What I Bought 11/28/2020 - Part 1

Had five comics left over from November that showed up over the weekend, so let's look at them as we kick off the last month before we escape this twisted hellscape of a year. Today's focus is two first issues. One is a tie-in to an event, always a dodgy proposition, while the other is already been optioned to be a TV show.

Kaiju Score #1, James Patrick (writer), Rem Broo (artist/color artist), Dave Sharpe (letterer) - Ooooh, look how he has his jacket casually slung over one shoulder. So cool. In 1957.

Marco has a plan to steal a bunch of paintings from a museum. To deal with less security, he plans to pull the heist during a giant monster attack, which he is sure is going to happen because the fish the kaiju likes are migrating earlier this year due to climate change. Well, well, look who reads Scientific American. He has a little trouble getting a crew, because while he dreams big, he tends to fuck up the small details, so his rep is shot. 

Plus, the idea of stealing things while in close proximity to a giant monster seems questionable.

So he ends up with an equipment guy that's on his own string of bad jobs, and a safecracker who is too good for this nonsense. If it was actually her, and not another woman who killed her and took her place. The loanshark bankrolling things is the bottom of the barrel, and insists on sending his shaved Wookie of a goon (who seems to hate Marco), along. So, you know, no chance things can go wrong.

 

Still, the concept is interesting. Caper and heists are something I'm into, and Patrick's writing has some good lines in there. Although everyone's constant attempts to one-up each other on the threats and insults could get old eventually. At least it isn't strictly about how many curses someone can throw in the sentence, fun as that can be.

Broo's characters tend to be just exaggerated enough to look a little strange, but not inhuman. Gina and Marco seem to have impossibly long, thin arms sometimes, enough I notice, but not enough it throws me out of the story entirely. Some people are just proportioned weird, you know? The loanshark has the nice suit and the cane, while having skin the color of a cadaver, and his goon has one of those stupid topknots. Because of course he does. So each character feels like a sort of archetype or stock character, with just enough emphasis to make them sort of distinctive.

Power Pack #1, by Ryan North (writer), Nico Leon (artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (color artist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - I know it's not great if you don't want to be tracked, but I always like characters who leave some kind of cool trail when they fly.

The story opens with Katie showing her siblings the comic she made detailing the origin, which she intends to gift to their parents for their 25th anniversary. The others talk her out of it, although it sounds like Katie is only willing to hold until Christmas, so not much peace gained there. During dinner, the Boogeyman is reported as attacking an orphanage (because he eats children, apparently, Jesus Louise Simonson) so Katie fakes a bathroom disaster and the kids sneak out to stop him. Then their battle is interrupted by the newest ridiculous acronym in the Marvel Universe, C.R.A.D.L.E. (fucking seriously?), who are here to arrest children for interrupting a hard-working industrialist's attempts to extend his life at the expense of the younger generation. I mean, to arrest them for fighting crime while underage. 

It sounds as though the law went into effect that very evening, but this is the same universe where SHIELD agents tried to arrest Luke Cage like 30 seconds after the Registration Act went into effect. When all he was doing was sitting in his apartment, not even fighting crime. So, you know, authorities in the Marvel Universe are always doing their best to be assholes.

I'm going to assume Ryan North is not taking this "Outlawed" event seriously. Between the "Boomer Dinnertunes FM team's" 'unexpectedly thorough breaking news bulletin' detailing the Boogeyman's origin and personality defects, Katie insisting she needs all her siblings' help with a clogged toilet, and that character summary of Boogeyman, plus his demand to just be allowed to eat some dang orphans. Which is fair, because again, C.R.A.D.L.E. This thing is probably best mocked relentlessly before it even begins.

 

I do, however, look forward to the Power kids kicking the crap out of these jackbooted scumbags with their tasers, bullhorns, and stupid armored assault vehicles. Leon's clean, expressive style works with North's delayed punchlines and gags, and his kids look like kids. Although I guess Alex might almost be an adult. They mentioned something about him getting artificially aged-up, and I don't know if that's from his time in space with the Future Foundation, or something else, like from back when he was in the New Warriors and bogarting all the powers.