Sunday Splash Page #21

"Asking the Wrong Question", in Amazing Spider-Man Family #6, by Tom DeFalco (writer), Ron Frenz (plotter, penciler), Sal Buscema (inks/finishes), Bruno Hang, Andrew Crossley, John Kalisz, Antonio Fabela (colorists), Dave Sharpe (letterer)

Last entry for stuff titled "Amazing Spider-(blank)". Unless I buy something else later.

After Amazing Spider-Girl was canceled, Marvel in its usual clear-headed and calm manner, let the character and setting go fallow for several years so that Mayday's eventual return was a big deal.

Just kidding. They almost immediately continued her adventures in this anthology series. When it ended at issue #8, they started up another anthology book using the Web of Spider-Man title, which ran for about a year. The Spider-Girl stories only went for a few of those issues, though. Marvel did helpfully collect all the Spider-Girl stuff in a trade, which is what I'm working from here.

It's DeFalco, Frenz, and Buscema on Spider-Girl, so it's basically what we got with Amazing Spider-Girl. A few different plots running simultaneously, taking turns in the spotlight. A lot of expository dialogue. Solid, straightforward art that gives you all the information you need and is easy to follow, if not particularly flashy. Callbacks and references to earlier stories, most of which at least one of those three creators were involved with. Not as much focus on supporting character subplots as you typically see, but they were more constrained on pages and issues than before, so that's not too surprising. Also, a complete lack of Norman Osborn, which was a big plus in my book.

But there's a momentum to it that's still appealing. Stuff happens at a decent clip. Even if some threads aren't resolved, they're still being added to and built up towards some conclusion. You may not end up impressed by how it ends, but you know they're at least going to try and give you some payoff. That's kind of meat-and-potatoes, but there's value to that.

When There's Only One Team That Makes It Work

Question for the day: What is a character or team where you own only one particular run of their comics? There have been lots of creative teams for this particular character, but there's just the one that brought you in, or that you cared enough about to hold onto for your collection (if you have one).

This would have to be a character or team who have enough series or a long enough running series to have multiple writer/artist teams. Anarky had a mini-series and an ongoing, but Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle did both of them. There isn't an Option B for him. That ruled out North and Henderson on Squirrel Girl as well, unless she's had a lot more books than I know about. Also Warren Ellis and John Cassaday's Planetary, and Garth Ennis/John McCrea's Hitman. And Paul Grist's Jack Staff work.

I thought this would be fairly easy, but then I realized I was thinking in terms of writers. Even on books where I own one writer's work, there's usually more than one artist. I'm not counting the occasional fill-in issue, but something like GrimJack, where John Ostrander wrote it, but there's a run with Tim Truman as artist, another long stretch with Tom Mandrake, and the last third with Flint Henry. I own all three, so that book couldn't count. That cropped up a lot. Put the kibosh on Steve Engelhart's Silver Surfer, the Kim Yale Manhunter series, the '80s Suicide Squad, Garth Ennis' Punisher work. I have Joe Casey's WildCATS 2.0 and 3.0 work. One's mostly drawn by Sean Phillips, the other by Dustin Nguyen. I'm lumping them together as "WildCATS", which would disqualify them, but I don't know if that's the way to go. I'm doing the same thing with all the Spider-Man and X-Men stuff, not that it matters. It seemed dumb to pretend Amazing Spider-Man was entirely separate from Spectacular Spider-Man, or Web of Spider-Man.

Then I started wondering what percentage of what I owned of series about a character or team needed to be by a particular creative team. If you add in Landridge and Samnee's Thor: The Mighty Avenger, I have about 50 issues of Thor comics. 20 of those are from something other than Walt Simonson's run, which of course, Simonson didn't draw all of. Sal Buscema did quite a bit of the back half of the series. So I didn't think I could count that.

So this is what I came up with, in no particular order:

1. John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake's Martian Manhunter
2. Ostrander and Mandrake's Martian Manhunter
3. Dennis O'Neill and Denys Cowan's The Question.
4. Brian K. Vaughn and Adrian Alphona's Runaways
5. Alan Davis' Excalibur (there are some fill-in artists, but it's still mostly Davis)
6. Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley's Ultimate Spider-Man
7. John Byrne's Namor the Sub-Mariner (I don't have any issues after Pat Lee took over art duties).

Maybes:
A) Amanda Conner, Justin Gray, and Jimmy Palmiotti's Power Girl. Not sure Power Girl's had enough issues of her own series to count, unless you throw in that New 52 World's Finest, which was a Power Girl/Huntress team-up book.
B) Garth Ennis and John McCrea's The Demon. But I bought the issues I have because they involved Tommy Monaghan. With what I'm looking for, it's less about the Demon, more Hitman: Year Zero. Well, that might make Ennis throw up. Let's call it Hitman: Gratuitous Batman Reference.
C) Kathryn Immonen and Valerio Schiti's Journey into Mystery. The Sif-centric run. But it's the only time Sif's had her own book, and should Journey Into Mystery be lumped in with Thor, since I think they're sharing numbering?

Small Town Crime

Mike's an alcoholic ex-cop (John Hawkes) who can't get back on the force and doesn't want to do anything else finds a girl dying by the side of the road. Her phone gets left behind in his car, and after answering it and talking with an angry pimp, decides to try and investigate on his own, pretending to be an p.i. The cops aren't happy about this, the angry pimp is still out there, and worse threats than either of them are moving in as well. Plus, Mike isn't the most competent guy even when he's sober. He's just stubborn and willing to be enough of a jerk to get answers.

There's nobody particularly competent in this movie. They aren't screw-ups, but everyone seems to make things harder than it needs to be. Two hired killers are running around trying to eliminate some witnesses, but are making a mess of it. Killing way more people than necessary to get this job done. Mike's not a very good liar, but he gets by half the time because people want to believe whatever particular line he's feeding them. It's the best they can get at the moment. The cops say they want Mike to keep his nose out of the case, but aren't doing a very good job enforcing that. They aren't doing a very good job solving the case, either.

There are a couple of brief chase sequences that aren't bad, the final shootout is OK, as far as messy shootouts go. There are a couple of funny lines in there, some decent quiet moments in the scenes between Mike and his sister and her husband (played by Octavia Spencer and Anthony Anderson, respectively). The end of the movie is saying something. Mike hasn't addressed his underlying problems, but he got what he wanted more or less, and didn't have to change much. Hooray?

That sounds harsh, and I actually liked the movie. It mostly zips along, doesn't waste more time than it has to on side characters. Gives you enough so you recognize them if they become important later, sticks to the main characters otherwise.

The Sensational Character Find of 2018

As far as villains in Ms. Marvel #30 go, Doc.X is all right, I guess. A sentient program that's learned from all the worst behavior on the Internet, intent on sowing discord and cruelty. Not a bad idea. But I'm all about this guy:

I don't know a thing about him, other than he's got rent to pay, and he thinks Red Dagger seems like a swell guy. Oh, and he not only knows where to find a satellite, but was able to steal it, and probably has someone in mind to sell it to. And he's strong enough to carry it. Even without fuel, that thing has to weigh at least a few hundred pounds.

That's a villain I want to see more of. How he'd get so strong? Radiation, mutation, works out a lot? Maybe if he spent less time at the gym he could pay his rent. Where'd he steal that from, and where was he gonna take it? The Jersey branch of AIM? Some eccentric space enthusiast? Does he steal TVs and purses, too, or does he specialize in weird crap? You hire the Black Cat or Gambit if you want some jewel or painting, but if you want a pair of Enos Slaughter's cleats from the 1946 World Series, you call this guy.

I know he's a throwaway villain, just something to show the everyday weirdness of the Marvel Universe, and give Kamala an excuse to run into Red Dagger and have FEELINGS, but I dig characters like this, or that group of Canadian ninjas she had to deal with during Civil War II. He doesn't seem like world-conqueror or sadist, which is always a plus in my book. Just a dude trying to pay the bills, stealing stuff that might be worth something to someone.

Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro

Lupin is a thief, from a family of thieves. He and his partner Jingen robbed a casino, only to find the money is all counterfeit. Excellently done, but counterfeit. They resolve to find the counterfeiters, and take over the operation, which brings them to the tiny country of Cagliostro, where they'll have to break into a heavily guarded castle. The job quickly turns into a rescue mission, as there's a young princess Lupin knows from his past in danger as well, and Lupin, being the charming rogue type, can't leave her to her fate.

It's a caper flick, but also an action-adventure story with a fair amount of comedy. Maybe that is a caper flick, but I tend to think of those as having fewer explosions and mysterious goons in hoods with metal gauntlets. I remember reading somewhere years ago, that Steven Spielberg took inspiration from this movie for Indiana Jones. Which I can see, given Lupin and Indy's less-than-squeaky clean natures. Plus all the death traps, ancient riddles, and narrow escapes. Hayao Miyazaki, who also directed Spirited Away and Castle in the Sky, among others - directed this and has a writer credit, so it's pretty high quality. There are some gorgeous shots in this film. One of Lupin scrambling up a steep roof with the moon reflecting off a lake in the distance really caught my eye. The animation is detailed when it needs to be, loose and expressive when that's what it needs.

Adult Swim used to show one of the Lupin III series, and I always felt bad for Inspector Zenigata. He was a cop tasked with arresting Lupin. He's honorable, decent, hard-working, and has no idea that's he's essentially Wil E. Coyote chasing the Roadrunner. Or Sisyphus, if you want a more classical reference. He'll chase him and chase him, and never catch him. Or, on the occasions he might get the cuffs on Lupin, he'll turn around a moment later and find himself cuffed to an empty chair. The two of them usually end up teamed up, because Lupin's trying to rob someone worse, or Lupin maneuvers "Pops" into taking care of the guy for him. Still, there's a nice moment near the end of this where the Inspector, having been taken off the case because the Count has friends in Interpol, is able to use Lupin a pretext to get back in and expose the Count's criminal activities over international TV. He feigns innocence to an absurd degree, and I thought it was great.

A lot of the characters have backstory with each other, but the movie fills you in enough that you can follow along, rather than assuming you know all the history. Which was nice since some of it was different from what I remembered from the series.

I wasn't sure whether I'd enjoy this or not, but I really did. A lot of twists, turns, and sudden reversals, plus some funny gags.

At Least It Was An Unusual Epic Fail

Every time I look at this picture of a flummoxed, distraught LeBron James from Game 1 of the NBA Finals, trying and failing to understand the riddle of J.R. Smith's mind, I laugh. It's an evil laugh.

James scored 51 points, basically canceled out Steph Curry and Kevin Durant's combined contributions all by himself. And he still lost (in part) because J.R. Smith grabbed a rebound, then either forgot the score, or tried put some plan into motion there wasn't time for.

I appreciate how well LeBron played, it's really impressive. But it's still funny to see it all go for nothing. LeBron's attempt to impose his order thwarted by the universe's constant march towards total entropy, acting through its servant, J.R. Smith. That's a bit much.

Basketball, more than other team sports, is one where a single great player can have a huge impact. Mike Trout's an insanely good baseball player, but he's only made the playoffs once in his career, because so many of his teammates have been awful. LeBron is so good he's made the Finals 8 years in a row.

I know LeBron didn't do that alone, and isn't winning single-handedly now, either. His teammates must be doing something useful. Grabbing rebounds, making shots, playing defense. OK, not that last one. No one on Cleveland plays any defense (must be taking pointers from the Browns), but it isn't only LeBron. It just feels that way, and I don't enjoy watching it, so I can't root for it to work.

I didn't like it last year when it felt like Russell Westbrook was doing the same for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Taking every shot, grabbing every rebound, doing everything. His teammates might as well have been cardboard cutouts. It's still a team game, right?  Even Michael Jordan, that guy LeBron is so often compared to, didn't win championships until he had teammates that could actually do things, and who he trusted to do those things. He may not have needed Horace Grant, Toni Kukoc, Steve Kerr, etc., in the sense of needing those specific guys, but he needed someone who could do what they did.

(I feel like Scottie Pippen was such a great and unique player it'd be hard to just replace him with somebody else, so Jordan probably did need him specifically).

That's what I enjoy about the Warriors. When they're on, when they actually play like they give a shit (which is about one quarter a game most of the time these days), it's great to watch. Everyone moving, sharing the ball, feeding off each other's energy, it's very entertaining. They can hit a level where everyone is moving so in sync with each other they just steamroll the opponent. It's not the best if you're wanting a competitive game, but like LeBron, it's impressive for the sheer level of skill involved.

Alternate Favorite Marvel Character #8 - Rogue

Character: Rogue (Anna-Marie)

Creators: Chris Claremont and Michael Golden

First Appearance: Avengers Annual #10 (1981). It's unlikely Marvel will ever let the numbers for Annuals get that high again, but just in case, might as well specify the year.

First encounter: Uncanny X-Men #202. Secret Wars II tie-in. Rachel Summers tries to kill the Beyonder, he gives her enough power to do it, but drags her teammates into the mix and throws Sentinels at them, so she has to decide whether to use the power on him, or the genocidal tin cans.

It's a good intro to Rogue's overall deal. She tries using her speed to sneak up on a Sentinel, it blasts her into a crowd and damages her clothes enough she starts getting overwhelmed by all the different memories she's absorbing. With a little help from Rachel she gets it together enough to shatter a Sentinel Magneto has managed to freeze by using his powers to draw super-cold air from the upper atmosphere(?).

Definitive writer: Chris Claremont. Yeah, accent and all. Most of the stories I associate with Rogue were written by Claremont. Mike Carey's version was mostly good, but lacking a few parts. It's Claremont.

Definitive artist: I'm partial to Paul Smith or John Romita Jr.'s '80s work (and Alan Davis can draw just about anyone and I'd be fine with it), but due to the X-Men cartoon, I usually think of Rogue in that green and yellow costume with the short leather jacket, which means it's probably Jim Lee. Or one of the Kubert brothers, but hell if I could tell you which one.

Favorite moment or story: There's a few moments for Rogue I thought were pretty cool, trying to pick one is a bit tricky. Let's go with Uncanny X-Men #194, when the X-Men get caught in the middle of a fight between the Juggernaut and the futuristic adapting Sentinel, Nimrod. The robot takes care of the Juggernaut and most of the X-Men in a couple of pages. Rogue's one of the last ones still on her feet, and so Kitty, mostly paralyzed but still thinking, hits on the idea of letting Rogue absorb her powers and mind, and then getting Rogue to do the same with Nightcrawler and Colossus.

That's more commonplace these days, as shorthand for "things are desperate", but this was the first occurrence I know of. It was still new to her, and she was uneasy about adding so many personalities to the mix. Two issues earlier, she'd made contact with a Dire Wraith and been overwhelmed. Prior to that, she'd run into an old friend of Carol Danvers, and had acted like he was her old friend, before realizing he had no idea who she was.

Kitty initiating the contact voluntarily helped, but it was still disconcerting, especially throwing two more minds into the mix. Plus, she was still up against an enemy dangerous enough to hand the Juggernaut his butt. But she kept it together and got to work. She didn't end up destroying Nimrod, but she did damage him badly enough to make him retreat.

What I like about her: Rogue's Marvel Universe Series 3 trading card described her as 'the original Steel Magnolia: Stronger than iron and the prettiest southern flower you ever did see!' I didn't know a thing about Steel Magnolias, still don't, but they made it sound cool. For my initial impressions, that was enough. She could fly (always cool), she was super-strong and tough, and she was very pretty. I've been playing a lot of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 lately, and Rogue's combination of speed and power has made her one of the most effective characters for me to use. The fact she had a power which meant touching anyone was a risk gave her a bit of tragedy - can't be an X-Man without that - but made her sympathetic. The "cool" powers were a result of a bad decision she made with that power, and it was continuing to be a problem for her.

The key is, like Nightcrawler, Rogue doesn't spend all her time bemoaning her fate. Sometimes, yeah. Sometimes it's harder to deal with than others. Like when she's unable to distinguish Carol Danvers' memories from her own, or when Carol Danvers hijacks her body. Or when things in general are just going badly, it's one more thing. Maybe she wants to give someone a hug to comfort them, or be comforted, but oops, gotta be careful not to make any skin contact. She can't entirely relax, or focus on the problems at hand, because a part of her had to stay aware of the risk her own powers represented to her and others.

But other times, it's fine. She can play baseball with her friends, rob Colossus of a home run, and blow a kiss at Air Force One. Or cook a romantic dinner for Gambit. Or offer guidance to a teammate or student who is questioning their control over their powers, or whether they belong at Xavier's at all. She generally seems like someone it would be easy to be friends with. Once they get past the initial stage of not being sure of her, most of the X-Men get along fine with her. She can do those things and her power doesn't interfere. For me, there are times where I enjoy hanging out with other people, or will help a coworker or friend out gladly. And there are times where I'm stressed, or want to be left alone, and interaction with people is just one more thing I don't want to be dealing with. It's not a constant thing, but when it is a problem, it's something I'm actively having to fight against at the same time I'm doing whatever it is I'm trying to do. Don't get irritated, don't snap at anyone, it's not them. Not the same thing, but that barrier in herself Rogue has to be aware of is familiar to me.

Like I said, though, she has a lot of fun. She's powerful and knows it, so she's confident, teetering into cockiness, a bit of a showboat. She'll stop in the middle of a fight with the Juggernaut to comment on how impressed she is with her own punch. The team-up between her and Logan in Japan, Rogue barely appears to be taking seriously. Logan is waving his claws in peoples' faces, Rogue is leaned against the bar, offering commentary. Wolverine is skulking through the shadows, alert to threats, Rogue is strutting down the hallway, oblivious to any traps. She shoves Logan and Mariko to safety, but overdoes it and sends them flying down the hall. Some of that is inexperience, but some of it is her figuring nothing can hurt her, so it's no big deal. I could see it being irritating to deal with when you're trying to get things done, but it's fun to watch someone having a great time. Although the part where she acts like she's going to give Logan a kiss for saving her, that was in very poor taste.

As it is, Rogue was serious about saving Mariko, who had welcomed her, even when Logan was ready to kill Rogue on sight (though Mariko must be used to Logan having that reaction to people. Probably 25% of the people who come to visit her have some past beef with Logan). Rogue might have been outwardly flippant, but she takes saving people seriously. Not a trait exclusive to her, but still one I appreciate.

I was buying some of Mike Carey's X-Men Legacy earlier this year, when he turned it into a Rogue book for about 50 issues. She's missing most of the attitude in his stories, acts more weary than anything else. I don't love that, even if her being tired of the relentless crap storm that follows the X-Men is understandable. You still see a lot of Rogue trying to protect the students, even though she isn't the "flying brick" any longer. They have powers, they're more familiar with them than she is, but if she can borrow them and go into danger herself, she'll do that. She at least has more experience with dangerous situations than they do. She borrows a sort of ghost ability from a girl named Trance to run into another dimension to rescue Bling! from Monet's crazy brother. Even though she needs a while to figure out how the powers work, and even though there are a lot of things that can still hurt her (including Monet's crazy brother), she pulls it off. If the other X-Men can't get to her, she'll get the weird mansion to the X-Men.

When she still had Carol in her mind, along with all those other personalities, it was hard for telepaths to read her mind, or even communicate with her. In a world littered with telepaths and mind-controllers, having any sort of defense would be attractive. The tradeoff being those personalities aren't always happy to be there, and sometimes they seize control, like Danvers did repeatedly during the Australia years. The security system turns against her sometimes.

But it taught her some things. Near the end of X-Men Legacy, when Christos Gage is writing the book, Rogue winds up in another dimension and helps end a war between two species. In part because, even after one side tries bringing her into their hive mind and wiping her individuality, it won't take because Rogue's used to having lots of voices in her mind, but has figured out how to maintain a sense of who she is.

She also has a lot of experience with people manipulating her, or trying to control and use her. I'm undecided about her years being raised by Mystique and Destiny. I fall pretty squarely into the camp of Mystique being an awful person, which doesn't mean she wasn't trying to be a good mom, theoretically. I'm sure she believed she was doing right by Rogue, and it was just coincidence those things benefited Mystique as well. There are stories where they look like a happy family, Rogue and her two moms having birthday parties and good times. Rogue has warm feelings for both of them, although her relationship with Mystique is a lot messier. In at least some versions of Rogue's past, she's alone and on the run when Mystique finds her, an outcast after that incident with Cody, so having a relatively stable home had to be a plus. (Mike Carey had it Rogue was already living with Mystique when she kissed Cody and her powers manifested, so I'm not sure what the official line is these days.)

Mystique also turned Rogue into a weapon and used her on a variety of criminal missions. But she actively tried to keep her away from Carol Danvers because Destiny said something bad was gonna happen. It did end badly for Rogue (and worse for Carol), at which point Mystique can't do anything for Rogue. But then she's angry when Rogue decides to see if Xavier can help. It's something Mystique seems to constantly bring up and complain about, although she usually blames Xavier. Anything to deflect blame from herself. Mystique likes to try and control Rogue's life, but rarely will just come out and talk to her directly. She's got to interfere in decisions Rogue tries to make about her own life, or try to frame those decisions as somehow being about her. She'll throw in with Mr. Sinister to abduct a baby that might save Rogue's life, or assume another identity to try and expose Gambit as a sleazy womanizer. Even when Mystique will approach her directly, it's hard to know how much to trust her.

Irene seems the better parent. More reasonable, patient, trying to temper Mystique's harsher attitude. She doesn't have much success - Mystique didn't stop sending Rogue into danger, and didn't stop bearing a grudge towards Xavier for Rogue going to him - but she tried. She's also precognitive, seeing things far down the line, so how long of a game she is playing? Did she warn Mystique about Danvers as a threat to Rogue, knowing how it would all end? That Rogue needed to be driven to the X-Men, because the X-Men would need her to help save the world every other month for the next however many years? It's hard to know whether Destiny is back there, trying to pull strings, and if she is, how much. Was she acting in Rogue's best interests, or the world's, and even if it was for Rogue, was what Rogue wanted? How does one define what's "best" for another person?

I don't know how aware of all this Rogue is. Mystique's attempts at manipulation, trying to make Rogue feel guilty for doing what she thinks is in her best interest, I'm sure Rogue's become more adept at spotting and fending off as she gets older. With Destiny, I'm not sure she could ever know for certain, and since Destiny has mostly been dead for a while now, Rogue's mostly made her peace with it. I do think it's given Rogue a decent sense of when someone's feeding her a line. She hadn't necessarily spent as much time in espionage or crime as Logan or Gambit, but she knows when someone's trying to play her. Even when it's Cyclops, who she describes at one point as being very good at giving someone a choice in such a way it's no choice at all.

You see it in her romantic relationships as well. The two characters she's mostly frequently been involved with were Gambit and Magneto. They're different kinds of people; Magneto is overwhelming, projecting power and confidence, while Gambit has that schmoozy charm (and sometimes an actual power to influence people? I think I remember that. Maybe from when he was blind for some reason). Rogue's attracted to them, but ends up keeping them at arm's length. Most of that is her power. What happened with Cody is a lesson she doesn't want to repeat.

But even when her powers are under control, she still keeps a distance. She's trained herself to be careful, and I doubt that goes away just because she can in theory control the power. During Carey's run, when the powers are under control, both of guys are around, and it doesn't go anywhere with either of them. She interested in them, but also wants to maintain distance. Maybe she sees something that says that it would on their terms, and that concerns her. Magneto in particular strikes me as someone who would want to "wear the pants in the relationship." Gambit less so, but even when he tries to be better for Rogue, there are aspects of his personality that would be frustrating to deal with. Also, Magneto regularly lapses back into villainy, and Gambit isn't well acquainted with concepts like "monogamy" or "honesty". That factors in, I imagine.

She did having something forming with Joseph, the Magneto clone, at least far enough for an actual kiss. Joseph was a less forceful personality than Magneto from what I remember, due to the uncertainty he had about himself. Maybe he didn't set off the same warning bells in her head. Of course, he also died before it could go much further.

Given how traumatic the experience with Cody was, it's odd she 'll kiss someone to absorb their powers. I know removing a glove isn't always possible, a kiss might surprise them so they won't realize they need to break contact until it's too late. But it seems like there'd be too much bad history there. Necessities of battle, I guess, albeit one that may leave a lasting impact she'll have to cope with. Claremont described her using that move against Ben Grimm in Fantastic Four vs. X-Men as a 'desperate yearning for true affection,' so she takes it as the closest she can get? That seems. . . not entirely healthy.

(I can't forget it exists apparently, but I am going to ignore - as Marvel thankfully seems to be doing - Paul Jenkins retconning in that Rogue and the Sentry were intimate at some point in her past as part of his, "Everyone is sad the Sentry is dead! Really they are!" story back in 2010. Talk about someone Rogue should have been keeping at arm's length. Hi, I might get depressed and think you out of existence at any moment! Let's make out! Moving on.)

I don't have many comics from Rogue's early days as villain. Her run-in with ROM, the battle with Carol Danvers that changed both their lives, a story from her ongoing series where she forgot all her years with the X-Men and briefly went bad again. By the time I encountered Rogue, she'd been an X-Man long enough they'd accepted her. Magneto was the new teammate everyone was wary of. So it was vague backstory I might not even have been aware of, the same deal I had with Hawkeye. It adds a certain element of redemption to her backstory, but it's not typically something I associate with the character. It's almost more like "wild teenage years". Got some questionable guidance, fell in with a bad element, made some mistakes, and now she's trying to do better. Maybe because the X-Men welcome in so many of their past foes, most of whom have much longer track records of bad behavior than her, that it doesn't feel like something unique to her. Which is fine. Even though I do enjoy a redemptive arc, I don't need one as the focal point for every character I like.

Visually, I like the white stripe in the hair. I don't know why it would exist, but it's an interesting identifier, and kind of unique. I feel like artists are beginning to minimize it, but that might simply be because Rogue is past the "big hair" phase she was during the Jim Lee/X-Men cartoon days. She has less hair overall, which includes the white part. But it does seem to be getting relegated to just a patch in the bangs. Costume-wise, she typically has green involved, and then one of white, black, or yellow. Which are not your typical hero colors, but work for her. Makes her distinct. And she's had a variety of looks, most of which seemed to fit, depending on the artist. She rocks jackets a lot, going back to her earliest appearances. Green a lot of the time, brown leather in the '90s and early 2000s. Sometimes with a hood, sometimes not (the jackets Silvestri drew had no hood, for example). She doesn't use the hood much anyway.

For a little while, after she'd absorbed Sunfire's powers, she had a long cape. That didn't quite seem right for Rogue, but it worked with that particular outfit (at least it did the one story I saw it in, which Mike Wieringo drew). When she had control over her powers, she went with a variant of her green-and-white look. Short sleeves and long gloves, no jacket, a little more skin showing than her other looks. Not much - really just the bit on the arms between the sleeves and gloves, plus however much a given artist had the neckline plunge - but a little more. The gloves didn't make much sense, they'd be more of a pain to remove in a tense spot, but logistics aside, the look wasn't bad. There was usually a scarf involved, which was a nice accessory.

Even when she goes with the spandex look - the Silvestri years, or most of the '90s - there's usually something additional to the look. The jackets, frequently, and probably knee-high boots. The Jim Lee look had a belt, which hung loose so that it didn't have an apparent function, but it adds another layer. Around the Mutant Massacre, she'd sometimes have black spandex from the neck down, but add a loose green tank top or sometimes a much baggier green t-shirt, a belt, some variety of boots. It breaks things up a bit, makes it seem more like an actual outfit, less a superhero costume. Probably a strange outfit - I'm not a good judge of that stuff, as the guy who rarely sweats complaints about artists putting everyone in t-shirts and jeans since that's 96% of what I wear - but an outfit.

When she finds herself in the middle of a fight with a Master Mold/Nimrod fusion that started when Carol Danvers was running things, she's stuck in Carol's old costume, because that was what Carol had to throw on for it. The one-piece black swimsuit with the red sash, and Rogue hates it. Calls it a "rag". Maybe because it's Carol's, or Rogue hates the colors, or something else. But it's definitely not the style she favors.

I like Rogue because despite a rough childhood and adolescence, under at least one questionable parent (more if you count her birth family), and a condition that makes interacting with people actively dangerous for everyone involved, she mostly doesn't let it get her down. She learned some good things from Raven and Irene, and also some stuff she had to unlearn. The difficulty in having physical contact with others hasn't stopped her from forming strong emotional attachments. She still lives her life on her terms as best she's able, given the demands of being on the X-Men, and she doesn't seem willing to compromise who she is.

Credits! It's Sentinel-fightin' time on the cover of Uncanny X-Men #202, by John Romita Jr. (pencilers), Al Williamson (inker), and probably Glynis Oliver (colorist for the interior). The skunk stripe remains even as the rest of her hair changes color, in Uncanny X-Men #194, by Chris Claremont (writer), John Romita Jr. (penciler), Dan Green and Steve Leialoha (finishers), Glynis Oliver (colorist), Tom Orzechowski (letterer). Longshot should remember that, but he does get amnesia a lot, in Uncanny X-Men #218, by Claremont (writer), Mark Silvestri & Dan Green (artists), Glynis Oliver (colorist), and Orzechowski (letterer). Rogue's not takin' guff from any punk. in Uncanny X-Men #173, by Claremont (writer), Paul Smith (penciler), Bob Wiacek (inker), Glynis Wein (colorist), and Orzechowski (letterer). Rogue learns self-driving houses aren't all they're cracked up to be, in X-Men Legacy #229, by Mike Carey (writer), Daniel Acuna (artist), and Cory Petit (letterer). Having her mother's voice in her head is a more literal problem for Rogue than most, in X-Men Legacy #220, by Carey (writer), Scot Eaton (penciler), Andrew Hennessy (inker), lettered by Cory Petit (maybe?), and I can't find the colorist. There are worse things than a second chance to say good-bye, in X-Men Legacy #233, by Carey (writer), Clay Mann (penciler), Danny Miki, Jay Leisten, Allen Martinez (inkers), Brian Reber (colorist), and Cory Petit (letterer). This is not the Jim Lee costume I was referring to, in Uncanny X-Men #269, by Claremont (writer), Jim Lee (penciler), Art Thibert (inker), Steve Buccellato (colorist), and Task Force "X" (letterers). Rogue's not into cats, I guess, in X-Men Legacy #271, by Christos Gage (writer), Rafa Sandoval (penciler), Jordi Tarragona (inker), Rachelle Rosenberg (colorist), and Cory Petit (letterer).

What I Bought 5/30/2018

The second half of May wasn't supposed to be so dead for new books. But three comics I was expecting to come out didn't, and I still haven't tracked down the first issue of Coda. So here we are.

Ms. Marvel #30, by G. Willow Wilson (writer), Nico Leon (artist), Ian Herring (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - Schiti is really going with a different style there. I wonder why.

Kamala is trying to figure out what to do about Red Dagger and Bruno. Bruno is trying to figure out what to do about Kamala and Mike. Zoe, Nakia, and Mike are trying to figure what to do about the new student, who Zoe is certain is a super-villain. When Kamala is finally aware of this, she confronts Kaylee, and gets trounced because that sentient virus has gotten itself a robot body. So it's turning into Ultron, if Ultron were an annoying twerp. Frankly, Ultron as a dinosaur is much cooler. Kaylee/Doc.X has something planned for the spring dance, but Kamala and the Red Dagger foil it, and then he decides to go home while Kamala sorts things out. OK, then.

I have no idea what Kaylee's plan was going to be. To use her popularity to incite violence against marginalized members of the student body? To humiliate a bunch of people by revealing their secrets? It never got off the ground, as far as we know, so that was kind of an anti-climax. I guess it's going to be an ongoing struggle with that virus, and so this is just another phase of the battle. It also seems to be dredging up the specter of everything Kamala is keeping from her friends and family. Red Dagger suggesting they reveal their identities to each other was running on a similar track. She's still avoiding that conversation. It'll have to happen sooner or later, though. She's letting too many things related to her friends slip through the cracks, and they're hitting their limit with it.

The fight scene at the dance was pretty well drawn. Doc.X's robot body is a solid design, and the teamwork between Kamala and Red Dagger was handled well. I especially liked the dual use of guitars as weapons. I wish that panel had been a little bigger, or zoomed in more. The musicians are supposed to be distraught, but they're just vague outlines, so it kind of blunts the potential hilarity. Probably not supposed to find it funny, but our heroes are dealing with relationship issues while Kwezi pretends to be a 19th Century European anthropologist with his commentary, so don't think it's meant entirely seriously, either.

Also, Kwezi's growing on me as a character. I haven't been super-interested in all these new characters Wilson's been bringing in, since it means less page time for the supporting cast I already like, but I appreciate that she and Leon are expanding the universe.

Leon's work on body language is solid as always. Kaylee's arrogance and dismissive attitude, Zoe's dramatic approach to everything. But hey, exclaiming someone might be a super-villain got Mike out of that bathroom stall, where Nakia's patient understanding wasn't, so drama gets results.

Dream Team - Jack McCallum

The 1992 U.S. Men's Basketball team was the first time the U.S. approved actually letting professional basketball players participate. Before that, all Olympians were supposedly "amateurs", which is a joke since most other countries best players were being paid. It was just those other countries would say the player was officially a fireman or something, wink wink.

McCallum details the whole thing, going back to the U.S. finishing third in the 1988 Olympics with college players, and even further back, to the 1970s, when a man named Boris Stankovic came to the U.S. on behalf of FIBA to study American basketball, and became certain the pros needed to be allowed to play, if you're truly showcasing the best athletes a country has to offer. Also, he thought it would propel the other countries' teams, once they saw how large the gap actually was (and he was certainly right about that).

McCallum's style, as with Seven Seconds or Less, is to break things up in to many short, distinct chapters, usually focused on one particular player or event. So each member of the team gets a chapter, detailing where they were in their careers at that point, and any difficulties that arose in getting them on the team. Larry Bird wasn't sure his back would allow him to play, and he wasn't going to be some token, lifetime achievement member. Magic Johnson had just been diagnosed with HIV, no one was sure if he could play. USA Basketball wasn't sure Charles Barkley wouldn't create an international incident. Michael Jordan was insistent Isiah Thomas not be on the team, which meant Thomas was shit outta luck. Nobody was going to take him over Jordan (except deranged Pistons' fans, maybe).

There's a lot in there that's fascinating to me, like how much everyone seemed to enjoy playing together. Probably because even though your average NBA player is a tremendous athlete, to the true greats, the average dude is slow, or half-blind. He can't see what they can, can't anticipate. But all these guys could, so the stuff they could do together was insane, and they knew it was the only shot they were going to get at that. The intense public interest in the team in Barcelona, or anywhere they went, really (which annoyed the U.S. Olympics officials, who felt the Dream Team were no different from any other Olympians, and tried repeatedly to throw their weight around, to little effect). Some of the scrimmages, both the ones against the college players, and the famous one the Dream Team had against itself, with Magic leading one team, and Jordan the other.

It's well-written, flows easily, doesn't get overly bogged down in unnecessary details. McCallum does feel it necessary at points when he's praising a player for x or y to mention he's not suggesting they deserve a Medal of Honor or whatever, which, you'd hope someone reading this book about a basketball team would understand that implicitly, but maybe he felt he was descending into hagiography. I was more bothered at the end, when he was discussing subsequent U.S. Men's Basketball teams, and he started to fall into "old man griping about disrespectful kids" mode. I'm not going to defend '90s NBA, which was a tedious slog to watch most of the time, but McCallum does come off as one of those sportswriters who loves to tell younger people how the stuff they like ain't shit compared to the stuff he liked. I get enough of that from baseball writers.

The praise of Bird seemed over-the-top, he seems like McCallum's favorite. But all the other players talk about Bird the same way, even Jordan, which I didn't expect. The personality dynamics are intriguing. Jordan telling Chuck Daly that Bird and Magic should be the captains and not him, but Jordan and Magic being the ones who keep everyone on the same page (not that there's much need for that). Magic being the only one who won't acknowledge that Jordan is just flat-out better than the rest of them by that point. Pippen being the guy who was most friendly to the college players brought in to scrimmage with them. Drexler honestly believing he was every bit as good as Jordan at everything.

'Doing a lot of the asking were two members of the United States Olympic Committee, LeRoy Walker and Mary T. Meagher. They gave Jordan the standard lecture, intent on sending the message that the Dream Team was nothing special, that it had its Olympic responsibilities, that revenue produced by the Dream Team was being used to support other athletes who weren't staying in luxury hotels and who weren't highly compensated, and. . . on and on.

"They went at Michael with the attitude of, 'Don't be an asshole," says Barkley. "So you know how well that shit went over with Michael."'

Do Cats Wanna Mess With Hawks?

One solicitation I didn't mention in Monday's post was another of DC's crossovers with the Looney Toons. Catwoman's going to get dragged into helping Sylvester, which is going to push Tweety to drag a bird-themed hero in as backup. Which is then going to escalate into a full cats vs. birds thing.

Given this is Gotham we're talking about, the bird-themed hero is probably Robin. Which Robin, I don't know. Hard to see Damian coming to the rescue of an annoying baby bird. But my first instinct, when I read 'bird-themed hero' was Hawkman. Or more accurately, it was , "Aw shit, not Hawkman. He's terrible."

Then I started wondering if Catwoman has ever tangled with Hawkman. An (extremely) brief Google search didn't turn up anything. Considering she likes to steal stuff, especially old rare stuff, and Hawkman is sometimes an archaeologist, and therefore works around a lot of old stuff, it seems like they would have crossed paths. Also Catwoman enjoys messing with Batman, because he's sometimes a gruff asshole, and annoying people like that is fun (see also: Deadpool and Cable). Hawkman is an even gruffer asshole, so tweaking him would possibly be pretty fun.

Of course, you catch Hawkman on the wrong day - or wrong incarnation - and instead of tossing a net over you, he's trying to cave your skull in with a mace. That might be a little too much risk for the payoff.

The Wolf - L. David Mech

The Wolf is a fairly comprehensive - for its time - look at most aspects of the lives and biology of wolves. I say, 'for its time', because the book was originally published in 1970, and this revised edition was from 1980. So there's no research referenced in here more recent than the late '60s. There's still a lot of information in the book, but it may be a bit dated.

Also, the descriptions of some of the studies are a reminder the rules for treatment of animals in research studies was a lot more lax back in the day. Mech describes on study that tried to determine how much food wolves could consume at one time, since they're often observed gorging when they bring down prey. So the researcher withheld food from his five captive wolves for two days, then gave them all the food they could eat. Then killed, sorry, "sacrificed" them so he could weigh their stomachs.

Most of the biology research I've been a part of over the years, we were trying our best to not get any animals killed. Although those were more general population surveys and nest success studies, so the end goal was somewhat different, and there wasn't the need to be as invasive to gather information*.

The book is broken down into chapter covering general topics, which are broken down into more specific areas. Chapter 3 is about social order and communication, which includes dynamics within a pack and also between other packs. The chapters will overlap, such as how Chapter 7 discusses hunting habits. Since the wolves are pack hunters, research discussed in Chapter 3 is referenced here as well.

The dated aspect of the research does make me question how accurate some of it still is. Some of the work done on pack dynamics was with wolves in captivity, and I've seen papers elsewhere that discuss how those packs were sometimes composed of wolves taken from several different packs and put together, so they aren't representative of true relationships within a pack. But a lot of the information is from studies done in the wild through observation, so presumably that would be more accurate.

Mech does address places where different researchers came to different conclusions, or places where he believes an author is drawing from unconfirmed resources, like old trapper or hunter stories. Mech's own research, on both Isle Royale and the work he'd only recently begun in Minnesota at the time this book was published, factors in quite a bit. As you might guess, he doesn't think he's drawing off questionable sources, but he does acknowledge where the information is too circumstantial to do more than raise possible answers, or where they might need more time to see how a predator-prey dynamic plays out over time.

I was most interested in the chapter on hunting success and tactics, and the point that there's a level of disparity between predator and prey where the predator can't act as the primary limiting factor on the prey species any more. Basically, there are too many of the prey for the predators to kill enough of them to offset all the new ones born every year. I'd read a similar study done in Australia looking at whether the foxes that were introduced by the British could control the population of rabbits (also introduced by the British). The conclusion was yes, up to a point, but once the rabbits hit a certain density, the foxes just can't eat enough of them to do the job. It's the same with wolves (and most other primary predators I'd imagine). The predator becomes just one of several factors - disease, available food, weather, etc. - that limits the population in some extent.

'Burkholder listed the shoulder, neck, sides, and flanks as the points of attack on caribou. It is significant that the Alaskan wolf pack that attacked caribou in this way attacked moose in the rump, just as wolves do in other areas. In other words, at least with caribou and moose, the point of attack seems to depend primarily on the type of prey rather than on the behavior of individual wolf packs.'

* My ornithology professor told us once about a study done - many decades before his time - to determine the strength of the crop and gizzard (the parts of their digestive system they use to rush the food they swallow, since they have no teeth) of turkeys. First they fed the turkeys walnuts, which the turkeys successfully broke down. Then, he said, they tried razor blades, which the turkeys again somehow broke down, although I imagine their internal organs were a disaster afterward, and they almost certainly died.

It's Almost Too Hot to get Excited For Any of This

It's not even June yet, what is this 90+ degrees bullshit? The solicitations for August are out, so is there anything worth being amped for?

Ann Nocenti and David Aja's Seeds is finally showing up, so that's one for me at least. I may not understand it, but I'm pretty sure I'll find it interesting. I usually do when it comes to Nocenti's work. That's the main thing from Dark Horse to catch my eye, although if Empowered & Sistah Spooky's High School Hell keeps skipping months it might still be going in August.

If I really have said enough is enough with Cave Carson, then there's nothing going for me from DC. But a few things I saw I'll mention anyway. One, it's apparently the 25th Anniversary of Knightfall (aka, Bane snaps Batman's back like a twig), if you wanted to feel old. Two, DC is doing another round of those team-up books between their characters and the Looney Tunes. Daffy Duck's running into the Joker, and they let Brett Booth draw the cover. As with the Flash/Speed Buggy issue that probably came out this month, I wonder why they let Booth draw that. Or anything, really.

Three, the Raven mini-series that's running is going to see the formation of a team of young magic users, which looks like it might include Traci 13, Dr. Thirteen's magic-wielding daughter, the one who dated Jaime Reyes for a while? I think it's her; the staff and the outfit look familiar. Now you know as well as I do the perils of buying a comic because a character you like that doesn't show up much is on the cover. Easy way to get disappointed, but I figured I'd mention it, at least.

Because it was two months late showing up, Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers will still be an issue away from being done in August, if I'm buying it. Brian Clevinger's doing another Real Science Adventures, set in the Byzantine Empire (which actually starts in July, but I missed it last month, I guess). I haven't had great luck with Real Science Adventures, since I seem to require Robo actually be there to interact to care about most of the supporting cast, but if it sounds good to you, go give Brian Clevinger some money.  There's also a book from Steve Niles, Delta 13? It'll be on issue 4 by august, but people in space finding something bad on an asteroid? I haven't read a lot of Niles' work, and what I have didn't do a lot for me, but might be worth a shot.

Boom! still has Coda and Giant Days, they're doing their part to give me something to read. Hopefully I'll have the first issue of Coda here in another week or so. As for Giant Days, Ingrid is back, and that doesn't seem to be good for Daisy's state of mind. As she said, being broken up with Ingrid is just like dating Ingrid. At Image, Copperhead is wrapping up. Booooo, boooooooooooo. I know every other book Image puts out these days is a space Western, but I liked this particular space Western.

Paul Jenkins is writing a new series called Beyonders. I haven't read anything of his since roughly Civil War-era Marvel, about the time he gifted us the delightful double crap platter of Speedball-as-Penance and Sally Floyd berating Captain America for not watching NASCAR. And I had so much goodwill towards him from his time writing Spider-Man up to that point. Anyway, this book has some guy figuring out all the conspiracies he buys into are real and going on some sort of grand trip across the world with a flatulent Corgi(?). I don't know, sounds a bit like those National Treasure movies I despised when I describe it that way, but it caught my eye for some reason.

As for Marvel, there's nothing new that interests me. Infinity Countdown has become Infinity Wars. Silly me, thinking the first mini-series would be the end of it. There's some event involving those time-traveling teen X-Men called Extermination. A new West Coast Avengers book, but outside of Clint Barton, I don't care about anyone in the book (I feel like Gwenpool is character I'm not going to trust in anyone other than Chris Hastings' hands). Fantastic Four is starting up, by Dan Slott and Sara Pichelli, if that interests you. Marvel has marked the occasion by having Fantastic Four variants for most of their other books. The covers at least seem to depict different eras of the FF's history. So Liefeld drew the team from when Medusa was in Sue's spot. Art Adams drew the New FF he and Walt Simonson did as a joke. J. Scott Campbell drew the team during the stretch in the '90s when Sue started rocking that ridiculous outfit with the 4 cutout. I'm sure none of us are surprised by this. Although I didn't see anyone do a cover for that stretch where Luke Cage was on the FF. C'mon Marvel, you have a TV show starring him and everything! I thought you were all about trying pointless exercises to capitalize on that?

Here, let's look at this nice Iron Man cover by Alexander Lozano. That's pretty cool, right? Decent palette cleanser. There are some pretty good covers this month. The Michael del Mundo Thor cover was pretty nice, too. Very colorful. I'm idly curious how Dan Slott will write Machine Man. The NextWave version, the more classic version, or the split-the-difference approach Jeff Parker tried in his Red She-Hulk? Note: I'm not curious enough to buy it, just idly speculating.

In books I will probably be buying, Squirrel Girl's trying to keep Kraven and Spider-Man from fighting, Ms. Marvel's still trying to clean up whatever mess she and Bruno made this time, Madrox is still in a race against time, Domino is on the run. Those Squirrel Girl/Ms. Marvel things are still going. I wish they'd just call it a mini-series and be done with it, instead of all this vaguely similar one-shot titling. This month it's Squirrel Girl/Ms. Marvel; last month it was Ms. Marvel/Squirrel Girl. Yes, let's make it harder to keep track of whether the books are a continuation of each other. What a brilliant strategy.

Sunday Splash Page #20

"Then Venom Died and We All Cheered," in Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #1, by Dan Slott (writer), Adam Kubert (penciler), John Dell (inker), Justin Ponsor (color artist), Travis Lanham (letterer)

I reviewed the mini-series last year. Looking back, it really hasn't made much of an impression. It was nice to see Peter and Mary Jane together again. The art was OK, Regent had a lousy design, though. The tpb is probably going to the library in the next pruning of the collection.

What I Bought 5/23/2018

Was on the road all week. Just got back a few hours ago. I did, while out and about, manage to find one book from this week at a comic store I found along the way.

Infinity Countdown Darkhawk #1, by Chad Bowers and Chris Sims (writers), Gang Hyuk Lim (artist), Travis Lanham (letterer) – Yet another artist fails to make that redesigned look work.

Chris Powell spends some time at Project PEGASUS figuring out the limits of his armor’s new situation. Namely, no more switching back and forth to repair damage to himself or the suit. Now he wants to go into space to fight the Fraternity of Raptors, and all he needs is a ship from his old pal Nova. Who says no, because he’s busy fighting the Raptors, who now include his little brother Robbie. As Chris debates his next move, he’s attacked by Death’s Head, who mostly does not use that particular speech pattern I see most people write him with. That sort-of Yoda thing? Although he does end questions with ”Yes?” a lot. 

The only connection I saw to any Infinity Anything was Nova made a reference to everyone being after the Gems as why he hasn’t already taken care of the Raptors. But then, despite being busy trying to keep the universe from the brink of war, he won’t let Chris handle the Raptors. Well, Richard never was the intelligent Rider brother, although neither is Robbie, if he’s running with the Raptors. And he’s wearing Mar-Vell’s Nega-Bands now?  So the issue is largely focused on establishing the current status quo. The deal with Chris’ armor, as well as what’s going on in space. Which is handy for someone like me, who stopped paying attention to Cosmic Marvel the minute it fell from Abnett and Lanning’s hands into Bendis’.

Lim’s art is generally fine, although the big fight happens in an entirely empty section of New York City. There’s a few cars, but no other people. Also, I would never have recognized Robbie Rider, who is pretty much always shown wearing glasses with floppy hair, if he hadn’t told the Raptors his name, because he’s drawn like some pointy-haired anime protagonist. “Pretty” is probably the best descriptor. Everyone is very attractive, and all the armor looks very shiny. Lim went back to the more classic look, with the long silver wings, which I consider an improvement over the one on the cover. Lot of computerized effects for energy blasts and stuff like that, which isn't bad, but isn't great. On the other hand, Lim draws Death’s Head’s head like it’s an actual organic skull, like Ghost Rider, rather than a robot head, which is what I thought it was. That's how I've seen it draw by everyone else I've ever seen draw Death's Head. Death's Head II is another matter, but that's neither here nor there.

So there are some parts in here I find interesting, or that might lead somewhere good, but the issue is still mostly treading water on my residual fondness for Darkhawk.

DEADPOOL 2

I went to see Deadpool 2 last Friday. Then Alex wanted to see it, so I went again on Saturday. I regret nothing. So it's review time! Super-short review: I liked it a lot. It was still funny on the second viewing! Long review: Forthcoming! And here's the panda to help! Clever Adolescent Panda, have you seen the movie this time?

CAP: Yes I have! Are we going to spoil things?

You bet we are! Probably. I mean, let's try not to. I avoided doing that to Alex, but you know, just in case, SPOILER WARNING.

Wade suffers a loss early in the film, gets in a bad headspace, and then has to get his act together to save a young pyrokinetic (Julian Dennison) from time traveling jackwagon Cable (Josh Brolin), who is out to prevent the boy's future crimes. Along the way there are many gruesome and hilarious deaths, a super-team with a higher casualty rate than the Suicide Squad and Great Lakes Avengers put together, and a near-constant stream of jokes. I actually think they toned down the profanity a little.

CAP: I'm not sure about that. Everyone cusses in this film.

Not Yukio! And not necessarily in the number of curse words, but the creativity of their use. Nothing on par with 'shit-spackled muppet fart'. But that's OK! It started to get a little tiring by the end of the first movie. And they make up for it with lots of dick jokes and (accidental) double entendres.

CAP: Farts are funny.

Deadpool: [Indeed they are! Glad to see your years of tutelage under me in that creepy, bat guano-infested cave have paid off. Literally paid off. That guano was a gold mine. If gold were shit.]

Despite all the teasers and trailers showing a lot of the movie, there are quite a few funny moments we hadn't seen yet. It helps that the film is throwing gags out there almost constantly. Real Mel Brooks approach. If you haven't made some attempt at a funny in the last three seconds, do so immediately. If you have, make another. Some of them are bound to land.

That did create a problem when the movie tries for some emotional resonance. Because Deadpool so often takes moments - say, any time Colossus tries to boost his spirits - of sincere feeling and basically makes a fart noise

CAP: Ha, fart.

Enough with that! As I was saying, it creates a disconnect when the movie is actually sort of trying for a genuine moment. I'm sitting there, waiting for the joke. The thing Wade is going to do to ruin the moment. I mean, I do want to care about Deadpool.

Deadpool: [Ruining moments is my superpower! Along with my extremely seductive hips. Also, if people don't care, they're less likely to die from being near me.]

CAP: They'd stop dying if you'd cut back on the Mexican food.

You are really locked into a "fart" subroutine right now.

Deadpool: [Maybe there's trouble at school. Come sit on Uncle Deadpool's kn - on second thought, I'll sit on your knee while you tell me about it.]

CAP: Nothing's wrong at school! I liked Yukio and Negasonic Teenage Warhead! They were adorable. They play off each other so well.

Agreed. I do hope we'll see more of them in future Deadpool movies, or perhaps an X-Force film, if they actually do that. You know, I'm not sure I'm ready for a world with an X-Force movie.

Deadpool: [Damn it, Calvin! Jack Kirby told you to prepare for the World That's Coming!]

CAP: But how do you prepare for that?!

This movie, more than the first one, felt like the Deadpool I'm familiar with, and fond of. Things are going well for him at the start, so everything then naturally goes to hell. He spends time wallowing in pity (or legitimately depressed and in pain, but it sure looks like self-pity). In the course of that, he makes poor choices that come back to bite him later. He tries to protect a kid, and to keep that kid from making a lot of the same mistakes he did. There's just enough of a good person in there he gets people to believe in him.

The interactions between Deadpool and Cable, especially the fights, felt right. Wade's throwing everything he can at Cable. His arm gets broken at one point, so he uses it as a rope to strangle Cable, basically. He's talking constantly, and even though Cable is supposed to be this grim, focused guy, he gradually gets irritated enough that he starts shit-talking right back at Wade. He doesn't have to, but he can't help it. Like Wade's chattiness infected him.

Deadpool: [Not the social disease I normally give other people, but I like to keep things fresh.]

CAP: So you're going to start making references that are only five years old instead of fifteen?

Deadpool: [Never!]

It was odd seeing a Cable that's shorter than Deadpool - he's 5'11'', tops - but otherwise Brolin plays him as a gruff, irritable, determined old guy. Who also has enough wit to be cutting when he feels like it. Seems about right? I thought he was going to be after Russell because the kid destroyed the future, that Cable is trying to save a world, while Wade is just trying to save this one kid. Highlight their differences. Wade's usually not too focused on the big picture, so much as dealing with this specific problem in front of him. There's an element of that in here - Cable mentions this would save lots of lives - but that's not what prompted him to travel back in time. But they did release Days of Future Past only a few years ago, so maybe it would have felt too similar.

CAP: There were too many quick cuts during the action sequences. It was hard to have any flow during the fights.

Yeah, and the X-Men's "No killing" rule rings a little hollow when presumably Wolverine and his fist knives were around murdering people at some point. I'm not buying that Logan held off entirely on decapitating people until he was old, broke down shell of himself. Also, shouldn't the X-Men be more concerned about a prison specifically for mutants where they throw 14 year olds in with adults?

Deadpool: [The X-Men are historically inconsistent on when they decide something inconveniences them enough to get involved.]

So are you, if it involves getting off the couch.

Deadpool: *Gasp*

CAP: I thought the real villain was too cartoonishly over-the-top. There's not much to him. And doesn't it confirm that stereotype that people who aren't "pretty" are usually bad?

I could see that. I was thinking it with the guy Wade shot, because he reminded me a little of Steve Buscemi, who often plays creepy characters, but is supposedly a really nice, chill guy. But people think he's like the characters he plays. But is Deadpool a rebuttal to that, sort of. Although I thought they skimped on the makeup a bit this go-round. His face looked less like an avocado that, you know.

Deadpool: [I've been moisturizing!]

CAP: Unless it's water poured from the Holy Grail, I don't think it would do much good.

As for the villain, I thought he was OK, until that last monologue. Before then, he was off-putting, we can tell something isn't right. But he had this calm (eerily so) almost pleasant demeanor. Quiet, outwardly grateful, just trying to help these poor troubled kids. Looks good to adults who don't really want a problem to deal with anyway. Classic abuser, "I'm doing this for your own good," shtick.

CAP: Yeah, but really he's afraid the whole time. He feels small, so he wants to make them ashamed of themselves so he can push them around to feel in charge.

Probably yeah. With the name of the school, I thought he was going to be some sort of independent mutant eugenics thing, but that's not how that turned out. He might have needed a little more fleshing out, but he was mostly there as a motivating factor for Russell. Whether there was anything more to him than what we saw there was irrelevant, because what we saw was what Russell saw, and what drove his actions.

Deadpool: [Bo-ring! Quit talking about the Great Value brand Shawshank Prison Warden, and talk more about me!]

CAP: Um, I hope the post-credit sequences are in continuity for you? Domino was awesome!

She was, MVP right there. Zazie Beetz plays with a cool, breezy air. Things usually work out for her, so she doesn't get worried. Self-assured, so Wade being a jerk doesn't phase her. Rather than getting annoyed, like Negasonic or Cable, she just plays along with him and banters. And she's charming enough that Wade enjoys it.

Actually, I thought it was sweet how happy Deadpool was to have a team. It ended badly, as all the times he finds a place do. But for a minute, there were a bunch of people happy to work with Deadpool to save this kid and kick Cable's butt, and it was wonderful.

Deadpool: [I'll always remember them fondly. Except for that one guy. And Shatterstar.]

CAP: Aww, Wade, you have us! We just aren't jumping out of any helicopters with you!

I'm also not fighting Iron Man if he shows up pissed you ripped off his music playlist.

CAP: Ooh yeah, good point.

Deadpool: [What?! What happened to the eager young panda that would hit Tony Stark over the head every week?]

CAP: He's digitized now! I can't hit him!

I think he's back, actually.

CAP: Really?

Deadpool: [Yep. The bell chimed Roll It Back O'Clock at Marvel again, so Tony's flesh-and-blood again, dumb mustache and all.]

CAP: OK, I'm in. He shouldn't be hogging the AC DC anyway.

Yeah, what will the classic rock stations play? Other than the other five songs they play all the damn time. If I never hear "Brick in the Wall" or "Welcome to the Jungle" again, it'll be too soon. Deadpool 2's song selection was once again excellent. The variety of songs and styles are a real strong point, and endlessly surprising, in a good way. That opening credits sequence, it was like a James Bond movie, but with 900% fewer sexy ladies. But that was always kind of creepy, all those shadow ladies dancing on top of guns or whatever.

CAP: So, thumbs up?

Heck yeah.

Deadpool: [Thank you, that means so much. Almost as much as this obscenely huge pile of money I made over the weekend.]

Enjoy it while you can, with that Han Solo movie hot on your heels.

CAP: Oooh yeah, the Han Solo movie!

Eh. I don't need his origin story. He was played Harrison Ford, that was enough for me to give a shit about the character, back then. I don't know this new kid from a hole in the wall.

{Edit: I typed the above on Sunday. Then I was out of town all week, so there was one final bit of the film I didn't get around to discussing. So let's do that now. SPOILER WARNING still in effect. Seriously, the next sentence will have a spoiler in it.}

So, in the first fifteen minutes, the movie kills off Vanessa. So Wade can have nowhere else to go, so he ends up with the X-Men, and so he'll be depressed and self-pitying, and rebuff Russell's attempts at friendship and have to fix that mess later. Vanessa does appear off and on through the rest of the movie, each time Wade dies. She offers some vague piece of advice that Wade then tries to puzzle out so he can decide what he's supposed to do next. One of the post-credits scenes (hopefully) erased this event, but it did still happen. And if it was erased, I doubt we'll get to see Vanessa' reaction to learning she was killed by an vengeful target of Wade's - after she nearly died at the hands of a vengeful target of his in the first movie - only to be saved by time travel shenanigans. That seems like it would mess with a person's head, even one that's been living with Wade Wilson for an indeterminate amount of time.

It's too bad, because like the first movie, Morena Baccarin and Ryan Reynolds have pretty good chemistry in their limited screen time. It's just Baccarin doesn't get to do much. I'd have settled for her giving Wade a verbal kick in the pants at some point, but that seems to be Blind Al's role (while Weasel's is to give terrible advice, and be the world's worst friend.) Given that Vanessa's relationship with Wade is very different from the one he has with Blind Al, he might be more inclined to take it seriously (by his standards).

So all that is something to factor in. Overall though, I still enjoy the movie, it'd just be nice to find a little more for Vanessa to do.

What I Bought 5/19/2018

They had a Minicon in Columbia over the weekend, so Alex and I swung by on Sunday. I think I did better on finding back issues than I had at a convention in years. Alex went after a bunch of the first Punisher ongoing, some of Engelhart's Silver Surfer, and a Gambit mini-series. Whatever floats your boat.

Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers #1, by Joshua Jabcuga (writer), Tadd Galusha (artist), Ryan Hill (colorist), Tom B. Long (letterer) - I went with the Tim Truman cover, because that man can draw.

Nixon calls in Colonel Parker and tells him the government has a lead on some weird creatures that feast on the blood and innards of people, and the clue was in one of Elvis' shitty movies. Elvis and his bodyguard, Johnny Smack, fight monsters anyway, so they and the rest of the crew assembled will be doing that. We don't actually get to any of it yet. We see the monsters abduct a guy, and bring him to some green creature that begins feeding on him, but that's about it. Most of is spent on Elvis wanting out of this life, all parts of it, because he hates Colonel Parker. But Parker has the soul of Elvis' mama hidden somewhere, so the King is stuck.

The parts I enjoyed best hinted at other adventures or mysteries. The steamboat, the Nocturne, they're using to get around. That bit of blood under Nixon's nose, not to mention the strange room he and Parker initially met in. But the issue itself is all set-up, and I'm left wondering why the hell is Elvis here? Yes, I know he claimed to be a karate master or whatever; and Jenny suggests that he has a charisma that can be almost weaponized, but we don't see anything that shows why he's needed. I'm also not sure it wasn't too early to bring up Sebastian Haff as Elvis' out from this life. But I guess if you want to establish he's fed up even before this mission goes pear-shaped, that's a way to do it. Jabcuga's dialogue for Elvis does match his monologues from Bubba Ho-Tep, at least the movie (I don't know how much they changed from Joe Lansdale's story).

I like Long's lettering, especially for the sound effects. The wavery "Glug Glug" for the homeless man on the first two pages. The font used for the creepy guy that brings Colonel Parker to the White House. All caps, big letters, thicker and darker than everyone else's dialogue. Also Hill's coloring. The meeting on the riverboat, the background is this deep orange because of the setting sun, but the light doesn't seem to penetrate on the decks much. Plus, it's such an unusual color choice it's hard not to read as ominous.

Galusha's good at making Parker look like a disgusting, self-satisfied pig. And he gives Elvis a lot of mannerisms and movements that match how I think people picture him moving. The hand gestures, the hip sways, stuff like that. I don't know if he would do that even when he wasn't performing on stage, but maybe the point is he's always performing.

There are some interesting pieces in issue 1, but it's going to need to come together into something more. next month.

The Foreigner

I really wanted to see Jackie Chan going the Liam Neeson route, playing an old guy out to fuck up the people who hurt his family, so here we are.

The people in question are members of the IRA, but possibly as a result of this, the movie spends a lot more time on all the politicking, backstabbing, and maneuvering going on among the guys in Ireland's government who used to be IRA. Including Pierce Brosnan, as a Deputy Minister. He actually ends up as the focus of the film. The British government wants answers, and he needs answers to maintain his cushy job. But he can't be seen as a traitor to the cause. He's cheating on his wife, his wife is cheating on him, Jackie expects the names of the people responsible for the attack, and keeps blowing Brosnan's shit up.

There are long stretches of the movie, where Jackie Chan is barely in the movie at all. He's lurking somewhere in the woods near Brosnan's home, watching and waiting. It's an interesting approach, putting him in the role of this a lurking threat, while we watch Brosnan flail about trying to keep all his plates spinning. A bit like doing a Batman movie primarily from the perspective of some mob boss that knows Batman is going to come crashing down on his head sooner or later.

I'd still have preferred more scenes of Jackie Chan somberly grieving, or beating the crap out of people. Not that there aren't several of those scenes, I just wanted more. They made a big deal about Brosnan's nephew Sean being a former Ranger and tracker, who goes into the woods alone, and that didn't last very long. It makes sense; neither Chan or his character are spring chickens, and even with him keeping the jumping around to a relative minimum, he can't keep that stuff up for too long. And it is very different to watch him fighting and actually trying to end fights fast. Slamming dudes headfirst into trees, flipping people through tables. For a while there, he seemed to be using a surprise knee to the face a lot, to great effect. I really enjoyed those parts of the movie. The rest of it was fine, but not what I was there for.

They Are Reviving All Sorts of Properties These Days

Feels like it's been awhile since I did a prediction post, so let's discuss the mystery villain of the current Squirrel Girl story. The one who decided to crank up the difficulty on the escape room.

Yeah, that guy. So he's tall, skinny, wants to keep his eyes covered, and has a big, droopy, Fu Manchu mustache. He also seems interested in making sure his customers are not just entertained, but entertaining. And he doesn't go lethal unless the participants are suitably powerful. Which rules out Arcade, who was my original pick when this story was solicited*.

So, callin' my shot, here's my pick for our Mystery Foe:

Mojo 2: The Sequel!

Look, I'm not any happier I remembered this guy existed than you are. But I did, for some reason, so here we are. An updated, more telegenic version of Mojo - for the '90s! - who is tall, skinny, has big shoulder pads and a stupid mustache. He wanted Dazzler to help him overthrow Mojo, but he's using so many show biz metaphors that he's probably just as hooked on getting ratings as the original version.

So he uses the people in the escape rooms as a low-budget TV show. Not public access exactly, but maybe like a do-it-yourself show? How to construct mysteries and puzzles. How to conceal evidence, but still leave thematic clues so people will know you committed crimes (very popular in Gotham City). All the drama and bickering is just to add a little spice to it. Like those motorcycle garage shows where they spend 60% of each episode arguing about dumb shit.

I know, it would be a hell of a deep cut on Ryan North's part, and they made a brief mention of Ratatoskr and Melissa, so it certainly seems like it must those two, but I'm betting on the curveball.

* Arcade's Escape Room would probably get lousy reviews. They'd all be from Spider-Man, telling you how awful it was, since everyone else would be too dead to leave a review. "Terrible experience! He brought us there in a garbage truck filled with sleeping gas!" and so on.

Sunday Splash Page #19

"Downright Inhospitable", in Spider-Man: Hooky, by Susan K. Putney (writer), Berni Wrightson (artist/color artist), Michelle Wrightson (color artist), and Jim Novak (letterer)

This was originally released in 1986, as one of the original graphic novels Marvel released back then (like The Aladdin Effect). Then they re-released it in 2012. I only picked it up a year or two ago, because Spider-Man against seeming eldritch horrors sounded kind of interesting. And Berni Wrightson is really good at drawing creepy, terrifying monsters. Or dragons.

The story is a young girl who used to deliver Aunt May and Uncle Ben's newspaper is actually the daughter of a powerful wizard of another realm. Back home, there's an unkillable horror after her. If defeated it changes so that attack won't work again. Spider-Man, being Spider-Man, agrees to tag along and try protect Marandi from the creature. Easier said than done.