Shade the Changing Girl #11
"Life on the Silver Scream"
Written By: Cecil Castellucci
Illustrated By: Marley Zarcone
Inks By: Marley Zarcone and Ande Parks
Colors By: Kelly Fitzpatrick
Letters By: Saida Temofonte
Covers By: Becky Cloonan and Leslie Hung
Cover Price: $3.99
On Sale Date: August 2, 2017
Well, well, well... looks like this book's going to be going away for awhile. Not too long, we hope... but, this is comics. The word "hiatus" is a fairly nebulous one... and if I were a betting man (which thankfully, I'm not) I'd posit that this one's not coming back.
Barring bookstore sales, of course... if those are good, it wouldn't surprise me to see a Shade the Changing Girl, Season Two. Well, maybe it would surprise me a little.
Anyhoo, if this really is the next-to-last... or next-to-next-to-last issue, let's hope it's a doozy!
What Happened?
Loma arrives in La-La land, and by that I don't mean more psychedelia... well, okay, maybe a little. She's still on the hunt for Honey, and as luck would have it, it turns out that Honey (the TV version) is present to act as her tour guide.
We shift to Honey... the real one at Sunset Home (a retirement home for old actors, it seems), as she has decided to leave the Earth on her own accord. She's not going to wait for a disease to take her out... instead, she'll pop a handful of pills. Little does she know, however, her #1 fan is on her way!
Shade arrives just as Honey's, I dunno, essence (?) is leaving her fragile mortal frame... and in order to stop her from vacating completely, Shade decides to lock lips with the septuagenarian... and in so doing, swapping bodies with her!
Honey isn't pleased by the interruption, however manages to come around. She and Shade decide to hit the town one last time, after which Shade promises to let Honey pass.
Their first stop is a diner where, I'm guessing some scenes from Life With Honey were shot. Shade-as-Honey is in full-blown fan mode, recalling things that Honey herself has long forgotten. Before long, Honey-as-Shade gets nauseous... not because she's dying, however... but because the body she's inhabiting just happens to be... pregnant!
What follows is a strange discussion on how babies are made... complete with index fingers touching thumbs... while another index finger penetrates the space between. Ya see, Loma doesn't quite understand procreation... and thinks because she "slept with" (as in really slept) Wes, he got her pregnant. We all know differently, however.
The issue wraps up with the ladies heading to a sound stage where Honey-as-Shade gets "discovered". On Meta, Loma's avian body dies... and LePuck is sent Earthbound to retrieve "the human".
What I Dug?
The "madness paisleys" that Shade drips. Last issue we learned that the hazmat types that came to clean up after the bar went boom could actually see the things. We get some follow up here, and it's posited that they could be distilled to create mind-controlling drugs... hmm... just like on Meta! Very neat.
We get a mention that Rita Farr is living at the "Home for former actors".
It probably has nothing to do with anything, but I like the title of the issue. "Life on the Silver Scream" reminds me of the opening arc from Peter Milligan's run on Shade the Changing Man, which was called "The American Scream".
Shade not understanding the difference between "sleeping with" someone and having intercourse was a cute touch... and something you'd imagine someone new to the Earth might find some confusion with.
The stakes are pretty high here... Shade's in a dying body, if Rac's boy/girlfriend is telling the truth, her Avian body is already dead... Honey Rich is in the healthy Megan body. If next issue (or the one after that) is really the last one... just about anything can happen!
Does LePuck capture "Shade" only to bring Honey Rich back to Meta with him... which the real Loma dies in a broken down body? Is this why we got a Life With Honey scene during Doom Patrol last week? Is that the character we're going to be following? Will Loma's story end with the hiatus? So many burning questions!
What I Didn't?
It's gonna sound petty, but we wasted two pages on paper dolls. I know last issue we did something similar with a board-game... but that was before the announcement of the "hiatus" came down. Right now it feels wasteful, though I'm sure nobody will notice when they read this in collected edition.
Honey Rich's vernacular was a bit "off" to me. Though, I suppose it could be argued that there was some residual Megan in there. I just don't see an old woman referring to a fan as a "fan girl" and, ya know, cursing a bunch. Granted, I don't know very many folks that out, so I might be speaking out of school.
LePuck just showing up at the end felt a bit out of nowhere to me. If it was that easy, why not just start with that?
Bits and Pieces:
Everything is coming together, the stakes are higher than ever, and it feels like we're on the cusp of a resolution. Another excellent, if bittersweet outing for Shade and the gang!
8.5/10
No comments:
Post a Comment