What I Bought 1/27/2010

Back to the small weeks. Back in the summer, it was the middle of the month that was quiet for me. Now it's the ends. Kind of weird. The UPS guy was late again this week, so Customer Jack was helping Store Owner Jack get the shipment inventoried and on the shelves while several fellows stood around, waiting to grab their stuff. It reminded a bit of the junkies you see roaming the streets in GTA: Vice City. Not a flattering comparison, I know, but it's apt. No, I wasn't milling about aimlessly! I was helping the Jacks get books on the racks, because it's neater that way and I'm a bit of a neat freak in that way. It doesn't extend to dusting and sweeping mind you, but I like to have stuff in an orderly state.

Amazing Spider-Man #619 - I didn't mention it, but last week's cover was pretty nice, with Martin using the plaid pattern of Mysterio's costume as a net the other characters were caught within. This one is nice too, in that it's a very striking image, Spidey standing there with blood running over him.

Carlie's father explains why he isn't dead, as he was apparently believed to be. Spidey helps the cops fight Silvermane and his Maggia guys, except, oh no, Spidey killed one of them! Or did he? He then runs into former Spidey crime boss foe The Big Man, and in the scuffle all the bad guys shoot themselves, and the Big Man turns out to be. . . Captain Stacy, the long dead father of the almost as long dead Gwen Stacy?! Oh, well now that's just stretching it too far, but Mysterio's OK with that. Meanwhile, Aunt May is being mean to people other than Peter Parker, and Mr. Negative is planning to deal with Spider-Man.

If I weren't as familiar with Spider-Man history as I am, I wonder how effective this would be. I'm only aware enough of the Big Man to know he's been gone for a long time, maybe since before Romita Senior drew the book. I think Slott provides enough in the dialogue to let the reader know the basic, important details, but maybe that's me filling in details. I like the idea of Mysterio as taking power without anyone of the people being aware he's their boss. You don't see the guy who sets up the special effects, and if he's really good, you might not even realize what you're seeing is an effect, so it's nice. Marcos Martin? What do you want me to say? I don't know if he draws the sound effects into the panels, or if that's the letterer (Joe Caramanga). Whoever it is does a swell job.

Guardians of the Galaxy #22 - That's a creepy cover.

The Universal Church of Truth is pouring the belief energies of a planet of 9 billion followers into the creature Moondragon is trying to keep trapped within her. Since the creature feeds on such energies, that's making it harder for her to keep it under control. Enter Star-Lord and the Guardians, who have gotten a bit creative in their attack plan. And good news, the Luminals actually did something useful! It was bound to happen eventually. Also, the High Priestess' attmept to immobolize Drax did not work the way she hoped. The good guys wins, the creature is released from Moondragon under controlled circumstances, and sent back home.

Then there's the last page. It's simultaneously "Oh crap", especially the bottom two-thirds, and "Hooray!", that'd be the top third. I'm wondering how it came to pass, whether Star-Lord screwed up, or if it's part of some larger plan by Kang. Man, that'd be cool if this was some larger Kang plan. Brad Walker's on the art, I hadn't noticed this in previous issues, but this month he heavily uses panels with fairly wide white spaces between them. Also, once the fighting kicks off in earnest, his panels start becoming more disorderly, overlapping, becoming odd parallelograms and tilting at strange angles. I'm guessing it's meant to convey the chaos of battle, but it's not a technique I remember him using before. Guess I need to pore over previous issues.

That's all for me this week, so share your thoughts on the books, or the books you bought in the comments, if you'd like.