What I Bought 6/12/2015 - Part 2

Poison ivy is an awful thing. Not the worst thing - I still hate ticks quite a bit more - but an awful thing, nonetheless. One more offering from the revamped(?) DC, plus a book from Marvel I already know I like.

Starfire #1, by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti (writers), Emanuela Lupacchino (pencils), Ray McCarthy (inks), Hi-Fi (colors), Tom Napolitano (letters) – Seems as good a place as any to mention that I’m not sure how, but Kori’s new outfit seems to cover more when Conner draws it than Lupacchino. But when I look back and forth between the two, it seems to end at roughly the same places. I’ve decided either the perspective we’re seeing Kori from on the cover is giving the appearance of shortening her, or Lupacchino gives her a longer torso.

I haven’t loved Conner and Palmiotti’s Harley Quinn, but it’s had its moments, and I do like Starfire, so what the heck. Kori’s settled in Key West, for some reason, and sought the advice of the sheriff, Stella Gomez, in finding a home and employment, for some reason. The Sheriff helps her get some money (by selling some gems Kori found when she was escaping her captors out in space), and finds her a trailer, just as a hurricane comes along to destroy everything.

Palmiotti and Conner seem to be keeping it deliberately vague as to how much of Kori’s history in the new 52 is in play. She didn’t mention the Titans, or her time working with Jason Todd and Roy Harper, but alluded to having many other adventures, so I guess they wanted to leave those doors open. Fair enough. In personality, she’s reminiscent of her portrayal on the Teen Titans’ cartoons. Unfamiliar with Earth customs and colloquialisms, very literal, very eager to make friends and empathize with others, open with her emotions. She hasn’t demonstrated a temper yet, but we’ll see if that emerges in time. I definitely approve of the effort to establish a supporting cast of characters in the various townspeople (something they’ve made a solid effort with in Harley’s book as well).  The Sheriff, for one, but also Boone and his grandmother (who owns the trailer), Benji who owns a jewelry store (which I’m sure will be robbed, the sheriff’s brother Sol (who’s with the Coast Guard and nursing a broken heart). We’ll what the creative team does with them, but I’m never going to criticize the attempt to build a supporting cast.

Lupacchino’s art is good, though I honestly expected something a little more exaggerated for this book, given the writers. Of course, I thought the same thing about Harley Quinn, and Chad Hardin seems to have loosened his lines up over time, so we’ll see. There are already the thought balloons for Kori, where we see how she interprets various Earth phrases Those aren’t more exaggerated, just kind of silly, which is OK . Kori certainly looks attractive (Lupacchino’s art reminds me of the Dodsons, at least in the faces and hair), and I like the fact her hair is always trailing energy. It’s a nice visual, implies her free-spirited nature, and also how much power she has at her disposal.

I can’t decide how gratuitous the panel of her in the shower was. It was just the one panel, but yeah, it was probably pretty gratuitous. At least the way she was standing seemed anatomically possible, and the whole scene was sort of in keeping with the “not from around here theme”. Unrelated to that, I did laugh at her introduction to Boone, and his explaining to his grandma that Kori can learn languages through kissing. When the Sheriff points out Kori already knows English, she promptly replies she hoped to learn more English. I thought that was a good response. After all, Boone probably has an accent and all sorts of phrases Kori wouldn’t know. How does that power work anyway? Never mind.

It wasn’t a spectacular first issue, but I’m willing to give it some time, see where things go.

Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #6, by Ryan North (writer), Erica Henderson (artist), Eloise Narrington (trading card artist), Rico Renzi (color artist), Clayton Cowles (letterer) – Before I saw it was Koi Boi, I thought Invincible had wandered over from the Imageverse again, like when he teamed up with Spider-Man, and that made me scared. The last thing this book needs is a visit from Robert Kirkman’s hyper-violent superheroverse. On the other hand, she should definitely add Niels and the Invisible Woman to her team, Niels because Nancy would like him, and he’d be a friend for Mew, the Invisible Woman, just because. And just say no to Joe Quesada, Niels might attack him on pure reflex, anyway. Then he’d get put down as a vicious animal, and Speedball would turn into Penance again.

Squirrel Girl’s reward for stopping that bank robbery is to have to guard it for a week while they repair the hole she made in the wall. Then Hippo the Hippo (an ordinary hippo hit by strange energies and turned into a hippo-humanoid) comes along to rob the bank, and S.G.’s attempt to stop him is interrupted by Chipmunk Hunk and Koi Boi, the former making many terrible jokes and puns, the latter uttering some truly cheesy superhero dialogue. ‘Who would think the only thing I couldn’t punch. . . was his heart?’ I would have thought that, because you are a small human being, and he is an angry hippo. I bet you can’t punch his small intestine, either.

Anyway, Squirrel Girl deflects Hippo’s attempt at carrying off an entire bank to pay his food bills by helping him to find employment, and it turns out all the heroes know each other, as Chipmunk Hunk is actually Tomas, who Doreen met on her first day. This is all very well and good, but Nancy feels left out as the only one who can’t speak to animals. So Doreen takes her to the zoo, on the theory Nancy simply hasn’t met the animal she can speak to yet. This doesn’t work, and then a group of lions escape their enclosure only to be stopped by Girl Squirrel. A squirrel dressed like a girl, who is an instant hit online (and steals Doreen’s catch phrase about eating nuts and kicking butts). Doreen is suspicious of this squirrel, and with good reason, as that night it sneaks into apartments all over New York, whispering in people’s ears, and causing them to go on violent rampages when the awake. Including some of the super-heroes. All right, hero versus hero fight! Beat up Cyclops first, Doreen! And last! And all the times in between those! Except for when you’re punching Tony Stark!

I really liked this issue, from Doreen not knowing whether to introduce herself when a bunch of heroes get together, to Nancy’s theory about the ineffectiveness of the Squirrel suit for people without super-strength, to Erica drawing Chipmunk Hun with the Tuxedo Mask-style background full of roses. The part I laughed at the hardest was Hippo’s card in the Deadpool Guide to Super-Villains. Not because of any of the text, just for how grumpy he looks on the card. “Rrrrr, yeah, I’m wearing a plain white tank top. You know why? Because you can buy them cheap in bulk, and I don’t have any money! THAT’S WHY I’M ROBBING THIS BANK!” Large, grumpy animals amuse me, apparently. As long as they aren’t trampling me. Good work on that trading card, Eloise Narrington! I’m still laughing out loud picturing his grumpy face as I type. My brain may have been more cooked by the sun than I initially suspected.