Random Back Issues #107 - Giant Days: As Time Goes By #1

Well, it's only been two months since we last looked at Giant Days, but that's fine. Always time for that series, even if this was the conclusion of the book.

A year after graduation, Esther's working as an editorial assistant at a publishing house, and generally being taken advantage of by two completely awful women, both named Cressida. The constant dumping of their work on her desk has caused Esther to experience burnout on a severe scale. Worse, as she explains to equally depressed cog in the financial machine Ed Gemmel, she's missed ten weekend get-togethers with Daisy and Susan in a row.

As for those two, things are going much better. Daisy enjoys her work as, well, I'd be inclined to think she's working as a civic engineer, trying to prevent a famous footballers weird mausoleum from falling in on itself, but maybe that's standard archaeology work. She's also still dating Saffron, the girl with too much hair she met her last year in school.

Susan's working at the hospital, not getting to use a bone saw nearly as much as she'd like, while McGraw works at the key store and hopes for an engineering job offer to come in. Or does he?

Susan, in an attempt to update McGraw's desktop wallpaper to a sexy image of her, finds out he's been getting job offers in other towns and turning them down. She confronts him in her usually tactful manner, by which I mean she calls him, 'phenomenally stupid' while projecting an aura of flames. Only orange-yellow flames though, nothing too hot.

That's what Esther walks in on, so the weekend is off to a roaring start. Their evening of fun is on the upswing, until the Cressidas show up, having tracked Esther by her phone. Esther demonstrates her typical inability to brush off people she perceives as popular even if they're dicks, to Susan's complete disgust. She storms out, Daisy caught in her wake, and Esther ends up alone at some horrible jazz show after the Cressidas abandon her there.

Which makes for an awkward breakfast the next morning. Susan's her typical acerbic self, Daisy is polite, but to the point that the Cressidas suck, and Esther runs into the rain before tearfully admitting she's lonely, but didn't want to drag her friends down with her. What are friends for, if not to be torn apart in the maelstrom of your personal issues? Anyway, Susan demands a showdown and the Cressidas turn out to be. . .

I don't know what the fuck that is. Some hideous, energy-sucking, body-snatching wraith thing. Whatever it is, it's no weak against British public transportation. Susan ducks in the key store long enough to affirm she loves McGraw and wants him to pursue job opportunities, even if they take him elsewhere. In return, she gets a key. A big skeleton key. Cool. Random quest rewards are the best!

Esther and Daisy are hiding in line at the post office, counting on the Cressidas inability to cut the line. or maybe they're repelled by old people. Whichever. This time, combined with the ready availability of Post-It notes, has given Daisy the beginnings of a plan, missing just one key ingredient.

Yes, the key opens the footballer's mausoleum, and his ghost sucks the wraiths into some other dimension. The day is saved! Now all Esther has to do is explain to her boss what happened to the top executive assistants. I smell promotion! Or I smell smoke because she took Susan's advice to commit arson.

{4th longbox, 192nd comic. Giant Days: As Time Goes By #1, by John Allison (writer), Max Sarin (artist), Whitney Cogar (colorist), Jim Campbell (letterer)}

Random Back Issues #102 - Giant Days #42

Hey Giant Days, is it Relationship Disaster Time for Esther de Groot? Trick question, it's always relationship disaster time for Esther.

Esther has, many months after Ed Gemmell's drunken confession of his feelings (of which she was already aware), concluded she likes him, too. All that remains is, as Esther puts it, to use the month of December to get him under the mistletoe. Her boss at the comic shop has over 20 years of accumulated fad nerd shit piled up, and Esther finds a bunch of Advent calendars. Including one for Babylon 5! Gemmell's heart is sure to be hers!

Personally, I think she should have quoted the dialogue from Batman Returns about the relative lethality of mistletoe versus a kiss. Ed would probably have spontaneously combusted with attraction.

Susan thinks, predictably, this is a terrible idea, but hasn't got time to try harder to talk Esther out of it. McGraw has gotten roped into regularly helping some older gentleman named Cliff with various. . .activities. These are carried on at all hours of the day and night, and seem to be sucking away McGraw's life. He can barely enjoy the lasagna he made!

With that to contend with, the best Susan can manage is warning that Ed's been hanging out with Nina, a large Australian girl who is also in physiotherapy due to drunken decision-making. Esther's response is, when approached by arch-nemesis and housemate Dean Thompson about whether Ed and Nina are dating, to tell him the field is open and go for it.

Yeah, that intel was out of date, as pretty much the first thing Nina does after she and Ed ditch the crutches, is invite him home for dinner that quickly turns to sex. I would say it's fortunate they went to her room for the latter, but knowing the conditions of kitchens occupied by college kids, sex would hardly impact the cleanliness.

Nina is so smitten with Ed, she asks if he'll come visit her in Australia after Christmas. They don't waste time in the land down under (as highlighted in the Giant Days one-shot, "Where Women Roam and Men Thunder"). Ed demurs, not sure if he can afford the plane ticket. He's also worried, as he explains to a rapidly disintegrating Esther, that he'll develop serious feelings for Nina, then she'll return to Australia after college and that'll be it. He asks Esther to tell him what to do.

Esther says go for it, an act of remarkable maturity. Which she follows by retreating upstairs for Advent-calendar-chocolate therapy while Ed ponders how to wrangle money for a plane ticket. Fortunate that Daisy has gotten hired on with a Christmas village, run by someone McGraw would be all too familiar with.  

[4th longbox, 180th comic. Giant Days #42, by John Allison (writer), Max Sarin (artist), Whitney Cogar (colorist), Jim Campbell (letterer)]

Sunday Splash Page #204

 

"Keeping the Spirit Alive, and/or Undead," in Giant Days #23, by John Allison (writer), Max Sarin (penciler), Liz Fleming (inker), Whitney Cogar (colorist), Jim Campbell (letterer)

Initially, the continuation of Giant Days was going to be a six-issue mini-series, still written by John Allison, but drawn by Lissa Treiman. Pretty sure before those six issues were even close to done, it was doing well enough it became an ongoing series. It ultimately ran 54 issues, plus a host of one-shots typically released around the end of the year.

I started buying the single issues at #29, but I'd bought at least a few of the tpbs by then and was trying to catch up the rest of the way. I cannot remember what exactly prompted me to start buying this book mid-2017. There must have been positive word of mouth, but for the life of me, I can't recall from who. Tegan O'Neill mentioned it in a Twitter thread of comics she really loved, that's as close to anything concrete as I can get.

It has that element of the humor in the mundane, or just in the particular ways humans act like idiots. Couple that with Allison's knack for entertaining dialogue, whether it's dry sarcasm, bleak statements of doom, or gross exaggeration, and it was the comic most likely to make me laugh basically every month for 2.5 years.

We get to watch Daisy, Susan, and Esther progress through three years of college, experiencing all sorts of strife and conflict. Some of it's typical of college, like Esther doing horribly her first semester because she embraced freedom and never went to school, or Daisy's miserable luck with her first girlfriend, Ingrid. Housing difficulties, job difficulties, both in terms of part-time employment while in school and long-term employment prospects once out of school.

There's also the more bizarre elements Allison sprinkles in. The girls attending a music festival and Susan's drink being spiked by an old enemy right before a torrential downpour hits, putting everyone at risk of dying in a mudslide. Esther breaking up with some tech-bro billionaire because he endorses the hyperloop and she's convinced that thing is some secret plot of the Russians. Stuff where I have to laugh because it's completely absurd, but Allison has written the characters so well I can completely believe they'd react as they do.

Even so, there's still a core of something kind in it. It's not just sarcasm and jokes. The three leads inevitably pull together for each other when it counts. Even if someone behaves selfishly at one point, they usually try to make amends later, even if it isn't always accepted. There's acknowledgement that things change and that can freak you out, but it isn't necessarily bad. Bonds between people only break if they let them.

After the first six issues, Max Sarin took over as regular artist and maintained that role for the remainder of the book, minus a few issues drawn by Julia Madrigal or Allison himself. It's fun to watch Sarin's style progress as she goes along. Her linework grows more confident, less jagged and busy (she eventually starts inking herself). She gets a little more creative with the panels. not necessarily the layouts; Allison's writing is set-up so pages often end on a punchline or verbal jab, but making the borders wobble or wavy if the characters are tired or inebriated.

Beyond that, Sarin's just excellent at body language and expressions. Not only the more exaggerated effects, like giving Esther all sharp teeth when she snaps at Daisy about something, or drawing Susan as a spectral form when she's running on 4 nicotine patches at once. But the more basic stuff of characters moving or standing or making faces that seem entirely appropriate and natural to the situation. I think the first time I noticed it was in issue 29, when Esther's noting how clean Daisy's gotten everything and she's running up finger along the door frame while partially leaned over and smiling appreciatively. It was just a perfect representation of that action.

In 2017, I didn't buy enough single issues for it to consider it for Favorite Ongoing, but it would have been in the running for #1 (up against Unbeatable Squirrel Girl) if I had. The third volume was my #3 tpb I purchased that year, and Allison and Sarin were my #2 favorite writer and artist, respectively. In 2018, it won Favorite Ongoing and One-Shot, Volume 6 was the #2 tpb, Allison was #1 writer, and Sarin came in behind only Carla Speed McNeil for Favorite Artist. In 2019, it almost ran the board. Favorite Ongoing, Writer and Artist, but came in #2 on One-Shot.

I just really love this series.

Sunday Splash Page #203

 

"Tell Them It's a Lesson in Self-Sufficiency," in Giant Days, Chapter 2, by John Allison

Before it was my favorite ongoing series two years running, Giant Days was a webcomic, which Boom! eventually collected in a handy tpb (titled, Giant Days: Early Registration) for Luddites like myself who don't like reading comics on a computer.

It covers Susan, Daisy and Esther's early days in college. Moving in, making new friends. Being taken hostage by a society of annoying preppy girls who think you're just like them. The fresh bloom of new love, or at least basic physical attraction. Not being able to sleep because the people upstairs play loud music into the wee hours of the morning. Joining a new club and overthrowing the de facto president by challenging him to arm wrestling. Getting drunk and waking up with a tattoo. A tattoo that almost gets you initiated into a dark society.

The thing John Allison does here that I enjoy is the mixture of the banal and the absurd. Problems that kids out on their own for the first time encounter and are frequently befuddled by, but with some little element that pushes it over the top. The head girls trying to co-opt Esther because they think it's still high school and she should be part of their stupid clique isn't unusual. The fact each of them - including Esther - is the master of a particular fighting style is.

Allison's quick to fill out their personalities. Susan's blunt talking and general acerbic manner, coupled with a fierce loyalty. Daisy being compassionate and a little naive, but also oddly knowledgeable. Esther being simultaneously charismatic and easily charmed. Determined to do things her way, but flighty enough to be easily swayed. It allows for each of them to run smack into problems they can't deal with, but one of the other two can.

Allison has a very simple drawing style, but it works for what he's trying to do. This is a book with a lot of big action, mostly people talking and making clever comments. Allison's good at drawing people who dress and slouch or whatever like actual people would. Giving them realistic body language, but it's loose enough he can draw something a little weirder and still make it work.

Next week, the mini-series turned ongoing series I loved so very much.

Giant Days - Non Pratt

Set during Daisy, Susan, and Esther's first year, the story finds their friendship still on uneasy footing. Susan is struggling to share, Esther is wondering how college has so quickly become same old, same old, and Daisy wonders if she's latched too tightly onto these two girls. 

Each of them ends up lost in one obsession or the other that leaves them blind to each other's problems. Susan can't stop being angry about McGraw's presence. (Based on that and Daisy having her baby pigeon, I think this must be set not long after the first six issues of what became the ongoing series.) Esther repeatedly debases herself, even being willing to attend her classes, trying to become friends with some massively cynical goth girl. And Daisy signs up for three dozen different clubs and becomes ensnared by a yoga cult.

I wasn't sure about this going in. Would another writer be able to capture the voice of characters that I'd only seen written by John Allison. Especially when I'm used to seeing the characters say the dialogue and emote. Pratt mostly pulls it off. The voices of the characters seem right, even in their internal monologues. Their reasoning behind their decisions feels on point, too. Daisy's difficulty in saying no, Esther's tendency to make bad decisions about friends based on superficial characteristics, Susan inadvertently causing harm with her caustic attitude. There's a fair amount of humor, and the absurd elements the stories typically have.

The characters are chattier than in the comics, but there's no pictures to carry any of the story, so that makes sense. If I thought it about, it wasn't hard to picture what I was reading in my head in comic panels. It was in Max Sarin's art style, for the record.

'Daisy had been ejected from the club, and an e-mail with Esther's photo attached had been sent out to every stationary story in Sheffield warning employees not to let her in.'

Random Back Issues #15 - Giant Days #29

I believe you're supposed to save that sort of thing for graduate school. With college budgets shrinking, assistantship dollars are at a premium.

The first single issue of Giant Days I bought, the main thread is Esther's status as Queen of the English Lit department being threatened by Emilia, who transferred in after some huge dispute about whether Pentatonix is madrigals. I have no idea what that sentence means. Just looking up definitions on Google leads me to believe Esther's correct, and a pentatonix could be a madrigal. Why can't a madrigal have five tones? Don't answer that.

Esther's response, reasoned and well-thought out as always, is to try and curry favor with the chief professor, creepy lecher Ken Lord. Which leads to her getting completely wasted at some social gathering, and nearly letting Lord take her home with him. Emilia ends up saving her, and the two become fast friends for about five minutes. Then it turns out McGraw's cheating on Emilia with Susan (who had actually been advising Esther to make friends, which should have been a clear warning sign), and everything falls to hell.

Fortunately, the next time Esther runs afoul of Ken, 33 issues from now, she's on much more sure footing, and sends him down in flames, and gets to stuff herself with fancy cheeses again (her intelligence about taking advantage of free food is something I highly relate to). It's fantastic.

The other plot thread is Daisy's attempt to set Ed up with one of her friends from Archaeology, who is also interested in all sorts of science fiction things, just like Ed. Well then clearly they're a perfect match. When's the wedding? Geez, even I know more about relationships than Daisy. Not by much, by I do.

Ed didn't feel the spark, or whatever, so there was no follow-up date, which leads to Daisy screaming at him in the grocery store. Daisy is about one issue away from starting her disastrous relationship with Ingrid, so I'm just going to assume that is her penance for being Miss Nosey Matchmaker.

{5th longbox, 59th comic. Giant Days #29, by John Allison (writer), Max Sarin (penciler), Liz Fleming (inker), Whitney Cogar (colorist), Jim Campbell (letterer)}

What I Bought 11/20/2019 - Part 3

It's a day for John Allison books, which is good. But that also means it's time for me to say so long to Giant Days! That's bad. But it comes with a free Frogurt! That's good. I was lying, there is no Frogurt. That's bad. Or maybe it's good? I liked frozen yogurt when I was a kid, but I'm not sure that's the same as Frogurt exactly.

Steeple #3, by John Allison (writer/artist), Sarah Stern (color artist), Jim Campbell (letterer) - Did someone play Stairway to Heaven?

All the townspeople are united in their distaste of the incoming wind turbines, which are being installed by a company run by a pair of former Christian musicians. It's bad enough the Satanists and the Church unite. Granted, the Church is because Reverend Penrose fears they're trying to use the latent energy in the area to open a small doorway to Heaven, which will probably not remain small. The Satanists just hated having giant crucifixes outside their windows. As it turns out, the ecological issues related to wind turbines apparently piss the Lord off, so it doesn't work. In the aftermath, Billie is concerned she's not godly enough, while Maggie is worried about the opposite.

I'm surprised Magus Tom wears a collar like a reverend. Or at least that he'd wear it backwards, with the white part in the rear. Or, given this guy, the collar would probably be wrapped around something other than his neck. They guy tries to commit to the evil thing. Loves to tent his fingers like Mr. Burns, leans forward in anticipation a lot. The pink sweater is a nice touch. Again, not what I'd expect, especially given how Brian and Maggie dress like they're attending a metal concert. Just goes to show you can't judge by appearances. Well, you can probably judge a little bit by Tom's upside-down crucifix.

As to Billie's concerns, trying to figure out what God wants of you seems like a sucker bet, but that's probably why I'm not in the religion business. I assume the mistake is that she's worrying about, rather than just doing what she thinks is right. Or maybe she's spending too much time worrying about trying to convert Maggie? I don't know. I'm not really sure how that friendship is going to play out. If Maggie will abandon her faith, or Billie just accepts it as part of who Maggie is, or what. I'm assuming there will not be some dramatic fistfight for all the theological marbles between the two.

Giant Days: As Time Goes By, by John Allison (writer), Max Sarin (artist), Whitney Cogar (color artist), Jim Campbell (letterer) - There's 10 more empty wine glasses just out of sight.

Esther is on thin ice with Daisy and especially Susan because she keeps missing their monthly get-togethers. Because she can't say no to the two creepy assistants to the boss at the publishing company. She gets away in a last-ditch move, but they pursue her because. . . they're assholes? Succubi? They manage to multiply and hitting them with a bus didn't do much, so perhaps their televangelists. Fortunately, Esther knows about curses, and McGraw had an. . . unusually large key.

It's an interesting mix of circumstances. Esther seems miserable personally and professionally. It's curious that she's doing so badly at making friends, but I guess her time at university started poorly, too. Daisy's on Cloud 9, as things are going well with Saffron, which I didn't expect. Susan wants to do more amputations, but work is otherwise good, and she and McGraw were doing well, until she found out he was forgoing career advancement to stay close to her. Which pissed her off, because she's a cat, apparently. Ed's finding the world of banking about as exciting as I figured he would, but I don't know if he and Nina are still together.

God, the Cressidas' faces just look so bizarre. Like a particularly untalented child trying to approximate a human face using a bedpan as a model. Which is great! Makes them look fake and weird and plastic, which they are. They way they hang over Esther, invade her personal space -and it's always them trapping her between the two of them - try to drag her wherever they want. Susan's boiling fury at them is wonderful. I'm going to miss Max Sarin drawing this book so much.

I don't know what Esther's going to end up doing. If she reverts to college Esther, something, rash, impractical, and distinctly unwise. But that would be entertaining, even if it becomes a train wreck. I wonder if we'll see the outcome tangentially in some other book of Allison's down the line?

What I Bought 9/13/2019 - Part 2

It's been 90 degrees here all week. Guess I should get used to that state of affairs, but I would rather complain futilely about it. Where's my autumn? At least the temperature is supposed to moderate this weekend. it's Alex' birthday, so it'd be nice to not feel trapped inside.

Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #48, by Ryan North (writer), Derek Charm (artist), Rico Renzi (color artist/trading card artist), Michael Cho and Doc Shanher (trading card artists), Travis Lanham (letterer) - Doom is unimpressed by Squirrel Girl's ability to cradle Iron Man's unconscious body.

The villains all agree to work together until Squirrel Girl is defeated, then it's everyone for themselves. Totally sure none of them will try to jump the gun on that! Doreen advises the villains attacking her at school that this is a bad idea, and they give up. Traveling to what's left of Doreen and Nancy's apartment, they find Mew did not get blown up. Hooray! Then they track Melissa to the park, where she spends the rest of the issue monologuing about how she hired someone to tamper with Iron Man's armor so she can hijack it, and how she let Brain Drain send off that message and blah, blah.

OK, "Iron Ring" is not a great name, but not even Melissa can bat 1.000. It is impressive how much time she's spent maneuvering and preparing for this moment, although I'm not sure we needed roughly 6 pages of her talking about it. Less chat, more splat, lady.

During the scene where the cast is rushing to Doreen and Nancy's apartment, there's one panel where they leap from what I assume is a building that is just below the border of the panel, but between the way that's laid out, and the next panel where they're off in the distance above seemingly empty space, it looks like they jumped off air. Or an invisible building. Maybe it's Melissa's secret lair! I hope they remember to go back and check that out later!

I did enjoy the three panels of Doreen and Nancy gawking at the assembled villains, and then Doreen hands Nancy their respective trading cards so she (and the audience) can all get familiar with these bad guys. Also the fact that on the final page, it looks like Tony is trying to fight Taskmaster by throwing rocks at him. Not a boulder, mind you, just ordinary rocks. While fighting in his Iron Man boxer shorts, which I call bullshit on. Everyone knows Tony Stark would have special-made boxers with his own face on them. Iron Man boxers are for everyone else.

Giant Days #54, by John Allison (writer), Max Sarin (artist), Whitney Cogar (color artist), Jim Campbell (letterer) - I don't remember if I threw my cap in the air at my high school graduation. I didn't attend the ceremony when I got either of my degrees. The fact I didn't have to was something I was very pleased about when my mom told me. Pay a bunch of money for a stupid gown and sit there sweating for hours to get a piece of paper that tells me something I already know? Hell with that.

Esther and Daisy bunk with Susan for the 6 weeks between the end of their classes and receiving their degrees. Esther didn't clear this plan with her parents before having them haul her stuff home, so that's awkward. When they notice the back tattoo she got first year they didn't know about either, that makes things worse. Also, her influence has got Susan thinking about stealing all the diplomas for herself. So many useless degrees! Ed got himself a haircut, and a job at a bank. Poor Ed, bad luck right to the end. Daisy got a job working on historic sites for the city council, but must avoid the tomb of Derek Dooley. Well now I have to know what's in it! There are tearful farewells and that's it, until next month's "One Year Later" one-off

Daisy's whole hypothesis about what could potentially end their friendship came from left field, but I've had some notions like that during conversations before, so I can't talk. I like that Allison touched on the recent passing of McGraw's father (part of the reason there was room for Esther and Daisy was he went home to help his mother for a while). That's not the sort of thing that just resolves itself quickly and neatly, not in the legal sense or the emotional one. Dean Thompson got a one-panel send off from Esther that was all he deserved, but not all that I wanted him to get.

Susan's video-game version of herself is hilarious, and the bizarre, mini-Susan Daisy envisions as a product of an affair between McGraw and Esther is adorable. If you set aside the part where she pictures them giving the child cigarettes. There's no way McGraw would be so irresponsible! There's one panel of Esther's mum freaking out about the tattoo where I love the postures. her mouth is wide open (as are her eyes), and her hands are in her hair, while Esther scrambles to put her dress on, and you can only see one big, embarrassed eyes peering out. It captures the moment so well. I am going to miss Max Sarin's artwork so much.

What I Bought 8/16/2019 - Part 3

I'm in one of those rare times where I actually have an abundance of things to post about, between comics, baseball games, old movies, my story, and whatnot. I'm sure this time will pass all too soon, though. Until then, let's get to the last book from the stuff I bought two weeks ago.

Giant Days #53, by John Allison (writer), Max Sarin (artist), Whitney Cogar (colorist), Jim Campbell (letterer) - Leave it to Susan to put her fist at the wrong angle for the bump. Back of the hand parallel to the ground, not perpendicular! She's the Dave Batista of Giant Days' Evolution. Which would make Esther HHH and Daisy, Randy Orton? That can't be right. I despise Randy Orton. Hang on, let me spend 27 hours in a dark room working on this.

It's the final week of classes. Esther has entered some fugue state of preparation, while Susan seems mostly calm, probably because she has a lot more schooling to go. Daisy is freaked out over the rash of bizarre pranks that have descended upon her peaceful hall. The pranks are the result of that rude girl Coralie, who simply couldn't tolerate that one time Daisy asked her to be considerate of others. Unfortunately, Daisy attempts to go full police state after ingesting Polish flu medicine to catch Coralie in the act and succeeds only in ruining her final week at school. Which was precisely Coralie's plan, as she's just a troll. Her win is for anyone to waste their time playing her game. I suppose that's a good lesson to learn, although if a person replaces all the kitchen fixtures with cardboard, you really have to do something. That's ruining the living experience for all the other students.

I'm really hoping there's some form of comeuppance for her next issue. Really, I was hoping that as she walked away gloating either Esther or Susan would come running in with a Superman punch to the jaw, Roman Reigns style. Probably Esther. Susan's diminished lung capacity would probably keep her from doing that sort of coordinated running, jumping, and hitting.

I'm really all in on the wrestling references in this post. Just seems appropriate.

I love the complete shift in Daisy's look once she gets on those flu pills. Frazzled Daisy is always impressive, just for how much of a mess she looks like, with her hair and limbs allover, but doped up Daisy is something else. The dark shadows and increased contrast around her face, the scowling in doorways with glasses you can't see her eyes through. The weird hair and '90s hacker look.

Two other bits I enjoyed were the aghast look on Saffy's face when Daisy takes those pills (and the bizarre little green rectangles as Daisy drifts into the Night World), and when Susan and Esther are getting ready for the dance. We see Susan fighting to bring her hair to some order in one panel, then Esther takes over and in three panels, she's got Susan looking like a 40s film actress. Didn't even distract Susan from helping Daisy realize she might be Cora's target. Not that it helped Daisy any.

They Grow Up So Quickly - Eventually

I mentioned this Wednesday, but I appreciated that Giant Days #52 gives us a chance to see Esther interact with Ken Lord again, because it serves as an opportunity to see how she's progressed as a person.

In Giant Days #28, she goes to a professor's soiree determined to show off. To prove that she's the star of the English Romantic Literature program, reclaiming that position from Emilia (who doesn't give a crap about such things anyway). Only to be stymied when Emilia starts playing some tune on a lute. Esther opts to sulk, first gorging on fancy cheeses, and then drinks way too much wine with Professor Lord while trying to impress him. She ends up tipsy to the point she's going to let him take her home with him, and it's only Emilia whisking her away that saves her.

Then she throws up repeatedly in the bushes outside.

Flash forward to now, she accepts Ken's invitation to one of his parties, to get Shelly into contact with people in the publishing industry. Esther knows full well now what Ken's hoping for. So even when her attempt to sneak off somewhere quiet to again gorge on fancy cheeses* brings her into contact with him, he hasn't got a chance. When the masculine bravado gets shot down immediately, he tries the pitiful, "I'm so lonely," approach, and that doesn't get him anywhere, either.

I really love the extremely skeptical look in panel 3 there, followed by the cold dismissal in panel 4. Old Ken is gonna need a lot of wine after that brushoff. Or perhaps counseling would be better.

It isn't as though Esther's matured entirely in the last 24 issues. She applied for a job in the financial sector because she figured she'd make money like Shelly. Because she a) had no idea what she'd actually be doing, and b) doesn't have any solid idea what Shelly does for a living. That's a bit foolish, although it worked out in the end. She asked her interviewer how one gets a good job in the place, as opposed to the job the interviewer has. Which doesn't seem like a good thing to ask, but I can appreciate the honesty**.

There are still things she doesn't know, or doesn't bother to think about before she acts, but she's gotten wiser in some ways, at least. The rate of romantic debacles has slowed considerably, for one thing. There's just been that one guy that was sure he could improve on the Hyperloop that I can think of since Ed Gemmell drunkenly confessed his feelings (then broke himself into 50 pieces climbing a wall).

She did still give herself massive carpal tunnel trying to win an essay contest typing it out entirely on her phone. But she won the contest. She's still the one out of her, Daisy, and Susan that's most likely to get them mixed up in something crazy, but I think there's more good intentions behind it now.

I think Daisy's trial by fire is up next, since she'll no doubt have to confront the rude girl after she does whatever it is she's planning. But she handled Ingrid once, and there was past romantic tension there, so this should be a relative breeze. She just has to summon that energy she gets when she's completely fed up with everyone else's nonsense.

*Until I reread issue 28, I didn't remember she actually started with cheeses before Ken got her plastered. I'm not much of a fancy cheese guy, but I understand completely taking advantage of free food when it's available.

** The closest I've gotten to that was one of the last jobs I interviewed for prior to getting my current job. When they reached the end, and asked if I had questions, I admitted I had no idea why they had opted to interview me for the position, as I had no relevant experience in the specific area the position involved.

What I Bought 7/6/2019 - Part 2

The sad thing of getting the last of my stuff into the apartment was figuring out a few other things got swiped along with the N64. I couldn't remember where I'd packed everything, so I was holding out hope some of it was in the last few boxes. Nothing I'm crushed by the loss of, although it's interesting to add up what they took. Very likely they were kids, since I can't imagine many adults stealing that Two-Face print I bought at Cape-Con a few years back. I mean, I liked it enough to frame it and hang it on my wall, but I'm weird.

Giant Days #52, by John Allison (writer), Max Sarin (artist), Whitney Cogar (colorist), Jim Campbell (letterer) - Is that something special only people from the UK are allowed to do? Sit on the hands of Big Ben?

Esther is off to London for an interview at a bank. Which is a horrible place for her to work. Would you entrust your money to her? No you would not. But she figured her friend Shelly lives the good life working in a large building in London, so this was the way to go. Except Shelly isn't in the financial industry, and she hates her work and wants to write children's books. All of which she confesses after they attend a Norwegian death metal concert.

Life in the big city is just fascinating. Or terrifying.

Good friend that she is, Esther tries to help by getting them invited to a party by Ken Lord, the creepy professor I thought looked a bit like Jack Kirby that tried to get her wasted in the first issue of Giant Days I ever bought. He's also an author and publicist, and Esther is willing to venture into that creepy den to introduce Shelly to people she is sure will be interested in her ideas. Which they are, even though her idea for a children's character is deeply disturbing. Or perhaps it's just her art skills that make it seem so.

Esther wisely avoids hitting the wine this time, and is thus able to give Ken the brush-off. Thank Christ. What's more, her ability to do so, and apparent eye for talent in bringing Shelly here, impresses some older woman who works in publishing, and offers her a job. As the panel says when she and Shelly skip merrily out of the party, VICTORY.

Meanwhile, Daisy and Susan had a lovely day at a spa, but that inconsiderate girl on Daisy's floor has something big and probably annoying planned.

I loved this issue. Big surprise. The death metal concert scene had some good lines, Esther definitively giving Ken Lord the brush off was fantastic. The expression Sarin gives Esther as Shelly has a freakout before the enter the party was great. There's a bit as Esther waits for her interview, where she sees three employees, one that looks very much like her, discussing the previous night's "money and cocaine" party, which makes me wonder if 2010s London in 1980s New York. But Esther's increasingly concerned face in contrast to people saying, 'I grabbed a load more though, because money is bloody lovely,' cracked me up.

What I Bought 6/6/2019 - Part 2

For all my griping, it could be worse. There are places in the floodplains around town that have been underwater since before the tornado came through. The water was actually receding a bit yesterday, but we're supposed to get rain today. At least the weather this week has been moderate by June in Missouri standards.

So today, we have one first issue, and one book being sad.

Black Cat #1, by Jed Mackay (writer), Travel Foreman (artist), Brian Reber (color artist), Ferran Delgado (letterer) - I ended up grabbing the Travel Foreman cover since there wasn't any difference in price. Definitely wasn't wasting my time with the J. Scott Campbell one.

Felicia attends some big art gala, and uses herself as a distraction so her team can steal a different painting. But Felicia pissed off the Thieves Guild (not clear if it's the same one Gambit is affiliated with, these folks dress like ninjas) so they try to kill her during the getaway, and one of the gala security team may or may not become a recurring antagonist. And the old guy thief the Black Fox shows up, as he hired her to steal the painting, and has some BIG PLAN.

There are also two short back-ups stories. One two-pager by Nao Fuji about Felicia robbing a jewelry exhibit with the help of three cats. One of which initially brings her a dead mouse instead. It's adorable.

The other story (by Mike Dowling as artist, with Mackay, Reber, and Delgado rounding out the creative team) is about the Black Fox cheating at cards against Dracula, in Miami decades ago. Then we find out he tipped off Ulysses Bloodstone as a way to keep Drac occupied and make a quick escape with money. This is also when both of the Fox' students, Felicia's dad and a a guy named Castillo, who I'm assuming will pop up in the present day somehow.

I don't really care about the Thieves' Guild, whether Gambit's involved or not, but I guess as a convenient source of people for Felicia to deal with in fight scenes, they'll suffice. Black Fox as the teacher of Felicia and her father is probably a retcon. But most of the appearances of his I've seen were the Micheline/Larsen ASM era, where he looked about 200 years old, and was surviving by the skin of his teeth.

I don't know if it's Reber's color work or just Foreman and Dowling's styles, but the art on their two sections really reminded me of present-day Howard Chaykin. Not entirely; neither of them is nearly as heavy with their linework as Chaykin. Maybe it's how much time everyone spends dressed in fancy gowns and suits. Chaykin loves drawing that kind of stuff. But there are times where I'm not sure if Foreman went really light on his lines, or Reber's colors just overwhelmed them, and it varies from panel to panel. When she first meets the Thieves' Guild lady, the linework out lining her nose and jawline is so light, it's like someone shot the panel with one of those soft focus lens (or the old put Vaseline on the lens trick). Then next panel, the jawline and nose are both more prominently defined. It's not bad, just kind of distracting.

The fight scene, though brief, was well-laid out and clear enough to follow easily, which was my biggest concern with Foreman as artist, since I wasn't terribly impressed with him on Immortal Iron Fist. Which, granted, was 10 years ago, but some artists progress, and some don't.

Giant Days #51, by John Allison (writer), Max Sarin (artist), Whitney Cogar (colorist), Jim Campbell (letterer) - That's appropriately somber.

McGraw returns from his father's funeral, and Susan has no idea what to do to help. McGraw isn't much of a talker about his feelings, and so it's mostly awkward. Daisy's attempt at consolation ended up with McGraw consoling her, so whoops. However, Esther actually did win the essay contest with the submission she typed entirely on her phone, which means she has enough money to rent a cottage in the countryside for them all. And it's there, abruptly, that McGraw has his emotional breakthrough.

It's a sad issue at times, watching McGraw move in this very reserved manner. Sarin uses a scratchier line for McGraw, makes him look like he's just slightly vibrating with things he's keeping bottled up, and he seems to hold himself more upright, stiff all the time. Allison handles the issue well, people handling loss in different ways, or grief breaking through at times you least expect. You can't force it.

There's a subplot, leading to next issue, about Esther applying for a job with a bank and getting an interview. So now she's off to London for that. I feel like that fact she did write a prize winning essay on the 'Social History of Pubic Hair' should be significant. She clearly has the ability to write, and she's looking at banking? More stable, I guess, but yeesh. She also confused several of her friends by wearing a bright floral print dress while they were at the cottage. She said she wanted to not evoke 'The Infinite' this weekend (read: not be depressing), but I wonder if it's meant to be the start of a shift in Esther. Or a continuation of her trying to get ready to leave school.

What I Bought 5/8/2019 - Part 6

It was almost 90 degrees on Thursday and Friday last week. Total bullcrap. Stupid weather, trying to make me turn on my air conditioning before June. Nice try.

We've reached the end of the line for this round of books. Pity there was only one comic out last week I wanted, and I didn't see it anywhere. Oh well. Saved the favorites for last, at any rate.

Atomic Robo: Dawn of the New Era #5, by Brian Clevinger (writer), Scott Wegener (artist), Shannon Murphy (colorist), Jeff Powell (letterer) - The smiles vanished quickly once the vampires attacked.

The students prepare for ALAN to join them in their studies, and accept him quickly. Lang is still pissed at Robo about hiding ALAN from them. Jenkins is still worried about the looming invasion from the Vampire Dimension, but at least seems willing to hold off on killing ALAN for now. Progress! Because he thinks he might be useful against the invasion. Less progress? Foley agrees with Robo ALAN deserves a chance, but is probably worried the other students will be a bad influence. And Bernard is starting to unlock the powers of the Phasewalker. Barely, as his teacher reminds him, repeatedly.

The Hollow Earthians are clearly not believers in positive reinforcement.

And that's pretty much it. I wouldn't say there's any sort of conclusion to the arc. The ALAN situation is still up in the air, tensions are high. The Vampire invasion looms. I barely know what is going on with Bernard. That's unusual. Not bad, just unusual. But Clevinger and Wegener have been doing this for over 10 years, they've earned the right to change things up a little.

The issue is all talking, so there isn't much action for Wegener to draw, but he makes it work. I think the conversation between Lang and Robo is interesting. Robo feels like he's on the defensive the entire time, because one of what Lang is saying is wrong, necessarily. And so in the panels that have both of them, Lang seems to be in control. Robo is positioned near the edge of the panels, oftentimes partially out of the panel, so Lang dominates the majority. Robo seems to take up less space in panels he has to himself (or the panel itself is smaller). Even though they look like they're roughly the same height, in the first two panels, Lang is drawn so the top of her head is just a little above Robo's. Maybe that's not meant to suggest she has the high ground so much as that she has assumed she has it, whether it's true or not.

I mean, I get her argument, but I also understand Robo wanting to give this ALAN a chance.

Giant Days #50, by John Allison (writer), Max Sarin (artist), Whitney Cogar (colorist), Jim Campbell (letterer) - I would think Susan would be barred from carrying potentially lethal instruments. Actually, Esther probably should be as well.

Most of McGraw's pub league cricket team comes down with food poisoning, forcing him to rely on Susan to recruit replacements. This does not go very well, I think? Susan's one-page explanation of the rules of cricket was fairly clear, but not entirely correct, I suspect. Lacking in certain details.

The opponents have brought in a ringer to pitch/throw/chuck circles, and Daisy is smitten with her. Damn, she has absolutely terrible taste in women. But good does triumph, and all is well. Until McGraw sees all the messages he missed and checks in with his mom. Oh dear.

The plot is your bog-standard sports underdog story, which is fine. I like sports underdog stories. Major League is awesome. Really, it's all about what you hang on that framework. Susan's primer on the rules. Paul's attempt to regain his confidence, and Esther's bizarre inspirational speech. I like the speech, incidentally. I need to visualize myself as a robot with huge wings who must succeed to protect the sun sometime. Daisy's fixation on the opposition's ringer. although it took me the second readthrough to see where Sarin had drawn her earlier in the issue to hint she was more than she appeared.

As for Sarin, he gets to draw a variety of different silly things. Poor Rex' wild hallucinations (I particularly liked him on rubbery legs rushing forward to throw with fish swimming around him). Esther's. . . I think she was trying to do some magical girl anime maneuver, forgetting she's in a sports manga. The ringer getting increasingly furious with what she sees as Daisy not taking her seriously. Daisy being so smitten her hearts are shoving her teammates out of the panel. Just a lot of fun gags.

So yes, this issue was a real hoot. Until the last page. That was a downer.

What I Bought 4/3/2019 - Part 2

I love these commercials encouraging people to play the lottery by talking up how it funds education. Because that's why people are buying lottery tickets. I know that's what I think about the once or twice a year I shatter internally in the face of crushing despair and bet on ludicrous odds to provide me wealth as a dream escape, the children I'm helping. Hopefully it helps them learn not to do dumb shit like by lotto tickets.

Ahem. How's your Friday going? Here's a comic.

Giant Days #49, by John Allison (writer/penciler), Max Sarin (artist), Whitney Cogar (colorist), Jim Campbell (letterer) - When I was looking at that cover online, it took me forever to figure out what Esther had in her right hand. At first I figured it was a hood for the eagle, except that's for falcons, but I wouldn't be surprised she didn't know that. Then I thought it was something else, a mitten maybe, before realizing it was a cup of tea.

Esther has returned home to work on her dissertation. It's going poorly. Not just the writing, but everything. Graudation fast approaches, and she has no idea what comes next. Her parents are concerned in that way that feels very much like judgment. Her friends are all either moving on with their lives, or falling apart and moving back. Things are changing, and she feels entirely adrift. Yeah, I know that feeling. For 8 years after graduation. So hopefully she can do better.

I'm not sure if Esther resolves any of her problems, other than the dissertation. She got that written eventually. But it was never going to be that easy. Things change, friends drift, attempts to reconnect with what felt comfortable in the past fail miserably. I'm not sure if it was a sign of growth or not that Esther stood up the old boyfriend. One the one hand, that seems a lot like ducking the potential problem she'd gotten herself into. On the other hand, charging forward with the ill-advised idea out of some misguided belief it will all magically work out somehow is what she typically does. So the fact she caught herself before really digging a hole is progress, of a sorts.

John Allison did the pencils for some of the pages, although I feel like it isn't the pages the credits says it is. The two pages of Esther and the old boyfriend walking and talking had some faces that did not look at all like Sarin's style. Allison seems to make her jawline rounder, and make her nose stick out more. Maybe that's just his preference for profile shots. It works fine, though. The pages that are credited to Allison seem like ones where Esther's most open about how off-kilter she feels. The other pages, she's either focusing on anger with herself or her parents, or trying to whistle past the graveyard.

But I really enjoy the Max Sarin pages, just because the range of expressions is so wide. The panels below, that frazzled, exasperated look and posture for Esther's mom, and that scowling fury on Esther. It's just consistently enjoyable for me to look at.

There's also a subplot with Esther reluctantly helping Lottie track down a vampire and try to destroy it, most of which happens off-panel. I would pay money to see a one-shot of those two trying to fight evil. Bring Daisy along to point out how unwise this is or try to make friends with supernatural horrors!

What I Bought 3/9/2019 - Part 2

I thought I'd have a book from February to add to this post, but the order got lost somewhere between UPS and USPS for a solid week. Again. They're here now, but I haven't had time to read them yet so, only one book today.

I'm starting to suspect this is an extortion racket. "If you don't want your package to get lost, maybe pay more to have us deliver it the whole way, rather than handing it off to the dumb ol' Postal Service."

Giant Days #48, by John Allison (writer/artist), Whitney Cogar (colorist), Jim Campbell (letterer) - If Susan wanted to experiment with a mustache, I'm surprised she didn't just shave of McGraw's to use.

It's McGraw's brother's wedding, and Susan is only now finding out that he's marrying a Shaw, a member of a family that hates Susan's guts. One of them nearly threw Susan off a rooftop in the early stages of this series. That combined with Susan feeling extremely uneasy talking to all McGraw's relatives, means lots of alcohol will be necessary to survive this. Meanwhile Esther and Daisy end up sharing a hotel room with only a single bed, because the manager, in an attempt to be progressive, misread their relationship. Right as Daisy is starting to wonder if maybe she would like to date Esther. Fortunately, one night sleeping next to Esther is enough to put any thoughts of it out of Daisy's mind.

Now that I think of it, I'd be really interested to have seen McGraw's reaction is Daisy told him she was growing interested in Esther. Considering how often he tried to advise Ed to give up that fixation, I can't imagine he'd be any more encouraging for Daisy. Mostly, I picture her telling him this, and McGraw saying only, "poor idea," then leaving immediately. Possibly just leaving without saying anything.

Poor Daisy, and she's such a good friend. I need to adopt her approach for talking Susan out of fights in the restroom to dealing with Alex when he starts getting belligerent with drunks (or getting belligerently drunk). Although if I tell him it's beneath his noble lineage, he'll just look at me like I'm nuts and keep going. Depending on how confused he is, it might be worth it.

I notice Allison always draws Susan as having a mouth of sharp teeth. I thought it was something he saved for when she was being mean-spirited, but he maintains the look even when she's uncertain of herself around McGraw's parents. I thought that was interesting. Might explain why said parents are so terrified of her all the time.

What I Bought 2/15/2019 - Part 1

Last week, I went to meet with a person we regulate to look at something they had a question about. I did this on Lincoln's birthday, because when I made the appointment, I had forgotten our state gives its employees that as a holiday. By the time I remembered, it was too late to reschedule. Not the stupidest thing I've ever done, but not one of the brighter things either. Now, let's celebrate President's Day with comic reviews! About books that have nothing to do with presidents! What do you expect? How often do I do posts on holidays that are at all relevant to the holiday in question? Answer: Twice a year, three times tops.

Atomic Robo: The Dawn of the New Era #2, by Brian Clevinger (writer), Scott Wegener (artist), Shannon Murphy (colorist), Jeff Powell (letterer) - Excellent pose Robo, except this is not the cover of GQ, or Popular Mechanics.

Robo has built ALAN a new body, and is teaching him how to use it. ALAN raised the question of whether he'd died once already, and that's not a conversation Robo's ready to have (since he's the one who killed ALAN). The new students have found a mysterious underground facility in a leftover building, but haven't gone exploring yet.  I couldn't help noticing that one of the students has dyed the top his hair pink, which used to be Foley's thing. But now she's dyed that section of her hair green instead.

Bernard seems caught in some bizarre loop underground which is doing nothing for his confidence in his sanity. Vik and Lang were supposed to get to test an idea of Vik's involving a particle accelerator, but have stumbled into vampire problems instead.

Well, they say they're vampires, but the way Wegener's drawing them, they look more like bipedal rat people. The art does get a little sketchy and ill-defined at that point, although the more simplified approach for their victims in the final panel works well. He uses it a couple of other times, once when the students find the secret place, and it really shows off their fright. So yeah, it works there. It feels like a deliberate stylistic choice, rather than running out of time to ink, or that the colors are overwhelming the linework. When they go for close-ups on characters, there's some good work there. Especially Bernard and his increasing confusion and panic.

Things are kind of slowly. A lot of different threads advancing a little at a time. Which could be frustrating if I was only interested in one of them. As it turns out, I'm actually curious about all of them. How a doorway to the Vampire Dimension was opened. What the hell's happening with Bernard. What trouble the students are about to cause, and how Foley's going to handle it. Whether Robo can actually raise a son, without it deciding to wipe out all humanity. Maybe it's because all of them are still in such early stages that I'm seeing the vast array of possibilities. That always seems to be the part I like best, since the direction an author takes their story is rarely the theory I liked best. But we'll see.

Giant Days #47, by John Allison (writer), Max Sarin (artist), Whitney Cogar (colorist), Jim Campbell (letterer) - I didn't realize Daisy was a big fan of Bullit. Man, that's a dated reference, and a weak one. But I can more easily picture her watching that than Fast and the Furious.

Daisy is acting oddly certain she's a good driver, despite the stream of traumatized instructors. She does pass her test, although I'm convinced her examiner was legally blind. McGraw's brother has come to visit bearing invites for his wedding. Also he's pulling a lot of pranks. Most of them involving smearing food substances on surfaces people touch with their bare skin. Rest assured, neither Pollock nor I will resort to such stupidity in our annual April Fool's Day struggles. We're too high-class. Bucket full of water over the door for the win!

Oh, and Dean Thompson snuck his adorable little dog Perkin into their home, and finds a surprising ally in Esther, who helps hide and care for the pooch. Until her tendency to forget important details almost gets the dog run over. But she and Dean actually, mostly got along! By their standards.

Perkin really is very cute. Sarin and Cogar did excellent work to make me actually like a scrap of fur like that. Cutsey-poo dogs are not my thing. Dean gets some excellent outraged expressions, all of them related to something Esther is saying or doing at that moment. Even if all she's doing is existing.

I think the bit I laughed at hardest was Esther describing Susan and Daisy as a 'coterie of flibbetigibbts!' I love odd, out-of-style words like that. I watched Hotel Artemis last weekend, Jodie Foster called a guy a "nogoodnik", I made a mental note to use that sometime soon. Yes, I'm strange. Although I thought it was "flibbertigibbits", with an "r" in there. That or the McGraw brothers' peculiar blend of skills as they try to figure out which way Perkin would have gone. Next month is the McGraw wedding! After meeting his brother, I can't wait to see the rest of the family. The facial hair alone should be a delight. I hope Sarin goes nuts with it. Van Dykes, mutton chops, Fu Manchus, all manner of hirsute abominations I can't even conceive of.

Can you tell I'm typing this during yet another day I don't want to go out in the snow?

What I Bought 1/26/2019 - Part 1

The weather wasn't crappy last weekend, I managed to make it out to visit Alex. As usual, that didn't go as planned. I did find almost every comic I was looking for from the first four weeks of the year (Coda being the exception). So let's start with the oldest stuff first and move forward.

Giant Days #46, by John Allison (writer), Max Sarin (artist), Jeremy Lawson (colorist), Jim Campbell (letterer) - I expected to see more evidence of bile in Susan's eye than that.

The comic store Esther works at is being robbed. Susan, in an effort to regain her edge, agrees to hit the mean streets to find the thief. For those sequences, Sarin and Lawson adopt a stark black and white color scheme, while Susan tries to narrate like some hard-boiled shamus. A hard-boiled shamus who has to call her boyfriend to ask which drain pipe is best suited to shimmy up. Fortunately, given Susan's limited lung capacity, it doesn't come to that, and the culprit is caught. Susan doesn't get cash, instead getting stuck with some limited edition Vegeta figure - hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaa!

That's pretty much it. The entire issue is Susan putting her sleuthing skills to use, which is fine. It was funny. I wonder if this is going to satisfy Susan, or if she'll embark on more dangerous schemes to recapture a bit of her old fire. I wouldn't mind it if it means she'll put it to a use other than making snide remarks to Ed about how unmasculine in his (Like the boy doesn't struggle with that enough internally already.) I guess threatening to punch Dean Thompson counts, although if Dean can stick and move for about 35 seconds, Susan will probably have a heart attack. At least she doesn't vape. Christ those commercials with the puppets about how vaping isn't safer than smoking are irritating. I don't smoke, I don't need this information!

I like the black and white look as a selective thing. It conveys the vibe Susan's going for, and it makes a nice contrast from the regularly colored pages and their reality of a gawky, stupid teen boy trying to crawl down a drain pipe. Also, the smug look Esther gives Susan after he's caught was pretty great.

Next issue, we find out what Daisy's like as a driver. Apparently a terror, but what kind specifically I'm curious to see.

Atomic Robo: Dawn of the New Era #1, by Brian Clevinger (writer), Scott Wegener (artist), Shannon Murphy (colorist), Jeff Powell (letterer) - I wound up with the variant cover, but this is a nice one, too.

Robo is continuing to teach baby ALAN down in his private lab. Presumably to keep ALAN from deciding to wipe out humanity with a lot of nukes he uses to power a massive ship for himself like the last version did. Bernard is taking a trip underground through an extinct volcano, while still trying to get over how he didn't want to come back the last time he went underground. Robo told him he's there to keep an eye on their new exoplant explorer prototype, but it's apparently there to keep an eye on Bernard.  Robo, maybe just spring for a damn therapist, 'cause this feels uncomfortably underhanded. I mean, Bernard's either trying to convince everyone else he's fine, or maybe just himself.

Lang and Vik are going on vacation, and apparently Vik is much older than I thought, judging by his entirely grey beard. Which leaves Foley to train the new interns/students, who are already privately discussing snooping around White Sands, which I'm sure will not prove catastrophic. Maybe this time Robo will get his act together and not completely ignore problems occurring in his own backyard.

The last Robo mini-series I was not a fan of the coloring. It too often turned things into a muddy mess of vague shapes and outlines. Shannon Murphy is on as colorist in place of Anthony Clark and early returns are promising. Granting we haven't seen any action sequences yet, which is when I thought things got at their worst in Spectre of Tomorrow, the colors here mesh with Wegener's linework better, instead of overpowering it. Murphy's colors don't necessarily seem brighter, but maybe the contrast between them is greater. It gives things a soft, relaxed feel, except during Bernard's descent, where Murphy draws the darker shadows as if they're closing in, waiting to crash down on him.

Same Character, Different Artists, Different Sides

Well, the comics didn't arrive. Thanks loads, UPS and USPS! The post office in town got it yesterday afternoon, but its acceptance is still 'pending'. Assuming they manage to show before Monday, I'll stick with the previously established plan for 2018's Year In Review, and do proper reviews of those issues (or what passes for that here) the week after.

In the meantime, I wanted to try and expand on some of what I was talking about in Monday's post, about the difference in how Nina comes off, depending on whether Max Sarin or John Allison are drawing her.

I grabbed a couple of sequences, one from the Where Women Glow and Men Plunder one-shot (drawn by Allison, seen above), and one from Giant Days #42 (drawn by Sarin, seen below). It's not perfect, since Ed's more the one feeling uncertain about himself in Allison's panels, versus Nina in Sarin's, but I thought they were both decent examples of a variety of emotions across 3 panels.

Allison draws her with a sharper chin, face is a little slimmer, smaller eyes, smaller mouth. There's a lot of hair, but it's under control. It reminds me of a 1940s noir femme fatale. Bit of Lauren Bacall or something. Sarin gives her face a more rounded, softer aspect, and everything is bigger. The eyes, the mouth. The hair is a bit more all over the place, even when she isn't just waking up. The blush isn't in the panels above, but it's there a lot.

Combining the big smile and the blush, Sarin's Nina seems apologetic or embarrassed a lot. Allison's version is more likely to come off as flirty*. Allison draws her touching her tongue to her upper lip a couple of times, a move I think Sarin has reserved for Esther so far. Sarin maintains that bashful look even in the issue that came out after their return from Australia. I mean even before Nina got completely hammered twice and had something to feel awful about. It just seems to be the approach he takes with her.

I think Sarin emphasizes the size disparity between Nina and Ed more. That Nina is an athlete, much more built than Ed, plus just flat-out taller. Not a lot, but I'm more aware of her being bigger than him. You can tell in the Allison panels she's taller, but not necessarily broader in the shoulders. Although Sarin also draws more panels from angles where we and Ed are looking up at Nina. Which is interesting, since the stuff I picked up in film classes makes me think that puts her in a dominant position over Ed, since she's towering above him. The whole "bashful" thing nullifies the effect. Until she's being a cruel drunk, at which point her looking down at Ed and us becomes highly effective. But that's only happened once. So far.

I wonder if Allison based his design for her off the story he was going to draw, or if that was how he always pictured her, and he's adapting what he's doing in the ongoing to how Sarin's depicted her. Sarin's had a few chances to draw Nina while she's being sassy or making smart aleck comments, but mostly she's seemed shy or eager. She made a few cracks during Ed's physical therapy, but she wasn't in those panels. In the one-shot, Nina's flirting with the Creek Boys to get information, or shutting them down with insults. Playfully teasing Ed, or keeping his confidence up. She seems entirely in her element, and the way Allison draws her reflects it.

I'd say it's a reverse of her and Ed when they're in England, but it's hard for me to picture Ed as confident and sassy. He's definitely more relaxed when they're together at the university than when he's trying to measure up in the eyes of Nina's family. But Nina hasn't really interacted with Ed's family at all that I know of, or even his friends prior to last month's issue. Is Ed actually the experienced partner is this relationship? That's a terrifying thought.

* I considered using some panels when she's trying to seduce an extremely jet-lagged Ed, since it would be the two of them in bed. But I thought it would be cheating, since their relationship was further along by that point than in the Sarin panels.