Comics for April 12, First Looks April 19

[dvandom]

                    Dave's Unspoilt Capsules and Awards
         The Week's Picks and Pans, plus Awards of Dubious Merit

Standard Disclaimers: Please set appropriate followups.  Recommendation does
not factor in price.  Not all books will have arrived in your area this week.
Picking up my new Mazda 3 wagon tomorrow.  Rants, Capsules can be found on my 
             homepage, http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/Rants 

     Note: I got the "didn't ship the first time" TPBs of Bone Sharps,
Captain America, and Essential Nova today.  There's no way I'm gonna have
them all read tonight, so I'll review 'em next week.  They're all late
anyway, so no time pressure.

First Looks:
     My comics shop subscribes to the First Looks program, in which a
selection of titles from DC and Marvel for the next week are shipped a week
early for preview purposes.  I usually have time to read some of them while
the comics are sorted, although they don't always arrive on time.

April 19, 2006:

     Avengers and Power Pack Assembled #1 (of 4): Marvel - I'm guessing that
with just Cap this issue, the Avengers will be appearing one at a time, at
least initially.  A wise move, really...these rebooted PP kids can hold their
own with one Avenger on screen, but not the whole team.  Good storytelling in
terms of being a single issue story that leads into the next issue, but a lot
of the actual scripting left me cold.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Annihilation: Nova #1 (of 4): Marvel - Up front I'm gonna say that
Abnett and Lanning's writing has driven me off enough titles that they no
longer get any more second chances from me.  So even if this mini turns out
to not suck, I'm not buying it.  So far, it's decent, if mostly a duet
between two characters.  And it's not like the writers can make the situation
much WORSE for Nova.  Okay art.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Spider-Woman Origin #5 (of 5): Marvel - And so they finish replacing the
classic origin of Spider-Woman with a more "realistic" one that is boring and
actually LESS realistic considering that reality in this case is the Marvel
Universe.  Gotta love it when writers like Bendis demonstrate their disdain
for the setting they've been hired to write in.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Iron Man v5 #7: Marvel - You basic Power Corrupts followup to the
Extremis powerup, combined with at least a little Ghost in the Shell 2nd gig
homage.  The execution is...so-so.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Captain America v5 #17: Marvel - Some good bits, but nothing really
moves me.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Nextwave #4: Marvel - Very snarky and amusing and people don't behave as
badly out of character as usual.  And they fight a pseudo-Gundam.
$2.99/$4.25Cn 

     Yeah, nothing I plan to actually buy.  Guess that means a slow week.
After dropping over eighty bucks after my 20% discount today, a slow week
will be a Good Thing.

Capsules:
     Short, relatively spoiler-free reviews of books I actually bring home
(as opposed to reading in preview form in the shop or online).  If I get a
book late due to distributor foulups or whatever, I'll put it in the Missing
section.

     Ultimate Extinction #4 (of 5): Marvel - Feels more like an homage to the
whole Z'nox storyline at this point.  More fighting, less talking, somewhat
better than the last few issues, but still not really grabbing me.  Mildly
recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Annihilation: Super-Skrull #1 (of 4): Marvel - Surprisingly good story
about an aging warrior whose loyalties have been outpaced by reality, much
like the Captain America stories of the 60s and early 70s.  Art is okay.
Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Cable & Deadpool #27: Marvel - Innnnnnnnteresting.  Rather talky, like
last issue, and possibly writing checks that Nicieza's future work won't be
able to cash, but interesting.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     eXiles #79: Marvel - On to the Future Imperfect setting!  Things are
perforce wrapping up, so it's time to get clever.  Recommended.
$2.99/$4.25Cn
     FN Spider-Man #7: Marvel - Good  fun issue, almost lets you forget the
whole Civil War thing coming.  Strongly recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Ms. Marvel #2: Marvel - Mostly a running fight scene with some plot
exposition.  But it looks good and reads decently.  Recommended.
$2.99/$4.25Cn
     Thunderbolts #101: Marvel - This is a transitional issue, for stepping
back and examining motives and relationships and so forth before plunging
into the next arc.  And Red Ronin has a cameo.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Green Arrow #61: DC - OYL.  It's often been said that superhero books
are about power fantasies.  The twist here is that the power fantasies are
political, and involve the "normal" identity (although there's still
occasional call for the tights and arrows).  Okay, it maybe goes a little
overboard, but everything Ollie does this issue makes perfect sense for him
to do.  It may blow up spectacularly in his face, but he's dealt with
explosions in the past.  :)  Recommended.  $2.50/$3.50Cn
     Superman #651: DC - OYL.  Well, the Big Reveal of part 2 kinda wimps out
at the start of part 3 here.  Still, despite that disappointment, a decent
issue.  Recommended.  $2.50/$3.50Cn
     Transformers Infiltration #4: IDW - Got cover C, with Bumblebee carrying
the gun that's almost bigger than he is.  A lot of emphasis on the squishies
this issue, but Bumblebee gets a chance to shine...the cover isn't totally
inappropriate.  The Hasbro-mandated cut and paste faction symbols are a bit
beter integrated this issue, although they're a bit inconsistent from page to
page.  Mildly recommended.  $2.99
     Gold Digger v3 #74: Antarctic Press - Looks like a dam burst or
something.  :)  After a couple pages of the main characters, we shift focus
to yet another supporting cast storyline.  Two, actually, both backburnered
for a while.  It's like Perry is pacing this for the Gold Brick (25 issue
chunk), not just "for the trade".  Mildly recommended, as I don't really care
about these batches of supporting cast.  $2.99/$4.05Cn
     Rod Espinosa's New Alice in Wonderland #3 (of 4): Antarctic Press - This
one only FEEL like rapid-fire because it took me a while to get #2.  The
Duchess's house and the Mad Tea Party are presented this issue, and Espinosa
stays true to the spirit of the original's illustrations by making the Mad
Hatter look like a modern celebrity.  Recommended.  $3.50/$4.75Cn


Gone Missing:
     Stuff that came out some places this week and that I wanted to buy, but
couldn't find for whatever reason, so people don't have to email me asking
"Why didn't you review X?"  (If it's neither here nor in the section above,
though, feel free to ask, I might have forgotten about it!)

     Current list as of 4/12:

     Still missing Exalted #1, Keif Llama V2.1 and PS238 #14-15.  Bone
Sharps, Cowboys and Thunder Lizards GN, Captain America and the Falcon:
Secret Empire TPB and Essential Nova finally came in this week.

Awards:

Best Book: Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #7

"Is It HLA When One Of 'Em's A Robot?" Award to the cover of Ultimate
     Extinction #4 (of 5)

"At Least He's Not Named Sk'py" Award to Annihilation: Super-Skrull # 1 (of
     4)

"A Necessary Evil" Award to Cable & Deadpool #27

"Did I Err?" Award to eXiles #79

"SCIENCE!" Award to Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #7

"Ooooh, Ancient Plot Device!" Award to Ms. Marvel #2

"What Does He Do If You Miss The Rent Payment?" Award to Thunderbolts #101

"Dead In 30 Minutes Or The Torture Is Free!" Award to Green Arrow #61

"Please Explain The Plot Device For New Readers" Award to Superman #651

"Big Where It Counts" Award to Transformers Infiltration #4

"Leftie-Loosey, Rightie-DIE-ty!" Award to Gold Digger v3 #74

"I Can't Ge The Unbirthday Song Out Of My Head, AAAAAAA!" Award to Rod
     Espinosa's New Alice In Wonderland #3 (of 4)

   Dave Van Domelen, "I'm saying as scientists, we should consider all options." "So, Intelligent Design should be given the same weight as evolution?" "... Okay, I'm going home now." - Iron Man and Spider-Man, FNSM #7

Comments

[lurkerwithout.livejournal.com]

A new Transformers came out? What the hell?

[finback.livejournal.com]

HEh. love that quote at the end. I'm loving all the anti-ID I'm seeing in the comics. Which admittedly is little.

But "I mean, they're trying to teach my daughter intelligent design instead of evolution in school!" "Evolution? You mean that crap about us coming from monkeys?" "....." "Man, you are so *white*." - Animal Man and Firestorm.

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

Followup quote, after Iron Man changes the subject and starts to fly off:

Spider Man: But...wait! You didn't answer about evolut--
Iron Man: LA LA LA, I'm not LISTENING, LA, LA, LA....