I forgot to mention it last issue, but issue eight was Giuseppe Camuncoli's final issue on the series. I don't really discuss the artwork much in these posts since my interest lies in what Joe Casey does, but Camuncoli's art was one of the key parts of this series (much like Sean Phillips on Wildcats and Ashley Wood on Automatic Kafka). Jim Lee may have designed many of the characters, but Camuncoli made them live within the world of the Seminary. He handled difficult amounts of information with ease and was great at facial expressions. I'm still amazed how much he could fit into a page without making it look cluttered. For issue nine and ten, the art is provided by Scott Iwahashi (with Carlos D'Anda on issue ten) and his work isn't bad. It's a bit more soft and impressionistic than Camuncoli's, but not a drastic change (to show how little I notice art sometimes, I didn't realise this issue had a different artist until around page twenty the first time I read it...).In this issue, Punchy and Destra go on a road trip to find out what's rotten at the Seminary, starting with the Devonshire meal bars that everyone has to eat at the Seminary. Their interaction is like an old comedy routine since Punchy so obviously wants to get inside Destra's pants and Destra so obviously dislikes Punchy--or does she? I'm not suggesting she's romantically interested in him, but she can't hate him that much if he's her second choice for this mission (after Duke said no in issue seven). But, there's also there's no one else. Who else is Destra going to turn to? She's friends with Empty Vee, but Vee's superpowers aren't exactly offensive--Kefong is both part of and not part of the group, Sykes is pretty much in his own world... who else is there? Punchy's powers are offensive and she knows he will be up for some troublemaking.
Destra uses her family connections to have a sample of the Devonshire bar analysed by a guy named Arthur who is heavy into body modifcation--he's part man, part machine, part ecosystem for tiny men! At one point, the two travel through his brain and have a conversation with his subconscious... and he hits on Destra. And then claims later that he was barely aware of the conversation. He's a sly one that Arthur. They have him analyse one of the Devonshire bars and he spits out pages of weird mathematical calculations... THE BARS ARE MADE OF MATH! The two decide to go straight to the source, but that's next issue.
Agent Boss Tempo returns as Punchy's inspiration/other self here, highlighting just how tormenting life was for him last issue (except for the sex with Flora). At one point, Punchy even says, "I DUNNO, YO... / ...I NEVER SAW BOSS TEMPO HAFTA DEAL WIT' DIS KINDA MASH-UP." That his inspiration is a spy instead of a superhero... Duke looks to Mr. Majestic and the others don't seem to look to anyone (well, Kefong looks to Dean Martin), but Punchy looks to a spy... while being as conspicuous as possible most of the time. An odd character, Punchy is.
Duke gets chewed out for screwing up last issue and is sent home. Empty Vee has her eyes set on moving up in the world from bassist-for-the-opening-act to headliner. Sykes is in a government bubble with Uncle Alvin there to keep him company. And, Casey uses the infoscroll throughout the issue to tell us about Kefong's summer in Vegas where he has an encounter with a lounge singer and his wife... and then finds out that they're ghosts. The final sentence/item in every infoscroll is devoted to Kefong. An effective manner to tell that story without taking up too much space.
Some infoscroll bits:
* "HOW MANY INTIMATES DOES IT TAKE TO SCREW IN A LIGHTBULB? (ANSWER ON PAGE 19)..."
* "FUTURE FACT: PUNCHY HAS NO IDEA THAT, AT AGE FORTY-TWO, HE WILL EXPERIENCE SEVERE BOUTS OF IMPOTENCE THAT WILL THREATEN TO TEAR BOTH OF HIS MARRIAGES APART..."
* "DESTRA'S VISIT TO THE HOUSES OF THE HOLY WAS PRECEDED BY A TRIP TO THE MOVIES AND AN EXPLORATION OF MAKING HER GARDEN GROW..."
* "AGENT STAHL'S IMMEDIATE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE SUPERIOR IS AGENT DOWNS (WHO STAHL HAS NOTICED ISN'T ACTING LIKE HIMSELF LATELY)..."
* "INTIMATE PUNCHLINE: DEPENDS ON THE ARTIST..."
* "QUICK ATTENTION TEST: JUST BETWEEN YOU AND ME, THESE INFO SCROLLS ARE STARTING TO DANCE ON MY LAST FRIGGIN' NERVE AND IF YOU'RE ANNOYED BY READING THEM, JUST THINK HOW I FEEL..."
Next issue: summer vacation's last hurrah.
