guy from an '80s movie.

Deadpool confesses to Cable surprisingly quickly, so the two try going back to kill Stryfe right after he gave Wade the cure for the plague weapon Madcap used. Stryfe anticipated this and unleashes dinosaurs. Cable anticipated that and has a neurotoxin ready. So Stryfe unleashes a bunch of vampires, who bite the dinosaurs, who then bite Deadpool. Before the vampire dinosaurs can spread, the military decides they're sick of leaving everything to the Avengers and nuke the city. Before his death, Cable opens a time portal and warns Wade and Cable not to try ambushing Stryfe like that.

So the entire issue is to explain why they don't just solve the problem with time travel. I feel that could have been solved by Cable simply handwaving some explanation for why it wouldn't work. Wouldn't have needed 20 pages for that, unless Bendis was writing it. I do kind of like Cable and Stryfe essentially being a couple of kids playing together. Each one comes up with some bullshit counter to whatever the other imagines. Even so, my enthusiasm for this arc is dropping fast.

Koblish tries a version of the end three-way faceoff from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Just doesn't work as well without music. Also, he doesn't move the camera view in, or intersperse any panels of fingers on triggers. Points for effort I guess. On the other hand, he's very good at drawing a hideously ugly Wade, and he shows a good attention to detail. Wade's left arm being smaller than the right because it's still regenerating, the bullet holes in the back of Wade's mask where someone shot him earlier. And I think he tries to make his art style more similar to Matteo Lolli's on the page showing Stryfe giving the cure to Wade (which Lolli drew originally). His lines are a little smoother and thinner than normal. And four wide panels stacked on top of each other is a page layout Lolli uses pretty frequently.

Still waiting for Cable to get killed, though.

Unbelievable Gwenpool #22, by Christopher Hastings (writer), Irene Strychalski (artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (colorist), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - Gwen, you're supposed to write on the back of the postcard, not the front.

Vincent the Doombot brings Gwen to some underground castle so she can try to kill Doom away from Vincent's community. Doom has engineered all this and drops her in a cell. Which pushes Gwen to learn she can now move backwards in time through the gutters, so she escapes and confronts Doom, who is chatting mostly pleasantly with Vincent. Gwen realizes she's dealing with a Doom trying to reform, but is so desperate to be an Avenger, she pulls a stupid. Her powers somehow release an earlier (later?) version of Classic-Talking, Evil Doom from within Current Good Doom. Hastings really just wanted to write a Doom who talks like Dr. Doom, didn't he?

So Gwen really hasn't learned anything? She's still doing dumb, morally questionable things in an effort to "matter". Before she was trying to be important enough to not be killed off, now she's allegedly trying to be a hero, but it boils down to the same thing: She's recklessly endangering the lives of everyone around her because she never stops to think about what she's doing. Probably because she doesn't want to.

Which is fine! I was curious how her newfound commitment to not becoming a villain would play out, and here's the beginning of the answer. Having seen a future outcome she didn't like doesn't mean she'd become aware of all her weaknesses. And it isn't as though wanting things a particular way is unique to her, or comic book fans. Nostalgia's still a thing.

I think of the non-Guruhiru art teams on this book, Strychalski/Rosenberg are my favorite. There's nothing flashy in their style, but they can handle actions scenes or humor pretty well, which are the major components of this book. The castle has that imposing look to it where you could believe what Vincent said about it having many previous users. And I liked the panel where we see how Doom perceives Gwen stepping between the panels, where part of her has simply vanished. Just as a way to show how odd that might appear even to someone like Doom, who has seen (and done) some shit over the years.

Rosenberg's colors never get too dark, which keeps things easy to follow, but also keeps the book feeling more light. This story could be pretty dire, Gwen either dumping people into some empty void for all eternity, or her and a lot of other people getting killed because she brought back DOOM. But the book probably won't go that route, and so it stays brighter.

Someone Didn't Listen To Their Future Self

Reading last week's Gwenpool, it feels like Gwen missed one of the points her Evil Future Self tried to teach her.

Future Gwen had two overarching, connected points. One, that the universe "wants" her to be a villain. That's what a person whose power is knowing all the secrets would be, she said, and when she tried not to be, she was punished by external forces*. Gwen's aware of that one, simply actively ignoring it in her attempt to get noticed by the Avengers.

But Future Gwen also demonstrated the pecking order of the universe, that she is not going to be allowed to kill Spider-Man, whether it's Miles or Peter. She tried, and after a few pages, it turned into some awful nightmare for Miles, but that's all. The idea being Gwen isn't important enough to be a major mover and shaker (if such a character even exists). No change she tries to inflict on a big-time character is likely to stick. She might be allowed to shave Rocket Raccoon, he might even spend a couple issues in his book being teased by Star-Lord and Groot for being hairless. But she's not taking one of his arms. Although talking raccoon with cybernetic limbs, hmm. . .

He could use Cable's arm once Deadpool's done with it.

Anyway, Future Gwen felt that if nothing she did mattered, she could and should do whatever she wanted. It would all be undone eventually anyway. Don't cry, Rick Jones, eventually a Steve Rogers who isn't a Nazi will emerge from the rubble. It meshed well with her belief the universe expects her to be a villain, as doing whatever she wanted translated to acts that harmed others.

Present Gwen doesn't seem too worried about that one. She's planning to audition for the Avengers by bringing down Dr. Doom, which ignores two things. One, that Doom is trying to be a good guy these days, an actual one, not his usual shtick of doing something horrible and claiming it's for a good cause. Two, odds are she's going to try the same stunt she pulled on Paste-Pot Pete, dump Doom into the gaps between panels.

Setting aside the legalities of that, and the fact that Doom isn't going to be as flummoxed as poor Pete was (Doom visits Hell regularly, after all), there's one other problem. Gwenpool isn't going to be allowed to take Dr. Doom off the table. Doom is one of the A-list guys at Marvel, even given the FF's somewhat bereft status. He has his own ongoing - written by Bendis, no less. Doom can lose fights to people below his weight class, but taking him out entirely is another matter. It's extremely unlikely the universe will allow it.

It is possible I'm not giving Gwen enough credit. She dumped Pete out of a panel into the space between, but there are other panels around, so there are presumably ways back out of that space. Or ways for Gwen to pop back in later and pick someone back up. Maybe she just wants Pete to think about his actions. Maybe she set all this up for him to fall into a panel that dumps him in jail. And she thinks the same idea will work on Doom. I still don't think it's going to work - Marvel isn't letting Doom get tossed in the pokey by Gwenpool - but she might have given this more thought than I think.

* Although that power should have become increasingly ineffective as her knowledge grew more outdated. What, an amoral future version of a character might not have been entirely truthful with their past self? The hell you say! Or it could be that her ability to move between panels gave her access to anywhere, so she could pick up new secrets whenever she wanted.

What I Bought 10/12/2017 - Part 1

Got four of the five comics that came out this week. Maybe I'll find the other and Giant Days from last week over the weekend. As it is, this constitutes almost all of the Marvel comics I'm getting this month. So let's start with two characters setting off on dubious new paths.

Despicable Deadpool #287, by Gerry Duggan (writer), Scott Koblish (artist), Nick Filardi (colorist), Joe Sabino (letterer) - Wade, that is no way to treat your action figures.

Deadpool is trying to kill Cable, with a chainsaw. Little low-tech, but OK, still a solid old-school murder weapon. The fight progresses to a hospital, and Wade isn't doing so good until Cable mentions Captain America. At which point Wade immobilizes Cable with an MRI, and cuts off his bionic arm. Before he can finish things, the Time Variance Authority arrives to arrest Cable for eventually becoming Stryfe. Leaving Wade with no recourse but to cut off his own arm, attach Cable's in its place, and use the time machine in it to chase after them.

I mean, I'm sure there were other ways to accomplish that, but the removing limbs approach was what Wade opted for. Pretty effective way to show he's not messing around. I mean, he cut his husband's arm off, that's severe.

I thought there'd be a little more reluctance on both sides, but Duggan plays them as less close friends than I was used to when Nicieza wrote them. Like they've both just been waiting for a chance to resume hostilities. Still, the moment where Cable wants to know why was telling. Once again, Deadpool has managed to surprise him, this time by deciding to try and kill him. That Cable even cares, that he doesn't just assume it's for money, has to mean something.

Filardi needs to brighten the colors up. Everything is murky, and combined with Koblish's tendency to get creative in how he transitions from panel to panel (or differentiates one panel from another), there were a few times I got lost halfway through a page. Had to stop, back up, figure out what was happening. I like the transitions, the ways Koblish leads the eye - he uses the chainsaw to point to the next panel as it's swatted from Wade's grasp at one point - but sometimes, it's a little much.

Anyway, I am still entirely on board with this arc, even if I figure it will go about as well as Deadpool's attempt to kill Sabretooth 25 issues ago went.

Unbelievable Gwenpool #21, by Christopher Hastings (writer), Irene Strychalski (artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (color artist), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - That is an incredibly horrible costume for Trapster, I don't care how intentional it is.

Gwen wants to be an Avenger, and is out fighting villains. Who she then takes into that space between the panels, and dumps them into the void. Which seems a lot like killing them, which should not get you a place on the Avengers, but after Wolverine, Deadpool, Cable, whoever the fuck else these days, sure why not? But Gwen's after big game. She wants to take down Doom, ignoring the fact that a) she should understand that in the pecking order of the Marvel Universe, they ain't letting her kill Doom, and more importantly b) he's not a villain right now. Because things have kept happening in the Marvel Universe since Gwen arrived, and her knowledge is getting increasingly out of date.

I can't believe she did that to Paste-Pot Pete. We need villains who just come up with weird inventions to rob armored cars, Gwen! They're a vital break from all the mass murderers and world conquerors.

Sooner or later, Hastings was going to have to address that Gwen's knowledge of the Marvel U. is going to be less and less relevant the longer she's out of the loop. Which is perhaps why she's gained this new power to move through the gutters, the spaces between panels. Her old power was knowing everyone's secrets, but that's going to be less accurate going forward. This is her new thing, though she's still kinda of using it like a villain. Making people disappear into Limbo is not the action of a hero Gwen. Knives did that to people in Trigun, because he was a genocidal lunatic asshole. Don't be like Knives.

I was certain I'd seen Strychalski's art somewhere before, but I can't figure out where. So perhaps it's Rosenberg's coloring that makes it feel similar to some of the other artists that have worked on the book? There's not a lot of fighting to judge her action sequences by, but she has a knack for some expressive faces. The Doombot's barely contained eyeroll at her "incredible new moves" went really well with the dialogue in that panel. The look of terror on poor Pete's face. Farewell Pete. Now who will Deadpool trick/coerce into helping him?

What I Bought 9/13/2017 - Part 2

Decided to group the two books from last week that were wrapping up storylines, so here they are.

Ms. Marvel #22, by G. Willow Wilson (writer), Marco Failla (artist), Ian Herring (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - Oh that's adorable Marvel's putting ads for their Inhumans TV show that is apparently complete garbage. When will they learn?

Josh lets Kamala escape and may be realizing he's actually a bad guy. Congratulations Josh, you're only about three times slower on the uptake than Deadpool, a man whose brain has had to literally regrow holes punched in it by bullets, multiple times. While Tyesha and Nakia confront Lockdown's goons with the combined force of a court order and the cops, Lockjaw reappears (about damn time) and helps Kamala refuel for the big fight, which ends with Lockdown in cuffs and Josh. . . I'm not sure. Lockdown says he snuck away to avoid arrest, but in the last panel he's standing in the middle of the street, watching Kamala and Lockjaw walk away. Presumably someone will notice and arrest him? Hopefully? Pretty please.

That wasn't a bad ending. I doubt this is the end of HYDRA's efforts in Jersey City. They'll try again; Lockdown's too stupid to quit, and the people who blame Ms. Marvel for the stuff happening in town aren't going to get any less convinced of that. We'll see how that goes. Hopefully Lockjaw is going to stick around. He's wasted on all those Inhumans titles no one reads.

I'm not so sure about Josh's sorta face turn once he learns Kamala is Ms. Marvel. Like he goes from mocking her when he's hurting her to talking about how he's not gonna shoot the hero who never kills in the back? But once I thought about it, it's just the, 'I didn't care until it affected ME' attitude. I encounter it all the time, so I shouldn't be surprised.

Herring continues to use yellow to represent resistance, or things turning in favor of the heroes. There's almost no yellow in the first several pages, right up to the point Tyesha point outs the cops are on her side, not K.I.N.D.'s. But after that, it starts to pop up more and more. The Mayor comes rushing from her office, hustling to get down there, and she's emerging from a room colored bright yellow. When Lockjaw appears, he's backlit by yellow. Most of the moments of Lockdown and her schmoes get punched are set against solid yellow backgrounds. It's a nice visual cue that Herring uses. At the end, it's more of an orange, which is a little gentler, the fight is over for the moment.

The Unbelievable Gwenpool #20, by Christopher Hastings (writer), Gurihiru (artists), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - C'mon denizens of the Marvel Universe, a girl with a gun and a sword leaping from a void in the sky is hardly cause for alarm. At least it isn't the Hulk, or Iron Man on a bender.

Evil Future Gwen tries to teach Gwen how to use her powers, while realizing her own past is being retconned by the interference of the other time travelers. The time travelers gradually realize trying to kill Present Gwen is only making her more aligned with Future Gwen but then they get killed, by Future Gwen, as a point she's trying to make. That Gwen is no longer a tourist, she is a character in the Marvel Universe, and she's subject to some of its laws. One of which Future Gwen has interpreted as trying to push Gwen to be evil. So she went with it. Present Gwen decides that is Not Cool, and resolves to not break bad. Which will probably get her killed in the background of a throwaway panel in a Big Event in a year or two, but kudos, anyway.

Well, this explains those solicitations for the next few issues a little better. And it was an interesting story. It addressed the fact Gwen has been gleefully committing a lot of murders since she got here, and hopefully she'll cut back on that going ahead. Which ought to be enough to go hero. Wolverine didn't even cut down on the number of people he killed, and he got to be an Avenger (still one of only two characters I will not accept as an Avenger, and they were both put on there by Bendis). Hastings brought her brother into the picture, as someone for Gwen to try and seek out and it'll be interesting to see what steps he takes going forward. There's the question of whether Gwen could even get back to her universe if she wanted to at this point. The question of if, assuming there is an editorial force that shoves her in the direction of villainy, she can actually resist that? Or at least get it retconned away later as mind control so she can go back to being good?

I love the visual representation of editorial diktat. "Gwenpool Can't Kill Spider-Man," indeed. A cyclone is about right for Marvel Editorial. Some shit gets destroyed, some escapes unscathed. How is it determined which is which? Who the fuck knows. Also, Evil Gwen diving outside the panels to reappear at the bottom of the cliff to save Present Gwen. Gurihiru just did an excellent job with showing Gwen using this power to hop outside the pages. It was very enjoyable and it makes for a memorable visual. Hopefully future artists can do as well with it.

Kind of a strange arc, but not a bad one.

What I Bought 8/25/2017

A couple of books from the last two weeks. I might not have bought one of them if I had looked at the cover more closely, but I was running out of time on the parking meter.

Ben Reilly, The Scarlet Spider #6, by Peter David (writer), Will Sliney (artist), Jason Keith (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - So the key to being really flexible is for people to punch you through walls. I've been going about things entirely wrong.

Ben tries a possible cure on the little girl, then steps out for some air, where he runs into Marlo from Peter David's Hulk run, who seems able to manipulate people and wants Ben to stop two guys driving around town shooting people. He does, but refrains from killing them, to Marlo's annoyance. Kaine shows up, because the little girl died, and Marlo kills him, and I don't know what's going on with this. I assume something to do with David's Captain Marvel run from like 15 years ago?

Is this meant to make Ben actually consider his actions? He mentioned while fighting Kaine that his advantage was he acted on instinct and relied on his spider-sense. Is that all he's doing, bluffing and jumping into things without considering why or towards what end? That could be interesting, depending on the reasons? Is he trusting the Peter Parkerness to guide him, or just trying to avoid thinking about what matters to him and what his goal is?

So there's something there, but I can't handle the art. It reminds me of a comic trying hard to match actors on a TV show it's based on. Very computer-generated feel to it, but like an attempt an early 2000s attempt. Jason Keith is still the colorist, and the colors seem a lot flatter, less varied. Sliney inks himself much heavier than John Dell did to Bagley's pencils, so the shadows are a lot deeper on faces. Maybe that has something to do with Keith's approach. The expressions of the mother who nearly dies at the hands of the two guys driving around shooting people are. Like Sliney's trying for really realistic, but falling in the uncanny valley. It looks awkward, fake, fails utterly to convey the emotion to me.

My hunch Bagley leaving would be a good time to jump ship was right; I just needed to put more money in the parking meter that day so I could read the cover more closely. To be fair, I was also in a hurry to reach my dad's so we could tow his car to his repair guy. So really, it's his fault this happened. If he'd gotten his car moved months ago like he should have, this wouldn't have happened.

The Unbelievable Gwenpool #19, by Christopher Hastings (writer), Gurihiru (artists), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - Unless you are the Punisher, trying to shoot Spider-people with guns doesn't work.

Gwen confronts the time-travelers out to stop her future self, even though by showing up, they've taught her how to move between panels. Whoops. The team considers trying to erase her memory, but Miles' instead swings off with her to tell her the way she ruined everyone's life by revealing all the heroes' secrets so she could be entertained by the fallout. By doing so, Gwen's giant, evil future self knows what they're up to and appears, probably swatting Future Miles to do his death.

I'm suspicious this story is a criticism of fans. Gwen is one of us, supposedly, and we're told she revealed secret identities, aired characters dirty laundry, and did this to kick off the biggest hero vs. hero war yet. To be entertained. Which makes me think of secret identities becoming passe, because it would be unrealistic to maintain one. Or the constant escalation of conflicts, and heroes constantly being at each others' throats. And that's all, if you listen to the people in comics, because it's what sells. Which is a neat way to blame the audience for what they produce. Perhaps I'm being paranoid, but comic writers surely do like to blame the stories they write on the fans. Or Alan Moore, they also like blaming Alan Moore. Or is Hastings jabbing at the other writers who think that's what they have to do? Someone is being jabbed, that's for sure.

Setting aside my paranoia, I still don't know how Hastings plans to resolve this. Teddy being a sort of blind spot in Gwen's perceptions could play in, but now Gwen's in the classic situation of meeting her evil older self. Given what we've learned, she has to reject her older self, and I'm not sure what her older self could do (presumably Evil Gwen is still genre savvy enough to know threats aren't going to work). Is Gwen going to have to learn to think more carefully about her actions? Is she going to try and really be a hero, rather than run around being crazy and say she's a hero?

I like the Gurihiru art team's work, but it doesn't quite feel right for the story. Or certain parts of the story, at least. Miles' depressing flashback of how Gwen ruins his life kind of lacked impact. Although the panel of Miles stating he's going to kill her, said plainly and against the backdrop of a bright blue sky is effective, the more I look at it. They nail the humor parts; Gwen trying to slide through a panel border and whiffing was funny. I'd still much rather have Gurihiru handling the art than most other art teams out there, just not sure they entirely fit the grim direction things have trended. But we'll see, one more issue to go in the story.