GrimJack: Manx Cat #2 - The man GrimJack stole the Manx Cat for has already had it stolen from him, and they'd like Gaunt to get it back, and they'll pay him for it, which is nice since he was planning on finding it anyway to get Johnny Aristo off his back. He looks up his old buddy BlacJacMac. They get into a firefight with some heavily armed (and seriously dumb) repo men, who want the Cat. Then we meet BlacJac's new lady, Goddess, then Gaunt gets a little information out of Roscoe (for a fee), and hunts down Darlin' Lil. But things start to go awry, as they usually do.This issue actually doesn't advance the plot very much, as Ostrander spends most of the issue expanding on Gaunt's character, and introducing us to a few more of his friends, and seeing how they interact. Which is fine, as I like watching BlacJacMac bust GrimJack's balls about so old and ugly. Plus, Ostrander makes sure we get at least a few pages of GrimJack being badass, which is always a good thing. I like Truman's art, but it's a little odd that for certain buildings, he seems to have taken a picture of a real place, and superimposed it into the picture (he did that with the courthouse last month as well). It's kind of jarring, and I know Truman could probably draw an antebellum house that looks better than the picture they use. Maybe there's a point to it, but it eludes me.
Guardians of the Galaxy #17 - Star-Lord's warning arrives a bit late, as the T-Bomb's already gone off. The Guardians confront the Inhumans, and Phyla continues to aggravate the situation, until Lovecraftian Monstrosity #2,347 attacks the Flying Spaceship City of Attilan. At which point Groot collaborates with Maximus to send the thing packing. Apparently he's not just saying 'I Am Groot'. Meanwhile Adam Warlock uses the Universal Church of Truth as a power source for a spell to stop the Fault from expanding any further, and tethers the present to a unused future timeline for some purpose. Then Phyla stabs him through the chest. Yep, say hello to Mantis' prophesied traitor from issue #1 (or was that #2?) Then Gamora "kills" her, then we learn the price of Adam Warlock's big spell, and it's not good for Gamora.Well now, that was a lot of stuff. Team members dropping like flies all over the place. Still, it sets some future conflicts up for what's left of the Guardians, and I somehow doubt that Lord Oblivion's plans are actually over. I'm not sure about Abnett and Lanning have Rocket Raccoon reference "Gerard Way" as a comparison for Adam Warlock. Maybe because it doesn't mean anything to me, or maybe because, unlike with Rocket's reference to E-Bay back in #1, no one expresses incredulity with the comment. Brad Walker's on pencils, but it feels as though he's using more small lines than he did previously, and that he's exaggerating people's faces more, especially around the mouths. Lots of characters seem to be pooching out their lips, the way chimpanzees do (almost like puckering, but jutting the lips out further, so they aren't really touching). It's kind of distracting. And I think the Phyla/Gamora fight would have worked better in separate panels, though looking at it, he does use the sword motion in each still to lead to the next one, which is a nice touch. As it stands, I'm more interested in what this sets up for the future than the actual events in the comic themselves.
Nova #28 - Nova takes out the Strontian that nearly killed his little brother, and he uses a headbutt to make it happen. Headbutts, represent! The other Novas stomp some other Imperial Guardsmen, rescue Ravenous and Raza of the StarJammers. Then Rich negotiates himself, his Novas, and their prisoners out of King Blastaar's hands rather cleverly. Having returned to Nu-Xander, we learn the Corps is down to about 8 members, as Rich is not going to force Robbie to go home once he heals up. At the end, a space ship comes floating out of the Fault (the Corps having decided to go check it out, since it'll probably release things for them to deal with).That was fun. I like Rich beating someone as strong as Gladiator, and doing it cleverly. I especially like how he managed to sweet-talk Blastaar into letting him go, but still threw in a dig at Blastaar, reminding him what Nova Prime did with the 'last idiot who faced me with a cosmic control rod. I tore him inside out Blastaar. Inside out.' I never get tired of remembering that battle. Good times. Also, the look on Blastaar's face as Rich bows to him, and thanks him for his mercy and compassion is just priceless. Go Andrea DiVito! I read this in the Legion of Doom review of the issue, and having read it myself, I'm inclined to agree: I'm not a fan of the Worldmind's new speech patterns. I'm not sure I'd classify them as a teenage girl's, but then I'm not sure how teenage girls sound. I suppose they're trying to differentiate more between the Worldmind's old format, and Ko-Rel, the basis for the current model, and she would be more impressed by weird stuff, but she was a Kree soldier, so I'm not sure she'd be sound, um goofy, at times.
Street Fighter Legends: Chun-Li #4 - Our heroes survive the attack on them at the restaurant, and learn what Sagat was after (those Terracotta warriors) and that's he's already got them and is leaving. They hustle after him, beat up his guys, but Sagat pretty much beats all three of them up, then flees because more police are coming. Po Lin figures out she's in the cop business for the wrong reasons (revenge) and calls it quits, then we get foreshadowing to the eventual murder of Chun-Li's dad, which is what sets her so doggedly on Bison's path.The problem with this, and it's one I should have realized earlier, is that this is really just filling in some gaps in Chun-Li's history. I'm not a Street Fighter afficonado, but even I knew her dad doesn't get killed by Sagat, and I know Ryu is the first one to ever beat Sagat, which means I knew as soon as our heroes started fighting him, they were all gonna get whomped. The future is already locked in, and they can't change it, so they have to lose. Also, they're not terribly effective in the story in general. They survive all the gunmen at the restaurant because another friend shows up and helps, and he forces one of the gunmen to tell them what Sagat's up to, and where he's gone. They don't get that information through interrogating suspects, or pounding the pavement for clues, so they start to feel like bystanders in the story. I do like Omar Dogan's art, and the story in general is probably a good example of what could have happened to Chun-Li after her father died, if she had let it, so that's a couple of things in its favor.
And that's all the reviews for now. Adorable Baby Panda the 2nd will be by tomorrow for our usual escapades.
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