I Should Post This Before The Next Round of Solicits Hits

First order of business in discussing the solicits for April's releases. Since I didn't send an order to my comic guy, there's no telling whether he'll send anything. In which case, by the time I decide to actually buy them, I may have heard a lot of negative stuff and change my mind. So this is kind of theoretical. Like, I want to get Deadpool #45, which is supposed to be the last issue of the current volume, but I don't think I want to pay 10 bucks for it. So I may not buy that one until several months after its release, when I can get a perhaps slightly damaged copy at a lower price. Like I said, as long as its readable and doesn't fall to pieces, I'm not too worried about condition.

I went over the Convergence mini-series I was thinking about buying a couple of weeks ago. Ultimately I settled on Batgirl, Suicide Squad, and JLI. But if I hear nothing but bad things when they come out, I may revise that plan. The joys of no longer feeling locked in because I specifically ordered something.

Pretty quiet on the Marvel front. Captain Marvel's tie-in to the Black Vortex came a month later than I expected, but there it is. As mentioned, Deadpool's ending for the moment, though I feel the rumors of his death have to be a joke. I'm hard-pressed to believe he's going to get killed by the incompetent dopes of U.L.T.I.M.A.T.U.M. Daredevil is either wrapping up, or getting really close. I wonder what Secret Wars is going to do to books like Ant-Man and Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, that have barely started? It feels like some of these books are ending because of the big shake-up, but if so, it was kind of stupid to start up a bunch of new titles.

I'm sure the stupid one is me, for thinking Marvel employed any sort of long-term thought or planning to all this. They really do careen from one thing to the next like a hog on ice.

What I Bought 1/26/2015 - Part 4

Not that I'm a fan of most commercials, but that one for the Wendy's bacon mushroom melt thing, where everyone sings about what they did to earn it, I really hate that one. They end up saying they did nothing, but it's more than that. Outside of the first guy, who actually washed and folded his underwear, every other person was either an incompetent dolt (the kid that can't parallel park), or an actual jerk (the lady bragging because she slipped an extra item into the 10 or less line, and of course, the redhead that's "helping" a friend move. By carrying a pillow). Basically, it's a sandwich for stupid assholes.

Daredevil #10-12, by Chris Samnee and Mark Waid (storytellers), Matthew Wilson (colorist), and Joe Caramagna (letterer) - I can understand Matt turning his head away. A motorcycle has to be a hell of a thing for a guy with enhanced hearing. Also, he probably doesn't want his face ground off by the tires.

Issue 10 wraps things up with Killgrave and his kids. Purple Man actually helps Matt get going again by demanding he show some fear, which is something Matt knows how to work against, as opposed to the overwhelming feeling of isolation the kids hit him with. So Matt fends off his shambling foe and staggers back to his law office, where Kirsten is still putting off her dad about the offer to publish Matt's memoirs. She helps patch him up, and gives him the clue where kids who can do whatever they want would go: One of those funland/Chuck E. Cheese type places. But once they've scattered among the rides and games, they're easy prey for Killgrave. Matt shows up and takes him down with the police, but still isn't entirely himself afterward. Fortunately, he has Kirsten to help him through it.

Samnee went heavy on the blacks in this issue, especially in the moments when Matt's struggling the most with what the kids did. The scene in the office, the panel where Kirsten slams the door open, ready to take a swing at whoever is there, there's very little black in it, because she's the only one in the panel. For the rest of the page, and the one after that, as she and Matt converse and she patches him up, there are a lot of shadows, mostly around Matt, but also her, because she's concerned about him. And something about the colors, the light in the room is muted. It makes it feel like a quiet scene, where they're keeping their voices low even though there's no need. The shadows tend to fade when Matt's active, doing something, or has something he can focus on to distract him from the emotions the kids unleashed, but it's kind of a temporary thing.

After that, Matt and Kirsten take on the case of George Smith, the former Stunt-Master, who is angry the company he sold the rights to his name to have given it to a new kid who is an Internet sensation. Before Matt and Kirsten can make a lot of headway, Smith kills himself, and Matt decides to confront the new Stunt-Master personally, only to learn Smith isn't dead, and the new guy hasn't actually been pulling off these crazy stunts. All those times it looked like he died, someone actually did die, and he came out the other side OK. The drug company that's sponsoring him had been pumping homeless people full of drugs and tossing them out there. And the final reveal is that it was actually Smith who was masterminding the whole thing, as a way to go out on top. Even took a bunch of drugs so he could fool Matt's senses, with the side effect that he cut his life expectancy down to about a year.

Then at the end Matt lets it slip he loves Kirsten, which probably doesn't bode well for her.

When the story started, and we hear George's tale, I thought Waid and Samnee were deliberately referencing the plight of a lot of comics creators. Smith, through his efforts, creates this larger than life character, but now the character is continuing on beyond him, and he's not receiving any recognition or financial compensation for it. It seemed like Jack Kirby's story, or Gary Friedrich's, or the Siegels struggles with DC. Which made the reveal that Smith was behind everything a little curious. I have no idea how that would fit in with the "creators getting shafted" idea, so maybe it wasn't intentional on their part. I mean, Smith was killing people to elevate his star, which would suggest each creator is really only in it for himself, and would screw all the others over if the opportunity presented itself to make a little scratch. Maybe they're making the point that some creators are like this, and they're terrible and awful, but what's the endgame of that? Only support creator rights if they aren't ruthless, amoral jerks?

OK, that somewhat confusing and depressing  thematic discussion aside, I liked Matt and Foggy's differing versions of Matt's first encounter with Hawkeye, especially with Kirsten on the sidelines offering commentary. Foggy's point that Matt needs to be truthful because Hawkeye is going to want to read about his first meeting with Daredevil, the recognition that Matt tends to overact when he needs to sell being able to see. I mentioned it in the Year in Review posts, but Kirsten and Foggy's steady lampooning of Matt's ego is one of the most enjoyable parts of this book. It's great that Matt has largely abandoned the gloom n' doom outlook and embraced a more upbeat approach, but his cockiness could absolutely get insufferable if there wasn't someone there to jab at him. With Kirsten and Foggy, he has two. Kirsten has a but quicker wit, and is more willing to use it, but Foggy has years of being Matt's best friend under his belt, which gives him an inside track to block Matt's attempts at self-aggrandizement.

What I Bought 1/26/2915 - Part 3

How's everybody's week going? Well, I hope.

Rocket Raccoon #5-7, by Skottie Young (writer, artist #5), Jake Parker (artist #5 & 6), Filipe Andrade (artist, #7), Jean-Francois Beaulieu (color artist), Jeff Eckleberry (lettering) - That's a really effective use of negative space there. And Young even drew Rocket's eyes as slits, to make him look like he's squinting against the wind in his face.

Each issue is a separate story, though issue 7 is the part of at least a two-issue arc. 5 is Rocket and Groot out camping with some alien kids, and Groot tells a story about the two of them finding a treasure map, which leads them on a quest involving a poker game (where Deadpool is involved, oddly), killing a cyclops (but not Cyclops, sadly) with a big sword, and finally, selecting the right treasure chest from three belonging to an alien pirate ghost. Except it was all just a birthday gift from the Guardians to Rocket, which just annoys our hero since it means no pile of loot. Just friendship, and cake. The joke is that since Groot tells the story, all the dialogue is variations on 'I am Groot'. But Young and Parker tell it easily enough with the art, so it's fine (although the "I am Groot" thing is starting to get old. But I recall that when Giffen first brought him back in Conquest, he knew more than three words, and used them frequently).

In issue 6, Cosmo calls in a favor Rocket owes him (for something that happened in the current Nova series), which involves helping Brute. Brute was a war mech that was discarded on an abandoned world with other obsolete mechs. But they possess intelligence, and built a peaceful civilization. Except some interested parties found it and stole 4 of the mechs, to turn them back into war machines and sell them. Cosmo's a law dog, so he can't get officially involved, but Rocket is a wild card with a questionable rep, so he's perfect. He and the robot (which speaks in binary, so no more intelligible than Groot) find where the mechs are being sold, rescue them, beat hell out of everyone, and the mechs go home, where they make baked goods. Including dog biscuit topped cupcakes for a certain head of security at Knowhere. Parker handles art chores solo on this issue, and his style is a bit more simplified than Young's. Rocket looks a bit more cutesy than Young's stringy, slightly feral version, but that works. This Rocket is actively trying to reform a bit, do good deeds for money (since he had to repay those princesses for all the cash he bilked them out of). He still complains a lot, and he's still violent, but he's at least showing greater selectivity in who he's being violent towards, and more critically, why.

Issue 7, Groot and Rocket are stranded on an ice planet, because Rocket didn't check the fuel gauge before they left home. They get attacked by things that vaguely look like enormous jackalopes, and saved by the princess of the locals, but not before Groot is bitten. And the creature's venom blocks his regenerative ability, so he's really going to die this time, unless they can get an egg from the mama of the Nogu. But the princess' father nixes that idea, meaning Rocket will naturally go by himself. Except Jink didn't appreciate being called a Daddy's girl, so he's got her on his side. But the Mother Nogu is large. Like Fin Fang Foom large, so good luck gettin' that egg.

I haven't seen Andrade's art since the end of the previous Captain Marvel series. This involves fewer human beings, which works to his advantage. If I think Jink's eyes seem oddly small and widely spaced, well, she's an alien. I can't see that being an evolutionary advantage, but maybe it is. His Rocket looks a bit nastier than Parker's or even Young's. More snarling, less smirking. The dark color Beaulieu's using around the gums really highlights the small, sharp white teeth Andrade gives him. When Jink's dad grabs him by his jacket and hauls him up, Andrade gives Rocket a posture that suggests a small creature being threatened. His teeth are bared, his nose is kind of wrinkled, even his hands and arms are held in a manner that almost suggests trying to flash his claws at the threat. It's a style that emphasizes the animal Rocket was created from, moreso than usual.

Beaulieu's color work, like on Avengers Arena and Undercover, is superb. Andrade uses heavier blacks in his work, but it plays well against an ice planet, which is a lot of white and various shades of blue. The colors tend to be brighter in the earlier two issues, but so is the tone of the stories. A lot more warm oranges, and vibrant reds. It suits tales that are emphasizing the size and strangeness of the universe, but in a sillier way. Contrasted with issue 7, where the strangeness is hostile and dangerous, where even the traits you think will keep you safe can be circumvented and rendered useless.

Stalingrad

'In Stalingrad, even broken tanks shoot back at Krauts!'

The film Stalingrad, released here last year, is not a comprehensive look at that World War 2 battle. It focuses on a struggle over a particular building. The Nazis need it to gain a foothold on the river, so they push on, and the Soviets naturally are trying to hold it to keep that from happening. The Soviets are outnumbered, under-equipped, and a mishmash of whatever men managed to make it across the river alive during the initial assault to take this side of the bank. The Nazis are hamstrung by the typical stuffed shirt Lt. Colonel, and a Captain who spends as much of his time as possible with a Russian woman who reminds him of his wife. While his affections might provide her with food, they certainly don't make her popular with the other civilians holding on in the rubble.

The main gist of the film is that when the Soviets retook that building, they found a young woman, Katya, and since it is her home, she stays there, and the soldiers come to look after her, 5 of them in particular who were part of the same unit, led by Captain Gromov. Katya was pregnant (because the Nazis assaulted her while they had control of the building), and she raised her son after the war on the story of his '5 fathers', which he is relating, decades later, to a woman trapped in the rubble of some huge accident to keep her calm while rescue crews get her out. I actually turned the movie on during that opening framing sequence, and got really confused for a minute.

There are a lot of little scenes, Katya interacting with the 5 guys in different ways. Conversations, teasing, one of them offering to teach her to shoot. And these sequences usually end with Katya's boy doing a voiceover description of that soldier's life before the war, or what's happened to his loved ones since the war started. And, because this is Russia we're talking about, and Russia in World War 2 specifically, what's happened to their loved ones is always terrible. Always. The overwhelming impression is most of these guys would have to start all over again after the war, because there won't be anything to come back to. Which is a different direction from what you see in American war pictures typically. Since the fighting wasn't happening here, there's very much a sense that everything the soldiers left behind is still waiting for them at home, and it's a question of whether they'll make it back. With the Soviets, the war was right there, their families were being attacked and killed all the time, so the idea they grab on to anyone that seems worth protecting - in this case Katya - makes a lot of sense.

I'm still not sure it succeeds at fleshing out the soldiers past sort of cliched stock roles, but the film does (or the cast themselves) do manage to build a sense of being a real group. They work together readily on some things, but in other ways, they see things very differently, and it leads to some arguments as things progress. I was still more interested in the lives of the Russian civilians. They wouldn't leave because it's their home, even if they could get killed at any moment by either side. They adapt as much as possible. They aren't particularly impressed by Soviet soldiers (who they blame for losing the city in the first place), and certainly aren't going to let them stand in the way of going on about their jobs. They don't openly fight the Nazis, but anyone they see as collaborating is in for some bad times. I felt sorrier for that young woman than anyone else in the film. She's just trying to survive, and if anything, Captain Kahn's obsession with her and what she represents probably made him a less effective officer. He was more concerned with saving her than his men or accomplishing his job.

The work on the settings, the shot up buildings, that was high quality. There's a scene early of the Soviets getting on boats to cross the river, and the far bank is lit up like it's all burning. So they're heading towards an inferno. Within a few minutes, they are walking through an inferno, because some fuel tanks blew up.  I don't know that the fighting was terribly realistic, though there's a sense of chaos to the battles inside the apartment building that feels right. That you could get surprised by two other guys crashing through a wall. That said, I'm not sure you can bank an artillery shell off a busted tank so you can hit a gun emplacement around a corner. But what the heck, it looked cool.

It isn't a great film, but I like the zoomed in focus on the film. On the History Channel (back when it wasn't airing stupid bullshit about aliens) it would have been all about Stalingrad as this major turning point in the overall war, and there's certainly an aspect of that on the German side here, with their focus on the idea that if they can secure this side of the river, then they can keep going straight on to India. But on the Soviet side, it's about holding one building, and for a few guys, about protecting this one woman who has already survived a lot, and about the guys trying to do that.

What I Bought 1/28/2015 - Part 2

The weather reports said flurries over the weekend, we got about 5 inches. So far, that's the most significant snow we've had this winter, though they're talking about more tomorrow. I don't have to do much driving these days, so the only reason it bugs me is that the road crews didn't get it cleared off entirely, and what's left get packed down until it's like ice (assuming it isn't actually ice). Running on ice isn't much fun, since your feet slip a little on every step. Walking through snow is another matter, provided you have good footwear, but that's neither here not there.

Roche Limit #3 and 4, by Michael Moreci (writer), Vic Malhorta (artist), Kyle Charles (art assists, #3), Lauren Affe (colorist, #4), Jordan Boyd (colorist, #3), Jim Campbell (letters, #4), Ryan Ferrier (letters, #3) - I have kept thinking that face reminds me of something, and it finally hit me. That episode of Scooby-Doo, where the robot is running amok through the old amusement park. He looked like just like that poor guy there to the left. So all we need to solve the problems on this colony are pot-smoking teens are their Great Dane.

Alex (the drug maker with the bomb on his chest) and Sonya (the cop from earth) continue their search for Sonya's sister Bekkah. But it seems the people addicted to Alex' drug are developing some ugly side effects. Black eyes, bad skin, tendency to speak in dire warnings, that sort of thing. They track down a scientist named Sinclair, who is behind the disappearance of her sister, but claims he isn't. And his goon got ahold of a cane with a gun hidden in it, so they had to back off.

There's a lot of running around, but it boils down to this: When Sinclair dumps women into the anomaly, it separates their souls from their body. this was discovered by some of the initial explorers, who are presumed dead, but are still lurking in the background somewhere, preparing. He reels the bodies back out, and the soul pops up in the mines, as those glowy things the two teens found one of previously (which they subsequently lost to the goons working for that madam, Grace, though I doubt she has any clue what it is). If the body remains soulless, it turns into these black-eyed weirdos (though it doesn't have to be the same soul. In fact, Bekkah is up and moving around with someone else's soul in her, though I can't tell if it makes a difference). But it'll happen anyway, because the planet itself is poisonous, because of something the anomaly emits. And Alex' drug, made from minerals found on the colony, provides a concentrated dose. Now all the empty/poisoned wackaloons Sinclair has collected from his tests have been set loose by former kingpin/black-eyed wackaloon Moscow, and are killing everyone else in service of whatever is on the other side of the anomaly. Sinclair, Alex, Sonya, and Bekkah know doodley squat about all that, because they went back out into space to try and get Bekkah back to normal by dunking her in the anomaly again. Except something is coming through from the other side, probably the Black Sun all the wackaloons worship.

I have no idea how all this is going to come together. There's only supposed to be one issue left in this arc, and I don't know if the next arc (whenever that comes out) will pick up where this leaves off, or if it'll time jump forward, or maybe backwards. I don't really follow how Bekkah can have someone else's soul in her, yet she apparently behaves and remembers all the things Bekkah does. But without one, you become some weird, murdering, dark-eyed lunatic thing.

You could really tell Malhorta was getting assisted on the art near the end of issue 4. Characters' faces got considerably less distinct and more simplified. Some of the buildings look really rushed. But the color work is still excellent. I especially like how vivid the Anomaly is. It's this bright light that naturally draws the eye, that dominates every scene it's in. And yet, it's deadly. We want to explore it, find out of there's something on the other side, but that doesn't lead anywhere good.

Although, you explore, and you lose your soul, and become a slave to some larger, destructive force? Kind of an odd message. I mean, yes, everyone who stays there is doomed to that fate, but the people exploring get it faster, even than the people who try to use a drug to escape into fond memories of their past.

What I Bought 1/26/2015 - Part 1

Did most of the Super Bowl commercials last night seem sad to you? The only one I saw that seemed kind of amusing was the one about avacados, where they were staging the first ever draft. The polar bear was wearing a sombrero, hoping to be drafted by Mexico, but they selected avacados instead? Horrible pick, by the way. Polar bears are much better.

Captain Marvel #9 and 10/100, by Kelly Sue DeConnick (writer), David Lopez (artist, 9 & 10), Marcio Takara (artist, #10), Laura Braga (artist, #10), Lee Loughridge (color art, #9 & 10), Nick Filardi (color art, #10), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - Nice touch, making the cover look slightly weathered. My comic guy even got in on it by beating up one of the corners somewhat. You say that wasn't part of the presentation? Oh. It's fine, I don't really worry about whether comics are in mint condition. I just need to be able to read them without them falling to pieces.

Carol and Tic are discussing hypotheticals, as friends do, while listening to Lila Cheney's latest album, and Lila teleports in, asking Carol to use her diplomatic status to get Lila out of a marriage that was arranged between her and the prince of Aladna, when Lila visited there as a child. Fortunately for Carol, the prince knows Lila doesn't really want to get hitched, and he doesn't want to force her. Problem being, he doesn't have the choice, no man on Aladna has a choice when it comes to marriages. So Carol - posing as Lila's mom - prepares to block the wedding by objecting, but another objection comes from a queen with designs on that throne and Carol gets to settle things in the diplomatic manner most comfortable to her - punching things. Then Tic solves the marriage issue by agreeing to marry the beefcake prince, so he can take the throne and let everyone in the populace have control over who they marry. And in the aftermath, Lila finds a letter she was given to deliver to Carol, from Kit back on Earth.

Seems Grace Alexander, who decided she wanted to destroy Carol at the end of the previous volume of her series, had escaped from prison and sent for a legion of remote controlled rats to destroy her home in the head of the Statue of Liberty, then snuck into her old apartment to lure in Rhodey so she could blow him up. Which didn't work, naturally, and she got arrested, but it makes Carol a little homesick (the part about how her old friend Tracy is barely hanging on didn't help, I'm sure), and Lila gives her a quick lift home, just in time for Christmas.

I feel sure issue 9, with the weird outfits, the talking in rhyme, and the melodramatic "GASP!"s, is homaging something. Judging by the title of the issue, it's a rock opera, which doesn't help me any, but maybe it means something to other readers. It just isn't a language I speak, really. Couch it in Westerns, I might get it, but not rock operas. It works fine as a story anyway, I'm just positive I'm missing some extra references. I do enjoy Carol trying to be diplomatic, especially when it involves something as awkward as rhyming everything, in part because Lopez does such a good job drawing people looking uncomfortable or awkward, smiling too big, or whatever. The first real time Carol tries to rhyme (with, 'I-Indeed! Why the. . .rush? Must they wed at first. . .blush?') Carol's making these goofy hand gestures, which fits. There's no reason for them, other than she's out of her depth, and trying to do something.

The other issue gives each part of the letter to a different artist, since each part was written by a different character (from Kit, to Spider-Woman, to Rhodey). Lopez for Kit, Takara for Jessica, Braga for Rhodes. All three of them are distinct, but similar enough each part of the story feels like it's taking place in the same universe as the others. We don't get a situation where Kit's is really cartoony and exaggerated, or Jess' has huge rats because she hates rats. I suppose, if the issue were meant to be funny, that could be a missed opportunity, but I don't think that was the goal really. Carol's meant to feel wistful, and be reminded that while she dashed off into space to find herself, all the people she cares about are still living their lives.

I find it a little hard to believe Grace was actually willing to be blown up alongside Rhodey just to mess with Carol. She strikes me as the sort of villain who considers herself much to valuable and important. It's everyone else who sucks and is expendable. So I guess she knew she gave Rhodey enough times to whoosh off into the upper atmosphere to protect innocent bystanders. Still not clear on why the bomb fell off. The cold I guess, or the velocity he was moving at. Curious to see how Carol's going to handle her trip back home. The solicitation described it as being like "A Christmas Carol", so she's going to spy on them, unobserved? Seems strange, but she did say no one had to know she was hopping back to Earth for a day, which would seem to preclude talking to any of them. Jess or Rhodes, for sure.

The Invisible Man 2.22 - The New Stuff

Plot: A farmer watches his entire cornfield get devoured by a swarm of bugs he can't see. And so the Official sends Darien and Hobbes to investigate, figuring it has something to do with all that Quicksilver Chrysalis made off with. The meeting is a little tense because Claire is extremely hostile towards the Fat Man. So Darien and Hobbes make their inquiries of the farmer, who is drinking heavily because no one will believe him, though he did collect several of the bugs after they died and became visible again. The questioning is broken up as Darien starts going Quicksilver Mad, prompting a rush back to the Agency.

The boys are pretty concerned, Darien stating Claire will have to start giving him two shots a week, and that's when Claire drops the bombshell: Arnaud did give her enough to remove the counteragent dependency, and that shot she just gave Darien is the last he'll ever need. Right on cue, the Fat Man arrives, with another agent, weapon drawn. I assume he must have bugged Claire's lab. The Official tries to justify it, but Darien Quicksilvers, suckerpunches the agent, and flees, while Hobbes refuses to make any attempt to catch him. Out in the world, Darien robs a bank, but finds the lack of challenge a problem, and leaves the money across the street.

Elsewhere, Stark is about to be replaced as head of his Sector by his boss, despite his arguing that he's furthered their goals. She points out he's been constantly thwarted by the Agency, Stark apparently already knows Darien broke with them, and assures her they're no threat. Back in the world of people who aren't jerks, Hobbes comes to Darien's apartment to ask for him to come back, and sees Fawkes packing a suitcase. Bobby spouts some stuff about the Fruit of Righteousness, and Darien won't go back to being a thief, and Darien agrees. He also acknowledges that he'd always be hunted if he ran, so he's taken a different path: He called the FBI and asked for a job, so here's Jonesy. Did I say we were back in a world of people who aren't jerks? Ooops.

Hobbes is dismayed, but Darien's tries to do his buddy a solid by asking the new boss to a) hire Bobby at the same GS-9 level as Darien and b) transfer Jonesy to Alaska. But Hobbes refuses, stating he'll get back to the majors on his own. Uh, given your Prozac prescription, probably not. As you might expect, life at the FBI ain't so great. Everyone kisses up to him, but none of them respect his intelligence. They get a tip about a genetic research lab having been burned down by an eco-terrorist group, except that corn field was genetically modified corn, and when Darien mentions Chrysalis, all the feds just laugh, and tell him to stick to his trick. So Darien steals evidence from their room and seeks out Claire, who has gone to work for the CDC. She's not entirely happy to see him, but agrees to help, though they have to sneak back into the Agency lab because Claire had done some analysis on the locusts they brought back from the initial field. What Claire discovered is that the locusts have a protein deficiency and they can only eat genetically modified foods, and that company was combining a couple of plant forms with uses in medicine to create what might just be a cancer treatment drug. Which Chrysalis would not want, since that would help people who aren't them survive.

They grab Hobbes and find the main field where the stuff is being grown, though they have to elude a bunch of rude MPs in Humvees, first with the van, then with scooters. The scientists are somewhat skeptical until they can hear a huge swarm of insects heading towards them, and luckily they do keep a crop duster nearby, in case swarms of insects pass by. The crops are saved, everyone celebrates, then big dead bugs start falling on everyone, which puts a damper on things. Back at the Agency, Darien agrees to return, with conditions, including the right to be lazy. Oh, and Claire gets hired back with a bigger budget to research getting the gland out of his brain. And she and Hobbes get raises. The Official has to get the last laugh by telling them he was the guy who tipped the feds off about the eco-terrorist group attacking the lab, so that Darien would get sucked in and bring the team back together. Which makes Darien, Claire, and Bobby, all want to get drunk. And there it ends.

Quote of the episode: Hobbes - 'I guess you can't see so good in those FBI sunglasses.'

The "oh crap" count: 5 (47 overall). That's 9 more than last season, though a lot of people stole it from Darien this year.

Who's getting quoted this week? Albert Camus said real generosity to the future meant giving all to the present, Cole Porter argued work was more fun than fun (which is a load of crap), and Ray Bradbury said he wasn't trying to describe the future, but to prevent it.

Times Fawkes Goes Into Quicksilver Madness: 1 (10 overall). Just one more than last season, although a lot of Season 1's came in the pilot. But most of this season's were concentrated in these last few weeks.

Other: The Agency got dropped by Health and Human Services sometime after Darien split, but rejoined Fish and Game at the end.

I kind of like how when the Official came barging into Claire's lab the first time, Claire got to essentially pull the 'I did it 35 minutes ago' on him. Not exactly, since it was more like 2 minutes, but Darien had no idea he was free (he was still too pissed at her acknowledgement that she'd lied at the end of last week), and I think the Fat Man was sure he still had a chance to control things. Though why he didn't equip that guy with thermals, well, I guess because he thought he was keeping Claire from severing the leash, not trying to contain a dog that was free.

Little surprised at Alex' complete absence from the final 3 episodes. Not bothered really, because I never felt like she quite fit in. She got too friendly to be antagonistic, but never quite friendly enough to not be antagonistic. I guess she was supposed to be the person who can't help needling others, but that's already kind of Darien, and the Fat Man does a pretty good job taking the wind out of Fawkes' sails.

If the locusts have a protein deficiency, how was Chrysalis keeping them alive long enough to do them any good? I mean, the bugs seem to die right after they devour a field, so if you give them food, they'll keel over once they eat it, right? How long can they go without food? I suppose if this were a realistic show, though, Chrysalis would just use lobbyists to remove funding from projects like this (since the military is guarding, the government has to have some coin sunk into it at some level. Actually, I'd wondered for awhile why Chrysalis hadn't used that influence to get the Agency shut down. It's always barely hanging on anyway. Put in a good word for another agency, shunt the funds that way. I actually thought that was the point of all the drastic budget issues they were having a while back, when Claire's equipment was being repossessed, but no.

Watching Hobbes and Fawkes fall out was interesting. The way Hobbes encourages Fawkes to be the bigger man, come back into the fold, only to find Darien signed on with the FBI. He was really hurt by that, it let Jonesy's barbs get him in a way they usually don't. Maybe because Darien wasn't there taking shots right back at Jonesy this time. Hobbes has been good for Darien, a maturing influence, to temper some of Darien's impulsive responses, but it works both ways. Darien is the one who lets Hobbes know he is respected and trusted, who has his back when people start taking shots. And Hobbes is the one who listens when Darien gets ideas, who doesn't dismiss them because he sees Fawkes as more than an ex-con with a special trick. They really lean on each other a lot, and for awhile, they're split. Darien is right to be pissed at the Fat Man (the guy was ready to have him killed rather than risk Darien falling into enemy hands). Hobbes is right to be hurt his best friend bails on him, even though I'd say Fawkes had the right idea overall, to stay legit, but find a place he thought would treat him better.

And when they meet at the remains of the lab, they argue past each other. Fawkes is convinced (because he has an ego) that Hobbes is there trying to get him back, and snarks at Hobbes along that line of thinking. Hobbes is actually there on business, but is angry Darien is kind of acting like the feds, treating Hobbes like he isn't a professional, and so he takes shots along that line. None of it accomplishes anything, other than letting each of them air grievances, though it does plant the seed of doubt in Darien's mind that makes him split off from the feds.

For that matter, I like that when Darien approaches Claire, she's a standoffish at first. Darien can be mad she withheld the cure, but she did it to try and protect him. The Official had flat out stated he wasn't letting the gland leave, no matter what, which put Darien's life at risk. But when she saw how his life would be ruined if she didn't get him off the counteragent, she went for it. To save him, and because she believed he would stay. That's what she told the Official last week, that Darien wouldn't leave. And he left. He had his reasons, and she may have been aware he joined the FBI, but I think Claire (like Hobbes) has watched Darien change, and when he Quicksilvered and ran, I'm sure she wondered if all that progress just went up in smoke. If he was going to return to crime strictly out of spite, or maybe because that's who he'd always been, and everything he'd seemed to become over their time as coworkers was just him doing what was necessary, the long con. Not unlike what Arnaud pulled on the Agency. Oh, and it probably didn't help that she lost her job when he vanished.

I hadn't seen this episode in over a decade, but I really thought a lot more of it would involve Darien being chased by the Agency. Guess I was conflating it with the end of Season 1. Credit to Darien for recognizing he wouldn't be able to run. Even if the Agency never caught him, it would get out among the rest of the intelligence network, and everyone would be after him. The Chinese lost their Quicksilver-recycling vest, after all. And Chrysalis is still out there, not to mention Arnaud. It really does feel like this was set up to keep going into a 3rd season. The two big threats are still out there, but they'd recognized you can't play the counteragent dependency plot line forever, so they remove it and go forward.

But this is last episode. The thing that feels the most different to me compared to more recent shows, especially Burn Notice, is how there are major threats that span seasons, but they aren't constant. With Burn Notice, there was always whatever case Michael was handling that week, but some time was always devoted to him trying to get out from under the burn notice, or figure out who was behind it. With Invisible Man, we never see Chrysalis or Arnaud unless they are the threat that week. Whatever progress the Agency might be making in tracking them isn't mentioned in the interim, so it's almost like they don't exist. The closest we got in those terms was Augustin Gaither, as his arc actually popped up a few times when it wasn't the primary focus.

On the whole, the second season is about as up and down as the first. I still consider any episode with Arnaud a high point, because he and Darien have the most emotional weight to their interactions, and it's the character interactions that carry the show. Darien and Bobby's friendship, the way Claire seemed more drawn into it. She still had those moments where she's the Mature Doctor, exasperated at the boys, but it was less genuine irritation, and more a bemusement with her friends. Heck, the bit of fleshing out Eberts got, with Hobbes surprisingly enough, was nice. Next week, on to something different. Something much older.

2014 Comics In Review - Part 5

I had to make a few alterations to the list post this year. Not a lot of one-shots, even fewer mini-series, and no anthologies. As always, Best Ongoings is limited to books which shipped at least 6 issues during the year, which. . .  does not narrow the field much. Favorite Trade is among things I bought this year, whether they were released in 2014 or not. Favorite Artist is restricted to the people with at least 110 pages, though others are eligible for Honorable Mention.

Best Ongoing Series:

1. Ms. Marvel
2. Daredevil
3. (tie) She-Hulk/Deadpool
5. Superior Foes of Spider-Man

A new champion! For the first time since Darkwing Duck won in 2010, Daredevil is not in the top spot. Reasons include DD having an Original Sin tie-in, I didn't really love how the Shroud was portrayed, and I felt like restarting at issue 1 was an unnecessary move designed only to provide an excuse to jack up the price. In contrast, Ms. Marvel has no negatives against it, only good things that I enjoy, and that's why it's the winner!

A lot of good ongoings this year. She-Hulk and Deadpool are both real close to Daredevil, good writing on all three, which means DD maintains the edge on the strength of a stronger art team. Superior Foes is just a bit below that, because, even accounting for the entire story being told by an unreliable narrator, it kind of makes normally competent characters look like total morons. At least it does it with a twinkle in its eye, unlike say, when Mark Millar is writing something.

Best Mini-Series:

1.Atomic Robo - Knights of the Golden Circle

Yep, the only mini-series I bought all year. I suppose you could think of all these Marvel series that only run for a year as mini-series of sorts. They really aren't all that different from the 12-issue "Welcome Back, Frank" mini-series Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon did with the Punisher back in the day. Except those ongoings could in theory continue beyond twelve issues, so I don't count them. Have I padded this out sufficiently?

Best One-Shot:

1. Deadpool Annual #2
2. Empowered Special - Internal Medicine
3. Atomic Robo Free Comic Book Day 2014

Those are the only options, and none of them are standouts. Three solid, but not exceptional stories. So the Annual wins for that 'Spider-Man is a champion against dumb!' line. Hey, Deadpool wasn't wrong.

Favorite Trade:

1. Deadpool Volume 3: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly
2. Arsenic Lullaby - The Devil's Decade
3. Locke and Key Vol. 4 - Keys to the Kingdom
4. Adventures of Dr. McNinja Omnibus

I didn't buy as many trades in 2014 as 2013, not as strong a year overall. I could have put any of the first 4 volumes of Locke and Key in there, or either of the subsequent two Dr. McNinja trades. Take the inclusion of one as a blanket vote of support for the others. Anyway, I mentioned that Deadpool trade as the early frontrunner when I did this series of posts last year, and here it is, still on top. To be fair, nothing was going to top that panel where he proclaims, 'I'm Deadpimp! You dumb grocers better have my money!' I laugh at that every single time, partially for his outfit, partially because the grocers are Luke Cage and Iron Fist, wearing aprons over their superhero outfits.

Favorite Writer:

1. G. Willow Wilson (Ms. Marvel)
2. Brian Clevinger (Atomic Robo)
3. Charles Soule (She-Hulk)

Could probably put Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn in there as well, but I'm not sure how you break down credit for Deadpool between the two.

Favorite Artist:

1. Adrian Alphona
2. Chris Samnee
3. David Lopez
4. Javier Pulido
5. Todd Nauck

I went to 5 because I wanted to get Nauck on the list. I don't like his artwork as much as the people above him on the list (obviously), but his work on Nightcrawler really has been better than anything of his I've seen previously, and I wanted to give a nod to that. Also, I vastly prefer Alphona's looser style on Ms. Marvel to his work on Runaways back in the day, which is how he got ahead of Samnee.

Honorable mentions: Kev Walker, Javier Rodriguez, Jacob Wyatt, Skottie Young

Let's see, tomorrow is the final episode of Invisible Man, and then on Monday, we actually start reviewing all those comics I got earlier this week.

2014 Comics In Review - Part 4

I really enjoy these posts. It's a fun excuse to go back over all the books, see the things I might have forgotten over the course of the year. I still need to decide what from this year is staying, and what's going. There's definitely a few things I won't end up keeping.

Roche Limit #1-3: Michael Moreci and Vic Molhorta set up a colony on a planet orbiting a strange anomaly. The colony was built by someone with big dreams, but fell prey to the usual human follies, and now its kind of a dump. It started with a bog-standard plot about a detective teaming up with a drug chemist to find her sister, but has started to get weird and metaphysical, with a doctor who believes he's found the soul, and some weird possession thing going on that's speeding up the disintegration of  the society in the colony. Which is good. I was going to be seriously disappointed if they wasted this setting on a story you could tell in any seedy urban locale.

Rocket Raccoon #1-6: Skottie Young wrote and drew the first four issues, then he and Jake Parker shared art duties on issue 5, before Parker did issue 6. It started with Rocket wanted for murder, which hardly seemed surprising considering how much he seems to murder these days, but he was innocent this time, and he had perhaps found another of his kind. Then the other raccoon turned out to be Blackjack O'Hare, and I don't know why they're enemies again, but they are. Then Rocket was attacked by the League of Justifiably Angry Exes. Then Groot shared a campfire story about a treasure hunt he and Rocket went on, and then Rocket helped a former war mech save some of his buddies from being sold back into combat.

High point: Young's artwork is excellent, naturally, and especially well-suited for drawing weird aliens. It's been a very funny book at times, and kept up a fast pace. I liked the story with the mech, for the appearance of Cosmo, for Rocket's annoyance with being stuck with another partner with a limited vocabulary. In general, I like the fact there's a lot of action, but things aren't taken terribly seriously. It's strange and absurd, but it works.

Low point: Rocket objecting to be wanted for murder at the exact same time he's drowning a cop was an extremely uncomfortable moment. That and him being essentially one of those scam artist boyfriend types was not what I wanted in a Rocket Raccoon book. Now that he seems to be actually helping people, albeit with a lot of grumbling and crabbing, I'm enjoying the book a lot more. I too, help people while grumbling and crabbing a lot, so you know, identifying with the character.

Secret Six #1: Ha, well, this is awkward. I haven't gotten this yet. But I know it was written by Gail Simone, and drawn by Ken Lashley. I've heard mixed things about it so far, but we'll see what I think next week.

She-Hulk #1-10: Charles Soule and Javier Pulido set Jen up in her own law office, with a curious assistant and Hellcat. She helped Kristoff assert at least a little independence from Dr. Doom, with the power of words (and smashing robots). She helped recover a scientist with a new, but not entirely perfected shrinking method, then helped defend Steve Rogers from a charge he was responsible for the death of a man's brother back before he became Captain America. Then Titania showed up to start a fight over a mysterious blue file.

High point: Soule seems to get two critical aspects of Jennifer Walters: She's a good lawyer, and she's a Hulk. So legal shenanigans, and robot smashing. Then he went and added Hellcat to the mix, which is never a bad thing. Also, Matt Rocks was great throwaway funny idea. Pulido's done some great work throughout. I like how he bulks Jen up a lot when she starts smashing versus when she's in the courtroom. Nice demonstration of how she keeps herself in control, unlike her cousin (for much of his history, anyway).

Low point: Those two issues Ron Wimberley drew. That art did not work at all. And it isn't just me. My coworker friend and her sister both complained about it (especially the sister, who was not aware of fill-in artists), not to mention I know Mike Sterling said it tanked the sales of the book at the store he used to work at. Not sure it would have made a huge difference in the long run, but I would have taken all the extra issues of this book I could get.

Superior Foes of Spider-Man #8-17: This thing turned into a huge series of double-crosses, with Boomerang engineering a set-up where everyone is running around after the von Doom painting, or the head of Silvermane, double-crossing each other constantly, while he goes after what he really wants. No idea if he got it or not, so I like to think he didn't, because he's a little too convinced of how clever he is for a schmuck. Though there's a good chance he's massively embellishing the whole thing. Steve Lieber and Nick Spencer handled most of it, and crafted a funny, engaging story.

High point: The comedic asides, the thought balloon illustration things Lieber draws. Those are always good. In general, Lieber and Spencer have a good sense of pacing on their jokes. The gag with Mach-7 breaking a bunch of stuff in a furniture store because he keeps forgetting about his wings when he turns around. The way they draw it out and keep compounding his embarrassment. It's cruel, but then you remember Fred is telling the story, and he hates Mach-7, so it makes a little more sense.

Low point: Those two fill-in issues, the one about the retired super-villain support group sharing horror stories about Spider-Ock, and the one where our protagonists sit around a bar and share war stories. The second one wasn't bad, but it didn't advance anything, and it was a waste of my money to buy them.

Tomorrow is the last part, the list portion, when books are ranked against each other. That's right, some titles and their creative talent will have their self-esteem bolstered by the denigration of other books and the talent involved. Or they would, if anyone was paying attention (or was already down enough on themselves to let my blatherings bother them).

2014 Comics In Review - Part 3

I always keep track of which artists drew the most pages, using 110 and 154 pages as arbitrary cutoffs. That made more sense when Marvel and DC did 22 page books instead of 20, but oh well. Nine artists hit the 110 page mark, with Mike Hawthorne (120), Scott Wegener (144), and David Lopez (152) coming up short of the 154 mark. So close for David Lopez, but nice to see him back on the list for the first time since 2010, when he was drawing Hawkeye and Mockingbird. Please keep in mind this is just counting pages they drew in books I actually bought. I know Mike Hawthorne drew a lot more than that overall. Of the other six, Chad Hardin, Steve Lieber, and Adrian Alphona made it to 160, Javier Pulido and Todd Nauck reached 180, and for the second time in three years, Chris Samnee leads the way, with 221 pages. Congratulations to Chris Samnee for winning this totally arbitrary award I just made up that confers no prize whatsoever!

Hawkeye #15-20: The book that's taking so long to come out, they're going to go ahead and start the next volume before this one even finishes. Unless the last two issues come out in February. Matt Fraction writing, David Aja drew a couple of issues, Annie Wu drew three others, normal letterer Chris Eliopoulos drew that issue where Clint dreams about a holiday special. Kate's big battle with Madame Masque didn't exactly end well for either of them. Hawkeye got deafened, but looked like he was finally going to stop moping and do something by the last time we saw him. Which would be a nice change of pace.

High point: Kate's solo adventure officially marks the most I've ever cared about Kate Bishop. Up to that point, I felt like she was the one who talks a lot of junk at Clint, but doesn't have the credentials to back it up. I wouldn't say her stint in L.A. provided those credentials, but at least she was trying to do something good for people.

Low point: In spite of everything, I still hope that when this thing concludes, Fraction and Aja will give Clint the badass moments I've been expecting this book to provide since it was announced. The way things are going, I'm not sure we'll ever see the conclusion, though. So, the delays are the low point. Also, I don't have much love for cheesy holiday specials, so that issue didn't do much for me.

Klarion #1-3: I bought it because Ann Nocenti was writing it. I recognize seemingly no one else is enjoying her current work, but screw it, I always find it interesting. Trevor McCarthy was the artist to start, and once once they figured out the book was going to die in five minutes, they started bringing in other people, so Sandu Florea is credited with finishes on issue 3 (and neither of them worked on issue 4, which came out this month.)

Ms. Marvel #1-10: Written by G. Willow Wilson, with most of the artwork done by Adrian Alphona (outside a 2 issue arc by Jacob Wyatt), and color art by Ian Herring. A young girl who idolizes Carol Danvers is exposed to Terrigen Mist and gets the opportunity to become a superhero for her town, and winds up fighting a clone of Edison crossed with a cockatiel who seems to be abducting kids. She's already teamed up with Wolverine and Lockjaw, while charming seemingly everyone she meets. Does that make her the superheroic version of Mary Tyler Moore?

High point: Jeez, everything. Kamala struggling to be a hero while being herself. The montage of Bruno helping her figure out her powers. The way Kamala's idea of being a hero centers on helping people, not beating people up. The way Wilson shows that the adults are clueless, in that her father and Sheikh Abdullah both understand the kind of person Kamala is and don't try to bar her from what she's trying to do (even if neither one totally understands what's going on). Alphona's art, which is just great. Every character is easily distinguishable, his form is loose enough to work well with the weird shape-changing stuff Kamala's powers allow. He draws great robots, though I think my favorite panel is still Kamala giving a very happy Lockjaw a big hug. That one always puts a smile on my face. Even the 2-issue guest appearance by Wolverine was fun. I didn't think Wolverine guest appearances could still be entertaining at this stage.

Low point: I'm still waiting for a conversation between Kamala and her mother that fleshes Ammi out more. So far, Mrs. Khan is kind of the rote, hysterical overprotective mom, and I figure there's got to be more to her. That hasn't hurt the book, it's just the one thing I'm slightly dissatisfied about. Nit picking, essentially.

Nightcrawler #1-9: Chris Claremont writing Kurt's return to the land of the living, which unfortunately made him of interest to his adoptive, power mad sorceress mother, Margali Szardos, and cost the life of Amanda Sefton. Then Kurt got mixed up with some intergalactic pirates/kidnappers, mourned the death of Wolverine, and because this is Claremont, now Kurt's got to deal with the Shadow King. Ugh. Todd Nauck's done some of the best work I've seen from him.

High point: I want to give some credit to Rachelle Rosenberg and her color work. She's made the book very bright and colorful, kind of fantastic, which is preferable for me when it comes to Kurt. More swashbuckling high adventure, less moping.And credit to Claremont, he's certainly trying to get Kurt into high adventure, while also dealing with the very real fact that is has to be kind of disorienting to leave the afterlife Paradise you always believed in, to return to the world of the living.

Low point: All that being said, the book has never quite clicked as much as I wanted it to. Bringing in the Shadow King certainly didn't help, and I'd say that's the official low point (either that or the Death of Wolverine tie-in), but there's just something off. There's some spark, or bit of whimsy or something, that I want to see that hasn't materialized. Maybe because Kurt is still trying to sort out why he's back and what he should be doing, it's still too serious.

OK, one more batch of titles to go. It's a high quality batch, though.

2014 Comics In Review - Part 2

I bought 128 new comics this year, down three from last year (though if I'd stuck with Deadpool through Axis it'd be a slight uptick from 2013), and a new low. Marvel came in at 101 books, or almost 79%, which is their best showing since 2009 in total books, and 2007 in percentage. DC had 16 and 12.5% respectively, which are both the worst since 2007. It continued a downward slide that's been in effect since DC's peak in 2010 (47 books, about 35%). Everything else added up to 11 books and 8.59%. Overall, it's a throwback to 5 or 6 years ago, though the non Marvel/DC category would do a lot better if I factored in trades (most of those are from before 2014). Looking at the first 4 months of 2015, DC looks like it'll rebound to 2013 levels, and Marvel might backslide to 2013 as well. Of course, I don't know what effect Secret Wars is going to have on my purchases, though I doubt it'll increase them, depending on how long it goes and how much it fouls things up.

Daredevil #0.1, 1-11: Mark Waid and Chris Samnee collaborate on most of it, with Javier Rodriguez coloring it. Rodriguez also drew the 2 issue Original Sin tie-in, where Matt had to travel to Wakanda to save his mother, who had been illegally detained and shipped there as part of some scummy below the table arrangement between Wakanda and the U.S. military. The 0.1 issue was about Matt's trip to California, where he got dragged into chasing an Adaptoid being used by the Mad Thinker. Besides that, he's trying to settle in to running a practice with Kirsten McDuffie in San Francisco, to pay for Foggy's cancer treatments without anyone realizing Foggy's still alive. He's run into the Owl since then, as well as the Purple Man's creepy kids, and then the Stunt Master, seemingly down on his luck and watching someone else steal his name and glory.

High point: Rodriguez' coloring, Chris Samnee's art. So much of the books feel is because of their work. Dark when it needs to be, but bright a lot of the time. The nearly constant needling Kirsten and Foggy get in on Matt, which plays nicely off Matt's ego and tendency to self-aggrandize. To wit, the differences in Matt's version of his first meeting with Hawkeye, compared to Foggy's retelling. Also, those Purple Kids were damn creepy, but in a way that was also sad, so pretty effective.

Low point: I didn't find the 0.1 issue all that useful, and found Matt's argument that it was OK to kill the Adaptoid to save the Mad Thinker, because it wasn't really alive, pretty weak in a universe with so many artificial intelligences which have shown the capacity to think and feel. The thing was at least as alive as the Mad Thinker, and had less criminal history. The Original Sin tie-in didn't feel like it fit with the tone and arc of the rest of the series.

Deadpool #22-35: Wade hunted down Gorman, the SHIELD agent who stiffed him on his money for killing the undead Presidents (and was selling secrets to Ultimatum), surviving the bounty Gorman put on his head in the process. Wade got Agent Preston into an LMD body and out of his head. He got married to an Empress of the Monster Metropolis, and then saved his daughter from the inept forces of Ultimatum, though that meant leaving Shiklah and a Dazzler he brought from the '70s alone against a bunch of vampires. Oh, and he beat down an antique Spider-Slayer piloted by a crippled Dracula. Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn write it, Mike Hawthorne drew a lot of issues, and Scott Koblish drew some others, and John Lucas drew the Original Sin tie-in. Oh, and there were a bunch of 5 page stories in the marriage issue by different creative teams that have worked on Deadpool books in the past, but there is no way I'm listing all of those. Go find a copy of Deadpool #27 and see for yourself.

High point: It's grim, but the way Wade tears through the Ultimatum schmucks on their faux-Helicarrier in issue 23 was hilarious. It was also disturbing in how casually Wade slaughtered them over money, but Deadpool works well when there's that conflict between the comedic and the frightening. The scene in issue 25 where 'Pool is beating Crossbones to death as Sabretooth comes strolling around the corner, musing how Wade will be easy prey. He takes one look at what's happening and reverses course. Hawthorne did a good job laying that out over a couple of panels. The whole honeymoon in Japan issue, #28, was excellent. The chase that just keeps getting larger and more ridiculous, and the way Shiklah resolves things definitively, while also finally getting some food. I just realized I haven't even mentioned Deadpool fighting alongside Cable to protect 1950s Nick Fury from time-traveling Hitler in a future mech-suit. So yeah, that was also good.

Low point: The first two issues of the Original Sin tie-in were pretty underwhelming. It was a lot of set-up, but nothing that held much weight. Wow, Calvin hates books he likes tying in to stupid events, what a complete surprise. I didn't like Lucas' art on that tie-in at all. Then they went almost immediately from 3 months of Original Sin tie-ins, into 3 months of Axis tie-ins, so I decided to drop the book temporarily. Which I will probably regret, because that one sounds like it was a lot better, but goddamnit I am sick of events. Maybe I'll grab the trade.

Deadpool Annual #2: I got this when I wasn't supposed to, but kept it because it was by Christopher Hastings and Jacopo Camagni, who did that very nice Longshot mini-series the year before. In this case, Wade impersonates Spider-Man, who is exhausted because the Chameleon is hounding him relentlessly somehow (hint: it's Spider-Ock's fault). It's not anything special, but Wade has a fun moment where he fights a new villain and declares that Spider-Man is, 'A champion against dumb!'

Empowered Special - Internal Medicine: Adam Warren and Brandon Graham give us a story about Emp and Ninjette going inside a baby bio-ship to remove a parasite, so the bio-ship's huge mama doesn't lay waste to the city. It was OK, nothing great. I liked Nine Beers with Ninjette from the year before better.

Harley Quinn #2-13: Harley's tried settling into her new home, only to have people constantly trying to kill her because of a huge contract her own subconscious put out on her. She's worked a little as a psychiatrist, though she spent more time helping an old spy eliminate some old enemies of his, and she's done a little work in a roller derby/fight club thing. Oh, and she had one of her tenants build a poop catapult to deal with all the waste the animals she stole from the shelter produce. And she just wrapped up a stint teaming up with an amnesiac Power Girl. Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti write it, Chad Hardin drew most of it, plus one issue done by Stephane Roux, one by her and Hardin together, and one by John Timms.

High point: I think issue 4, when Harley hears a tale of woe from an elderly lady who feels neglected by her family, then kidnaps and torments that family until learning the old lady has Alzheimer's and they visit her three times a week. It was kind of what I expect from Harley: trying to do the right thing, but going about it in a screwed up, overreacting way. It's also why I'm enjoying this interlude with Power Girl, because Harley was actually trying to be crimefighting buddies with her. Well-meaning, but twisted. Also, I appreciate that Conner and Palmiotti are devoting some time to Harley's tenants, trying to at least give them some personalities. Always going to support building a supporting cast.

Low point: Overall, I don't think the book is great, but it isn't bad, either. The biggest problem I have is they introduce a lot of elements, but use them sporadically. The psychiatrist thing, the roller derby thing, they pop up when convenient, then vanish. It's almost like a sketch comedy show with a few recurring gags, but not much of a throughline. It's hard to describe, just that everything feels ephemeral, without substance, and that's holding it back.

Marvel not releasing mini-series any more really cuts down on the number of titles I cover each day. Everything is ongoings now, far cry from a few years ago when I was buying as many mini-series as regular series.

2014 Comics In Review - Part 1

We'll get to proper reviews of the stuff I got in the mail - some of which is in here - next week. For now, you know how this goes. Go through roughly a quarter of the new stuff I bought in the last year each day, talk about who worked on the books, what the major plot arcs were, hit some some high and low points.

Atomic Robo Free Comic Book Day 2014: It's a quick little story by Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener about a college kid who goes snooping around and finds some eggs belonging to the Yonkers Devil, necessitating Robo and his action scientists step in to save her. As far as their FCBD offerings go, not the strongest, maybe because the Yonkers Devil isn't interesting as an antagonist. It's a big dumb animal, no personality.

Atomic Robo - The Knights of the Golden Circle #1-5: OK, here's the good stuff. Robo is blown back into the 19th century by the conclusion to the mini-series we'll get to next, and teams up with a federal marshal and Doc Holliday to stop a plot by an old enemy of his to to conquer at least a portion of America with primitive cyborgs. Oh, and Robo's power source is about to run dry.

High point: This series had me the moment Robo started wearing a Man with No Name-style poncho (as seen at left), which was pretty much at the very beginning. But also the fact that gun-toting goons are no real threat to him, that it's the limits of his fuel supply. Also, I thought Jeff Powell's lettering did a good job showing those moments where he was getting run down in his dialogue bubbles. Doc constantly trying to find some way out, or to ditch the marshal, and the marshal constantly ruining his plans.

Low point: Umm, I wanted to see more of Robo's everyday life in the Old West?

Atomic Robo - The Savage Sword of Dr. Dinosaur #5: Turns out Dr. Dinosaur did build a time bomb, though he didn't succeed in completely wiping out humanity. The magma worm appearing helped, as did Bernard helping free the magma people from Dr. D's. control. Pity he couldn't stay with his silicate organism wife. The whole, "I need food and water" thing ruins so many relationships.

Avengers Undercover #1-10: Follow up to Avengers Arena, as the survivors try to cope not only with what Arcade put them through, but the fact he posted it all online for the world to see and dissect. Then they get suckered into killing Arcade on video, then busted out of SHIELD custody by Zemo's crew. They tried to rehab their image by playing along, hoping to figure out Zemo's scheme and call in reinforcements, only to learn calling in reinforcements is what Zemo wanted all along, so he could steal a Helicarrier. But he was at least partially thwarted by Cammi, who was working with a not-dead Arcade. Hmm, considering Zemo still had the Helicarrier, maybe "thwarted" is too strong a word. Written by Dennis Hopeless, Kev Walker drew 5 of the first 7 issues, Tim Green II drew 3 issues, and Tigh Walker drew 2 of the last 3. Jean-Francois did some great work on the colors, especially when combined with Kev Walker's art.

High point: Cammi didn't die, and got to smackdown everybody. Arcade didn't die. Kev Walker's art. The idea of the series. The kids struggling to deal with what happened, and with everyone judging and analyzing them. Their attempt to try and salvage it with a con, which doesn't work because they don't have the experience at it, and they tried it on the fly, so the plan wasn't clear to everyone.

Low point: The rushed ending, for certain. Things had to move too fast the last 3 issues. Also Green didn't do his strongest work, which was disappointing as I've liked his work a lot in the past. There was also the ludicrousness of SHIELD arresting the kids for "killing" Arcade, considering all the heroes - like Wolverine - who kill with no repercussions. Necessary for the story, but it doesn't hold up in the larger framework of the Marvel Universe. Also, I still can't take Constrictor seriously as a major player among the villains.

Captain Marvel #1-10: Kelly Sue DeConnick tries again with Carol Danvers, this time taking her into space, where she helps a planet of refugees from Infinity, then deals with her cat not being a cat. Recently, she's helped interstellar rock star Lila Cheney get out of an arranged marriage, and received some news from home. David Lopez drew most of it, Marcio Takara the rest, except for a 9-page segment in issue 10 drawn by Laura Braga. Lee Loughridge's colors worked very well at creating a mood.

High point: Lopez' art. I still haven't seen him on a series I've really loved, but this is the best one so far, and he does some great work with body language and facial expressions. He draws maybe the best evil, shit-eating grin I've ever seen. That sort of totally arrogant look that makes you want to mash the person's face into unrecognizable pulp. Or maybe I just have anger issues. The last few issues have been good. The quick snapshots of different peoples and places across the universe, Carol's diplomacy involving a lot of punching.

Low point: I'd really like it if DeConnick stopped opening these books with six issue arcs. They're always too slow and too long, when they need to be short and punchy to grab attention.

Daredevil #35, 36: The last two issues of the prior volume of the book, as Mark Waid, Chris Samnee, and Javier Rodriguez bring Matt's battle against the Sons of the Serpent to a head, as they try to make him get one of their members off, or risk being disbarred when its revealed he lied about not being Daredevil. So Matt went into court and copped to it, effectively unmaking their sword. And then he moved back to San Francisco, because he could still practice law there, and make money to pay for Foggy's cancer treatments. But we'll get to that tomorrow.

All right, that's day one, and look at that, we actually got past the As! I'm not sure I've managed that in years.

I Feel I Should Be Angrier About This

I called him on the 9th, to ask if he'd shipped the comics. He said he had that morning. By the 16th, they still hadn't arrived, so I called again. He said he didn't have the receipt with the tracking number with him, could I check in tomorrow. Sure.

The next day, he says he forgot it.

I try again on the 21st, because they still aren't here. I don't like bugging him so much, but hell, there's nothing I can do to fix the problem, and since he doesn't get paid until I get the books, you figure he'd want to know if there was a problem. That's what I tell myself, anyway. He says they were in St. Louis as of the 20th. Neither of us can explain why it took them over a week to travel only 100 miles, though he suggests maybe the box got damaged and set aside temporarily. He says call back on Friday (the 23rd) if they haven't arrived.

By the 23rd, they hadn't arrived, I call again. This time, he has the receipt in his car, and the tracking data says they'll be here the 26th. He says he can give me the tracking number if I'd like, though he seems reluctant.

I ask for the tracking number. When I try to enter it, it doesn't work, until I figure out the sequence of three consecutive 9s was actually 4. It does say the books will arrive on the 26th, but interestingly, it says the package was only received at the post office in Jackson (where he lives) that morning (the 23rd).

It's long been an internal debate of mine whether he's incompetent or lying. I suppose we still can't rule out incompetent, but lying was confirmed. The books did arrive today. Well, some of them. He missed more than a few from November, (plus Squirrel Girl's first issue) so that's going to make the remainder of this week a little awkward.

The thing is, I haven't sent him any of my orders for anything after January. I was waiting for the next shipment to send them back with the payment. I'm not on the hook for anything. Since he can't seem to remember to ship the books without me reminding him 5 times, I'm going to leave it in his hands. If he actually remembers to send them along in a month or so like we had agreed upon, swell. If not, OK then.  There are other places that sell comics.

It isn't as though Jack, the guy he bought the store from, had a great track record of shipping on schedule. But when I would call Jack to ask if the books were on the way, he'd cop to it, and ship them out as soon as possible. I don't see the percentage in bullshitting me for a solid two weeks while he tries to get his act together. How the fuck long does it take to get a box of comics to the damn post office? Now I feel bad because I was thinking disparaging thoughts about the Postal Service, when it wasn't their fault.

2014 Comics Year In Review starts tomorrow.

The Invisible Man 2.21 - Enemy of My Enemy

Plot: So, Chrysalis is preparing to remove the Quicksilver gland from Arnaud's head, and they aren't particularly concerned whether Arnaud survives or not. But Arnaud isn't a complete idiot, and rigged all the medical personnel's fanny packs with explosives set to go off if his brain waves deviate too far from normal, or if he simply doesn't wake up soon enough. All of this amuses Stark, since he's not sticking around for the operation.

Back at the Agency, Hobbes is trying to build a voice control system into Golda, to turn her into a real battle van, complete with heavy weapons and armor plating. I wasn't aware that van had a strong enough engine to handle such added weight, but maybe Bobby's freakout last week convinced the Fat Man to open his checkbook. Anyway, this episode of Car Talk is interrupted by Eberts telling Fawkes there's a gift basket waiting for him, encouraging him to "Come See Me" at the Miracosa Vineyard. So off the boys go, and once again, despite knowing one of their greatest foes is an invisible man, Chrysalis has failed to outfit its goons with thermal glasses, so Fawkes sneaks right in, and finds Arnaud, and his gland. Except the gland isn't in Arnie's head any longer. It's out, and Chrysalis has cloned it - six times - and put those glands within cows, which they are milking for Quicksilver in a scheme Arnaud notes is 'surprisingly efficient, and strangely erotic.'

Let's all join Fawkes in side-eyeing Arnaud for that statement.

Arnaud wants out, because he's only being kept alive because the gland became dependent on his adrenaline, and thus, so are the cloned glands. So Chrysalis is basically milking him for adrenaline. Stiil, Darien repeatedly refuses to Quicksilver himself and Arnaud and escape, so they wind up captured, despite Darien Quicksilvering a machine gun to get the drop on a guard (he rounded the corner and found 5 more guards waiting with guns drawn). However, without Stark around, Chrysalis is sorely lacking in common sense, and they actually let Arnaud help the one guard they keep around sedate Darien so they can remove his gland. Instead Arnaud injects the guard with alcohol, and they actually escape. One problem once they're out: with his increased resistance to counteragent, Darien is now Quicksilver Mad, and he swiped the gun Arnaud had appropriated from that guard. All Arnaud can think to do, is promise that he can remove the counteragent dependency forever.

When Fawkes got caught, the goons went on high alert and spotted Hobbes, who was forced to flee, and needs to work on Golda's recognition of the word "stop", but he made it home safe, and the Official raised no objections to his demand for a fully armed assault team. Even Claire is coming along, in tactical gear and with a machine gun and everything. But before they can leave the hallway, Darien, still red-eyed, shows up with a wounded Arnaud. He exercised remarkable control and only shot him in the leg. In short order, Arnaud is locked up (after cluing everyone in to the fact that line Stark's wife fed them about Chrysalis was, in his words, 'bilge'), as Hobbes and the guys prepare to go back to the vineyard. But first, Darien needs to as Claire if what Arnaud said about a suicide gene in the gland sounds plausible. Claire agrees it does, and after some trepidation, brings Arnaud's laptop (last seen in "My Brother's Keeper") to him and orders him to get to work.

Eventually she removes a disk drive from the computer to see if he's really doing anything, and returns to her lab. Which is when Arnie decides it's time to escape, and we learn nobody took his computer apart and found the C-4 he hid in there. He makes a big show of refusing to work, sliding the laptop out of the cell, and it kills poor Mike the Guard. Claire hears the explosion and grabs her huge revolver, but ultimately leaves it in the hands of Eberts to try and save Mike's life (she doesn't). Eberts can't handle such firepower, and Arnaud immediately gets a taxi as he charges out of the building and heads for an airport.

Back at the vineyard, Stark still hasn't equipped anyone with thermals, even though he fully expects the Agency to return. But they've already shipped the Quicksilver by air, and are loading the cows onto a truck, which Hobbes stops with the .50 cal he had in the van. Everybody is feeling good, until the driver follows Stark's orders and blows up the truck. Fortunately, Bobby is unharmed, but they still need to find all that Quicksilver, which means it's back to the Agency to interrogate their prisoners. But first, Darien needs to check in with the Keeper. Now, as it turns out, Arnaud did enough before he left that Claire can remove his dependency on counteragent. Unfortunately, with Arnaud gone, and Mike dead, the Official wants to know why she gave Arnaud his laptop, and the Fat Man is not as excited at losing his leash on Darien as Claire is. He pins Mike's death on her, and basically promises he'll kill Darien before letting him off that counteragent leash, and says that will be Claire's fault as well. And so, when Darien asks, Claire says she wasn't able to get anything out of Arnaud. Darien tries to suck it up and go watch Hobbes interrogate. Claire, left alone in her lab, begins sobbing before something steels itself within her, to the point she cracks the syringe she's holding in her hand.

Quote of the Episode: Darien - 'See, I developed an itty-bitty immunity to your counteragent.' Arnaud - 'No, that's impossible.' Darien - 'You can't even screw up my brain right.'

The "oh crap" count: 3 (42 overall). Even one by Arnaud!

Who's getting quoted this week? Nobody!

Times Fawkes Goes Into Quicksilver Madness: 1 (9 overall).

Other: Despite failing to recapture Arnaud, Eberts did at least get to dope slap him on the way to the cell.

When Hobbes opened the side panel of the van to reveal that machine gun, he said "Chrysalis this." Oh Bobby, that's horrible.

I'm a little disappointed there was no appearance of the Chrysalis Goon who always beats up Darien. Maybe next week. On the plus side, I like that when Darien returned to the vineyard, he tricked that one guard into thinking he'd Quicksilvered another machine gun when he was actually unarmed. Nice trick.

When Darien first snuck into the vineyard, he removed his jacket first, and I thought he was going to pretend to be one of the workers picking grapes to sneak by. Then he just went invisible.

Given his rush to the airport, I'm guessing this is the last time I'll get to gush over Joel Bissonnette as Arnaud. I always enjoy the back and forth between he and Darien, p[lus all his little mannerisms. When he's complaining that Chrysalis wouldn't share their gene therapy-aided immortality with him, and called them sociopathic little snobs, Darien responded, 'Pot, meet kettle.' Arnaud had this lovely little smile and shrug, kind of a, "yeah, guilty." I kind of love that, how Arnaud has such a high opinion of himself, but he never really argues when people express their feelings on what a lousy person he is. I don't think it's that he ignores what they say, or that he feeds off their hate. Well, maybe that second one a little bit. Given his ego, people expressing hatred for him means he's impacting their lives. He does have a little of that "kid who acts out for attention", but I honestly think a big part of it is that he doesn't see the things people dislike in him as detrimental, but as positive character traits that help him be successful.

Which is why it's so much fun when things don't go his way. The way he was patting his pockets, trying to find the gun after Darien got him out. The shock and surprise when he found out his counteragent wasn't working any more. His partner in "Diseased" noted that Arnaud was half a scientist, because he never thought things the whole way through. He never bothered to consider the possibility his counteragent might not work forever. Either because he didn't have a chance, because he was unable to get a gland to study longterm, or more likely because he just didn't care. The idea probably never entered his mind. And now it was going to get him killed.

Except it didn't. This is one of the things that bothers me about Quicksilver Madness, how inconsistently it's portrayed. Sometimes Darien's a goof, sometimes a maniac, or a horndog, or just cruel. And when he is Quicksilver Mad, he usually doesn't want to stop being that way, like when he was in Stage 5 at the end of Season 1. When he's in that headspace, where he sees no limits, and cares nothing for anyone else, he doesn't see anything wrong with it. It's only after he's bothered. So it's hard to see why he chose, as Arnaud put it, freedom over revenge. From Crazy Darien's perspective, he's already free. Kill Arnaud, Hobbes isn't around, escape and do as you wish forever.

I guess I'm a little disappointed Darien will never get to finish Arnaud off, unless I'm pleasantly surprised next week. Also, I'm a little sad we didn't get more interaction between Claire and Arnaud. We haven't seen those two together since "Diseased", when Claire got quite angry with Arnaud. And since then, we learned she and Kevin Fawkes were a couple once years ago, which put it in a new light. I wanted to see an expansion of that. Claire shooting Arnie in the back as he fled for the exit would have sufficed.

No surprise the Official is opposed to losing the counteragent hold over Darien. Also no surprise he phrases it to Claire in such a way as to abdicate any responsibility for what happens. If Claire does the right thing, save Darien from any further chance of going mad, the Official will have no choice but to watch him more closely than ever. In case Darien decides to run off with government property, you see. And if all that scrutiny and lack of trust causes Darien to bail, then the Official will have to kill Darien to keep the gland in his hands. And it all be Claire's fault.

Which is nonsense, but it's nonsense that works. Because Claire does care about Darien. She doesn't want him to go crazy (at which point he's no good to anyone), but she doesn't want him to die, either. The Fat Man, for all his crabbing at her about getting Mike the Guard killed, is perfectly fine with killing Darien if that's what it takes. And Claire knows that, too. It's a horrible thing to pull, but he's kind of a horrible guy. Much more stick, not much carrot.

But Old Iron Jaw has forgotten that it's dangerous to back Claire into a corner. I'm a little sad this series will be over next week, but I'm looking forward to the finale.

Come On Down To South Park, And Beat Some Friends Of Mine

Finished the story on South Park: The Stick of Truth last night. Took about 4 sessions total, but some of those were 5 or 6 hours stretches. Of course, sometimes a lot of that 5 or 6 hours was me running around trying to find more money to buy stuff I didn't really need, except as progress towards some 100% of the gear achievement.

As the story goes, you're the (silent) new kid in town, and almost immediately meet Butters, who gets you involved in the big game all the boys are playing: a battle between humans - let by WizardKing Cartman and Princess Kenny - and the elves, led by Kyle, over the Stick of Truth, played by a stick. It's a bog-standard RPG in structure. You talk to people, and they ask you to do something for them, and that either progresses the story or gives you cool stuff. In this case, the "cool stuff", besides equipment, can include those people becoming your friend on social media. Gain enough friends, and you unlock perks which will help you in battle.

The game also is pretty good about giving you better equipment as you go along. You don't have to be constantly running to a store to buy new weapons or clothes. You'll get plenty of good stuff as loot from enemies, by checking treasure chests scattered around, or just as rewards for progressing through the game. When I was making the majority of my progress, I bought weapons and armors mostly because I thought they looked cool or would be fun to use.

There's a lot of battling, which is fine, the combat system is pretty simple, once you get the hang of things. Pretty much all attacks or spells require hitting a button when your weapon flashes or something to that effect. Press the button too soon or too late, the damage will be severely reduced. The nice thing is, whatever attack you choose - ranged, melee, magic, special technique, summon assistance - the game reminds you what you have to do. So if Butters is the other character in your party, and you want to use his lightning attack, the game will tell you before you select your target that you're supposed to hit "A" when the lightning strikes Butters' hammer. Which is nice.

One other nice thing about combat: Status effect attacks actually work on bosses. This is one of the most maddening things to me about RPGs: Attacks or spells that cause enemies to fall asleep, or get slowed down, or poison them so they take a little damage every turn, NEVER work on boss characters, no matter how high level or powerful your character is. It's maddening. It's why I never use those skills in fights, because I see no reason getting used to that strategy when I'll have to throw it out the window come the boss fight. Stick of Truth on the other hand, doesn't play favorites. Oh, an enemy may be resistant to certain types of bonus damage - there's Fire, Frost, Shock, Bleeding, and Gross Out that I know of - but not all. And at least some of them will work on bosses. Since you can't summon your assist characters for boss fights - all of them make a point of telling you they won't help with bosses, they're too tough - the extra types of damage can be crucial. For that reason alone, the game has my respect.

It's not all sunshine and rainbows, though. The game has an annoying amount of moments where to progress you have to pass a quick-time event, usually mashing one button a lot really fast. And if you botch it, you just have to keep trying over and over until you hit it fast enough. I'm apparently not very good at those, and considering I already broke the A button on one controller because of the stupid way you had to tap it to run faster in Red Dead Redemption, I'm not real keen on it in general.

The other issue had to do with farting. In Stick of Truth, magic is expressed through farting, because of course it is. That isn't the issue, it's perfectly in keeping with the tone of the series. The problem was that in battle, using magic requires this mess of pulling the right thumbstick down, then moving the left one to find some sweet spot, then pushing the right thumbstick up, all of which felt needlessly convoluted. Each time the game would want to teach me a new type of magic attack, my progress would screech to a halt. The character would demonstrate it, I'd try, fail, have to sit through the demonstration scene again, try, fail, etc. It felt like I was stuck on the "Squeaky Stinker" forever, especially when, after learning it, the game required me to use it to get past some soldiers and sneak into the Taco Bell/government lab investigating a crashed UFO.

The strange thing is, most of them time when you're in an area where you might have to fight, the game will give you options. Not to avoid the fight entirely, but ways to use the environment and skills you've learned to take out a couple of the enemies before you have to face them. Maybe you can use the Alien Probe to teleport up to a ledge and flip a switch, sending a current through a wire sitting in a pool of water the foes are standing in. Or aim your magic at a torch to blow up a barricade. You don't have to do that stuff, but it makes fights a little easier. But sometimes the game decides not to provide those options, and it's usually at the most irritating points.

On the whole, the game was what I wanted, in that it feels like being in the South Park world. The humor, the conflicts, some of the specific enemies, some of the ridiculous things you have to do. I highly doubt I will play another video game that asks me to complete a fake abortion mini-game, twice. There's even a segment of the game where you travel to Canada. Unlike the much-too-long stint in Mexico of Red Dead Redemption, this trip north of the border doesn't overstay its welcome and was perfectly charming. I read somewhere that Trey Parker and Matt Stone wanted this to be an actual good video game, as opposed to a cheap licensed piece of crap that gets 4 out of 10 on a review website. Well, they succeeded. It isn't a spectacular game, but it's good, very good if you're less bothered by the mechanics of the fart magic and the quick time events. I mean, I'd give it at least a 7 out of 10, probably an 8, for what that's worth.