What I Bought 12/3/2025 - Part 1

I actually ordered these books two weeks ago, but the package spent a solid week going from Kansas City to. . . Kansas City. Then it dicked around who knows where for another three days before finally showing up here. But at least it arrived, and we can close out the last of November's books.

Bronze Faces #6, by Shobo and Shof (writers), Alexandre Tefenkgi (artist), Lee Loughridge (color artist), Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou (letterer) - The rose in the damaged eye is a nice touch. 

A lot of the issue is focused on Sango returning to Nigeria for a big exhibition of the bronzes at a museum. So she sees the way Ogiso was seized on by seemingly everyone. Everyone singing Timi's song, everyone talking about Ogiso and what they accomplished. And Gbonka's used it to launch a greater political career. The Scotland Yard detective obviously let Gbonka and her crew take Timi's body, and then retired, because she's hanging around just, chilling at the exhibition.

Sango and Gbonka try and have one last conversation, and it goes miserably. Sango admits she should have been there for Timi's burial, and Gbonka agrees, for him and for her, and this somehow sets Sango off. It feels like that thing where people project what they know about themselves on others. Sango tends to put her desires and interests above everyone else. If she wants something she goes for it. If she doesn't want to deal with someone, she just shoves them aside. We get a flashback to what seems to have caused the rift and it's a case where something bad happened and Sango basically said, "fuck this, I'm out of here."

So maybe Sango takes Gbonka's words as proof she's doing the same. That Sango let down Gbonka, and that was just not acceptable, because it's all about what Gbonka, with her big plans to build up Nigeria, that are important. It's acceptable to use Timi's song as a rallying cry, even after his death, or borrow Sango's designs for the museum, because Gbonka's higher purpose makes it so.

In Sango's eyes, it's justifications for selfishness, but I guess we're not meant to agree with that, as she's shown repeatedly losing her temper at all sorts of people. Tefenkgi draws her at various times as a giant, who towers over a cab driver she's berating, or as spitting fire at Gbonka (who calmly walks through it and tells her she can never come back.)

I think the fact Sango's not from Nigeria originally factors in somehow, but I'm not clear enough on ethnic divisions in West African societies to grasp it. I was under the impression a lot of African nations are made of many different groups that got told they were a country when whatever European country colonized that area departed, regardless of the sometimes centuries-old tensions that existed. But maybe the idea is that, through the Benin Bronzes, Gbonka is creating a national identity for Nigeria that transcends those barriers. So Sango's unwillingness to buy in or get with the program means she has no place in it? Taking back the bronzes was never about anything like that for her.

Hector Plasm: Hunt for Bigfoot #2, by Benito Cereno (writer), Derek Hunter (artist/letterer), Spencer Holt (colorist) - I feel like the living, warthog skin cloak is actually more terrifying than the Bigfoot. 

Hector manages to convince the sheriff he didn't kill the new victim, and the victim's spirit says Bigfoot did it. They find a bloody footprint, but only one. A search in the woods reveals no trail, but a strange stone arrangement that Hector says gives off bad vibes. Hunter and Holt illustrate this with, jagged, crown-shaped panels that arc over and around the arrangement, spanning the panels Hector and Lip are in.

Hector starts to suspect Lip is behind this to raise the profile of their museum, but this would seem to be blown out of the water when the Bigfoot attacks Lip that night, and nearly tears their arm off. And this is a spot where the way Image printed the book entirely fucks it up, because pages 11 and 12 are laid out so you read the top row of panels across the two pages, as Bigfoot closes on Lip and grabs their arm, then the bottom row, as Bigfoot starts to swing Lip around and Hector rushes to the rescue.

Except the comic is set up where you have to turn the page to get from 11 to 12, completely breaking the flow of the book. I read page 11, flipped to page 12, paused, muttered, "what the hell?" Flipped back to 11, then back to 12, focusing on the top half. Then repeating the process for the bottom half. Feels like something that could have been avoided. (The issue is also only 17 pages, but the first issue was 24, so they're still averaging 20.5 pages per issue.)

Also, Bigfoot's a ghost, which is actually probably a relief for Hector, since he's got more experience dealing with those. 

What I Bought 11/1/2025 - Part 2

I saw a book excerpt a couple months ago, how worldwide birth rates had fallen to the point that the world's population was going to peak. Not for another 40-60 years mind you, at somewhere over 10 billion people, but this was presented as a sad thing, that after that point, there would never be as many people again. I am never the person to try and sell on that idea, but certainly not now, given the current state of things in this world.

Here's one book from September and another from October.

Bronze Faces #5, by Shobo and Shof (writers), Alexandre Tefenkgi (artist), Lee Loughridge (colorist), Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou (letterer) - Can't tell if Sango's carrying flares or dynamite. Could go either way with her.

This issue revolves around a heist at a big estate in Croydon. Shobo and Shof alternate between the heist as it's getting going, and the planning six months earlier between Gbonka, Sango, and Timi, set up so that what they discuss is reflected in the present. Gbonka and Sango argue about whether a Nigerian cleaning lady can be trusted to help, or if she needs to be bought, and we see her going about her routine with the pass key that's only good for a certain amount of time, making a bit of a mess that grants her an extension, which she can use to help the thieves enter in disguise as a trash haulers.

The conflict comes in Timi's insistence they have to recover all the bronzes, and that's tricky. The ones in storage, no problem. The cleaning lady got them in there. The ones on display? Those are being watched, and there's no time. So Sango, as usual just does what she wants and takes them anyway, chucking around smoke grenades as a distraction. Or maybe a statement, because it sure didn't distract the cops.

I was, reading this issue, getting really confused on the timeline. Because Timi's supposed to distract all the museum staff by pretending to be a caterer bringing in tons of free food, but Timi died at the end of issue 3. So I started wondering if maybe he didn't die, or this heist was set before the ones in earlier issues, or if this was the heist that ended with them in a boat being chased. None of this confusion was helped by the issue ending with the crew visiting a Scotland Yard morgue to see Timi's body, and getting caught by that one determined cop. 

What I think is happening, Sango is dealing with her grief at Timi's death by pulling the heist, using the people she told Gbonka six months ago she could recruit. And that's why Sango goes for it all, because that's what Timi wanted. Although I suspect she might have done it anyway. The person the others keep calling "Chibuzo," that is taking Timi's role, is one of the new recruits, not just Timi with his hair in a mohawk.

(I was thinking Chibuzo was like, some new pet name one of the crew had given Timi. And some of the crew looked different because one guy left, and another guy was nearly dead of a gunshot, so they had to find replacements.)

Meanwhile, Gbonka's with the rest of what's left of the original crew, visiting Timi's body. Although, he was killed off the coast of Cape Verde. What is his body doing in a morgue in London? I know Scotland Yard was after them, because that's who Detective Lai works for, but he got killed committing a crime in another country. Can they just extradite the body to the UK?

Black Cat #3, by G. Willow Wilson (writer), Gleb Melnikov (artist), Brian Reber (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - I actually bought the Gurihiru variant. The Hughes cover was good, even relevant to the subject matter inside, I just like the one of Felicia sitting on a pile of loot with a cat better.

Felicia doesn't love the coverage of her attempt to bust vampire smuggling last issue, but she has a chance to try again, with regular old hallucinogenic plants from another planet smuggling. Except the hideout is in Jersey, so Ms. Marvel shows up, because there was some larger law enforcement operation going around this smuggling operation.

Two attempts at do-gooding, with no criminals in her custody, Felicia. . .calls Jonah Jameson to complain?! And Jonah handles this far more calmly than I'd expect, basically explaining a recent do-gooder not successfully catching crooks isn't news. Catch some crooks, then he'll care. Then Sandman shows up, knocks out Felicia after a brief scuffle, and hauls her before Tombstone.

That fight with Sandman was odd to me. Not that Felicia lost; even if Wilson hadn't significantly lowered the Cat's competence, fighting Sandman solo in the middle of Jersey was a tall order. But when she's initially knocked down, Melnikov spends a panel on just the pistol she took off one of the smugglers, which Felicia had been twirling and fiddling with for a few pages. Maybe that's going to prove relevant next issue - she got it back when she dodged the next attack and the bullets help her escape somehow - but as it stands, kind of odd. A revolver isn't worth much against Sandman or Tombstone.

I do like that she apparently took it from the smuggler, named Jim, before he even realized she did it, and Wilson and Melnikov didn't feel the need to show us that. I don't like we had more occasions of the Black Cat breaking the 4th wall to address us directly. Not digging that aspect.

What I Bought 8/4/2025 - Part 2

I took my car in for some work at the beginning of the week, only to be told it didn't need the work. It was the same mechanic shop both that delivered the warning, but what I heard as, "this part is wearing out, replace it immediately," was really, "this part is wearing out, you'll need to replace it eventually." Which is relieving, but also kind of obvious. Everything on a car is going to wear out eventually. But now I'll know what it is when it happens, I guess.

Bronze Faces #4, Shobo and Shof (writers), Alexandre Tefenkgi (artist), Lee Loughridge (colorist), Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou (letterer) - I bought a variant cover, the Chris Visions one, rather than this one. Same price, and it looked pretty cool.

This is kind of a regroup issue, after the apparently disastrous end of the heist last issue. Ogiso are hiding in a lighthouse in Senegal. Liam's looking after his injured brother in the top of the lighthouse. Tefenkgi uses the circular shape to put the two brothers dead center in a double-page establishing shot, with smaller panels showing their conversation reading clockwise across the two pages.

Cisse decides it's time to bail, but when he suggests to another member of the gang they do likewise, it turns into a fight. The lead-up to which Tefenkgi draws in 3 rows where there are no borders between panels on each row. Like it's all part of a single sequence that rolls without pause (although Cisse loses his pipe somewhere between the second row and when he avoids the bottle in the third row.) Liam intervenes and Cisse catches a hit upside the head, but the rest of the group just let him leave with a bag of their cash. And then Sango takes off alone, intending to rob the London Museum by herself.

Shobo and Shof give us some backstory on the detective, the case that hurt her rep and the pressure she feels here, but the most interesting part to me is the flashback to Sango and Gbonka's first meeting, when Gbonka moved into the house. Sango actually introduces herself and friendly and supportive. I get the feeling she received a similar speech from Timi's dad when she moved in. Still doesn't explain what caused the rift. Was it a difference of opinion on how to show their "fire"? Was it Timi, who isn't present in the flashback, but as he seems a lot younger than either woman, was probably in bed. Though it also fits with Timi's absence in the present. It's treated like he's dead, but I figure no body, no death.

Either way, it sounds like Sango's heading right into trouble, and Gbonka's got no plans to follow. Which is a good way for someone to wind up dead beyond any doubt.

Past Time #4, by Joe Harris (writer), Russell Olson (artist/colorist), Carlos M. Mangual (letterer) - What's smearing blood on the ball do for the spin rate?

We get a flashback to the Western Front, where Henry took some shrapnel to the eye, but survived long enough to be bitten by a Kraut vampire. From there it switches to Jack Terry covering a ballgame at the Polo Grounds. Terry's the old guy that was questioning Ronny at a bar in the first issue, but now he's talking with a scout who's been assigned to check out a couple of players on the barnstorming circuit, which Terry's supposed to write about.

One of those players is Henry, the other the speedy second baseman who got knocked the fuck out by the crazy vamp last issue. Henry's pretty excited, but there's just one problem: the game the scout plans to attend is a day game. Whoops. Looks like Henry and Ronny (still trying to adjust to his recent change in status) will both be missing that game.

So Henry pretends to be a hired chauffeur, picks up the scout - Terry's absent for some reason - drives into the woods and wrecks the car, killing the scout. Because if the scout can't see him play, he won't see anyone. No, that's literally his stated reason. I'm not clear on if we're meant to infer this selfish attitude is the result of Henry being a vampire, similar to "saving" Ronny's life by turning him, or if it's just who he is. We've only gotten a couple of glimpses of his life before. The flashback to WWI, when he seems like a wide-eyed youngster too eager to see things for his own good, and the flashback to his college days, when he seemed less interested in baseball than reading the paper about the war. Neither really suggests a selfish dick out to spoil other people's chances if he can't get one.

But there's a couple of spots during the conversation between Ronny and henry where I'm not sure what the art was telling us, either. In the first, Ronny is wandering the field, picking up baseballs. he grabs one, then pauses as whispers, 'Sweet Jesus, what am I?' Was it something about how he found the ball, despite being blind? Because we've seen him perform this role before, apparently by tracking the sound of contact to figure out where the ball landed. Hell, he threw batting practice perfectly well. Best I can figure, even if Ronny's figured out the telepathy thing, the reality of the situation still hits him harder some moments than others.

The second time, Henry tries to play the, "I killed the guy you owed money, you owe me," and Ronny clutches his side and drops the bag. His voice balloon says he's laughing, but it looks more like he's in pain. I guess he just found the fact Henry didn't know about it being a day game really funny. Even if Ronny wanted to help Henry, there's nothing he could do about the sun shining even before it became as lethal to him as to Henry.

I don't feel like, even with the mini-series being one issue longer than I thought, that this book is really coming together. I guess there's still a chance for a ninth-inning comeback. 

What I Bought 6/2/2025 - Part 2

I love that in this year's NBA playoffs, "get a 15-point lead on the Indiana Pacers," is the worst possible thing you can do. With last night's Game 1 win in the Finals, the Pacers have now won 5 games (out of 13 total wins) where they were losing by 15 in the second half. It's bonkers, and hilarious, and just fantastic, really. 

Bronze Faces #3, by Shobo and Shof (writers), Alexandre Tefenkgi (artist), Lee Loughridge (colorist), Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou (letterer) - I still question how easily anyone can breathe and/or see through those masks, but they do grab attention.

Ogiso's still making waves with their heists of the Benin Bronzes, although it occurs to me, I don't know what they're doing with them. I'm not sure of what happens if a museum receives a donation of something stolen from another museum, so I don't know if they could just give them to a museum in Nigeria.

It may be a moot point, because even if the cop that's hounding them wasn't closing (in the party of a heavily armed private security company), the group itself is starting to fracture. The two brothers, Liam wants to take what they've earned and bail, while Declan's getting swept up in the symbolism of the work. Cisse, their forger and phony i.d. man, is hiding something. I'm guessing he's tipping off the detective.

But the real fault lines are Sango, Timi and Gbonka. Sango knows the other two are sleeping together, and this is making her pissy and volatile, to the point she treats the last member of their crew, who she's sleeping with, badly when her mood sours enough. I'm waiting to see if Shobo and Shof go into the backstory for those three a little more, because there's clearly some stuff going on. Especially with regards to how Sango seems to think everything within her view should belong to her, including Timi, that I'm not getting. So she just comes off as a spoiled child. If she really wanted Timi, maybe she could have tracked him down sooner, before all this. But it didn't interest her or suit her then, so she didn't. Snooze you lose.

Most of the issue is people in the crew talking, and Tefenkgi repeatedly goes with a panel-in-a-panel approach. The main panel shows most of the scene, and then the smaller one is like a zoom in on one person's face. And sometimes the other person in the scene is talking, so the tail of the voice balloon comes from the edge of the panel or somewhere beyond it. Nice way of grounding the smaller panel within the larger scene, but still guiding the focus where the creative team wants it.

Dark Pyramid #3, by Paul Tobin (writer), PJ Holden (artist), Sara Colella (color artist), Taylor Esposito (letterer) - Is this what happens when a population of goats gets isolated up on a mountain?

Becca seizes a moment of distraction to clock the general in the face with a rock, then smash some remote thing that was controlling or guiding Eve. So now Eve's killing soldiers and party people, which at least affords Becca and Shailene a chance to resume fleeing. They make it above the treeline and find a landmark because Hooky live-streamed himself peeing on the rock. Whatever works, I suppose.

Then they find a bunch of goats with human faces, who mostly say "Interior?" Then the military catches up, and while Becca and Shailene are able to convince Eve (who somehow got ahead of them without being noticed) to go attack the helicopter instead, that does nothing when General Cho and his boys show up. And then they kill all the goats as "abominations." I'm not inclined to disagree, but why are you just getting around to this now, and shouldn't you save some bullets for when Eve gets back?

I don't get the deal with Eve particularly. I can sort of parse some of what she says, and the bit where she picks up the rock Becca used and calls it "long sleeper", and "old friend" was kind of funny. Maybe it was meant to be disturbing, that Eve's maybe been around 60 million years, but it didn't hit that way. I do like Holden's design for Eve. The glowing eyes and thin slit of a mouth in front, then a huge, almost Venom-like grinning mouth on the back of the skull. And whatever Eve is, she can apparently twist her neck so the toothy mouth can face forward. Either that or she's able to run and jump backwards with great skill. Maybe that's the sort of thing you learn with 60 million years to burn.

Anyway, Becca and Shailene are back in the military's grasp, loaded on a truck, and oh, dang, looks like Hooky's dead. Tough break, can't even livestream a reaction video because General Cho will probably shoot them. 

What I Bought 3/14/2025 - Part 1

I only found half the books I was looking for last week, but three is better than zero, so we'll roll with what we've got. And today, what we've got is a pair of books on their second issues, one of which on much more solid ground with me than the other.

Bronze Faces #2, by Shobo and Shof (writers), Alexandre Tekenkgi (artist), Lee Loughridge (colorist), Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou (letterer) - That does seem like good headgear to wear in a fistfight, provided you can see what you're doing. Or you're Daredevil.

In the 4 months since the heist in issue 1, Gbonka, Timi and Sango have expanded their operation, bringing in more people, including some with actual experience at stealing things. Smart, though it does feel like the sort of thing that opens more potential holes in their group. Especially now that there's a determined cop, Detective Lai, on their tails.

Still, those are problems for a future issue. For now, the goal is a heist on a train carrying a lot of stuff for an auction at the site of a famous horse race. Most of the issue, Shobo and Shof show us what's happening through Ev, some video streaming person with a rich dad, who can't resist showing off some antique horse that's passed to her, and records all the security measures and passcodes it took to get to it.

Tekengki puts a scrolling view of various comments when someone is looking into the phone, which vary from excitement at potential drama when Ev remarks she might try to hit with a suave gentleman who bumped into her (and copied her palm print), to someone asking if the thieves, who now call themselves "Ogiso", intend to put the art in another museum, just in Nigeria, lol. You know the type.

It is a little difficult for me to take anyone seriously if they start a statement with, "Hashtag," as the Ogiso do at the conclusion of their public statement. I initially thought that was Gbonka, because it seemed like the sort of thing an earnest, but painfully square, politician would do. But going by the masks, it was Timi. Ah, well, he's the hip young musician, and I'm a fuddy-duddy, so what do I know? Other than Sango is not happy about Timi and Gbonka making out, and the two ladies still don't seem to be seeing eye-to-eye. Tekengki is still setting it up so even when they do make eye contact, they're in separate panels and look as though they're looking away.

Mine is a Long, Lonesome Grave #2, by Justin Jordan (writer), Chris Shehan (artist), Alessandro Santoro (color artist), Micah Myers (letterer) - That's what life in decaying, mining towns will do to you: You wind up with tapetum lucidum like a dang raccoon.

Harley left last issue's victim tied to the hood of a car with railroad spikes through his eyes (something about preventing the soul from escaping.) So the Weavers send more guys, who end up either shot or buried in a collapsed mine. The ringleader of the squad, to the extent he qualifies, at one point briefly sees Harley with a bunch of glowing eyed faces looming behind him. Not sure what the means. I was operating under the impression the Weavers knew the magic around here, but maybe Harley's got a little, too.

Preliminaries taken care of, Harley beats up a guy in a bar to learn how things stand, then starts destroying all their holdings, what there are of them. Mostly this involves burning down a huge warehouse full of pills, then hitching a ride on the underside of the lead goons SUV to get inside the Weaver's compound. 

And that's about it. Harley's hallucinations are getting worse, distracting him often enough he gets clipped by a few rounds. He comments at one point he has to live long enough for the curse to kill him, which might only be a day. I thought he had seven days, or does he mean something else? Either way, my new theory is the priest did it, as a way to use Harley to clean up the dying town. And there's a certain amusement in the man of God using heathen curses. I'm not sure if I'll stick around long enough to find out.

What I Bought 3/5/2025 - Part 4

Hitting up the annual big used book sale for the county libraries today! Which means there'll probably be a lot of vaguely disappointed reviews of novels in the coming months! Hopefully I'll find at least a couple of interesting non-fiction books. In the meantime, here's the two first issues.

Bronze Faces #1, by Shobo and Shof (writers), Alexandre Tefenkgi (artist), Lee Loughridge (colorist), Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou (letterer) - Very good, looking professional and stylish.

We've got Timi, Sango, and Gbonka (also called "Rose" in a couple of scenes.) Timi's father was an artist, sculptor of bronzes especially, who took in Sango and Gbonka under circumstances not entirely revealed yet, although it sounds like Sango's father is dead, and Gbonka's parents might not have been well off.

When Timi's father dies, all his works are sold to a British museum to pay off his debts. The three kids, now young adults, run into each other at an exhibition, catch up a little (and argue a little, as was apparently common.) Then Sango argues they should steal the art back. Timi's in, Gbonka's not initially, but saves their butts from a guard. Timi happened to grab a box that contains a list of every Benin Bronze taken from Nigeria, and their current locations, and the trio agree they're going to take them all back.

Shobo and Shof lay a lot out in this issue. The basic concept behind the story, these three deciding to retrieve cultural treasures, many taken under, shall we say, questionable circumstances. But also what each of them are doing currently, their financial situations, greater aspirations, and especially the dynamics between them. Timi's younger, and each of the girls seems to look after him in their own way, but Sango and Gbonka don't get along at all.

Sango seems to act on impulses and holds little back, while Gbonka is more cautious and thinking about consequences. Around each other they seem to bring out the knives in different ways. Sango mocks Gbonka's desire to become a senator or dismisses her from a discussion she calls a 'family matter.' Gbonka needles Sango about turning her back on her country, and questions her motives on everything. Tefenkgi often draws them talking without looking at each other. Backs turned or looking opposite directions, or we can only see the person speaking, so we don't see the reaction of the other. They both seem comfortable being close to Timi, supporting him or hanging off him, but they don't interact with each other that way.

And Timi clearly feels how he's caught in the middle and gets frustrated with it, but doesn't seem able to really stop it. I get a real sense he's kind of passive, especially as one of his first scenes as an adult is him surrounded by white guys making various sales pitches while he stands there looking, pleasantly neutral? Not saying anything, not leaning towards anyone, but not away from anyone, either.

We can see how their different skills could mesh beautifully for something like this, but also how easily they could self-destruct.

Mine is a Long, Lonesome Grave #1, by Justin Jordan (writer), Chris Shehan (artist), Alessandro Santoro (colorist), Micah Myers (letterer) - Looking completely deranged, fairly concerning. 

Harley's out of prison and returning home. Not for long; just to dig up some money (and guns) he buried and to give the cash to his daughter, who wants nothing to do with him. Because he killed her mother, his wife. Although the circumstances are thus far vague, and the way Shehan draws the glimpses we get, mostly the victim on the ground bleeding from a gut wound, trying to tell Harley something, I suspect everything's not as it seems.

Either way, he kept the guns, which might be good, because Harley was in town longer than someone wanted him to be, and he gets cursed. Either he kills the one responsible in seven days, or he dies. He says there's only one person who could do it, but kills the schmoe he thinks laid the item/totem/whatever for the curse as a message. The whole scene leading up to the killing, as Jordan has Harley explain what he's about to do, and Shehan draws several close-ups on Harley's face, Santoro seems to keep coloring the pupils larger and darker, until, combined with how narrowed they are, Harley's eyes are basically voids. Contrasts nicely with the shots of his victim's eyes, which are wide and terrified, the whites clearly visible. At least, until they're obstructed.

There's a lot of ways this could play out. I half-suspect it was Harley's daughter that set the curse, even if her mother's side is the ones that know about that kind of stuff, and they apparently don't believe she's one of them. But I only have Harley's word on how many people could do this, and he's been in prison over a decade. Things change. Granted, it wouldn't be much tension if it was her, because I'm pretty sure Harley would just let himself die then. But if he doesn't figure that out until well into the bloody swath he clearly intends to cut, it may be too late to keep someone from trying for revenge by targeting his daughter.

After one issue, this doesn't interest me nearly as much as Bronze Faces. Probably because it seems like it's treading such familiar ground, and so far, it hasn't done anything particularly creative. But maybe with the stage set, issue 2 will do a little more to get my attention.