Dial H #4 by, China Mieville (writer), Mateus Santolouco (artist), Tanya & Richard Horie (colorists), Steve Wands (letterer) - That's an impressive chest wound, to be sure.So things aren't going how anyone planned. Lizard face can't get through to the living void they've summoned. The good doctor can't contain it, or reason with it. Manteau and Hents can't stop it with the powers the dials gave them. The doctor can stop Manteau, and torture her for information before deciding the dial will help her reason with the Abyss. This in spite of her ally explaining that's useless. So the dials and the Abyss aren't connected, but maybe whatever it hitching a ride inside it is connected to the dials. Or maybe the Abyss is about to have babies. Great, a bunch of crazy living voids, hungry for light. That'll be interesting. Anyway, lizard face teams up with Jents, busted dial and all, to rescue Manteau, because I guess he's realized the doctor was never going to really help him, and she doesn't really know what she's doing anyway. And he's not really a villain, more a grabby tourist.
Well, I'm less certain than before about what's going on, but I'm very curious about all of it. And Santolouco's art still works very well. There's a lot of energy to it in the action scenes, but all presented very cleanly. The heroes look suitably bizarre, but the people look at least somewhat like real people (read: not all perfect physical specimens). And the Hories' coloring helps. There are a lot of dark colors, but enough light ones to present a good contrast, and the colors are very deep and play off Santolouco's linework well.
Defenders #9 by, Matt Fraction (writer), Jamie McKelvie w/Mike Norton (artists), Dommo Aymara (colorist), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - Namor's on the cover, but not in the comic. He's off doing Phoenixy things, probably
The team is in some world not their own, '60s Marvel I guess. Or maybe more specifically, Steranko Nick Fury Marvel. There's Fury and a Frankenstein's monster Hitler, so I don't know. The Defenders have been trying to get ahold of Fury because they figured he'd know something about secret machines that keep themselves secret. Which makes no sense. If Strange's magic is getting nowhere, get Reed Richards, bring science into the equation, not espionage. But they opted for Fury and before you know it they're in the middle of some big fight with HYDRA, and then the Prestor sends them "home", at insect size, and with Fury in tow.
I take it Fraction wasn't a fan of making Fury real old abruptly and replacing him with Marcus Johnson, or however that one mini-series went? I'd say the whole issue seems kind of pointless, but ti did convince me it's time to stop requesting this book, so I guess that's something. McKelvine, Norton, Aymara, and Cowles are doing their job (though there's something about how Red She-Hulk's face is drawn that bugs me. I think it looks too thin in comparison to how the Dodsons drew it maybe. Or her nose is too long? I'm not sure, there's just something off about the face), but the writing simply isn't getting it done. At least, not quickly enough.
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