Saturday Splash Page #217

"Drive Thru", in Red Before Black #1, by Stephanie Phillips (writer), Goran Sudzuka (artist), Ive Svorcina (colorist), Tom Napolitano (letterer)

Val is a former soldier, looking for a job from her old comrade-in-arms, Miles. Miles works in drugs now, and there's a lady who was supposed to be establishing contacts for distribution, but decided to keep some of the drugs to sell for herself. If Val wants the job, she needs to eliminate this problem. And Val wants the job, since she's out of prison because an FBI agent thinks she's an "in" to the org Miles works for. For Val to stay out of prison, Leo needs to die. Instead, Val and Leo end up on the run together from Miles, the FBI, even a relative of Leo's that owns a gator ranch.

Val is prone to episodes where the world around her fades, shifts, is overlaid by a jungle. Sudzuka and Svorcina usually depict it in solid colors to start. Red vines twining around Val, tropical birds emerging from a purple chasm tearing apart the ground beneath Val's feet. Eventually it develops into a jungle, dense grass and trees, downed logs, all colored something close to natural. And somewhere in there, someone needs help. Usually it happens when Val gets violent, which is too bad, because being around Leo results in a lot of violence. Though the red tendrils appear during calmer moments a few times. 

Oddly, Leo is able to see the jungle - and thinks it's neat - though Phillips never explains that quirk. Leo has her own trauma, and Phillips shows the parallels in how neither of them got any support or help. Leo was dismissed as making it up by her family and the doctors. Val was turned away by the groups that were supposed to help people who had bad experiences serving overseas. Maybe that's the "why", but in that case, shouldn't Leo have a "jungle" of her own?

But Leo's more manic. She leverages it, in that she acts goofy or flighty to make people underestimate her.  Meanwhile, Val is repressing everything, trying to pretend nothing happened, nothing's wrong, all business. Until she's not. I don't think either character has addressed their problems, but Leo's more accepting of hers?

Phillips puts the work in building the peculiar relationship between these two. Leo seems so eager to have a friend, while Val starts out unsure if she wants to protect Leo, strangle her, or just get far away. It doesn't ever entirely end, because Leo seems so flighty and random to Val, but there's a gradual softening as the two save each other. Phillips slows the plot to allow for quiet scenes between them where they talk about something other than their impending doom. It's during those where we see the tendrils emerge from Val's chest, reaching towards Leo. They don't form into a full jungle, and it's not clear whether Leo can see them.

When the mini-series was coming out, I thought the pacing was off a bit. I think I was expecting more focus on a sort of cat-and-mouse chase between the Val/Leo duo and everyone after them. Spending an issue at Leo's relative's gator farm felt like an odd choice. Leo bringing Val to a spiritualist community, where two old women were waiting to tell Val she needed to stop running from her ghosts, only for Val to die like 10 pages later, felt like an odd choice.

Still does, a little bit, but I think the point is Val has been running all this time and refusing to acknowledge it. Isolating herself, throwing herself into things as distractions. All the people after them are a sideshow as far as Val's issues. Another thing she can use to avoid dealing with her past. So when she faces it, really looks at the guilt she feels, and the opportunity comes to possibly do it right this time, she seizes it. Not really sure where that leaves Leo, but Val's struggle is over, at least. 

What I Bought 8/4/2025 - Part 1

Let's jump into the books from July. Today we've got two mini-series that are wrapping up, each with an ending that makes a certain amount of sense, but neither that I loved.

Red Before Black #6, by Stephanie Phillips (writer), Goran Sudzuka (artist), Ive Svorcina (colorist), Tom Napolitano (letterer) - Awww, they look so peaceful. Maybe too peaceful. . .

Leo brings Val to Cassadaga, the largest community of spiritualists and psychics in the world, where Leo stayed for an unmentioned period of time. She's not exactly welcomed, but these are the ladies that were expecting them at the end of the previous issue, and one of them has a message for Val. She's been hearing from the ghost of the woman Val made false promises to when she was in the Army.

While the seance drives Val into her mind jungle, Sarah doesn't appear, so it's not as though Val has a conversation with the dead woman she's so guilty over. Leo shows up again, with some notion that because she almost killed her sexually abusive father, she can see this weird place. They each carry guilt and a feeling they're alone, OK, that I follow. It seems like Leo should have her own "mind jungle" she would retreat to, rather than being able to enter Val's.

Either way, the key part seems to be each one offers the other some semblance of understanding they can't get from the people they feel guilt over, just in time for the feds to catch up to them. Then Leo's gator ranch-owning stepbrother shows up (having eluded the feds), and Val takes a bullet for Leo.

Like I said in the intro, the ending makes a certain amount of sense. Val's been on a downward spiral for a long time over her failure to save someone, and here's a chance to save a different someone. Save her for a most likely long stretch in prison, unless Leo can give the feds the information they wanted on that drug operation (doubtful.) But it didn't seem like there was going to be a happy ending for both of them, depending on how happy an ending you'd consider them doing a Thelma and Louise into the Gulf of Mexico to be.

Still, it feels like an ending that left a bunch of things unresolved. But, if I look at it from the perspective that Val was the main character - as the story started with her - then having it end with her makes sense. Maybe it just felt too abrupt, coming a scant 2.5 pages after Val and Leo are hugging it out in the mind jungle. A whirlwind of events.

Dark Pyramid #5, by Paul Tobin (writer), PJ Holden (artist), Sara Colella (color artist), Taylor Esposito (letterer) - In every stampede, there's someone who trips, slips or twists their ankle, and it looks like it's gonna be Becca.

Hooky's not dead, and he sneaks aboard the truck Becca and Shailene are in during an attack by "wet hawks." I'm not sure what I would have expected based on the name, but Tobin and Holden went weird with it. Starts out looking like a hawk, turns into something like a purple bat made out of purple tissue paper you use to stuff gift bags.

Hooky survived his fall and found the Dark Pyramid. He found the hoats, and he found a naked lady that taught him at least some of the language. Enough to recognize when a stone has a warning about wet hawks, anyway. During all this backstory, Becca's led them to an entrance to the pyramid. Which seems like a terrible place to hide, especially since there are dead soldiers there, and Eve.

Except Eve is the naked lady that taught Hooky, and boy I figured Tobin was going for a twist that Hooky had been mind-warped by Eve, or one of the "mistake" creatures was a shapeshifter. In my defense, 'Yeah, I might have exaggerated or totally misled you or whatever, but she's really nice,' is the sort of statement that typically precedes the brutal death of someone almost too disillusioned to care.

Instead, Becca agrees this was a terrible place to hide, but that was never her intent. She wants to make a deal with General Cho. She, Shailene, and Hooky have done a much better job surviving these creatures than most of Cho's soldiers, so why not hire them to help keep things covered up? As Becca notes, they could never elude Cho forever, even if they got off the mountain and out of Alaska. Best way to survive, makes themselves useful. The whole sales pitch comes over two, 9-panel grid pages, and we rarely see Becca's face and that of anyone she's talking to in the same panel. If the panel's focused on Cho, we're standing behind Becca, looking over the top of her head.

Again, this makes a certain amount of sense for an ending. They probably couldn't stay ahead of a guy with the kind of resources Cho has to keep this hidden. And it's not like Hooky or Becca were some principled explorers, who would insist the world should know the truth. They have a travel Youtube channel or whatever. It's clicks and thrills and personal survival. And Becca seems like the one who kept things rolling, while Hooky was the guy on camera doing stupid crap, so not too surprising she'd take command. Although Hooky doesn't seem that excited even a week later, as Holden draws him not looking at Becca, his face in shadow. We never see or hear Shailene's thoughts.

Actually, while Becca asks both Hooky and Cho to hear her out, she doesn't make the same request of Shailene, who did save her ass more than once. I assume she's glad not to die, but she was disappointed she couldn't stay to watch the wet hawks kill the soldiers - entirely fair, the soldiers used her and Becca as bait, then shot at monsters without making an effort to not hit the bait - and would probably like to see Eve rip Cho's head off and spike it.

What I Bought 4/18/2025 - Part 1

As readers of the blog know, I'm not big on self-promotion. (Did I just self-promote my lack of self-promotion?) That doesn't mean I won't hype other people's stuff. With that in mind, I announce Alex's second album, The Catalogue (featuring Requiem) is available on most (all? He said Saturday he hadn't seen it on Spotify yet) digital music, um, sellers? Distributors? The places you can go online to listen to music, will have the album to listen to!

It's lo-fi jazz hip-hop, so mostly very chill. I'm particularly fond of "Sunflower Sam" and "Lofi Moomba" myself!

Batgirl #6, by Tate Brombal (writer), Takeshi Miyazawa (artist), Mike Spicer (colorist), Tom Napolitano (letterer) - Don't worry, I'm sure he's just using the sword to cut through the giant rubber band you're caught in.

Cassandra's rescue plan kind of isn't working, but she does learn why the Unburied are after Shiva. She cam to their underground world, seeking a challenge, and took the blue flowers. The Unburied realized hiding away wasn't letting them live in peace, and so they decided to seek and destroy.

Jayesh gets them free, then promptly dies at the blades of Neguri. Shiva wants to burn the flowers, Cassandra is determined to just get her to safety, and then be done with her. She takes a page from Batman's book and uses a colony of bats as cover to get through the Unburied, even briefly kicking Kalden's ass. Outside, Shiva tells Cass to find Bronze Tiger, then apparently falls covering Cassandra's retreat.

I say "apparently", because this really feels like a set-up. Kalden mentions the Unburied have a 'sublime leader.' Shiva says she doesn't know who it is, only that, if they're strong enough to defeat Kalden, they're someone she hopes Cass never faces until she's ready. And she sends Cass to find Bronze Tiger to 'help' her. When Batgirl carries the two of them out of the cave, after knocking Kalden on his ass in 5 strikes (the same number he needed to beat her in their first encounter), Shiva's looking at Cassandra with an approving smile.

When Cass asks Shiva why she bothered the Unburied, it's the "I am Lady Shiva. I am what I am." that Cassandra reads as truth. The rest is 'pain' and 'avoidance.' Shiva knows how Cass "sees", helped her regain it once. If David Cain knew how to obscure that, why wouldn't Shiva? So I really think Shiva is trying to improve her daughter, unfortunately in the way she defines that. Which seems to be making her a better fighter/warrior/weapon.

Random observation: I like how, after they pull themselves from the underground river, Miyazawa draws both of them with that similar strand of dark hair plastered across their face. Initially it's even running across the bridge of both their noses, though Shiva apparently quickly pushes her to the side, where it sticks to her cheek.

Red Before Black #5, by Stephanie Phillips (writer), Goran Sudzuka (artist), Ive Svorcina (colorist), Tom Napolitano (letterer) - People in the backcountry will build giant statues to anything.

At least some of Val's PTSD issues stem from an incident in Iraq, where she tried to get a pregnant woman, whose husband had been killed for aiding the U.S. forces, to give up the true name of the guy responsible. She did this by promising Sarah she and her family could come to the U.S., which base don Miles's reaction, was something she absolutely did NOT have authority to do. Quite possibly irrelevant, as they came under fire and Sarah got a piece of glass through the neck.

Interspersed with that is the present day, where Miles is about to kill Val. But first he has to complain about how he felt guilty, too, and betrayed by Val, and that he didn't sell her out in military court. Who knows if any of that is true. Obviously beside the part about Val betraying him, because that's what she's done. It's also largely irrelevant, because Agent Lamb shows up and shoots Miles through the back. Hilariously, he says Miles will get medical attention.

Dude, you almost certainly hit him in the heart. He's dead. Anyway, Val convinces Lamb to help her rescue Leo, except Leo already escaped and kicked her step-brother's ass. Then Lamb lets Val leave, calling him a bleeding heart as that weird jungle fills the room (though unlike Leo, Lamb doesn't appear able to see it.) Leo helps Val escape the cops, and then there's a couple of old ladies, who will apparently be important next issue.

The 'bleeding heart' comment was interesting, especially given where Miles was shot (the gunshot seems too low to perfectly mirror where Sarah's wound was located, but that doesn't mean Val wouldn't draw connections.) She thinks Lamb wants to bring her in, but in a way that gives her some respect. And she uses that apparent weakness to escape. The same way she used Miles' apparent guilt and camaraderie to get her foot in the door with his organization. The same way she used Sarah's hope of getting her family someplace, well, I hesitate to safe "safer" given the state of the U.S. at present, but that seems like the basic idea.

Use them up, get them killed, though in Lamb's case it's probably just his career that died. But Val got used by the U.S. government and military, then cast aside (see the flashback in the earlier issue where she's not allowed to sit in on a support group for veterans because she's a woman.) Don't know the circumstances that led her to enlist, but it seems likely she saw a chance for better prospects and took it. Then got used up and spit out.

How all that ties in with what's going on between her and Leo, I don't know. Other than she called Lamb a bleeding heart because like recognizes like, and she's trying to save Leo. Whether Leo wants or needs that is another matter.

What I Bought 2/1/2025 - Part 2

Every week feels 10 days long now. I get to Tuesday and think it should be Thursday already. I don't know if that's the weather, the current situation at work, the current situation in the world, or just my brain chemistry. But it's Friday now. Wednesday we looked at second and third issues. Today we've got fourth and fifth issues.

Red Before Black #4, by Stephanie Phillips (writer), Goran Sudzuka (artist), Ive Svorcina (colorist), Tom Napolitano (letterer) - Val seems less bothered by the veins (vines?) than she did on the last cover. Or maybe she's tired from all the screaming she was doing on that cover.

Leo brings Val to a gator ranch run by a guy who is related to her in, some manner. Whoever he is, he knows enough about the people Leo worked with to recognize the name of the idiot Val killed last issue. Which means he has no moral compunctions about helping them dispose of a car, but also means he has no compunctions about letting Miles know where to find the drug dealer he wanted killed, and the old friend that was supposed to kill her.

We get another flashback to Leo's past, this time to her being confined to a mental hospital because she attempted suicide. Given her family apparently insists there's nothing to Leo's claims of her father molesting her, I'm not sure we can take any of that at face value. But maybe we're supposed to take from this that Leo's grasp on things in loose. Not really sure.

The most significant thing in the issue is a brief - 3 pages - conversation between Leo and Val. As Leo talks in general terms about parts of her past, that she tried to leave Florida a couple of times, but always returned home, those same of veins or vines sprout from Val's chest and begin to entwine Leo. Until Val suggests they split up and the vines withdraw. So it's something to do with Val's emotions. The fact that sometimes it's an entire jungle (and that Leo can see it, though she doesn't comment here) is the confusing part to me, unless it's the representation of Val feeling lost while also seeking a connection.

Babs #5, by Garth Ennis (writer), Jacen Burrows (artist), Andy Troy (colorist), Rob Steen (letterer) - I'm trying to imagine the music, and my brain keeps refusing. Where did that sense of self-preservation come from?

Mork's buddies have finally figured out they're never going to actually benefit from helping Tiberius. Plus that possibly all the people he shipped off to his diamond mine were useful members of their society who helped things run smoothly. Right about the time Tiberius has taken the locals for all he can get and is packing up to leave. Boy, it'd be nice if assholes like this actually moved on. Now they you're never rid of them, like some infected boil.

Meanwhile, Babs and her friends stage an escape from Tiberius' diamond mine, although poor Culpepper's virtue may never be the same. Unfortunately, the other escapees aren't up for helping Babs stomp a mudhole in Tiberius, and her attempt to call in the skeleton army from a few issues ago doesn't quite work out. The army shows up, but they're less skeletons and more ghosts. Ghosts who don't know how to interact with physical objects, so no stabbing.

Ennis and Burrows play that scene pretty well. Babs with a profane and insulting speech when it seems to be just her and two others. Then the skeleton ghosts rise from the earth around them, Tiberius about shits himself, Mork and his dorks think Babs is super-cool. The first skeleton lunges and stabs Tiberius. Then you turn the page and find out it didn't do anything. It's a real *sad trombone* moment, but excellently laid out and paced.

Oh well, hopefully Babs will get to have the fun of murdering all of them herself in the final issue. She won't get rich that way, but it'll be good for a laugh.

What I Bought 1/11/2025 - Part 1

Well, I hoped to have these books this time last week, but various winter storms gave the postal service some trouble, so they arrived Saturday. I miss when I looked forward to snow for the time off from school and sledding and whatnot, whereas no I dread the snow because I have to drive to work in it.

Red Before Black #3, by Stephanie Phillips (writer), Goran Sudzuka (artist), Ive Svorcina (colorist), Tom Napolitano (letterer) - I didn't need to see a visual representation of Leo's browser search history.

After a flashback where Val is turned away from a support group for veterans because she's a woman, which may mark the first time she experiences her weird "mind forest" thing, we return to the present. Where Leo's driving with Val unconscious in the back, while Leo listens to Fifty Shades of Grey on audiobook. Thankfully Val wakes up and nearly strangles Leo, prompting an abrupt stop and exit of the car.

Then Val has another episode, and again, Leo can see the "magic jungle" too. Which doesn't seem to bother her, but confuses Val quite a bit, until she rushes off towards a voice she hears calling for help, and nearly gets flattened by a big rig. They stop at a gas station, the bald doofus from issue 1 tries to kill Val in the bathroom (because the bad guys know she's working for the feds, though the feds are now trying to hunt her down, thinking she's gone fugitive on them.)

Val ends up shooting the bald doofus, because Leo has her own flashback to a scene with her dad when she was a teenager, I'm guessing. I'm also guessing, given the wavy voice balloons and the faded colors used for that episode that it's Teen Leo calling for help that Val has somehow been hearing. Like their minds are connected by a subconscious thread via trauma?

Either way, Leo now knows Val was originally sent by the feds to get in close to Miles, so at least there's more honest in the impromptu partnership.

Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #3, by Jed MacKay (writer), Domenico Carbone (artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (color artist), Cory Petit (letterer) - Remember Marc, it's seltzer water and lemon for blood. What am I saying? No way Marc does his own laundry. Probably foists it off on Jake.

Marc and Tigra's conversation about not hiding the fact her old lover is back from the dead will have to wait, because Drug Guy's henchlady just killed the Midnight Mission with her magic sword. Which means there's nothing to stop the cops from barging in and trying to arrest Moon Knight.

A Moon Knight who is very pissed off you just killed his magic home. Plus an Avenger pissed off her boyfriend's been hiding shit. Plus two vampires. Plus a reformed super-villain (8-Ball qualifies, barely), who probably still enjoys beating cops. Point is, this goes badly for the cops.

Still, they can't fight all the cops; it's not productive, so they run to the place Moon Knight fought and killed a guy in the first issue of the Ellis/Declan Shalvey run, where they're able to hook up the TV to learn the dealing of this new drug has been pinned on them. Dirty cops, you gotta love 'em! That doesn't sound right.

So they're fugitives. Seems to be a pattern with today's selections. Hopefully MacKay will spend some time on how the different members of the cast adjust to that. Feels like it would be more of a problem for Tigra or Badr (I assume this is going to cause issues for his medical practice) than some of the others. Plus, it probably enforces more close contact between some of them than is probably safe (Soldier doesn't seem to like 8-Ball, for example.) There's things to play with there, if MacKay will do it.

Carbone's artwork is less rigid than Cappuccio's. The looseness makes the characters look more rumpled, less put-together or composed than they usually are. Which is a good approach at a point when things are falling apart unexpectedly for them and they've lost the security of their home.

Sunday Splash Page #353

"Run the Gauntlet," in Master of Kung Fu (2015) #3, by Haden Blackman (writer), Dalibor Talijac (penciler), Goran Sudzuka (inker), Miroslav Mrva (colorist), Travis Lanham (letterer)

And here's the other Secret Wars mini-series I bought. Set in a version of K'un Lun ruled by Shang-Chi's dad, Zheng Zu, where Shang's become a drunken derelict since Zheng made him kill the leader of the Iron Fist clan.

Shang's prompted into action when a group of outcasts (kind of like Morlocks, but half of them are New Mutants) try to defend him, and agrees to be their teacher. Realizing none of that will do any good so long as his dad rules the roost, Shang enters the Thirteen Chambers, the tournament held every 13 years to determine who will rule the city.

I admit I was expecting more focus on the tournament, which is relegated to maybe the last issue and a half. But I was also expecting something more like a shonen anime tournament. You know, with a bracket and 1-on-1 match-ups, leading to a final 2. Instead, Shang has to fight everyone else (see above) before he can face his father, which doesn't seem like much of a tournament to me. It's also kind of weird that Shang tells Kitty the Thirteen Chambers predates K'un Lun, but Zheng is somehow able to control it to make sure Shang will have to face everyone else.

Talijac and Sudzuka combine for a very clean look, even during the fighting, nothing is too gritty or rough. They tend to use each panel as a beat in the fight, showing the flow of action from one move to the next. A block in one panel, a twist in the next, a strike in the third. It's a nice way of showing he, even having given up on anything, Shang's still a well-trained fighter.

The designs on the characters vary widely in how close they hew to the character that inspires them. Black Panther and Psylocke - sorry, Lady Mandarin here - look pretty much the same. But Jessica Drew of the Spider Cult's quite different. Not that she's in the book much. Most of the other challengers are introduced and discarded in the course of the third issue.

It all boils down to Shang facing his dad, but first he and Danny Rand have unresolved business. Which turns out to not be what it seems at first. Shang isn't innocent, but he did it to prevent a greater evil. I guess as some sort of arc for Danny, that he sets aside his desire for revenge against Shang for the greater good of the city.

Overall, it's not really what I was hoping for, but it's not bad. The Francesco Francavilla covers are excellent, however.

What I Bought 9/27/2024 - Part 1

This is the start of three consecutive weeks with a lot of time on the road. It's a nice time of year for it, but I can't say I'm excited. Although if my luck runs true to form, my being in the field is just the thing to prompt people to send me paperwork I've been waiting on for weeks or months, along with agitated e-mails about how soon I can reply to them.

Red Before Black #2, Stephanie Phillips (writer), Goran Sudzuka (artist), Ive Svorcina (colorist), Tom Napolitano (letterer) - Ladies please, this is an IHOP. Save that behavior for the Waffle House.

The first third of the issue is a flashback to 3 weeks ago, when Val ends up in solitary for using another inmate's face to put a divot in the shower wall. The fed shows up with his deal, and then it's back to the present. I feel like most of what gets said between Val and the fed was covered or implied at the end of last issue, but maybe the significance was Val was having one of her episodes (flashbacks? panic attacks?) in the shower, when a blonde inmate was about to get beat up. So the episodes and her hesitance to kill Leo are tied to something that happened with a blonde lady in trouble, maybe?

The rest of the issue is Val and Leo in the diner, where Leo reveals she knows Val works for Miles and is supposed to kill her. Which at first just seems like good instincts, but in the subsequent fight, when Val hesitates to shoot Leo and gets stabbed in the gut as a result, she has another episode. Interesting how Svorcina shifts the colors to these solid blocks of reds and greens initially, then back to something more shaded and variable - not realistic in colors, moreso in shading and tone - once Val's in the episode. Only this time, Leo comes walking through the bushes, remarking on how interesting it all is.

So Leo has some ability to go inside people's heads? She didn't so much read the situation of Val's miraculous appearance last issue and draw conclusions as she's been in Val's memories? That would sort of jibe with the way she mentions the kids dining at the table nearby are gonna need a lot of therapy if they see someone shot right in front of them. Clearly Leo doesn't actually give a shit about that, considering they'll probably also need therapy after seeing someone stabbed, but she knew it would give Val pause.

Oh, and the kid working the counter at the motel where Val's staying passed along a photo of her talking with the fed to one of Miles' associates, so that cover's pretty much blown.

The Pedestrian #2, by Joey Esposito (writer), Sean von Gorman (artist), Josh Jensen (colorist), David Bowie Rendon-Gorman and Micah Williams (additional artists), Shawn Lee (letterer) - Charging ahead, on a path marked for all to see!

Esposito and von Gorman introduce Sophie in this issue, the crossing guard who pulled one of the two kids nearly hit by the drunk teacher to safety last issue (The Pedestrian saving the other.) Sophie goes about her day, helping people in little ways, while wondering if it matters, or if there's some force out there making sure every kind act is countered by a cruel one.

The one cop notes that Sophie moved to town the same time the mysterious hero showed up, and visits her apartment. Sophie's a bad liar, but the cop didn't see The Pedestrian sitting on Sophie's couch, sharing pizza, so she can't prove anything.

In the meantime, the mysterious figure with the red hand on their face visits Tucker, the guy who botched his mugging attempt, in jail. He places his mark on the guy, and the guy somehow escapes jail, beats his old boss to death with a hammer, and then attacks the failed med student-turned-pizza delivery girl. The Pedestrian arrives in the nick of time and seems to have things under control (von Gorman draws road signs illustrating how he avoids attacks) then - 

I'm not sure. There was what I assumed was a specter or mental projection hanging around Tucker, but it suddenly appears behind Pedestrian. He slaps a hand over Pedestrian's symbol and the guy is thrown into some strange space full of floating giants with stoplights for heads. Back in the real world, the delivery girl clocked Tucker (and the symbol disappeared from his face), but red hands emerge from his back to carry him away, leaving delivery girl and Sophie to get the hero out of there.

So this is turning into some battle between anthropomorphized representations of abstract ideals? But I assume it's going to come down to what specific individuals do. I wondered if Esposito was going to keep having Pedestrian interact with different citizens, but it looks more like he introduced the key players in the first issue, and will circle back around to them as the story progresses. Kira (the near mugging victim) got fired for being interviewed about her mugging in front of the store, and is now babysitting the two boys who nearly got hit. The boys are very excited about Pedestrian, and Kira's curious about him, but they all seem to agree he's a good guy. Tucker surrendered to anger and resentment, the delivery girl is on the verge of giving up on herself (she describes returning to this city as "the walk of shame"), but did help Sophie get Pedestrian to safety. We'll see what the cop does once she catches up to all this.

What I Bought 8/7/2024

There were two comics out this week I wanted. I only found one, but it's nice to have any new books after what a drag July was. There's possibly 5 comics out next week I might want! Five! Wow! And I was able to donate the stuff I pulled from my collection over the last year+, so that's a little more space freed up in my apartment.

Red Before Black #1, by Stephanie Phillips (writer), Goran Sudzuka (artist), Ive Svorcina (colorist), Tom Napolitano (letterer) - Are coral snakes arboreal? I guess they can be if they want to.

Val is in Florida, fresh off 8 years in prison, to ask her old platoon buddy Miles for a job. Not as a bartender, but for his other business - drug running. Miles blows a lot of smoke about how it isn't his call - mostly in a one-page stretch Sudzuka draws where Miles' body stays still and just his head and expressions change. Which makes him look a bit like a ventriloquist dummy someone's controlling. There's definitely an uncanny valley aspect to it. 

Eventually he comes around to a deal: An associate of his, a lady named Leo, stole a shopping bag full of cocaine, and is trying to sell it. Miles wants her dead, as a statement, and even knows a likely place to find her. Leo's attempt to sell the product goes south, and Val steps in to keep a bouncer from catching Leo. Given Leo took back the coke by driving an SUV into the room, I'm not sure why she didn't just, drive back out, instead of exiting through the club. I guess the vehicle was busted by then, although it isn't drawn like that. Maybe the point is that Leo is long on moxie, short on brains.

Anyway, Val has some sort of episode while fighting the bouncer, which Sudzuka draws as a fissure opening in the ground and Val being ensnared by a bunch of thin red vines, before ending up in a jungle. Svorcina sticks to muted colors for most of the issue, dull earth tones, but goes vivid red and greens as Val slips into the fugue state or whatever. By the time Val comes out of it, she's beating the bouncer senseless. Val is aware of what's happening to her, but not what's going on outside her head.

Out on the streets, Val passes up the chance to shoot Leo, then also declines the offer to get some grub at a diner nearby. Except there's an FBI guy waiting in Val's hotel room. She's out on a work release/Task Force X-style agreement, and FBI dude (OK, his name is Charles Lamb, but he's clearly a dick and we're not supposed to like him, so who cares) has no issue with Val killing someone if it helps him.

No, I don't think she can kill him if she argues presenting the corpse of an FBI agent would help her get inside Miles' organization. So that's where things stand. Miles wants Leo dead. Lamb wants Miles' organization brought down. Val wants to stay out of prison. I assume Leo wants to be rich.

What I Bought 8/19/2015 - Part 1

It's surprised me that Rock Bottom Comics has been pretty much the only comic book store in Columbia for the last 10 years or so. It's a good store, well-lit, good selection of back issues and trades, staff is always friendly. Just surprising a town that size can't support more than one (Slackers sells comics, but until recently, it was a pretty ancillary part of their stock). But I had the chance to visit a new store that opened this spring, Distant Planet Comics, which is also seemed like a nice store. They're still building up back issue stock, but they had almost everything I was looking for in new issues, and it's a very nice store. So hopefully they can make it stick.

Master of Kung-Fu #4, by Haden Blackman (writer), Dalibor Talijac (penciler), Goran Sudzuka (inker), Morislav Mrva (colorist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - You may have mastered 9 of the 10 rings, Shang Chi, but you're no match for Zheng Zhu's fabulous hair! If only you had learned the mysteries of Loreal Arts!

Shang tries to fight Rand-K'ai and Red Sai, which doesn't go terribly well, and we learn Shang killed Rand's master because Red Sai failed to, and he was trying to protect her and her school. Rand reluctantly lets Shang go to meet his father, and they have the big fight, in a room which resembles a miniature version of their city. So it's kind of like a kaiju fight, but with weird martial arts stuff. Shang nearly loses, but he's learned a few things in his time with the outcasts, which give him the upper hand. He becomes Emperor, everything is relatively happy.

When we get to the final battle, Shang is in his traditional look: shirtless, the red headband, the red pants. It's sort of a treat for the fans thing, but it actually works. Shang's shirt got torn over the course of his many battles, and the headband covers a wound given to him by Red Sai during the fight. So it isn't as though he just randomly decides this is a good look. If you're going to do that sort of thing, there should be a solid reason for it. I wasn't quite as clear on Rand suddenly deciding, "Naw, I can't beat Zheng, it has to be this guy I've been trying to hunt down for years."

I enjoy how, when Shang and Zheng begin to fight, Shang leaps over all those miniature buildings, but Zheng just charges through them, smashing them to bits. It isn't as though they're actually giants fighting in their real city, but it's probably telling in regards to how the two regard their roles in relation to the city. Zheng is one of those, "they're here to serve me" types, Shang is the, "I'm supposed to serve them" guy. I also liked the shift on page 19 from Talijac's normal style, to the flatter style he's been using for the retellings of lore that lead off each issue. Showing how this is becoming part of that legend, the exile returning to challenge his father and take over the realm.

I wish this had more time for the fights. Go full Dragonball with it, spend entire issues on one crazy fight. Lots of back and forth, arguing, weird techniques. For what it wanted to be, I think it was pretty good.

Mrs. Deadpool and the Howling Commandos #3, by Gerry Duggan (writer), Salva Espin (artist), Val Staples (colorist), Joe Sabino (letterer) - Monsters, please, the giant spectral Dracula is behind you! Simon Belmont would be rolling in his grave at your attempts to kill the Lord of Vampires.

Shiklah and the others reach Weirdworld, where the other half of the scepter is located. After much stumbling lost in the jungles, they find the proper temple, then have to fight off a slightly kooky wizard for the Totem of Manticore. Then they start on their way home. The only problem is, well, see, they left the Invisible Man to spy on Dracula, and he's not nearly as good at staying unnoticed as you'd expect. Dracula was getting pretty paranoid, swinging at the air, until he finally made contact with someone invisible. After that, he pretty much went nuts, and by the time our protagonists return, he's killed much of the population of Monster Metropolis.

Also, the only person who can see Ghost Deadpool is Frankenstein's Monster, who refuses to explain why he seems to be talking to air. Is that a metaphor for something? Frankenstein wants to keep Deadpool all to himself, even if it hurts Wade, even if it makes people think he's off his rocker, because it's something exclusive to him. Kind of like certain segments of the fandom, who want to keep other people out, then wonder why everyone else thinks they're nuts. And the readers are the only ones other than the Monster who can see Wade, so are we similar? Not a comforting thought, but I do share the Monster's fear of being lit on fire. Oh no, I was the monster all along!

It's not the strongest issue. I haven't felt like Duggan's given me a reason to want Shiklah to succeed in her mission. The whole quest hasn't resonated. Maybe because the last time we saw her in Deadpool, she was about to raise an small army of warriors and try to conquer the world. Dracula's no good, but I'm not entirely convinced she's too much better. I did enjoy Dracula getting so paranoid he essentially loses his mind. It's kind of funny, but it also made a certain amount of sense. He knows Shiklah isn't happy about the marriage, he knows he's a shitty boss, so he has to watch both those fronts. That means he starts questioning everything he thinks he knows about them and their actions, which gets him questioning more people. Which makes those people jumpy, 'cause they don't want to die, which makes him more suspicious, and so on. It's pretty well played.

I like Espin's art, but I wonder if it isn't too cute at times. The last panel, with Dracula holding ogre or troll by the hair, while it stares at us blankly, almost made me laugh. It isn't badly drawn, but the way the ogre's tongue lolls out of its mouth gave it a comic edge. It made me think of someone pretending to be dead, like a little kid or something. The panel where he ripped the minion's head off with his teeth was appropriately gory. And Dracula's expressions as he starts to lose it are pretty good. I can almost see his eye twitching when he finds out there's more than one invisible presence in his castle.

I am confused by the presence of the Thors at the end of issue 2. They didn't show up at all here, so I don't know what that's about, whether it'll be brought up next month or not. I don't know if I even want them to show up, other than there needs to be some payoff for it. My guess is, Shiklah and the Commandos kill Drac, the Thors decide this is too much of a disturbance, and she has to lead her kingdom in an open war against the Thors. Which could be a tall order. As Drac put it, God Doomit to Hell (I chuckled at that line).

What I Bought 8/4/2014 - Part 2

I'm sure I've said this before, but I hate commercials where there's a number to call, and they just keep repeating the number. I understand the reason, but as someone who is never interested in whatever they're selling, it just makes it that much more likely I would never buy. Also, it makes me want to strangle the person talking. Or rip out their throat entirely, depending on my mood.

Daredevil #17, by Chris Samnee and Mark Waid (storytellers), Matthew Wilson (colorist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - I had my doubts about that look, but Samnee makes Matt look like he can pull it off. I still find it a little odd he cut his hair short once he stopped wearing the cowl, since it seems that would have been more useful when he had his old costume. Hair should probably interfere with how well those costumes sit, right?

With all the fighting between Matt, the Shroud, and Jubula, none of them end up with Julia. Instead Fisk's men do, and when Matt confronts Tubby, he learns Ikari brought Foggy and Kirsten there too. See, Fisk was very amused by Matt's offer, and is also amused by the idea of having Matt under his thumb, but isn't going either route. Instead, he's going to use Matt's friends to get him to die. Not in the figurative sense that Matt proposed, he wants Matt to literally be killed by Ikari, and if Matt refuses, one of Foggy or Kirsten dies, because Fisk only needs one of them to keep Matt in check. Matt struggles to stay alive while racking his brain for a solution, and right about the time he comes up with something, the Shroud appears, unceremoniously stabs Ikari with his shadow-stuff, and throws him off the building. Sorry, Matt.

I'm curious as to what Waid and Samnee are driving at with this story. Matt's taken his "keep a positive outlook" strategy to the point of being completely open. It's like he's tying to confront his demons out in plain view, thinking they'll lose their power in the light. Now here's Fisk telling him that's a stupid idea, he's left himself vulnerable. Which doesn't entirely hold up, because the people who are hurting him - Fisk himself, the Shroud through the Owl - either knew Matt was Daredevil already, or would have found out quickly. So I don't know.

I'm not sure how Fisk's guys caught Julia. As she pointed out when she kicked Jubula, she used to be Spider-Woman. How did stupid goons in suits with handguns catch her? Sure, she doesn't seem to want anything to do with Shroud, but I can't quite picture her quietly going along with guys she doesn't know who try to hustle her into a car.

I like the panel on page 19 of the shadow hand hurling Ikari off the roof. We haven't really seen the Shroud use his shadow powers to make distinct forms, so it's a nice change. Reaching up like a hand from Hell and casting Matt's plans into ruin. The distance is an interesting choice. The page before, we see Ikari pierced from fairly close up, then Samnee pulls way back for this one. Maybe it emphasizes it's over, there's not going to be any last minute rescue of the villain by the hero, or how small and inconsequential it all is. One life, or two lives if you count whichever of Matt's friends Fisk will kill, doesn't seem like much compared to even the number of people in that building Ikari just got thrown off. And even though this book isn't tying in, the specter of Secret Wars is still there, entire universes getting wiped out, but with no real weight to them. A perspective thing?

Master of Kung-Fu #3, Haden Blackman (writer), Dalibor Talajic (penciler), Goran Sudzuka (inker), Miroslav Mrva (colorist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - I feel dodging one's way between banners is not effective training for a martial arts tournament. Dodging between Banners would be another story.

The tournament begins, Shang-Chi arrives, and his father puts him through the wringer. Making him fight every other opponent. Which frankly, doesn't seem like much of a tournament. Shouldn't some of the others be fighting each other while Shang fights his battles? Each fight is one-on-one, are the others just wandering around in the stupid caverns waiting to stumble into Shang-Chi? I know Zheng is manipulating the order, but at least maintain some semblance of a tournament that isn't rigged. As much as you can in a circumstance where the champ doesn't have to fight until the final round. My Tenkaichi Budokai from Dragonball loving self is appalled. Anyway, Shang beats everyone because he's the only one who can beat his father, which is the sort of thing I'd roll my eyes at, except for the fact none of the others have managed it yet, so maybe he has a point. But he's pretty thrashed, and here comes Rand-K'ai, the Iron Fist, still looking for payback.

I wonder if the two guys making bets in the background throughout Zheng's speech, and Shang's arrival are supposed to be anyone in particular, or just representative of the average citizen's view on the whole thing. It would be pretty funny, given the importance all these masters place on winning and taking control of the city, if it ends up meaning nothing at all. The city runs itself, nothing changes. The person on the ground doesn't give a hoot who sits on the throne and all that.

I'm also waiting to see what Red Sai does. She was standing behind Rand on the last page. She could stab him, she could take out Shang if he wins against Rand, or aid either of them against Zheng. The legend goes the Red Sai is the Emperor's right hand, but that the first master also saved the life of the Iron Fist of that time. Could go a lot of ways. Maybe kill them all, take the throne herself. I feel there has to be something significant to the fact we never see Red Sai's face, or the Emperor's for that matter. Something the two of them are hiding. Good thing the last issue comes out this week, then.

What I Bought 6/12/2015 - Part 4

Last week, my boss complimented me on my positive thinking, which is not a phrase that tends to be associated with me. Not sure what it says if I'm the optimistic member of the crew, though it's probably more relevant I seem to be the most heat and uimidity resistant of us. I’ve delayed it as long as I can, so let’s venture into the exciting world of Secret Wars cash-in, I mean, tie-in books.

Master of Kung-Fu #1 and 2, by Haden Blackman (writer), Dalibor Talijac (penciler), Goran Sudzuka (inker), Miroslav Mrva (colorist), Travis Lanham (letterer) – Must be hard to concentrate on kicks with that giant leering face behind you.

It’s K’un Lun, but in this version, the city is ruled by whichever Master wins the 13 Chambers tournament. For 100 years, it’s been Zheng Zu, Master of the Ten Rings. His son, Shang-Chi, is a drunk who ran away years ago because of a task he carried out on his father’s orders. So his father wants him dead, for defiance, and Rand-Kai, current Master of the Iron Fist, wants him dead because the act he committed was to kill Rand’s master. Presumably Rand doesn’t know it was on Zheng’s orders. Yet. Shang had been out of the city for some time (or was so complete in his descent into dereliction no one noticed him in the city), but he has to defend himself from some of Zheng’s students, which brings him to the notice of a group of kids who were cast out of their schools for various transgressions, and now live underground as outcasts. They want Shang to teach them as he was taught. Shang points out if he did so, they’d probably all die, and goes off to drink by himself. His attitude pisses off Callisto, so she informs on him to his father, which brings Rand, plus two of Zheng’s servants down on the lot of them. Shang survives, but one of the kids doesn’t, which is the kick in the pants he needs to agree to be their Master, which will enable him to enter the tournament and defeat his father

It’s good, I enjoy it. I like the take on the characters, how what would be their mutant abilities in the conventional Marvel U., are turned into something that fits the setting. Though I’m not clear on who the other student of Zheng’s was Shang beat up in the first issue. Razorfist, obviously, and Typhus was Typhoid Mary. The other one appeared to wield shadow stuff, so Black Mamba, from the Serpent Society? I like these opening scenes talking about how the Tournament came about, because so far, they sort of agree, and they maybe don’t. The Red Sai’s version of things seems to have opened a different avenue Shang’s didn’t, which makes me wonder what the real story is, if there even is one.

I haven’t read anything Talijac has drawn since, I think that issue of Deadpool Team-Up with Hercules and Arcade, but I do enjoy his work. He has those clean lines I prefer, and he’s good at drawing action. When Shang fights, you can tell from his position in one panel, how he got to the next one. The movements make sense, and seem possible. It’s not a lot of ludicrous contortions, which makes sense with a character who doesn’t have inhuman stretching powers or anything, and doesn’t really want to be fighting anyway. He’s not going to expend any more effort than he needs, which isn’t very much, apparently. I like that Kitty is apparently so used to being intangible she does even walk around things or people on instinct anymore. She walks through a piece of rubble after their narrow escape, and she puts her arm through Shang’s chest to point when Cy tries to rescue Rahne. It’s a nice touch, implying how long she’s been this way, and how resigned she is to it.

I especially like the scene where Kitty explains how they all wound up as they are, to convince Shang to really train them, and so we get these panels of her moving among them, always smiling, upbeat about it. Right as she explains her own mistake, we get this large panel of Shang denying he can help them, refusing to make eye contact, clutching a bottle in those hands with the bloody wraps around them. Then he starts in on what the training they desire would really be like, and again we get the close-ups on each student, but Shang’s not in the panels at first. Just his harsh words, and their scared and disappointed faces, until he suddenly pops up right in Callisto’s face, talking a bunch of shit, and then follows that up by casually moving his hand through Kitty, just to demonstrate how helpless she is. Then he strides off with them set against a white backdrop, but his face is obscured by shadows. It’s just a nice encapsulation of how he’s tried to reject everything since he started running, and since he can’t hide in an alley from these kids, he tries driving them off.

This is the sort of thing I can go for with Secret Wars. It has its own story to tell, and it doesn’t give a toss what Hickman’s up to, and doesn’t expect the reader to, either. It’s just a fun What If/Elseworlds thing, essentially.