What I Bought 12/03/09

For some reason, UPS guy didn't reach the store with comics until almost noon. Which, when the store usually opens at 11, leads to sad comic shop owners. It gave me some time to peruse comics from the last couple weeks, and I came across Invincible Iron Man. I know they're heroes and thus better people than me, but geez, I think I would have debated whether to help Tony Stark out of his coma a little longer than Dr. Blake and the crew (excluding Pepper) did. Then again, I'm still not high on Tony Stark the character after all the, well, you know. Being in a coma is karma telling Tony to take his futurist line and shove it. I know, he did it to himself. I'd rather the heroes take their chances on bringing down Osborn without him. There are other smart people to lead the way, thank you very much.

GrimJack: Manx Cat #5 - St. John of Knives meets Mannachs. GrimJack's still tagging along inside St. John, until he's not. Then lots of GrimJack's attack Mannachs. Well, not exactly GrimJack's, but close enough. St. John and GrimJack are pulled back to their world, and drag Mannachs along for the ride, which would have been a terrible idea if they didn't have a Lord Protector nearby to help. GrimJack returns to his time, realizes he shouldn't have left the Manx Cat with BlacJac, and hustles off, first to get some tools, then to get the Cat.

There's something that Mannachs reveals, that potentially contradicts something established in GrimJack. It could be a trick, or it could be Mannachs having taken a look down GrimJack's lifeline a bit, and having seen what's there. Or maybe John Gaunt really isn't the first in the line. Hard to say. Truman's art is nice as usual, though there are panels where his style seems less realistic than usual, and a bit simpler. I think it's because he (or his inker) is using thicker lines than they did back in the day, and some there are fewer lines now. This issue was a little dry, but I'm eager to see how it ends.

Nova #32 - Nova and Darkhawk land before Nova's old enemy the Sphinx, who has brought them somewhere to assist him in a contest. Not sure yet what the contest is, but it involes murderous djinns, and giant crocodile monsters, which is either good, or bad, depending on your point of view. If Sphinx is assembling a team, it's a curious one, because he grabbed a Reed Richards from early in Nova's career (they play dodgy on what specific year it would be in the current timeline), a Black Bolt, and oh, that last page. I wasn't sure who it was until Nova said something, but man, that's a cruel trick for the Sphinx to play. He's gonna dangle her like a carrot in front of Rich's nose, I just know it.

Something about Darkhawk is making him a wild card. I don't think he's supposed to be there, because Sphinx can't seem to see him, and a barrier that prevents Nova from leaving the atmosphere doesn't affect Darkhawk. Which could give Chris Powell that opportunity to prove himself he's apparently been seeking for some time now. Oh, and we get to see Reed Richards say 'I don't know.' Three times! I bet Dr. Doom wishes he could have been there for that. Sorry, Dr. Doom does not wish for such things, as he no doubt observed it through means accessible only to Dr. Doom. Andrea DiVito continues to handle the pencils, which is fine with me. Everything's clear, easy to follow, and DiVitio draws quite a gator-monster.