The Pull List – American Gods: My Ainsel #8
Shadow’s grows closer to his neighbor Marguerite Olsen and discovers he has a common connection, her sister is Samantha Black Crow, a hitchhiking college-student to whom Shadow had helped in this travels. The two are shocked to meet again, but keep the ruse of Shadow’s true identity. But someone else has arrived in the town of Lakeside that might not keep quiet. The Mike Ansiel has become a part of the community and one slip up can ruin all that.
Issue eight brings back Samantha Black Crow, a character that had appeared in the previous story arc that had caused Shadow to hide out in Lakeside. Samantha was present when Shadow’s wife Laura attempted a rescue to save Shadow from the FBI, and it caused Shadow to be wanted for murder. Instead of freaking out on Shadow, she very interested in understanding Shadow’s situation. As an open minded individual, she willing to accept the bizarre and strange as normal.
Neil Gaiman and P. Craig Russell do not give Shadow any breaks in his journey. When he is not being tossed around by Gods, he is struggling to maintain his cover just to pretend to live a normal life. Mr. Wednesday makes a brief appearance in a hilarious outfit that gives a loose interpretation of the wizard-like powers Mr. Wednesday possess. Instead of his fashional clothes, Mr. Wednesday appears in unflattering wizards attire, with matching bread and stick. P. Craig Russell or Scott Hampton, or even both, had to giggle a bit before deciding to dress up Mr. Wednesday like a bad Dungeon and Dragon wizard. As more people begin to suspect Mike Ainsel is more than he appears, Shadow wishes he can get back into gathering Gods soon enough in next month issue.