What I Bought 1/26/2015 - Part 8

I still watch Pardon the Interruption. I avoid all of ESPN's other "shouting about sports" shows, but that one always had the air of two friends bickering gently, so that helped. Lately though, Wilbon's just gotten so irritating. Implying Marshawn Lynch has nothing worth saying, just because he doesn't like talking to the media, or those strawmen he created to rail against analytics Wednesday (I'm pretty sure no one has ever argued you shouldn't start Jordan and Pippen together because they were both wing players). Fine, he's old and cranky, but Kornheiser is older still, and he's managed to keep his head from drifting that far up his own ass.

She-Hulk #10 and 11, by Charles Soule (writer), Javier Pulido (artist/storyteller), Muntsa Vicente (color artist), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - They changed Pulido's credit from artist to storyteller between these two issues, but left Soule as writer.

 Steve Rogers gets on the stand to tell his side of the story, which is basically the same story, except the guys Sammy's brother was working with were actually Nazis, and the FBI showing up on a raid was the only thing that saved Steve. Which is what the file Patsy recovered says, but Jen can't use that, as there is no "Hellcat stole it" exception for evidence. Which is a shame. Anyway, it boils down to he said, he said, the word of a dead man admitting he was mixed up in something (though he omitted that fact about it being Nazis), versus the word of Captain America. So Steve is found innocent and later reveals to Jen and Matt that it was all part of a plot by Dr. Faustus to ruin Rogers' reputation. I had the same reaction to that reveal as they did. "Oh, Dr. Faustus, of course!" I don't know anything about him, but OK sure, I guess Cap's enemies are lining up to get their last licks in before he keels over. I expect Crossbones will be mailing Steve a package of adult diapers and applesauce any day now.

Jen, Angie, and Patsy return to their office to be greeted by Titania, who is here to convince Jen to stop nosing around in the Blue File. But being a bad guy, she'd just as soon use it as an excuse to kill Jen, and she even brought her old friend Volcana along. In the ensuing fight, Angie demonstrates control of energy by redirecting one of Volcana's blast back at her, and Hei Hei survives being in thrown into orbit by sprouting wings and growing considerably. While he finishes pummeling Titania, Angie reveals she'd been continuing to look into the file, and Jen (with weird swirly light in her eyes) fires Angie. Who then tells Jen that Nightwatch has been behind everything. Pretty much like we figured.

What do we figure is the deal with Angie? Personally, I'm betting on her being an Ancient One. Maybe not the one that trained Stephen Strange, but maybe the one from before that. She's been walkabout in other realms for a long time, and now she's back. In paralegal form.

It's rare I say this, but not a fan of Pulido's version of Volcana. She looks like a rock creature, when I'm pretty sure she's always been a being of energy. Like "Volcana" was more a reference to the heat and light, and less to the geologic origins of that heat and light. That said, it was nice to see Titania bring her along, rather than the Absorbing Man. I mean, those two are a fun villainous couple, don't get me wrong. But sometimes you want your friend to come along, not your significant other. Plus, Volcana was more likely to work in a supporting role, whereas Crusher would have tried to hog more of the action.

I don't know much else to say. The Steve Rogers story kind of petered out. I guess I was expecting something more to swing it than "Steve tells his side and it involves Nazis". I didn't expect him to lose exactly (though they were dealing with a jury made up of the sorts of imbeciles who populate the Marvel Universe, so it wouldn't have been a huge shock), I guess I just figured Jen would have to do something more. And I have to wait and see how things play out with the Blue File in the final issue. What's it about, what's Nightwatch trying to protect (because I'm pretty sure something bad is going to happen when they start remembering). Sticking the landing is hard.