DOMINO HOTSHOTS #2: Herding Foxes, Bears and Spiders…and Wade

It’s like herding cats… if cats were  ornery, martial art trained, weapon carrying two-legged creatures all with there own agenda’s (still sounds like cats mind you minus two legs) Neena finds herself having to manage the extended team and be the peacemaker when Deadpool shows up to complicate their mission, add the fact that Black Widow, Atlas Bear and White Fox do not take to kindly to having guns pointed at them and well you’ve got one of those powder keg situations on your hands. Things go south pretty quick as the ladies (including a very aggressive Outlaw who has part of what is revealed as celestial technology bonded to her
)they square off against Wade. The ensuing violence sees Deadpool get serious (NEVER A GOOD THING) but before things get really ugly Neena manages to calm the situation down. Gail knows Deadpool and if you’ve read nothing else she has written about the character, reading how she writes Wade here tells you she knows him inside and out and there some panels and some simple but absolutely powerful lines that speak to this that are so on the nose about Deadpool I choked up for a second.

There is an excellent tension between The Posse and the covert operatives that have joined them with an especially good scene between Neena and Natasha which David Baldeon and the art team get spot on sans dialogue and with excellent paneling. It’s impressive to see Neena navigating her way as leader of this diverse and strong willed group of woman and her handling of the team and Wade is actually both inspiring and hilarious to watch as Simone balances Neena on that knife edge of being a great leader but also of being out of her depth having to manage and deal with people like Black Widow, White Fox, and Atlas Bear.

The team, in Atlas Bear’s aircraft, head off in pursuit, having just managed to wrangle everyone into an agreement that they need to destroy the device and not have it fall into any governments hands, Neena and the team find themselves facing off against Deadpool’s employer:Avenger, meddler and general pain in the butt Mr Tony Stark or rather his falsies (drone robots) that he has sent after them as he looks to intervene with Neena and the rest of the team’s mission. Neena doesn’t like to be pushed though and well once again things get explosive…In mid-air…

Simone’s writing is even stronger in this issue than the first and everything lands pitch perfectly. David Baldeon works the facial expressions masterfully and that combined with tight paneling helps communicate a building tension throughout the entire issue. The coloring from Jim Charalampidis is great and hats off to the art team for the glorious Kirby Krackle splash early in the issue. Clayton Cowles continues to be my favorite letterer in comics as once again everything comes together for fun entertaining second issue.