What I Bought 4/6/2011

When Jack bought the store from Ken, he continued the tradition of having a fridge stocked with drinks customers could purchase cheaply. Yesterday, he had this 12-pack of some energy drink he won in a radio station drawing. He didn't plan to be entered, he just wanted to request a song (which he missed when it played), but the DJ entered him and he won the drinks and a free sub sandwich. His problem as he saw it was the drink's called Rip It, and the particular flavor is "F Bomb". He was trying to decide what he was going to say if any kids asked what F Bomb meant. I'd made my purchase and was on the way out the door, and told him to say it means "Fun Bomb", which seemed satisfactory to Jack. It's the obvious answer, right?

Annihilators #2 - I've been waiting impatiently for this since roughly the moment I finished the last issue. Which is good. I worry sometimes I'm burned out, and things don't excite me as much.

In the first half of the book, the Annihilators travel to Galador and save it from the Dire Wraiths by blocking the light of the Black Sun. I would note that After they've done this, there are several panels where it's visible in the background, which feels like a miscommunication between the writers and Tan Eng Huat. Ronan, still smarting from Ikon saying he's the weakest member of the team takes out Doctor Dredd single-handedly. Good on him. it seems that they're a little too late as the Wraith Queen is already pretty powerful considering how she tossed them about when she appeared. Oh, and Brandy Clark, Rom's beloved and Matriarch of Galador is featured prominently, and makes more than a couple references to the Greatest of the SpaceKnights. Not by name, of course, because of those same issues about licensing that always crop up with Rom.

In the second story, Rocket rescues Groot with the help of the disgruntled Undergrowth. Then all of them save the planet from a horde of robot killer clowns. We learn Rocket doesn't remember his past, which might explain why it hasn't been brought up since his reemergence on the scene in Conquest. He and Groot travel back to Halfworld, and are about to be blown up when the issue ends. I love Timothy Green II's artwork. It's very animated, more exaggerated than his other work, maybe because he doesn't draw anything really human. It's all talking animals (and plants, and fungi) and killer clown robots. That encourages a little loose style. He's very good with the expressiveness of the characters, especially chagrin or uncertainty

Batman Beyond #4 - This issue's from Max' perspective, as we learn about what it's like being Batman's best friend, the difficulties that creates, and the responsibility she feels from it. She's trying to help Terry protect Dick Grayson, who was outed as Nightwing after Gordon let other cops stay in the room while that ex-Cadmus researcher blabbed about her work in the recent Batman Beyond mini-series. Good work there, Babs. Dick doesn't seem willing to play along. Then Max tracks down a famous hacker named Undercloud who wants to recruit her, and has some of her encrypted files about Terry being Batman. It appears Max is going to solve this problem on her own, or try to.

Nice to see Beechen is continuing to restock the rogue's gallery he depleted. I'm curious to see what Undercloud's plan is for Gotham (I almost typed it as Underclod). I like that Grayson's unwilling to let Bruce play his secret protecting games. Eduardo Pansica handles the art this month, and his style is the smoother sort I prefer, though Bruce looks too young. His faces isn't weathered enough. Pansica draws a couple of action scenes, and there's pretty good flow from one panel to the next, both in how the panels are situated, and in how the character's are placed and moving within the panels.

Heroes for Hire #5 - Misty fends off the Punisher, serving as Puppet Master's mind-controlled attack dog. Iron Fist and Paladin find the place, but Puppet Master turns Paladin and the other heroes they've used so far (except Ghost Rider and Elektra) against Danny. Fortunately, Misty uses the doohickies Stark built into her bionic arm to wreck Puppet Master's control device, which frees the heroes. Problem with that is, it also frees the Punisher, who promptly shoot Puppet Master before Misty can get anything from him, on the ground the villain won't talk. Frank's surprisingly sure of that. Misty and Danny have a talk, which seems to reaffirm they care for each other, even if they aren't together. Not sure whether Joy Meachum would have been encouraged by that conversation or not. Misty and Paladin are still going to try and make the Hero for Hire bit work.

The question of who was behind the Puppet Master remains. I guess it's going to be the spine of the book, assuming the book survives long enough. I'm surprised at the idea of Paladin actually caring for Misty. He struck me as "no strings" kind of guy, but what the heck. Robert Atkins is still the penciler this month, and I feel like a lot of the perspectives are off. Characters don't seem to be looking in the right direction, or the angle they're shown at doesn't match the angle a bullet they fired comes from, things like that. The art isn't bad, but I have this nagging feeling the whole time that something isn't right about it.

Secret Six #32 - Ragdoll doesn't have a soul. Go figure. This makes him a savior in Hell, if he wants to be. Even so, he won't give Scandal the card because hey, he might want out of Hell someday. Makes sense. Catman bails on the team so Etrigan will take him to see his father. That should be an interesting conversation. What's left of the team tries to fight an army of Ragdoll's admirers before the big reveal at the end. Back in Vermont, things are still going very badly for Liana.

Let's see. I like what drove Ragdoll to take the steps he did, though I don't know if I buy it. Maybe he was just going crazy in a different way than he was accustomed. I don't like Catman being able to kill a large, seemingly powerful demon as easily as he did. Then again, they're in Hell, so I'm sure a demon can pull itself together quickly. I like Bane's shock when he learns of his fate, and Deadshot's general indifference to the whole situation. I hope Calafiore's not going to be doing that backdrop of skulls for the remainder of the arc. It's kind of irritating more the more I look at it. Plus, when characters are drawn outside specific panels, they get this thicker black border around them which also bugs me. It gives the impression that image was pasted in there, like a kid's book where each page is a setting, and you place the stickers how you want to.