What I Bought 12/09/09

It was quite windy here today, and since it's December, that means wind chill. Granted, the wind chill's only in the mid-20s, and I'm sure the readers up North are scoffing at that, but it makes me miss all the sunny November days we had. However, it does not make me miss the rainy October days.

Deadpool #18 - I don't have the cover up yet, maybe in a day or two, but Domino wears a domino around her neck now? I didn't realize she had a theatrical streak. I also didn't realize she was that endowed. Think Pearson may have overdone it a bit.

This month Deadpool takes care of the X-Men's image problem stemming from lying, deadbeat father/Osborn lackey Ellis Kincaid, and it doesn't involve killing people. OK, Deadpool does kill one person, but he was going to kill Kincaid, so it's cool. When it's all said and done, Deadpool has put one past Mr. Kincaid, Wolverine, Domino, Cyclops, and Norman Osborn. Go Deadpool! Even though it helps the X-Men, Cyclops is about as gracious as you'd expect, but I think Wolverine was legitimately impressed with Wade, which is nice. Maybe he won't stab Deadpool the next time they meet. OK, that's stretching it.

I have a hard time believing that was actually Deadpool's plan all along. Or maybe I just can't believe he saw it through. This is the guy that got sick of waiting for Bullseye to attack and went looking for him in a monster truck. I does serve to remind us that behind all the jokes and insanity, Deadpool is dangerous, and if not brilliant, at least capable of thinking quickly. He made Colossus let go of him by pulling of his mask, then spitting blood in his face. Or was he throwing up blood? I hope not, Geoff Johns might get sore Deadpool's stealing his bit. I'm not surprised the stint with the X-Men flamed out, but I wish he'd had a chance tos ettle in a little before it went to hell.

Secret Six #16 - That cover seems fairly similar to the one for this week's issue of Titans. Female character, sitting on something, legs crossed, dress showing off a little leg, wearing one of those neck bracelets (chokers?). Plenty of differences too (Donna Troy's at a 3/4 angle to us, Alice is facing us directly), but kind of strange those two would come out the same week.

The Six appear to be helping a child rapist and murderer escape. That did not give me a good feeling about this issue, but things turned a bit. It's still not a cheerful thing, and Catman's idea of a pep talk is creepy, but at least they aren't helping a complete scumbag. Black Alice arrives and demands to join the team. Deadshot and Catman refuse, and try to ditch her in a strip club. That doesn't work. The rest of the team shows up, including Scandal, and try to dissuade her, then she beats up some cops, and most of the team, and Bane lets her join.

This should be interesting, since no one outside of Ragdoll seems enthusiastic about having her on the team, albeit all for different reasons. Alice has that teenage gift to rationalize her actions, so she can probably do just about anything. Or maybe she really doesn't care. That would be troubling. I'm certainly on board for it. Pencils this month are handled by Peter Nguyen. Nguyen's work is a bit rough, though in places his faces remind me of Batbook artist Dustin Nguyen. Combined with the colors, there are lots of shadows in the book, and Peter's tendency to draw long, angular faces, makes the characters look a bit haggard, which adds an air of desperation or danger to them. So that's good. Peter draws a nice Alice channeling Phantom Stranger, though I'm curious why, if she got the Stranger's hat, opera cape and awesome medallion, why she didn't also get his pants. Maybe she only swiped the upper half of his power.