Comics for May 24, First Looks May 31

[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.
Current exchange rate: $2.99 US = $3.34Cn  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.

     Unfortunately, this may be the last First Looks for a while.  After a
personnel rescheduling, the store now has someone on shift Wednesdays whose
interpretation of the rules (which individually make perfect sense, but
combine badly) essentially means I'd have to stand the entire time I read the
First Looks, which I'm not really eager to do.  I'm likely just going to go
in at 5 PM or so, grab my books and leave, at least until the policy shifts.
     And yeah, this means books that I don't pre-order are less likely to
find their way onto my reading list.  It also means I'll be posting reviews
later in the evening, since I won't be able to cut and paste any reviews down
from the First Looks.

May 31, 2006:

     Jim Valentino's Emissary #1: Image/Shadowline - Valentino does not write
or draw this.  It's your basic "first superhuman to appear" story, which
starts with soap opera involving the viewpoint characters, and then lets all
hell break loose.  Doesn't really grab me.  $3.50/$4.15Cn
     G0dland #11: Image - Wow, really bad KirbyKamp.  Somehow manages to
capture all the things bad about Kirby stories and none of the good.
$2.99/$3.50Cn
     Warlord #4: DC - Ehn.  Somewhat padded issue ending on a cliffhanger
obscured by murky art.  $2.99/$4.00Cn
     ABC A-Z: Top 10 & Teams #1: DC/ABC - The Top 10 part is written as
memoirs of a founding member, and has the usual number of easter eggs in the
art, including a Constructicon.  Informative, if dry.  The other half is a
silly look at America's Best and Worst teams circa 1958, didn't really work
for me.  $3.99/$5.50Cn
     Daughters of the Dragon #5 (of 6): Marvel - Not a bad second to last
chapter, but still a touch too hiply self-aware for its own good.
$2.99/$4.25Cn
     Son of M #6 (of 6): Marvel - Feh.  Ugly art, and a final issue that
reads like the middle of a series.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     All-New OHOTMU A-Z #5 (of 12): Marvel - The usual mix of the obscure,
the updated and those who didn't quite fit into the previous themed issues.
Recommended.  $3.99/$5.75Cn
     Thing #7: Marvel - Sadly, this is the pemultimate issue.  More sadly,
the guest art by Kieron Dwyer is kinda bad.  Still, an amusing and
light-hearted done-in-one story, and I'm afraid we won't get many more like
it for a while.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn


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.

     Anthem #2: Heroic Publishing - Pretty standard "team bickers and loses,
then works as a team and wins" issue.  Plenty of "extras" in the back, and
generally shows promise.  Recommended.  $3.25/$3.99Cn 
     Conan: Book of Thoth #3 (of 4): Dark Horse - Still a bit storyboardy in
style, but a decent read, and we're seeing the rise of forces that may oppose
the heretofore unchecked rise of Thoth.  Recommended.  $4.99
     Gold Digger: Throne of Shadows #1 (of 4): Antarctic Press - Did take
some digging to find how many parts are in this mini (it's on the last page
of the story).  Glossy stock black & white comic with graytoning.  Babiar's
art is a bit better than I recall from his Warrior Nun days, but (and I can't
believe I'm saying this) he doesn't draw Moishe's breasts large enough.
Y'see, her bust size is a running gag for the character, and she's just drawn
too reasonably by Babiar.  :)  Story looks to be of the caper variety,
opening with lots of chase scenes.  Mildly recommended.  $2.99/$4.05Cn 
     Ninja High School #138: Antarctic Press - Okay, either Peebos are making
it into the wider world, or one of the Peebo designs was referencing a pre-
existing floatybot I am unfamiliar with, and Dunn is re-referencing it here.
:)  Anyway, the book continues to move towards the title being very literal,
as we now have six teenage ninjas training together.  The intentionally
annoying cast members are being tolerably annoying this time out, at least.
Recommended.  $2.99/$4.05Cn
     52 #3 (of 52): DC - Still on Booster, but the other plots have shifted
to cover Black Adam and Lex Luthor.  It was nice seeing Booster fight one of
his admittedly small rogue's gallery, but the "time has changed" thing was
made pretty clear in the past two issues, now they're just belaboring the
point.  And do we really need more splattergore from Adam?  The history
backup is a bit teasey in nature, taunting us poor LSH fans.  Mildly
recommended.  $2.50/$3.50Cn
     Teen Titans #36: DC - This issue is more about establishing the post-IC
Doom Patrol, which seems to be keeping the tone of the vertiginous group and
even some of their continuity, while otherwise bringing things back into the
mainstream.  Ah, Dysfunctional Family Circus.  Revolving art team does a
decent job.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.00Cn
     Secret Six #1 (of 6): DC - Okay, this is about as bloody as 52 or IC,
but it's a villain book, so it's not as distracting.  Simone continues to
have a good handle on these characters, and a lovely ear for darkly humorous
dialogue.  Brad Walker's art is okay...a small step down from the art on
Villains United, but only a small one.  Strongly recommended.  $2.99/$4.00Cn
     Blue Beetle #3: DC - Guest art on issue three is rarely a good omen.
Nice to see Phil Moy working agaiin, though, if only on inks.  I think he'd
be a great penciler for the book.  Anyway, Giffen and Rogers are managing to
echo some of the things I liked about TechJacket, which is a Good Thing.
Some of the plot coincidences are a bit tidy, but I'm willing to go with it
for now.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.00Cn
     Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #18: DC - Heeheehee!  Okay, the
plot itself is on the serious side, but there's lots of incidental humor and
quotable quotes.  Plus lovely art.  Strongly recommended.  $2.99/$4.00Cn
     The American Way #4 (of 8): DC/Wildstorm - Just in case things didn't go
badly enough last issue, things really hit the fan this time.  Building up
nicely.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.00Cn
     Annihilation: Ronan #2 (of 4): Marvel - The actual Annihilation Wave is
really just background so far, with the immediate threat revealed on the
final page.  Not Furman's best writing, but passable.  Mildly recommended.
$2.99/$4.25Cn
     eXiles #81: Marvel - It's time for the Liefeldverse!  Well, not really.
They're on Counter-Earth in the 616 reality.  Close enough.  The World Tour
is almost over, and it does at least seem to be going out with a bang.
Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     X-Factor #7: Marvel - Normally the letterer's job is background,
unintrusive and functional.  Cory Petit does a good job of making the
lettering an important part of the story this time out.  As for the art,
Olivetti's pencils mesh reasonable well with Villarrubia's finishes, and the
murk levels are minimal.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Squadron Supreme #3: Marvel - Hero on hero fight scene followed by
polemics.  A few amusing bits thanks to Emil.  Mildly recommended.
$2.99/$4.25Cn 
     She-Hulk v2 #8: Marvel - Civil War tie-in.  Paul Smith's guest art is
generally good, although there's a few characters he doesn't really have a
handle on.  I probably shouldn't have read one of the entries in OHOTMU A-Z
#5, as it spoilered the ending of this issue.  Oh, and a couple of 90s cameos
worth checking out, including Slapstick!  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 5/24:

     Still missing Keif Llama V2.1 and Big Max #1 (argh). 


Awards:

Best Book: Tie between Secret Six #1 and Supergirl and the LSH #18

"Not So Puny Banner?" Award to Anthem #2

"Heir To The Throne Of The King Of Fools" Award to Conan: Book of Thoth #3
     (of 4)

"If Money Can't Buy Happiness, I Guess I'll Have To Rent It" Award to      
     Gold Digger: Throne of Shadows #1 (of 4)

"The Rare Tropical Armadillo" Award to Ninja High School #138

"Snuff Conference" Award to 52 #3 (of 52)

"Maybe You Should Be A Hat Person" Award to Teen Titans #36

"So Ronery" Award to Secret Six #1 (of 6)

"Accident, Suuuuuure..." Award to Blue Beetle #3

"Bad-Timing Boy To The Rescue!" Award to Supergirl and the Legion of Super-
     Heroes #18

"Emphasis On The 'Bent' Part" Award to The American Way #4 (of 8)

"Yeah, Yeah, Power Corrupts" Award to Annihilation: Ronan #2 (of 4)

"Technical Kay-O" Award to eXiles #81

"A Little TOO Used To The Genre" Award to X-Factor #7

"Tail-End Charlie" Award to Squadron Supreme #3

"Sauce For The Armored Gander" Award to She-Hulk v2 #8

   Dave Van Domelen, "How did we end up in a place where Brainy being a grave-robbing necrophiliac is the BEST CASE SCENARIO?" - Lightning Lad

Comments

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

I never picked it up in the first place. I read a few issues in the First Looks pile and decided it wasn't something I wanted my money going towards.

[z-gryphon.livejournal.com]

Oh thank God! I thought I was alone. I thought I was alone...

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

If they declared that Next Wave didn't take place on Earth 616, and made that clear on the cover or something, I might buy it. It's got its enjoyable moments when you ignore the way it's totally miswriting the characters.

[z-gryphon.livejournal.com]

Yes, well, that's Warren. Brilliant when he's doing his own stuff; err, not so much when he's working on already-established characters.