What I Bought 6/4/08

I looked through Trinity #1 at the store today, what with the Bagley art and all. It's kind of odd to see Bagley drawing weird, cosmic stuff, after all those years of seeing him draw various Spider-titles. Looked nice enough, though Tom felt whoever the inker was, they weren't really helping Bagley's art, or it looked different at the very least. I will say, I think he probably needs to beef Diana up a little. Bagley tends to draw slim women, but a bit broader in the shoulders, perhaps. Anyway, I'm not buying Trinity, but I wish Messers. Busiek and Bagley the best of luck with it. Look at it this way: as far as weekly series go, Countdown is probably much more prominent in the fans' minds than 52, so that should lead to more favorable comparisons. Assuming that's at all relevant, of course.

Nova #14 - Here we see the Silver Surfer getting ready for some role play. Maleev really gave Surfer an odd texture, very painted. The color of Nova's helmet being reflected off the Surfer's a nice touch.

This month, Rich fights the Surfer for a time before the Herald stops fighting and listens to what Rich has to say (don't worry, there's an actual reason for their fight). Norrin hears Nova's request and handles it in a really simply depicted way that emphasizes just how powerful he is, and demonstrates how far beyond Nova he is, more so than the fight could. With that dealt with, Rich turns to collecting the Harrow, but that situation has degraded, and Rich is just too stubborn for his own good, so the issue ends with him in trouble.

That works for me. Even though I know Rich is going to get out of the sticky situation he's in right now, I still really want to see how. I want to see if Rich's recent tendency to ignore the Worldmind to focus on capturing the Harrow, or trying to kill an adult Technarch is something the Worldmind calls him on, or tries to address in some way. I like Abnett and Lanning's Silver Surfer. He's trying to toe the party line, but it's not easy for him, after years doing his own thing. I was also pleased to see the return of the Spirograph lines during the fight scene. I don't think that's how the lines of energy coming off Nova and the Surfer are made, but that's what they remind me of, and it's pretty cool. That being said, I'm still not sold on Alves' sequential panel fight depicting ability. Things don't always flow well from one panel to the next (the character's movement leads away from the next panel, rather than to it), and at times I couldn't tell what was going on. Not a frequent problem, but something I noticed.

Robin/Spoiler Special - I didn't have any other books coming out this week, so I figured this would work. Two stories, one about Steph and Tim hanging out in their civilian and costumed identities, and another about Steph in Africa, both from her point of view. The first one is largely about what she's thinking being around Tim again, the changes she notices, things she feels she can do for him. It was OK. I like that Steph feels Tim spends too much time in the dark, and is trying to get him out having fun, though a little trespassing may not be the best way to do that. It's good to see Steph with her own friends.

Blue Beetle artist Rafael Albuquerque handles the art chores on that story and it's good, except for one panel on page 4. Tim points out this "fun" they'll be having is trespassing, and Steph first plays it off as no big deal, then asks Tim if he's ever done anything that was just a little illegal (I suppose besides the vigilantism, unless that's not considered against the law in the DCU?). Tim admits he downloaded Cloverfield, and Steph gets a little laugh. In the first and third panels of the sequence (panels 3 and 5 on the page overall), Steph seems to be playing it light, teasing a little, but in the second panel (panel 4), when she's asking him if he has any misdeeds, she looks angry, whereas I pictured her looking at him slyly, since they used to date and she'd probably know of some past illegalities of his. It's just one panel, but it really stood out because of the really fine work otherwise, including a panel on page 16 where one criminal explains to his buddy why they can't kill their hostage, but then admits he understands the appeal. When he says that, I think I can just make out a small grin on the guy's face. It's not oversold, very understated, and it really worked. Of course, I might be hallucinating that, it doesn't seem as apparent on the 4th readthrough as it did on the 3rd.

The other story deals with Steph helping Leslie Thompkins deliver vaccinations in African villages, when a 'witch hunter" shows up to cleanse the village of demons, which includes people with pink eye, apparently. Steph dresses as a devil called Katavi to try and save the day, and it sort of works. The villagers are apparently not going to take the witch hunter's crap any longer, which is always a plus. Victor Ibanez handles the art, and also does a good job. The colors are more muted than in the first story, more pastels, though there are some panels with lots of red that really stands out. It's not my favorite artistic style, but I find it nifty. It makes me feel like doing art analysis, which could lead to madness, but what the hey.

So two solid books for me. Neither was spectacular or mind-blowing, but both enjoyable.