Comic shop comics: April 10

Hawkeye #9 (Marvel Entertainment) This issue starts with the scene from the previous one, where the character Cherry shows up at Avengers Mansion and lip-locks with Hawkguy in front of Black Widow, his girlfriend (in other titles) Spiderwoman and his ex-wife Mockingbird, and then splits itself up into four overlapping sections, each following one of the above women, plus Hawkeye Kate Bishop.

In the above sequence, we see that teenager Kate Bishop, who writer Matt Fraction has kinda sorta teased as a possible romantic interest for middle-aged Clint Barton, has a poster for Stanley Kubrick's 1962 film adaptation of Lolita on the wall of her bedroom. Joke, or creepy foreshadowing of creepy thing happening in the future...?

Saga #12 (Image Comics) Hey, have you guys heard anything about this issue...?

Saucer Country #14 (DC Comics) Paul Cornell and Ryan Kelly's winning drama about UFOlklore as seen through the lens of a fictive presidential campaign reaches its obviously artificial and rushed conclusion. The explanation for the Voyage couple was...really, really rather weird, and left as many questions as answers. Also left unanswered were questions regarding the nature of the various aliens—if any of them were "real" or not.

One of the book's hooks was that if Governor Arcadia Alvarez could just win the election, she would have access to all the answers the United States government has and, if they don't have all the answers, then she would at least have the federal government's resources at her disposal.

That would presumably occupy the next phase of the life of the series, were their a next phase. The little box reading "The End" in the last panel does have an ellipse in it, so I suppose it's possible there will be more Saucer Country in the future, perhaps from another publisher, perhaps as Vertigo-published original graphic novels.

If you haven't been reading this series (and, looking at the available sales figures, chances are you haven't) but have any interest in UFOs or aliens at all, particularly as a cultural phenomenon, I'd heartily recommend seeking out the trades.

Sigh...there's one more monthly comic book I was reading serially off my pull-list (I'm down to just just eleven now, and will soon be dropping two more: Superman Family Adventures, which is being canceled, and Green Lantern, which is getting a new creative team).

Star Wars #4 (Dark Horse Comics) That two-panel sequence from the fourth issue of Brian Wood and Carlos D'Anda's series features Darth Vader's famed labor management skills in action. Oddly, he chooses to kill that dude not with his light saber rather than with his force-choke. It looked weird to me; like, anyone can stab someone to death, but force-choking? That's Darth's thing.

In this issue, the sub-plots all move slowly forward. I like the book okay, but based on Wood's pacing, I imagine it will actually read better in trade.