Honeymoon Headache

If it was that easy to make Harley be quiet, everyone would try being smelly. 

Starting immediately after the end of the second season of the animated series, Harley Quinn: The Eat. Bang! Kill. Tour is Harley and Ivy celebrating their honeymoon - although they didn't really get married so much as just drove off together - by crashing in other villains' houses on short (or no) notice, while trying to outrun an increasingly deranged and pathetic Commissioner Gordon.

While writer Tee Franklin throws in plenty of public (and private) displays of affection between Harley and Ivy, things get increasingly rocky as the mini-series progresses. Ivy's having a variety of doubts, from the pain she caused her fiance Kite Man by messing around with Harley behind his back, plus some childhood trauma from her father telling her no one would ever love her. There's also the part where she realizes a relationship with Harley is never going to have much in the way of peace or tranquility.

All the guilt and self-doubt and whatnot results in her repeatedly snapping at Harley, only to get cuddly and apologetic moments later. In Ivy's defense, Harley does repeatedly do shit that's pretty rude or flat out stupid. When they decide to leave town, Harley suggests leaving her hyenas with Catwoman. Does she call Selina ahead of time to check if this is OK? Well, if you count texting as they get out of their car in front of Selina's building, then sure. Harley suggests they crash in the home of a villainess who got arrested at Ivy's wedding-that-wasn't, again without asking for permission. There's just a real lack of impulse control or consideration for anyone other than Ivy.

In Harley's defense, Ivy should have known about these tendencies long before now and possibly taken them into consideration before making major life decisions, but the heart wants what it blah blah blah.

By the back half of the mini-series, they've reached Detroit and run afoul of part of a Justice League (Vixen, and to lesser extents Cyborg and Zatanna), and some sludge-villain called Mephitic. Harley gets captured, Ivy has to try and deal with her own shit so she can rescue her girl.

Max Sarin draws 5 of the 6 issues (issue 4 is drawn by Erich Owen) with Marissa Louise as color artist throughout. Sarin gets to draw a lot more fight scenes than they did on Giant Days, and they handle Harley's acrobatic flips and bat swinging very well. And their art is perfect for the roller-coaster of emotions the characters are going through. In particular, I love how Sarin has the plant life around Ivy react to her emotional state. And with Mephitic's power being essentially stench-based, Sarin and Louise combine to give the smell a physical weight to it. The color is nausea-inducing, and the little flourishes as it jabs its way into Harley's nostrils really add to the toxicity.

I wonder why Franklin chose Mephitic as the main villain of the mini-series - unless you figure it's Gordon, or Ivy's issues - unless it was because he provides the opportunity to make all kinds of cracks about how bad he smells. 

What I Bought 8/4/2025 - Part 4

I was traveling on the west side of the state last week for work. While I was at a gas station, I saw a quilt shop across the street. On the sign, beneath the name of the shop, was the tagline, "you screamed, he stopped." Read it, paused. Double-take. Spent a few seconds parsing the meaning. At least, I hope I parsed the meaning. There was only one that wasn't deeply concerning.

Batgirl #9, by Tate Brombal (writer), Takeshi Miyazawa (artist), Mike Spicer (colorist), Tom Napolitano (letterer) - "Batgirl Must Die"? Damn it, did DC switch editorial directions again?

Cassandra finds Bronze Tiger, living on a ranch in Montana. Cass makes the decision to arrive in full Batgirl attire, on a black stallion. Did she rent the horse dressed as Batgirl? Buy it? Did she steal the horse? The horse seems pretty OK with her, but maybe she offered it an apple. Part of Batman's teachings: always have snacks to gain the loyalty of local fauna.

Cass is there to find out about the "Jade Tiger", but as Bronze Tiger seems reluctant to talk, she starts jabbing at him. Verbally, for giving up, for hiding away, for not doing anything to help the world. His response is all his attempts to help made the world worse, so she starts jabbing at him, physically.

Which prompts a young man dressed in green to attack her. A brief fight, and the guy's revealed as Tenji Turner, the son of Bronze Tiger and Lady Shiva. So we're doing the "Surprise! Siblings!" plotline. I find it a little weird Bronze Tiger is trying to ignore the questions about the "Jade Tiger", but as soon as Tenji intervenes, he chooses to refer to him as "Jade Tiger" rather than "Tenji." If you don't want to reveal it, why use the codename she knows?

Tenji doesn't know much about either of his parents' past, certainly not the darker stuff, but he knows of Cassandra (but not that she's Batgirl, or what a Batgirl is, considering he asks if she's a 'cave ninja.') That'll have to wait, because another of the Unburied shows up, looking to kill Cassandra. And two more on their way. Which will at least give Cassandra an opportunity to put all this energy and urge to fight to good use.

Great British Bump-Off: Kill or Be Quilt #4, by John Allison (writer), Max Sarin (artist), Sammy Borras (color artist), Jim Campbell (letterer) - Shauna beating that pinata like it ruined her burgeoning romance with a self-absorbed boy. 

The war between quilt stores is settled with an all-night quilting face-off, which ends in disgrace for both teams, as the old lady declares both their efforts pitiful. 'I see both teams have chosen blind panic as their theme.'

Quilts have themes? I learn something every day.

The hatchet is buried, but the car arson and shop flooding remain unsolved. The shop owners have decided they don't care, insurance will cover it, and they'll cover the cost of Shauna's boat repairs. Shauna, on the other hand, must know who's responsible. Well, if she'd read Bryn's pamphlet, she'd have known, because his submission for poetry slam was in there, and it details the whole thing.

Hooray! I correctly deduced the culprit. Admittedly, I did so by judging off tropes and his general personality, but that's half of what Shauna does, and I pulled it off 3 issues earlier. Ha-ha! Point for Calvin, though Shauna, like a photo in one of those apps, is able to re-frame things so her attraction was actually her subconscious recognizing he was a hoodlum. That bit of mental buttressing complete, she's off to get the boat repaired and return to Tackleford. Bryn's left to be drawn into the pub dads' clique, the poor sod.

Either way, another Allison/Sarin adventure in the books. I know less about quilting than I do baking shows (or baking in general), but I might have enjoyed this more than the first Great British Bump-Off. Smaller cast made things easier to keep track of, and Shauna seemed to have more time to devolve into flights of whimsy and crushing despair for Max Sarin to depict marvelously. And since Shauna spent more time trying to be a double-agent for both sides, she wasn't doing as much investigating, which meant I didn't feel as bad for not being able to put together clues (because there weren't any, forensic evidence apparently not being much of a thing in the Allison oeuvre.)

What I Bought 6/30/2025 - Part 2

Earlier this week, they made us get everything off the floor at work so they could clean the carpets one night. Except they didn't show up, then told us the next day we had to move everything off the floor again because this time they were totally going to show up (a day late.) I hate people who can't keep schedules, especially where they're expecting you to help them.

Today we're looking at third issues.

Past Time #3, by Joe Harris (writer), Russell Olson (artist), Carlos M. Mangual (letterer) - Wow, a Ronald Harris card, complete with blood spatter from his untimely death! Neato!

The Barnstormers are playing a local group of religious weirdos. One in particular is always mumbling to himself, but more critically, he's a dirty player. Throws an elbow into the face of the Barnstormers second baseman, setting off a huge brawl. During the fight, Henry finds out the guy is a vampire like him.

Henry flees the field entirely, but tracks the opposing ballplayer to a church later. They argue a bit, then fight a bit, the church gets lit on fire, and Ronald shoots the other guy in the head twice. Don't know if that's going to do the trick with a vampire - 2 shots to center mass didn't do much to Henry - but then Ronald has a heart attack of something and Henry bites him. Still, two head shots from a blind man when the entire building is burning down is pretty slick.

As the fight progresses, Mangual has reds and oranges gradually overtake the panels. Obviously, everything is on fire, but also things are being pulled out of the shadows. Henry's been trying to stay hidden, but not only has he run into another like him, the guy seems to know what Henry's been up to. Which means he might not be as safe with this traveling ballclub as he thinks.

That said, the pacing on this mini-series is all over the place. Took most of two issues to get Henry on the team, and in less than half an issue he's fighting another vampire and Ronald's dying. I don't have any idea what Harris is really going for with this book. He hasn't delved into Henry or Ronald's past, hasn't really delved into Henry being a vampire.

Henry turning Ronald without asking permission does tie into what Ronald said last issue, about Henry being willing to do whatever it took to get what he wanted. Now is that a vampire trait, or was that always part of Henry and his condition just gives him a greater ability to assert his will? Don't know, and don't know if we'll find out.

Great British Bump-Off: Kill or Be Quilt #3, by John Allison (writer), Max Sarin (artist), Sammy Borras (colorist), Jim Campbell (letterer) -  The carnage of a convention can be difficult for a novice.

Shauna, still playing both sides, has to try and pull it off during Quiltfest. And in a sign of either how ill-suited she is for espionage, or how tired she is, Shauna figures it's a great idea to get both her employers table space directly across from each other. Because it'll be easier to keep tabs on them. It's also going to make it rather difficult to keep her bosses from noticing she's working for both of them.

It's the kind of mistake I'd make when I play chess. "Yes, ha ha." *notices extremely obvious mistake* "Shit, that was stupid." 

Indeed, the whole thing blows up on her about one page into the actual convention. She's about to get tarred and feathered (or whatever one does to quilt saboteurs) as the one behind all the sabotage, but she made friends with the husbands who hang out in the pub while their wives buy quilt stuff, and got the idea to speak with this mysterious Mabel. Who looks old enough to have watched Mary, Queen of Scots, get beheaded, and has buyer's remorse over some industrial grade quilting machine she bought that made everyone jealous. Plus, it made quilting too commercialized, too American.

Now see here, you can't blame all capitalism on the U.S. We just took what the various European powers were doing and did it. . .I don't want to say "better." Did it more. Yeah, we do more capitalism than everyone else (unless we've already been surpassed by China or India.)

Either way, the interpersonal connection means Mabel comes to Shauna's defense, and insists the two shopkeepers have a quilt-off, that very night, in a "loser leaves town" match. If professional wrestling taught me anything - besides how easy authority figures are to distract or trick - it's that there's always a loophole to those kinds of matches. Also, I'm still convinced Bryn is behind the initial sabotage, as part of some "statement." Just putting it on the record - again - for when I'm inevitably proved wrong next issue.

What I Bought 6/2/2025 - Part 1

I realized last weekend there are a lot of movies in my DVD collection I've watched several times, but never reviewed. Maybe they got a paragraph in those posts I used to do where I covered five movies I watched over the weekend while sitting around waiting for Alex to get off the phone, or off the can, or I wrote about some specific part of the movie, but that's it. I may try to correct that in the near-future.

For now, let's dive into May's comics, now that I've actually got them. Going to keep it simple and just write about a pair of second issues today.

Past Time #2, by Joe Harris (writer), Russell Olson (artist), Carlos M. Mangual (letterer) - The wings have got to be some sort of violation of the rules. They're obscuring the ump's sight! Not that it matters to a blind man, are you freakin' kidding, ump? That pitch was a foot outside!

Back in 1925, Ronald, shakes off the beating he got last issue, while Henry disposes of the bodies, then has to dispose of the person he tried leaving dead in the cornfield last issue. Amazing that the sun was apparently well up in the sky, yet no one saw him stake a man shuffling down the sidewalk while literally smoking in the sunlight.

Henry hitches a ride under the train the ballclub takes to Des Moines, and that night, the team's rightfielder gets injured when one of the bulbs for the field lights bursts as he's chasing a fly ball. I think the flash blinds him and that somehow makes him trip over his own feet and break a leg, but I don't love how Olson draws it.

He adds these little dirty yellow things in the air around the light as it bursts, which makes me think it's actual glass, then draws more of them around Coombs' face in the next two panels. I think it's supposed to be like he's seeing spots, but I thought at first that he was getting showered with broken glass.

Either way, Coombs is out and here's Henry, passing himself off as Ronald's friends (while messing with his mind) and touting his ballplaying days from college (which we hear about in a brief flashback, but we don't see him play.) Ronald's apparently a heck of a pitcher, even blind, but not against a guy with vampire speed and reflexes, so Henry's got himself a night job. And all it took was sabotaging that light. How exactly he sabotaged it so it would explode when Coombs was looking up at it, which would only happen on a ball hit over his head, versus it exploding during the 98% of the game Coombs is either watching the pitcher and the infield, batting, or in the dugout, I don't know. Point is, Henry does whatever it takes to get what he wants. Is that a vamp thing, or a Henry thing, that's unclear.

Great British Bump-Off: Kill or Be Quilt #2, by John Allison (writer), Max Sarin (artist), Sammy Borras (color artist), Jim Campbell (letterer) - I know the tight spandex is a classic lady spy look, but I feel for an activity like that, a Spy vs. Spy reference might have been more appropriate.

Shauna's new boss just found her car burned up. She suspects a former employee-turned-competitor, and offers to pay for Shauna's boat repairs if Shauna will prove Pat set the fire. Pretend to be fired here, apply there, get the dirt. Simple, except for the part where I've not seen a John Allison character yet I thought had any capacity for subterfuge or deception. They are all, in their own ways, horrible actors and liars.

Before Shauna gets to the espionage, she's got to find a corsage. I mean, a reason to get the brooding Bryn interested in her to the point she could need a corsage. I mean, whatever. . .she wants to jump him. Or be jumped by him, but he's too busy being deep and soulful about the injustices of the world. Which he solves by keying peoples' cars. Look, man, just say you're antisocial

Shauna finally visits the other store, gets hired by badmouthing the competition, and returns for her first day of work to find someone clogged the drains to flood the store. Clogged them with quilt wadding, like you can get at the other store! So now Pat asks Shauna to play spy for her, on the other store. Again, this is absolutely not something I believe she can accomplish successfully, but so it goes.

I feel like all signs point to Bryn, as part of some attempt at a "statement" by trying to crash the local quilting economy. Wreck the stores, customers gone, husbands forced to find something else to do besides sit at the pub while their wives shop, something something revolution? Seems too obvious, but unless it's this mysterious "Mabel", I've not got any other suspects.

What I Bought 4/18/2025 - Part 2

The guy unhappy with the guy he let operate under his permit is now unhappy with how I'm attempting to resolve his problem. I mean, I knew he would be, but he's also been griping about wanting the guy gone for over a year, and I've been telling him for over a year I can't break the contract between the two of them, but he keeps griping, so I've taken the one option I am allowed by regulation to take. And he could avert it if he really wanted, but he doesn't.

Resurrection Man: Quantum Karma #1, by Ram V (writer), Anand RK and Jackson Guice (artists), Mike Spicer (colorist), Aditya Bidikar (letterer) - Mitch Shelly's found himself in a Spirograph dimension.

In reality, Mitch has tried to step away from a life of heroics, settling in with a family and living out his remaining years. He sneaks off his deathbed to die in the woods, and resurrects as a young man again, with the same symbol he's got on his back on the cover.

He's got some power pertaining to time, and that means he's about to get sucked into something big. Someone claiming to be another Mitch Shelly arrives to prepare this Mitch to face some creature that will end the universe. RK draws it as almost angelic in shape, but with a hole in the middle and made of seemingly a bunch of intestines and scaffolding.

Turns out, Mitch is responsible for this, and we're flung into a flashback to 1945, where he was a prisoner of the Japanese army. (Ram V uses the old bit about Hitler using the Spear of Destiny to keep superheroes at bay, so much can be killed and return, but he doesn't get any powers. Which seems inconsistent, without even getting into the notion the Spear is extending its power to the opposite side of the globe.) It looks like, with the war winding down, the commandant of the camp called for a feast, which included killing and eating soldiers. Like Mitch.

Basically, Hitler died and the Spear stopped working as Mitch's corpse was both being immolated, and his organs being eaten by that commandant, and so the guy got some kind of ability. Enough to survive Mitch resurrecting with flame powers and burning Rabaul to the ground, anyway.

I don't know, I thought the deal with Mitch Shelly was, everybody kept thinking he was Vandal Savage's foe, the Immortal Man, but he was actually something entirely different. But I haven't read the first series in years, and aside from having the artist, Jackson Guice, draw the intro page, I have no idea how much Ram V's following that versus the New 52 version, or something else entirely. Or if he's using anything beyond the basic concept of "guy gets new power every time he dies."

The Great British Bump-Off: Kill or Be Quilt #1, by John Allison (writer), Max Sarin (artist), Sammy Borras (colorist), Jim Campbell (letterer) - I thought the English were supposed to be good at boats.

Shauna's getting to borrow her uncles narrowboat to travel the English canals. She gets as far as Barton-on-Wendle, before a shoddy job of mooring, results in extensive - and expensive - damage. Now she needs the job to gets the moneys to fix the boat, or she's sunk.

After the requisite nervous breakdown, rendered beautifully by Sarin, a local poet - sporting Leon Kennedy in Resident Evil 4 hair, true sign of a goober - helps her out. His mother owns a quilting supply shop, and needs someone who can make tea, make change, and put stuff in a bag, presumably without burning down the store. Shauna can almost certainly do those things!

I especially like that, when the confidence fades and desperation sets in, Sarin goes back to Shauna turning into a drippy, massive tear, as she did during her earlier breakdown. She's one road hazard away from complete mental collapse at all times, just like me!

The issue ends with someone lighting the car of the shop owner on fire. Or perhaps cars in England spontaneously combust often. Did England embrace the Ford Pinto as the peak of automotive design? I certainly hope not, they could at least go for a tempo. There's an '80s car that can. . .almost certainly get you up a small hill faster than a walking pace!

As you can see, the appearance of more Allison/Sarin comics has put me in a fine mood. Until that next road hazard, then I'm down like an old factory being demolished for hipster coffee bars and overpriced loft apartments.

What I Bought 7/28/2023 - Part 1

I didn't manage to get everything from July. A couple of books I couldn't find, and there was no copy of Moon Knight for a price I was willing to pay. Maybe I'll find them next month. Of the six I did find, they kindly break out into neat categories, so let's start with a couple that are wrapping up.

The Great British Bump-Off #4, by John Allison (writer), Max Sarin (artist), Sammy Borras (colorist), Jim Campbell (letterer) - Look, it's a nice cake, but it's not that nice.

The contestants present their movie themed cakes, although the one guy made Downton Abbey. Isn't that  TV show? What should be grounds for immediate disqualification, is not. Corruption amongst the judges! Corruption most foul! Eh, what am I saying? It's a fake baking show, who gives a turkey? Shauna's just about got the mystery solved, but she might also be about to get eliminated.

A fortunately timed protest saves her, and she lays the whole thing out. I guess it makes sense. As much as any other answer would. At any rate, props to Sarin and Borras for making the most visually interesting, "detective explains everything" scene I've ever seen. The expressiveness of the characters, the swirl of hearts following Shauna's fingers, the shift in posture of one of the guilty parties when the jig is truly up.

We even get a chase scene I would never have expected, plus the phrase, "Cake Jail is no picnic." And while none of Shauna, Sunil, or Maisie win, we find out on the last page they took a vacation to Switzerland together and had a good time. Proving the real Bakery Tent prize was the potential friends they kept from getting murdered along the way.

So, this was nice. Not my favorite thing Allison has written, but nice. I never particularly felt like I was drawn into the mystery, that Allison wanted the reader to try and solve it, but it was funny, even though I know next to nothing about baking or cooking competition shows. And I love Sarin's art, so all good.

Hellcat #5, by Christopher Cantwell (writer), Alex Lins (artist), Kj Diaz (color artist), Ariana Maher (letterer) - The cover says, "After Pacheco", but I have no idea what Carlos Pacheco cover Pere Perez is supposed to be homaging here.

Let's get this over with, I got an appointment with a bottle of turpentine to blot this from my memory.

Patsy didn't kill the Stupidly Named Love Interest. She saved him from Blackheart, but he used the door-thing, saw Patsy as she "really" is, went nuts, and killed himself. Rick Sheridan knows this because. . . the Imaginator recorded it, but it's busted, so I don't know. Sleepwalker stopped hiding this info from him, I guess. He lets Patsy read it from his mind, she freaks, blasts Daimon into the sea. Daimon doesn't show up again, nor is there any sort of resolution of that in this comic. Just shuffles off to Buffalo.

Rick convinces her to walk through the door thing, and she turns back into a human again, but she's out of it. Rick watches over her, Hedy uses a spell to exorcise Patsy's mother's ghost from her home, which. . .seems like something you would discuss before doing unilaterally. At the very end, Patsy puts on the costume, still appearing to be out of it. She keeps muttering, "Good. Bad." then continuing in internal monologue, "Who's to say?" Which makes it seem like she probably shouldn't be leaping around rooftops.

Also, it happens one page (albeit an indeterminate amount of time) after She-Hulk and Stark ask Rick to watch over Patsy. Great job, Rick!

Oooooooooooooof. This thing is just a mess. The door shows your true form (and Demon Hellcat is still a boring design.) But it doesn't show your true form, because people are different things and Patsy's too locked into binary thinking. Or it's because "Hell is lies." In which case it wouldn't be a "True-Form Door," would it? Hedy banishing Patsy's mother's while Patsy's lost in her own head, why? Because Patsy was never going to do it herself? No closure or any sort of conclusion between mother and daughter (granted we've seen that 40 times over the decades)?

Oh, and we're told Daimon and Blackheart probably just lost interest in Patsy because she appears broken. That's this mini-series in a nutshell. Too much stuff, so Cantwell just chucks some of it in the trash at the end. Because he either didn't have a better plan when he included it, or he's shit at pacing and didn't leave himself enough room.

What I Bought 6/30/2023

It seems Twitter now expects you to have an account, or log in with some other account you have, to even look at it. Which means that's it for me reading those 8 or 9 people I would check on a couple of times a day. Probably for the best.

There were only two books left over from June for me, and they arrived Friday, so let's get to those.

The Great British Bump-Off #3, by John Allison (writer), Max Sarin (artist), Sammy Borras (colorist), Jim Campbell (letterer) - For every batter-laden finger you point at yourself, nine other fingers are also pointing at you. Is that how that saying goes?

Turns out Neal did survive the poisoning, but may never be pretty enough to appear on TV again. The tox report says he ingested Deadly Nightshade. So Shauna has some sort of clue, but has also attracted the ire of Maisie. Who fortunately only suspects her of trying to sabotage the others in a show of gamesmanship, not attempted murder, and fails to gain any adherents to her theory. I especially like that Will thinks he knows what's going on because he sees the patterns of contestants on baking shows. Careful Will, I've been led astray by the tropes more than once in trying to solve mysteries!

On to the baking. Today's challenge is to represent your favorite movie in a cake. Assuming I could bake, how would I do that for The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly? Three flavors, each which combine nicely with one of the others, but are explosive when used as a trio. Shauna has another horrible experience with the soul-draining harpy of a judge, in a 9-panel page where a black ooze slowly drips over the panels as you progress down the page, and the color gradually shifts to all purple and black. Poor girl, she's never going to survive long enough to solve this.

Or maybe she will, because Titus eats some stuff at his station that turns out to be Deadly Nightshade. That's two attempted murders, but no one has died yet, so Shauna's still doing better than DCI Barnaby on Midsomer Murders.

Grit N Gears #2, by Angel Fuentes (writer), Nahuel SB (artist), Carlos M. Mangual (letterer) - It's hard to tell, but that's actually a floating Inquisition-type structure, not a creepy castle.

The Reverend whose church was attacked by Razorfist starts a crusade to have production of self-aware automatons banned, and all existing self-aware automatons murdered. Sorry, I mean destroyed. With the United States caving to the whims of Christian dipshits (as usual), Ranger ONE's in a bad spot. he returns to his creator for repairs, she sends him away as a threat to her and her family. Nahuel starts the argument with panels that are close up on her face and distant from Ranger ONE, then flips that when she sends him away.

Even on the run for his life, ONE won't kill the men pursuing him. The reverend dances around the possible significance of this, vis-a-vis the automatons not being a monolithic block, but ultimately skitters away, worldview still firmly in place. Meanwhile, the daughter of ONE's creator has lung cancer and desperate to save her, she puts her daughter's consciousness in a little automaton, which she asked ONE to protect last issue. Which he, entirely reasonably in my opinion, refused.

Which brings us to the present, where mother and daughter are attacked by an automaton bandit called La Tortuga, who shoots her and kidnaps the girl to disassemble. I think. His dialogue is in Spanish and I that's basically what Google Translate gave me. Although it keeps insisting La Tortuga is referring to her as a boy, so I don't know if that's intentional or a pronoun goof on someone's part. 

Fuentes established the girl hasn't spoken or made any sound since her mind was transferred, but her mother's death gets her screaming. That's enough to get ONE to act, and that's where it leaves off. Mangual keeps the scream running across the top of the panels for the last five pages, growing in size as ONE gets closer, shrinking as he falls further behind.

So two pages in, we have most of the backstory, a sense of the enemies ONE's got, plus the additional problem of this little kid. It feels like a lot for 4 remaining issues, given the pace so far, but a couple of the problems' resolutions will probably tie together (stopping Razorfist helping the reverend's heart grow three sizes or something to that effect.)

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)}

What I Bought 6/3/2023 - Part 2

Brain would not shut down Sunday night. Finished reading this fanfic, then lay awake in bed for two hours with my brain sussing out the threads of why I don't like reincarnation in stories and questions about what makes a traitor, and then spiraling into thinking about mortality and the eventual deaths of all my friends.

Somehow was not exhausted on Monday. Go figure. Comics!

The Great British Bump-Off #2, by John Allison (writer) Max Sarin (artist), Sammy Boras (colorist), Jim Campbell (letterer) - Dessert and a show, lovely.

The baking competition continues, as does Shauna's investigation into Neal's murder. Neither is going well as those are apparently two things you can't half-ass, certainly not at the same time. Her holiday cake is a disaster, and the "blind bake" goes just well enough she can stick around for the next day. Except she said she'd solve the case before the end of day 1, so more lies in advertising.

On the other hand, watching her steady disintegration over the course of the issue is quite entertaining. Sarin keeps drawing Shauna with heavier lines and shadows around her eyes, and her hair getting increasingly sloppy. It makes for a contrast from the rest of the contestants, who remain largely the same even when their cakes are savaged by the judges.

Though Allison gives Sarin plenty of chances to draw the other bakers looking disturbing and suspicious. Some of which is meant to be Shauna's perception, but some I think are supposed to be for the purpose of messing with us. Especially the dead-eyed panel of the one judge that delights in that clinical cruelty of all shows of this nature.

Yeah, that's the one. Anyway, the comic so far is, OK? I'm not laughing near as much as I have with some of Allison's other stuff, and Shauna's making so little progress on the murder mystery I have no I clue what's going on there. I've mostly been eliminating people based on her being suspicious of them. I half expect to learn Neal slipped on melted decorative frosting and landed on a knife.

Clobberin' Time #3, by Steve Skroce (writer/artist), Bryan Valenza (color artist), Joe Sabino (letterer) - They did fix the tail of the thought balloon on the actual cover to aim at Strange's mouth, if you were wondering.

Ben and Alicia are having a fancy dinner with his Aunt Petunia (looking older here than she did in the last issue of Fantastic Four) and his Uncle Jake. Ben's giving them a lot of money as a thank you for raising him after his brother died. This touching family moment is interrupted by the arrival of a monster through a glowing portal. While Ben gets to punching, Dr. Strange blasts his way out of its guts. It was sent after him because of the ring Ben got off the guy who keeps popping up. 

But in the present, the ring belongs to a dark wizard, who summons those two to a place where he's torturing the guy - named Ogdu Fraize - for trying to steal that ring. While Strange throws down with the wizard - and gets stabbed by his 50-year-old children - Ben tries to keep Ogdu from escaping again. he gets a chest full of munitions instead. Ogdu gets the ring, Ben gets Strange enough of a healing potion for him to portal them to safety before the wizard's lair collapses.

Seems like another stalemate until Ogdu opens a portal directly under Ben's feet in his apartment, dumping him into some immense void.

What we learn is basically that Ogdu believed in the superheroic age until he stumbled across some old SHIELD bunker, where he learned something that made him want to destroy superheroes. Hence this current thing. Although with this meeting actually coming earlier in Ogdu's life than the previous issue, it doesn't do a lot to advance whatever he's got going. I mean, he ends up with the ring, but we know he loses it against Ben when he attacks Krakoa. Or maybe that sort of thing is out the window by now.

Skroce seems to treat Ben as less durable than he's typically shown. Not weaker, just that his outer skin, rocks, whatever get damaged more easily. I guess because it makes the fighting look more impressive if Ben's showing actually battle damage. And the rocks being chipped or pockmarked makes more sense than Ben getting a black eye. Although the damage was gone by the end of the issue. How does that work? Ben's rocks regenerate like skin cells, or does she buff and polish them smooth again?

What I Bought 5/1/2023 - Part 2

I hope you're enjoying your Monday more than I am, but if not, we can all raise our spirits talking about an enjoyable comic.

The Great British Bump-Off #1, by John Allison (writer), Max Sarin (artist), Sammy Borras (colorist), Jim Campbell (letterer) - They've certainly gone all-in on the motif, but red jam icing with a yellow cake? I don't know. No, really, I don't know anything about baking. Is that a good idea?

It's the newest season of UK Bakery Tent, a competitive baking show. Set in a tent. Also in the UK. Or the tent is set in the UK. Or the tent is like an embassy, so it's UK soil no matter where it is. Intrigue!

Your main character is Shauna, who I understand from the comments section of House to Astonish, appeared originally in a different section of John Allison's bizarrely interwoven fictional universe. But she's here to win a baking competition, not do, whatever it was she did in her prior appearances. Unless it was solve crimes, because one of the contestants is killed, and Shauna promised to catch the killer. Further intrigue!

So, the first competition? round? bake-off? is interspersed with Shauna trying to narrow down suspects and not screw-up her cake commemorating the birthday of architect Le Corbusier, who the cat co-host (??? is this the British TV version of celebrity hosts? Because it's an improvement, to be sure) tells me was a fascist. The mistake Shauna makes is assuming a cat would think that's a bad thing, but I digress. Point being, Shauna is probably not doing very well on either point by issue's end, and may have aroused the suspicion of one of the other contestants.

Actually, Maisie seemed like the first guess for the killer, even before Shauna zeroed in (and ultimately dismissed her). When Jill ushers everyone out the tent as tempers flare, Maisie is the only one whose presence I can't confirm in the panel. But I don't know how long elapsed between that panel and Shauna finding Neal poisoned, so that may be irrelevant. But Sarin's not the sort to omit details unless it's relevant, so. . .

But Maisie's occupation is listed as "buyer", whatever the hell that means. The pharmacist or the retired midwife seem more like to know about drugs you could kill someone with. Maybe the dental technician, but he got a panel of him specifically giving Neal the death glare, which seems too obvious. It's probably the human co-host, of the nose that stretches all the way to the peak of her skull. Flippin' terrifying.

Anyway, I didn't laugh out loud, but I grinned at several points. A large cast lets Sarin really go for a variety of looks and body types, and the nature of the first competition allows for Allison to express their personalities through brief segments about their choice of event to celebrate. Will's making a cake to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Netscape Navigator. Aw, my first web browser! That reminds me of dial-up modems. How depressing. On the other hand, no Twitter or Facebook, so not all bad.

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)]

Saturday Splash Page #34

 

"The Ineffectual Arm of the Law," in Wicked Things #4, by John Allison (writer), Max Sarin (artist), Whitney Cogar (color artist), Jim Campbell (letterer)

Like I said two weeks ago, there's a tug of war between what fits and what looks cool when it comes to picking splash pages. With WildCATS version 3.0, I went for cool. With Wicked Things, where there was only one full-page splash, but the main character was barely visible in it, I went for more representative.

So, Wicked Things. Coming off the conclusion of Giant Days the year before, the Allison/Sarin/Cogar/Campbell team produced a 6-issue mini-series focused on Charlotte "Lotte" Grote (who once described herself as 'Esther concentrated'), the younger sister of one of Esther's friends, and in the running for Teen Detective of the Year (age 16-18). Lotte finds herself accused of attempted murder of one of the other nominees at the awards banquet.

While her friend and sidekick Claire tries to find the real killer, Lotte is granted the "honor" of helping the London police. In practice, this involves fetching coffee, being forced to wear an ankle bracelet, and having her insights largely ignored. Do these cops not watch TV? The quirky smart-asses are always unsurpassed geniuses! Yeah, the cops don't know she's innocent like we do, but knowing this does not make me any more inclined to care about them. I greatly enjoy her smug needling of the cops who didn't listen to her until it was too late.

I like the people Lotte shares housing with a bit better, although we only really get to know one of them. But other than Lotte and Claire, there aren't many characters in the six issues that are very likeable. Probably because this is a murder mystery, and most of the other characters are potential killers. It's the grand tradition followed in all those British detective series my dad loves so much of giving the audience as many people they wouldn't mind seeing sent to the gallows as possible.

The humor is a mixture of Allison's knack for finding the absurd in otherwise mundane situations (such as one of the older cops failing at social media when trying to track down the people who stole a bunch of new phones) and Sarin's expressive art. Lotte, much like Esther, is a very dramatic character. She talks with her body a lot, and Sarin's great at capturing her dejection, glee and irritation.

While Lotte does help the cops with a string of casino robberies, and is eventually cleared of the murder, the true culprit is left unknown. I'm pretty sure Allison has continued the comic online, handling writing and art chores, but you know I'm not big on reading comics online. Maybe there'll be another trade, like we've gotten for Steeple.

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.

What I Bought 11/6/2020 - Part 2

One delightful side effect to the hailstorm busting my windshield back in the spring is I'm now much more concerned about the possibility of that happening again. Curse our increasingly erratic weather patterns!

Wicked Things #6, by John Allison (writer), Max Sarin (artist), Whitney Cogar (colorist), Jim Campbell (letterer) - They're all the same suit? Someone is clearly cheating. 

Charlotte gets to be in the sting operation for the impending robbery at the Le Grand Jeu casino. As it turns out, rather than it being two rival gangs, it's all being done by one mastermind: Charlotte's chess pal, Bulldog (and some local biathletes). He helped Dennison put away the worst criminals, but that makes him persona non grata among the criminal set. Charlotte ends up as a hostage, Dennison gets shot. He's fine, Bulldog shows up at the hospital to apology, Charlotte reveals she was on to him for sometime, and Bulldog gets tased. 

Unfortunately, Claire is not having any success finding who actually stabbed Miyamoto. Fortunately (for Charlotte, anyway) he wakes up just long enough to exonerate her and ask his assistant to help Charlotte find his killers, 'cause he died. Without telling them anything about his attackers, other than it is, indeed "attackers", plural, not singular. And unless the series gets continued at some later date, that's where we're leaving it.

Ah, I should have known Allison was setting us up by making Bulldog so likeable. As always, I'm bad at mysteries. I didn't really buy the two flappers as casino robbers. Granted, mostly because they didn't strike me as the sorts to commit crime in the sweatshirt and ski mask look. Much more "Bonnie and Clyde". I do like the gag about using biathletes. That is such a weird sport. Cross-country ski, then target shooting. Also weird my spellcheck recognizes "triathletes", but not "biathletes". Discrimination!

I wish Sarin had more opportunity to get fanciful with the art. Given Lotte's ability to make the wildest connections, there was a lot of potential there for the random panels of strange things which she did so well in Giant Days. The work was still high-quality, Sarin still has great skill with expressions, and I liked the page with the see-through wall with the British equivalent of at SWAT team on one side of a door, and the casino interior on the other.

What I Bought 9/28/2020 - Part 1

Fall has come to the area. Which is good. I like fall so much more than summer. I can go for a walk and not sweat like crazy. Better enjoy it while I can. So, hey, comics! Got one book from September, one book from August, Friday's a book from July, I think.

Atlantis Wasn't Built for Tourists #1, by Eric Palicki (writer), Wendell Cavalcanti (artist), Mark Dale (color artist), Shawn Lee (letterer) - How deceptively placid. I'm sure nothing bad could happen in such a place!

Lucas is walking down the road and is nearly hit by a drunk driver. Then he's a nice enough guy to carry the injured drunk out of their wrecked car to the nearest town. The sheriff is the drunk's uncle, and offers to let Lucas sleep on the couch in the station for the night, since there are no motels. Then a bunch of vampires march in during the night to eat the drunk who broke curfew. Lucas lets them do it, but when one of them tries to attack him, he kills it because he's a lizard-man? A basilisk? A kobold? I don't know what you call him. He asks to partner up with the rest of them, but the next morning, he asks a soda delivery guy if he will call someone once he gets to where he has cell service. Except a cop shoots the guy's truck and blows it up on the way out of town.

Well, this isn't exactly what I was expecting from a book described as "Lovecraft meet Leone". Vampires are kind of mundane for Lovecraft, aren't they? But, OK, my fault for reading solicitations. The book we have though, is interesting. Who was Lucas trying to get ahold of? What is the deal with the vampires? Was the cop who shot the truck's fuel tank acting under or orders, or did they have a personal interest? So there's intrigue, which is usually enough to get me to stick around for a while.

Cavalcanti's work leans towards a realistic side. Doesn't exaggerate much in the expressions, body language, body types. The vampires are basically people with sharp teeth and some of the time, black eyes with red pupils. Which does make Lucas' transformation more notable, although even isn't presented as being too weird. Like, the vampires don't seem to know what he is, but also don't seem confused by him, either. Lot of heavy shading on the faces, especially for the cops, but also on Lucas. A couple of times I think he overdoes it on the extra lines on faces, but maybe that's just because there are so many panels that seem to be close-ups on faces.

Wicked Things #5, by John Allison (writer), Max Sarin (artist), Whitney Cogar (colorist), Jim Campbell (letterer) - A guy who uses his knights. A player after my own heart. I hope he's better at it than I am.

Lotte's trying to help the police with a string of casino robberies, by picking the brain of her housemate Bulldog. She seems surprisingly unconcerned about finding out who attacked Miyamoto and framed her for it, but explains a) the cops are keeping her busy, and b) once he wakes up, he'll i.d. the actual attacker and she's off the hook. If he wakes up. In the meantime, her friend Claire is trying to question people on the case, and so far is stuck with either vapid imbeciles, or Miyamoto's assistant Maki who may be nuts. As shown by the visual representation of the scene she says she found.

Like something out a Ren and Stimpy episode.

I love that the casino robbers used a forklift for one of their heists. I don't love that they drove it through a second-story wall and then just left it crashed outside. The driving it through the wall part is cool, especially if they were riding it at the time and jumped off into the back of a flatbed filled with pillows, but who's cleaning up that forklift? I'm not your mother!

The last page says "to be concluded" so I guess it's going to be a mini-series? Unless there's been enough sales they'll go ahead and turn it into an ongoing like Giant Days. Fingers crossed. I expect things will be wrapped up next issue, whenever that comes out. I haven't seen a solicit for issue 6 through December at least.