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Comics for June 14 (delayed)
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.
I seem to have come down with something. Rants, Capsules can be found on my
homepage, http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/Rants
Due to UPS screwup, I did not get comics until June 15.
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.
June 21:
Nothing I felt like reading (it was all stuff I was either definitely
getting or definitely not interested in).
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.
Michael Moorcock's Elric: The Making of a Sorceror #3 (of 4): DC - Well,
#2 came out in January 2005, so I've not only forgotten most of what
happened, I've filed the series away deep in my stack of boxes. Anyway, I
liked this dream quest episode, as Moorcock delves into the deep history of
the world Elric was born into. Recommended. $5.99/$8.00Cn
52 #6 (of 52): DC - The main action of the story sort of comes out of
nowhere and spends a lot of time introducing new characters before
establishing why anyone's there. A bit overly mysterious in style.
Meanwhile, the Booster arc comes to the fore again, leading to a two page
spread jam-packed with easter eggs. The backup summarizes some of the main
crossovers from the years right after Crisis, and drops in a few "oh, here's
one of our retcons" mentions. Mildly recommended. $2.50/$3.50Cn
Green Lantern Corps #1: DC - Okay, I really only picked this up because
of the promotion in which you get a free plastic GL ring with it. The story
is okay, the art is decent if muddled and overcrowded...the comic itself is
decent, but nothing to inspire me to put this on my pull. The ring, however,
is pretty nice. Designed for kid hands, but warm it up a bit and it'll fit
on an adult ring finger. Made of slightly metallic green plastic, it looks
more like a proper GL ring than most attempts I've seen. Actual comic is
mildly recommended, but if you can get the ring with it, bump it up to
recommended. $2.99/$4.00Cn
Superman #653: DC - Well, Superman fights Lex Luthor's giant Kryptonian
death machine, fairly humdrum. But the final page really saves the issue,
especially if you hear Lex's line in Clancy Brown's voice. :) Mildly
recommended. $2.99/$4.00Cn
Green Arrow #63: DC - Not quite as fun as last issue, and a bit
scattered within its three main conflicts, but a good read. McDaniel's art
still doesn't thrill me, though. Recommended. $2.99/$4.00Cn
Ms. Marvel #4: Marvel - Ms. Marvel is practically a guest star in her
own book, with Dr. Strange and the newly retconned-in longtime foe of hers
stealing the stage. But they do a decent job on the stage. Recommended.
$2.99/$4.25Cn
Squadron Supreme #4: Marvel - Three main chunks to the story.
Obligatory action sequence showing a growing threat within the team,
philosophical arguing among the team, and an origin story for one of the
newbies. JMS seems dead set on establishing that the team member who
conquered the world for its own good in a potential future is the SANE one.
Mildly recommended. $2.99/$4.25Cn
Annihilation: Super-Skrull #3 (of 4): Marvel - A few awkward transitions
here and there, but otherwise writer Grillo-Marxvach continues to do a very
good job of bringing out the depth of the main character. Recommended.
$2.99/$4.25Cn
Cable & Deadpool #29: Marvel - The story feels a little cookbooky, and
Ron Lim's art is serviceable. Nothing bad, per se, but seemed to have its
eyes on the horizon. Mildly recommended. $2.99/$4.25Cn
eXiles #82: Marvel - The big Proteus arc is wrapped up, albeit with a
lot more loose ends than I'd like. At least it wasn't anticlimactic. Mildly
recommended. $2.99/$4.25Cn
Thunderbolts #103: Marvel - Civil War tie-in. If you read Civil War #2
this week as well, read it before this issue. Most of this story involves
the newly reconstituted Thunderbolts fighting villains, with a little "where
are we going with our lives?" stuff and Zemo getting to be a bit of a prick
and getting away with it. :) Loved the "reunion" scene. Recommended.
$2.99/$4.25Cn
Two-Gun Kid #1: Marvel - The main story by Slott is set between She-Hulk
#10 and #11, making it a bit of an anachronism...appropriate to the title
character, I suppose. It's mostly a flashback to the old west, with TGK
crossing paths with "Kid Clayton", aka the Lone Ranger with the serial
numbers lightly touched by a file. Giffen and Fleming turn in a so-so
deliberately campy tale of an obscure former foe of the Rawhide Kid, and then
a classic RK story is reprinted. Not as good as I'd hoped overall, but still
recommended. $3.99/$5.75Cn
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 6/15:
Still missing Keif Llama V2.1 and Big Max #1 (argh), Five Fists of
Science.
Awards:
Best Book: Thunderbolts #103
"But Will We See #4 Before 2008?" Award to Elric #3 (of 4)
"Throwing A Spanner In The Works" Award to 52 #6 (of 52)
"What's Up, Doc?" Award to Green Lantern Corps #1
"Gravity Is A Cruel Mistress" Award to Superman #653
"Mansquito!" Award to Green Lantern #63
"You Don't Pick Cats, Cats Pick You" Award to Ms. Marvel #4
"A Child Of Cliche" Award to Squadron Supreme #4
"Not Into Cybersex" Award to Annihilation: Super-Skrull #3 (of 4)
"He NEEDS A Reason?" Award to Cable & Deadpool #29
"Sun Wukong Sends His Sympathies" Award to eXiles #82
"Which One Is Pete Best?" Award to Thunderbolts #103
"Who Was That Other Masked Man?" Award to Two-Gun Kid #1
Dave Van Domelen, "You're [booked] under the name LINDA Danvers, since nobody would be INTERESTED in that name." - Ms. Marvel's publicist
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I agree pretty much on Deadpool, there were some good moments but over all seemed to be more of a "setting things up for later". Thunderbolts remains good, it's one of the titles I'm glad I stuck with. (with the exception of the fight club bit. ugh.)
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Y'see, stores don't get these things for free, they have to pay. Same with Free Comic Book Day...they still have to pay for the comics they give out for free. But a lot of comic shops are run by people without any business sense, who don't understand the value of a freebie, and they will pass the cost on to the customer unless the word "free" is actually on the promo item.
The ring, specifically, is meant to be bait to get you to buy the $2.99 comic (for which the shop gets about a buck, less if you have a customer discount). If they sell the ring separately for a quarter, they only make a few cents. If they give the ring away only to people who buy the comic, then they make significantly more...AND there's the chance the customer will add the book to their pull, and the shop makes even more in the long run. Giving the ring away to people who buy the comic makes them more money than selling the ring separately. And selling the ring only to people who buy the book will probably leave them with lots of unsold rings and books...the appeal of a freebie is strong.