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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.
http://www.dvandom.com/drawings/tbtech.JPG Rants, Capsules can be found on my
homepage, http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/Rants
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 26, 2006:
Image has gotten into the game. There were actually a few other books I
was thinking of reading, but didn't have time (including Warlord #3 and
Godland #10).
Daughters of the Dragon #4 (of 6): Marvel - Higher snark levels, and
plenty of psychobabble as things slow down for character development. The
art is a bit better. $2.99/$4.25Cn
Black Panther #15: Marvel - Repairing some of the continuity fraying
from early issues, but in some ways that just makes it worse. On the other
hand, Hudlin does seem to be settling in and writing about the same Black
Panther as before the current book. Still waffling on this book, though.
$2.99/$4.25Cn
Fantastic Four #537: Marvel - A good issue, and it really doesn't have
the taint of Civil War on it. But given what CW is supposed to do to this
book, I'm staying quit of it until this all blows over. $2.99/$4.25Cn
Amazing Spider-Man #531: Marvel - Well, the sinister nature of the
machinations leading up to Civil War are laid out pretty clearly, and the
noble if flawed motivations set forth. A good story in service of what looks
to be a train wreck. $2.99/$4.25Cn
Annnihilation: Ronan #1 (of 4): Marvel - Simon Furman generally does
good cosmic doom, which is why I ordered this. Interesting parallel with the
Super-Skrull series, and as one might expect, Ronan acts a little Grimlocky.
Recommended. $2.99/$4.25Cn
X-Factor #6: Marvel - There's one joke in here that I wonder how long
it's been sitting in PAD's brain, waiting to come out onto the page. :) Art
is still iffy, but the story is good. Recommended. $2.99/$4.25Cn
Invincible #31: Image - More of a relaxing issue, continuing to catc up
after the big space adventure...although there's still a fight scene or two,
and subplots get some time. Recommended. $2.99/$3.50Cn
The American Way #3 (of 8): DC/Wildstorm - Another good issue teetering
on the knife's edge between optimism and cynicism. Bad things happen, but
good people try to overcome them, and I get the impression that while things
are going to get pretty bad, they WILL turn out alright. For some value of
"alright," of course. But I don't get the feeling that it'll just spiral
into despair and crap, which is a big selling point for me. Strongly
Recommended. $2.99/$4.00Cn
It's About Time:
A trio of TPBs that Diamond didn't ship to my store the first time
around, ranging from only a week or so late (Nova) to several months late.
Bone Sharps, Cowboys and Thunder Lizards: GT Labs - Written by Jim
Ottaviani and illustrated by Zander Cannon's studio Big Time Attic. Last
year's FCBD had the first chunk of this, and I think it actually came out in
complete form in August or September. Diamond still claims to have it in
stock, though, so you should be able to order it. That said, you should
order it. Don't be put off by the odd sideways binding (shaped more like a
strip collection), it's an engaging tale inspired by the "Dinosaur Wars" of
the late 19th Century. I say "inspired by" because Ottaviani moves
characters around, adds some poetic justice and generally tweaks reality to
make for a better story. There's a section at the back where he fesses up
about what was real and what he changed (although page references for the
comments would have been helpful, especially since there ARE page numbers,
unlike so many comics these days). Strongly recommended. $22.95
Captain American and the Falcon: Secret Empire TPB: Marvel - Reprints
Captain America and the Falcon #169-176 from the mid-70s. Oddly, the very
first issues of Cap I ever read were #178-9, followed shortly by the issue
after the Nomad arc wrapped up. Cap had given up the name a few times before
this, and seemed to spend an awful lot of the 1960s wondering if he really
should continue in his costumed role, but his resignation in #176 was
probably the first significant one, where it was part of a much larger arc in
development (his time as the Captain is the only other resignation on the
same scale). Anyway, the Secret Empire arc is an interesting read for a lot
of reasons. You can see the footprints of Blaxploitation on the title (and
the requisite black people dressed in purple and orange, because it was
easier on color separators), as well as the unmistakable tarnish of the
post-Watergate years. Marvel had never been as "rah rah, yay government" as
DC tended to be, but in the wake of Watergate they got downright anti-
establishment. There's various stories told about the true identity of the
main villain, but regardless of why his ID was never really revealed, there's
plenty of in-story clues about who Englehart meant it to be, whether he
pulled back himself or was told to do so. Yeah, I'm trying to avoid
spoilers, as this is actually old enough that a lot of y'all haven't even
heard of this story, much less read it, and it works better if you go in
without knowing. Sal "The Crazy One" Buscema does the art, and the coloring
is a pretty straightforward update. They only change it to solid colors
rather than dots, rather than adding new gradients and stuff. Recommended.
$19.99/$32.00Cn
The Essential Nova vol 1: Marvel - Okay, I've only gotten through about
half of this one, having saved it for last...cut me some slack, it's got 26
regular issues and an annual inside! Marv Wolfman wrote all but the Amazing
Spider-Man crossover issue by Len Wein that is included for completeness, and
a bunch of artists worked on the whole thing, mostly Sal Buscema and Carmine
Infantino, with some bits by Ross Andru, John "The Sane One" Buscema and Gene
Colan. The black and white reproduction has the usual problems you get with
art initially made to be in color, but it's interesting to note that coloring
actually changed Nova's costume without changing it. In an early issue, his
costume is referred to as black, meaning that the blue coloring in it was
meant to be highlights on black, much as Superman's hair was done in days of
yore. Only later did the blue highlights get turned into a solid blue
costume in a sort of "telephone" for artists. The stories are pure 70s
Marvel. Events in other books have effects on this one, even if it's just
background details like Nova noticing that Hulk-caused damage to the Statue
of Liberty has been fixed. Yeah, pure nostalgia for us old guys who liked
having a shared universe that was actually shared, and not hogged by the
biggest bullies in the sandbox. I was also amused to see an extended
Godzilla homage, given that Marvel wouldn't get that license for a couple of
years after the homage. Okay, the actual plots are kinda cheesy and the
scripting gets repetitive at times (since they knew much of their audience
was only getting scattered newsstand issues, rather than following from issue
to issue), but there's some diamonds in the rough. Recommended.
$16.99/$27.25Cn
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.
Squadron Supreme #2: Marvel - Well, after some thrilling paperwork
action, the team finally gets dropped into the crucible of combat. Of
course, since it starts out an apparently overkill mission, there's still
plenty of time for chatting and further character development...although
perhaps the strongest piece of charcterization came on the very first page,
with everyone posing for a group photo. With the exception of Tom Thumb (who
may be there, but I can't find him), each's face tells a lot about who they
are. Sure, that sort of thing wouldn't ever make it into a stage-managed
official picture, but kudos to Frank for taking full advantage of it anyway.
Recommended. $2.99/$4.25Cn
Conan: Book of Thoth #2 (of 4): Dark Horse - A LOT of narration,
continuting the trend started last issue. There's also some funny, if mood-
damaging, bits here and there. Mildly recommended. $4.99
Ninja High School #137: Antarctic Press - The Naruto et al homage
continues, but the plot starts to transcend parody again, and there's some
good development with Ricky and Tetsuo. Recommended. $2.99/$4.05Cn
GIJoe vs. Transformers v3 #2 (of 5): Devil's Due Publishing - It's the
"ARP" issue, heh (check the front cover). And while it's still not labeled
by how many issues there are, the inside front cover says that there are five
"A" covers that fit together into a single piece...so either it's a five
issue series or something very weird is going on. :) I still think the
Serpent O.R. name is weak, but the character by that name shows promise. And
he has GaiGar shoulders. It's nice to see The War Within being referenced
here, even though it's a compeltely divergent continuity...I suppose it
diverges in the 1980s, though, not in the deep past. Heh. The coloring
drifts into Dreamwave-style occasionally, but the art is otherwise decent.
Recommended.
PS238 #15: Dork Storm Press - Still missing #14, but I went ahead and
read this one anyway. It's pretty obvious I missed the Big Action Issue, but
Williams does a decent job of making the book readable even as a first issue
ever. Recommended. $2.99
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 4/19:
Still missing Exalted #1, Keif Llama V2.1 and PS238 #14. Add Conan #27
and Big Max #1 (argh).
Awards:
Best Book: None (although if Big Max did hit shelves this week, it's
the best book, by far). [Later note: I am told it did hit stores.
Just not mine.]
"A Terminal Case Of Good Posture" Award to Bone Sharps, Cowboys and
Thunder Lizards TPB
"And No One Understands Him 'Cept His...Hawk?" Award to Captain America and
the Falcon: Secret Empire TPB
"Hal Jordan Called, He Says The Laundry Gave You His Origin By Mistake"
Award to Essential Nova
"Nestling A Bosom To Their Viper...Er, Wait" Award to Squadron Supreme #2
"Lotsa Vipers, Not So Many Bosoms" Award to Conan: Book of Thoth #2 (of 4)
"So That's Where The Bosoms Went" Award to Ninja High School #137
"Do Cobras Count?" Award to GIJoe vs. Transformers v3 #2 (of 5)
"Sidekickin' Ain't Easy" Award to PS238 #15
Dave Van Domelen, "I'll take you along, but only because I want the checks I wrote both of you for this job BACK." - Cobra Commander
Bonus Quote: "He frightens you because you are a FOOL, Kur. He frightens me because I am NOT." - The Sphinx, Nova #6
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