Comics for May 10, FL May 17

[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.
Try two, after my paste buffers buggered.  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, Marvel and Image 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.

May 17, 2006:

     Marvel Adventures Avengers #1: Marvel - While it doesn't have an
obviously different art style, the Marvel Adventures imprint is a belated
counterpart to DC's animation-based subline.  I'll admit to ignoring it for a
while, in part because the initial launch was uninspiring.  But Parker and
Garcia turn out a good done in one story here, capturing a lot of the feel of
the lighter side of the Silver Age in the process.  Recommended.
$2.99/$4.25Cn
     Moon Knight #2: Marvel - Slightly bloodier than Infinite Crisis #7.  It
still feels really padded out, like it could have been told in less than half
the space without losing any impact.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Captain America v5 #18: Marvel - There's a lot of interesting pieces in
here, but somehow they don't really fit together in such a way as to spark my
enthusiasm.  D'Armata's often murly color work doesn't help.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Annihilation: Nova #2 (of 4): Marvel - Several funny moments, which are
darkly humorous enough to not kill the mood of impending doom.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     New Mangaverse #5 (of 5): Marvel - A lot of black blood, death, and an
ambiguous and unsatisfying ending.  Ehn.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Ms. Marvel #3: Marvel - Somewhat scattered, almost anticlimactic despite
the big explosions.  Moderately annoying Civil War tie-in.  Mildly
recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Retro Rocket #2 (of 4): Image - Big ol' fight scene and plot device
whammy that does pretty much what was foreshadowed last issue.  :)
Recommended.  $2.99/$3.50Cn


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.

     Liberty Girl #0: Heroic Publishing - Turned out to be a store error,
half a box of FCBD books were left unpacked because a distraction led them to
think it had all been done.  Two stories introduce the title character, while
a third piece is a reworking of a Flare vs. Tigress tale (with some pretty
bad coloring I hope gets fixed before the final version sees print).  The
high concept, of a WWII era female superhero who isn't defined by her
relationship to a male character, is certainly worth pursuing, as there are
few enough out there.  But, well, nothing in either of the intro stories
really convinced me that this is a worthy pursuit in the particular case.  I
wish them luck with this, but don't think I'll be picking it up myself.
Free. 
     Truth, Justin, and the American Way #2: Image - Okay, it has some fun
bits, but it's veering too much into cliches.  Still, recommended.
$2.99/$3.50Cn 
     Transformers Beast Wars: The Gathering #4 (of 4): IDW - A lot of fight
scenes and plot device use, but the ending works reasonably well.  It's not a
magical "all the loose ends come together in the last reel" thing, but it
doesn't just leave all the loose ends flopping about either.  The art is a
bit muddled at time, equal parts Figueroa's layouts and Burcham's colors.
All in all, it's mainly another game of "spot the character" with a little
bit of story tacked on to justify things.  I got the A cover by Figueroa.
Mildly recommended.  $2.99
     52 #1 (of 52): DC - Poor Booster Gold.  Every time a writer wants to
say, "Hey, something important happened!" they set him of for a public
display of remembering history wrong.  Usually, in fact, the history he
remembers ends up being preferable to the history the readers get, and I have
the feeling that it's gonna be the case here too.  The storytelling starts
off deliberately fractured, with two or three panels at a time from various
days in week 1.  While it works as an opening gambit, I hope the fracturing
is less significant in future issues, because it gets annoying.  Some is
inevitable when you have four writers, but that's what editors are for.  And
assistant editors.  Nice touch on the covers, the date of publication is
listed under the price.  Mildly recommended.  $2.50/$3.50Cn
     Superman #652: DC - Part 5 of Up, Up and Away.  Obligatory callback to
Superman's 1938 power levels this issue, followed by a whole lot of obscure
villains picking a fight.  Well-told, but the bloom is off the rose for me
regarding this arc, and it feels like it's entering a "marking time" phase.
Still, recommended.  $2.99/$4.00Cn 
     Ares #4 (of 5): Marvel - Okay, was the end of #3 symbolic or something?
Significant disconnect between the end of #3 and the beginning of #4.  This
is the padding issue in what clearly would have worked better as a four issue
series.  Maybe two scenes of note, and even they were padded out.  I guess
Marvel's back to miniseries that peter out once the customer has pre-ordered
the whole series.  Neutral.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Cable & Deadpool #28: Marvel - I was a bit miffed at an unrelated thing
as I read this, so that probably colored my perception.  A decent issue, but
the art was pretty average and I disliked one of the plot points.  Mildly
recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Annihilation: Super-Skrull #2 (of 4): Marvel - Where last issue showed
more of SS's noble side, this time out emphasizes that it is *only* a side,
and he is indeed rightly called villain by many.   Mostly an action issue,
searching for a plot device to help in his quest, but it's a good action
issue.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Thunderbolts #102: Marvel - The Squadron Sinister plot is back on the
front burner, with an in depth look at the life of Joystick (so she's
probably doomed soon).  Grummett's art is at its usual good quality.
Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     She-Hulk v2 #7: Marvel - A good issue, but not a great one.  Slott
manages to get some of the meta-textual issues into the actual text without
it being awkward or forced.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn


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 5/10:

     Still missing Exalted #1, Keif Llama V2.1 and Big Max #1 (argh).  Add in
PS238 #16, of course.  Expecting Diamond to ever deliver that on time again
seems to be a fool's game.


Awards:

Best Book: None again.

"Obligatory Implied HLA" Award to Liberty Girl #0

"Finger Lickin' Good" Award to Truth, Justin and the American Way #2

"Me, Grimlock, Have Strangest Dream," Award to TFBW: The Gathering #4 (of 4)

"Sage On The Stage" Award to 52 #1 (of 52)

"Faster Than A Speeding Plot Device" Award to Superman #652

"Five Year Gap?  Geez" Award to Ares #4 (of 5)

"Zero Percent Of High School Students Could Find Rumekistan On A Map" Award
     to Cable & Deadpool #28

"At Least Madrox Stays Clothed When He Dupes" Award to Annihilation: Super
     Skrull #2 (of 4)

"Now With Rumble Pack" Award to Thunderbolts #102

"Slings And Eros" Award to She-Hulk v2 #7

   Dave Van Domelen, "A character witness in a sexual assault case? ME?!" - Henry Pym, She-Hulk v2 #7

Comments

[jarodrussell.livejournal.com]

How was Sparky Parks in Retro Rocket this month?

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

Let's just say it's a bad day for just about everyone.

[1boringperson.livejournal.com]

Add in PS238 #16, of course. Expecting Diamond to ever deliver that on time again seems to be a fool's game.

At least you got #15 before I did. My shop just got it last week! I haven't been in for #16 yet, so I don't know if it's there or not.