Sunday Splash Page #332

 

"Diagnosis: Misery," in Marvel Divas #1, by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (writer), Tonci Zonjic (artist), June Chung and Jelena Kevic Djurdjevic (colorists), Cory Petit and Chris Eliopoulos (letterer)

Basically, Hellcat, Firestar, Photon (I forget which codename Monica was using then) and the Black Cat happened to meet at a speed dating event and became friends. So this is some sort of Sex in the City with superheroes, in what was one of Marvel's typical clumsy tries at "appealing to women", or something.

I feel like the oddly proportioned, cheesecake J. Scott Campbell cover for the first issue (and the tpb) works at cross-purposes, but that's why I described it as "clumsy."

The two main threads, which end up tied together, are Firestar's cancer diagnosis, because she stopped wearing the suit Pym designed in the Busiek/Perez Avengers to help her deal with the effects of her powers, and Daimon Hellstrom being an insecure loser about not getting mentioned in Hellcat's latest book about her life. Dr. Strange is, of course, doing one of those "there are things magic can't fix" deals, but Hellstrom's got no such compunctions about promising to help, as long as it gets Patsy on an (almost literal) leash.

It's kind of a weird book, continuity-wise, because Aguirre-Sacasa's clearly referencing either current status quo (Brother Voodoo is now Doctor Voodoo, Sorcerer Supreme, Patsy's time being dead, Firestar's relationship with Vance), but he's either selective in how he does it, or flat-out ignores certain things. I mean, patsy already wrote a book about being dead, she was on a book tour at the start of the Busiek/Larsen Defenders run. It gets framed as Vance ended things with Firestar, which is technically correct, but it was because she didn't really seem to want to get married.

Monica's, whatever she wants to call it with Doctor Voodoo lurks in the background, but briefly steps to the forefront since he's the one who helps the others get into Hell to rescue Patsy. The Black Cat's attempts to get enough money to open an investigation agency, without relying on a gift from then boyfriend Thomas Fireheart (aka, the Puma) remains on its own track, never dovetailing with the other stories. Which isn't really necessary, but it adds to this feeling that Felicia is an awkward piece Aguirre-Sacasa couldn't quite make fit.

And maybe that works with her having operated on both sides of the law. But her subplot concludes with her taking a loan from the freaking Kingpin. Who screwed her over when he gave her bad luck powers, which seems like something she'd remember (see my earlier comments about a selective approach to continuity.) Rather than anything about her friends helping figure something out.

I don't know fashion, especially not women's fashion, and especially especially not women's fashion from the late-2000s, so I don't know if Zonjic does a good job there. It seems like each character has a particular style they favor for civilian clothes, and each is distinct, but hell, I don't know. He does give Hellstrom an look of someone trying real hard for casually sexy, but who just comes off as really sleazy. "Messy" hair that has to be carefully styled, always with the shirt halfway unbuttoned, assuming he's even wearing one, always stretched out over something. Even Gambit think Hellstrom needs to tone it down.

Sunday Splash Page #239

 

"Revenge of the Mustache Petes", in Heralds #1, by Kathryn Immonen (writer), Tonci Zonjic (artist), Nathan Fairbairn (colorist), Clayton Cowles (letterer)

2010 was one of those years where Marvel decides they want to court women who read comics. Sometimes this takes the form of series that star lady characters, but are still written and drawn by guys (see Fearless Defenders or that Brian Wood X-Men book from 2013). Sometimes it's an anthology series, like the 3-issue Girl Comics book that came out around this time.

Then there's this five issue mini-series, released weekly in June of 2010. It groups together a bunch of characters with varying amounts (Emma Frost, Hellcat, She-Hulk, Monica Rambeau, Valkyrie, and Agent Brand) of shared history and randomly brings back Nova. No, not Richard Rider, the Herald of Galactus Nova, Frankie Rayner, who died fighting Morg back in Silver Surfer #75 and never got brought back.

It's all kind of strange. The characters are brought together through Cyclops asking them to help Emma celebrate her birthday. Because no one would spend time with Emma Frost otherwise. Nova comes back in part because the Silver Surfer placed some piece of her soul (or something) inside a random red-haired waitress named Frances he apparently found similar to Frankie. Which has kind of screwed up Frances' life because, I think, her desires and dreams got overwritten or scrambled by this other person that's inside. Meanwhile, Nova's physical form is running around, attacking Johnny Storm and blaming everyone else for what happened to her.

The problem with that is, I've read the story where Frankie becomes Galactus' herald. She offers to take the job, not to save Galactus, not to save the Earth (this is also the story where Dr. Strange drops Big G and then Reed declares they must save his life), but because she wants to go to space. When Sue points out being Galactus' Herald will possibly mean feeding him planets full of sentient life, Frankie basically says, "Who cares about some bug-eyed aliens as long as I get to go to space?" 

Point being, while Frances has every right to be pissed with how her life (bizarrely) got fucked over, Frankie made her own call, so I figure she's pretty well S.O.L. But at the end of the day, Frances ends up merged with the Nova-thing anyway, and that's pretty much it. As far as I know, absolutely no one has used her since this mini-series, not even Immonen. So what was the point? Guys excuse it a lot of ways, but they still fuck up women's lives? Frances' life was ruined by the arbitrary decisions of a shiny imbecile, and Frankie certainly blames a lot of men (Johnny, Reed, Surfer, Big G) for what happened to her, even though, as I've established, she made her own bad decision.

There's also the fact that Frances suffers a kind of freak-out when the Nova thing gets to Earth, and in the process stabs a man in the heart at the diner where she works. As far as we know, he died. This is never commented on again.

Also, why did Immonen choose the characters she did? I can sort of see Valkyrie, who has a history of being superimposed on different women (I don't remember who was the current one at this point, not Barbara Norris.) Val and Patsy are old friends even if, as Patsy notes in this series, there are experiences she remembers with Val that Val does not. Plus, Patsy has her own history of being caught up in schemes of men, as we saw in Sunday Splash Page #236.

Brand's there, probably because she's someone Scott and Emma already know, and to be the government-adjacent person who considers going to extreme measures to resolve the problem. Emma is there because, telepaths are handy? She seems to be feeling her age (whatever that is), but I'm not sure how that ties in. I have no clue about Monica or She-Hulk, who seem to be there mostly to make up numbers. I guess Monica's the one who gets to try and fight the Nova-thing.

And, in typical Marvel fashion, they rushed the damn book. By issue 2, we're already getting fill-in pages by James Harren, whose art does not look a damn thing like Zonjic's, and Emma Rios jumps in for part of issue 3. Why not wait until September, which also had 5 Wednesdays, to release the book? Maybe Zonjic could have drawn the whole thing.

I feel like the first issue is the high point, when it's just a weird birthday party interrupted by an outbreak of clones of famous people SWORD keeps near Las Vegas for some reason. That's where the panel of Hellcat punching Einstein I used in my Favorite Characters post for Patsy came from. Once it gets into all this weird shit about Nova/Frankie/Frances, it really bogs down.

Maybe I Should Just Tear The Cover Off

I haven't done a tpb review in a few months.

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Tonci Zonjic's Marvel Divas mini-series was one of those occasional, stuttering steps Marvel makes towards what they think will to get more women to buy their comics. I have no idea if it works or not, they never commit long enough. This particular series was described as like Sex in the City, but with superheroes, which is not typically something I'd be into, but Sacasa and Zonjic have both done work I enjoyed, and it had Felicia Hardy and Patsy Walker in it.

Of course, the trade paperback has that J. Scott Campbell cover that "graced" the first issue. Yeesh. Either the Patch Zircher cover for issue 3 (seen at the left) or the Jelena Djurdjevic cover for issue 2 would have been vast improvements. One step forward, one step back as always, Marvel.

The four of them all happened to try the same speed dating event and decided to start hanging out, and now they do best friends stuff together. Which is nice. In this story, best friend stuff involves a lot of discussing guy problems and dealing with dissatisfaction about how things are going in their lives. Felicia's trying to get an investigative agency up and running, and while she doesn't have the money herself, she's also not going to let her boyfriend pay for it for her. Monica's trying to decide if she wants a relationship with Doctor Voodoo. I feel like Monica got short changed compared to the others in terms of being the focus, but maybe that means she has her act together the most of the four.

Patsy's published a book about her life (it's at least her second, because I know she wrote one when she came back to life), which has brought Daimon Hellstrom back into the picture, because he's miffed he didn't get a mention. Such a dramatic boy. Unfortunately, Firestar's developed cancer, which gives Daimon something to use as leverage against Patsy.

Having never watched Sex in the City, I can't speak to whether this is at all like that, but overall, I enjoyed it. They're an odd quartet, though I was hard pressed to think of another heroine that any of them would consider a friend that was still alive*. But I bought in to the idea they enjoyed just hanging out, shootin' the breeze or watching movies. And this extends to helping each other out with problems, whether it's moral support or charging half-cocked into Hell on a rescue mission. I like friendship stories. There are some decent one-liners, a couple of funny lines I chuckled at. There are a couple of jokes about how Doctor Voodoo tries letting a lady know he's interested, but those work on the basis of Zonjic's art.

Zonjic has a minimalist style, gets a lot done as far as expressions with relatively few lines. Each character has their own distinctive style and body type, which isn't revolutionary, but you and I know a lot of artists who would fail that criteria. I wouldn't say the art is drawn with a female gaze, but Zonjic makes the effort to make the main male characters at least attempt to look attractive. A lot guys walking around with the top button or two of their shirts undone. Except Doctor Voodoo, who rarely bothers wearing a shirt.

The body language Zonjic gives Daimon is outstanding. He keeps popping up around Patsy, obviously obsessing over her, but he's always trying to look casual. Lounging against a bookcase, leaning on a couple of racks of clothes, stretched out across some chairs. But he still looks sleazy, in that way Gambit does, where he's trying for charmingly unkempt, but it doesn't land. Really conveys how for all that he's trying to act cool and in control, he's just barely avoiding a tantrum. Oh Patsy, what the hell were you thinking?

One thing I enjoy with reading these types of mini-series years after they were published is the snapshot they provide of moments in the fictional universe's history. Those glimpses or references to other editorial directions that have since been abandoned or forgotten. Felicia is dating Thomas Fireheart, aka the Puma (which I believe Aguirre-Sacasa started in Sensational Spider-Man), and mentions her stint working for Heroes for Hire. Monica's NextWave stint isn't too far in the rearview mirror, along with the story where she helps the Black Panther fight vampires in New Orleans post-Hurricane Katrina from Hudlin's Black Panther book. Hank Pym appears briefly, in the costume he wore when he was going with the codename "Wasp" to honor Jan. Doctor Voodoo is Sorcerer Supreme, Dr. Strange is not, and Stephen's hanging out with Night Nurse a lot. Patsy's stint as Alaska's only super-hero gets mentioned. All those little stories or changes to the status quo that don't stick, either getting reversed or simply ignored and fading away.

* She-Hulk would be an exception, but I get the impression most people get along with her, like how most people get along with Ben Grimm or Nightcrawler. She's not really anyone's exclusive best pal, you know? I figure one of Patsy's oldest costumed set friends was Valkyrie, and I can't remember if she was alive when this came out. With Firestar I'd figure Namorita, but I'm almost positive she was still dead (or recently alive and still in deep space in the pages of Nova). And I have no idea who Monica was particularly close with. Would she consider Elsa Bloodstone or Boom-Boom "friends"?