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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.
No one blew up my car with fireworks. 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.
July 12:
Comics were ready by the time I showed up, so I didn't skim any First
Looks.
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.
Ares #5 (of 5): Marvel - When you come down to it, I think the plot for
this series was pretty good, but the scripting was iffy, the pacing was off,
and the art confused more than it conveyed. Plus, having it take place over
the course of several years and kill many characters off means it's likely to
be consigned to the alt-Earth bin as soon as someone wants to use the
Olympians again. Mildly recommended. $2.99/$4.25Cn
Beyond #1 (of 6): Marvel - Not totally sure if this is going to be in
continuity or not, but I don't really care. :) A sort of sequel to the
original Secret Wars series of the 80s, and also sort of a sequel to the
Gravity miniseries. Dwayne McDuffie writes a crackling script and Scott
Kolins does a decent job on the art. Strongly recommended. $2.99/$4.25Cn
Marvel Team-Up #22: Marvel - Kirkman picks up some of his plot threads
from other books and ties them into the ongoing interweavings of this title.
It's a bit exposition-heavy in places, and Kuhn's art is downright ugly at
times, but it's a decent issue overall. Recommended. $2.99/$4.25Cn
Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #17: Marvel - Peter David picks up the
writing chores for an 8 issue stint this month, and so I extend my MA
collecting by a title. :) A done-in-one story with Peter Parker as a high
school student. Couldn't tell ya if the MA Avengers are set
contemporaneously or not, but accessibility seems to be one of the big
selling points on the MA line, so it probably doesn't matter. Mind you, that
doesn't keep PAD from making it feel like Spidey is part of a full Marvel
Universe, albeit one with some changed bits and pieces. A good story, and
Norton turns in adequate art. Recommended. $2.99/$4.25Cn
The Thing #8: Marvel - Well, cancellation has hit the book, sadly. And
you can kinda tell that Slott is trying to get the essence of three or four
issues' worth of stories into one, but he does succeed in that task. The
pith of each tale is present, plus a fun framing story that probably could
have used a more Perez-like artist than Dwyer. Also, some clever bits of
rabbinical wrangling. While I'm sad to see the book go, Slott manages to end
it well. Recommended. $2.99/$4.25Cn
Manifest Eternity #1-2: DC/Wildstorm - Somehow managed to miss #1 when
it came out. A crash took out my store's pull lists, and it turns out that
none of the replacement info I gave them got put in...on Sunday I had to get
nearly two dozen titles put onto my pull that I had thought were already
there. Fortunately, there was still one copy of #1 left on the recent back
issue shelves today. Writing is by Scott Lobdell, with painted (or painted-
like) art by Dustin Nguyen (no clue if it's the 21 Jump Street one). The
storytelling style seems to be geared towards short snapshots of important
moments leading up to a great war, a war that's only in its opening stages by
the end of #2...and the next issue box says they jump ahead 25 years. So the
first two issues could be considered a combined "#0" issue of sorts. The
storytelling is confusing in places, probably intentionally so, but it's
still not a good thing IMO. And the huge style shift between the settings of
the major combatants made me think that the two pages devoted to the
invaders' side in #1 was an ad for an entirely different comic. In short,
this may be one to wait for a TPB of. It's not bad, but it doesn't do so
well in 22 page chunks. Mildly recommended. $2.99/$4.00Cn
52 #9 (of 52): DC - A tiny bit more of the "fifty two" mystery is
revealed, and there's a few pages of the Question (who continues to rule),
but most of it is fight scene. Mildly recommended. $2.50/$3.50Cn
Outsiders #38: DC - Fairly good sting/invasion/trap sort of story,
although it bugs me a bit not knowing how this meshes with Teen Titans. Pop
Mhan's art is a lot less buggy than it was a few years ago, either he's
really throttling back on the weirdness or the inkers are making major
changes. Mildly recommended. $2.99/$4.00Cn
Teen Titans #37: DC - Hm, very soap opera. This is not necessarily a
bad thing, mind you, and Johns is handling the relationship stuff pretty
well. A much better Mallah and the Brain story than over in Outsiders, and a
nice Page 22 Shocker. Recommended. $2.99/$4.00Cn
JSA #87: DC - Final issue before the reboot as Justice Society of
America. I've heard from a few people opinions that this whole arc may get
retconned, but I don't see it. No real need to, as far as I can see...if
anyone wants to undo the major results of the arc, it's simple enough without
rolling back time or punching the universe. Anyway, it ends a little
abruptly, almost anticlimactically, but it does resolve. And it also raises
some interesting questions about Jakeem. Recommended. $2.99/$4.00Cn
Secret Six #2 (of 6): DC - Jumps around in time some, but at least all
the scene changes are clearly labeled. Lots of fun evil people dialogue of
the sort Simone does so well. Strongly recommended. $2.99/$4.00Cn
Exalted #4: Udon Comics - After a bit of a hiatus, we're back. Cover's
a bit misleading, more appropriate for #3 (or maybe #5). Some good noncombat
stuff this issue, and I like Faka Kun, the little scene-stealer.
Recommended. $3.49
Dark Horse 20 Years: Dark Horse - This is a pinup book, but with a
twist. Creators traded off, so you got Sin City drawn by Stan Sakai and
Usagi Yojimbo by Frank Miller, for instance. Mignola does the cover, so he
gets to draw everyone, including characters who don't get their own pinups.
Aragones sort of "cheats" and does Conan. :) They're not all straight
trades, though, most are a couple of longer "pass to the right" chains
(i.e. Nord does Aliens, Aragones does Conan, Chadwick does Groo, warner does
Concrete, etc). Recommended. 25 cents.
Ninja High School #139: Antarctic Press - Weird cover. It looks like it
was laid out for a comic a couple millimeters smaller in both dimensions, so
we get white gutter all around...but the interior is full bleed. Anyway, the
story is a lull issue, with everyone talking and telling stories and so
forth, gearing up for the Big Finale of the arc next issue. A good
character-driven issue. Recommended. $2.99/$4.05Cn
Fallen Angel #6: IDW - Okay, so it's NOT a miniseries. :) However,
rather than try to pick up from the events of #5, Peter David takes some time
out to tell the story of what happened to the title character immediately
after she was cast out. The art style is still painted or computer pseudo-
painted, but the style shifts for this tale. Recommended. $3.99 (Oh, and
there's an interview with Simon Furman in the back, he claims that he plans
to avoid Unicron for a while, yay!)
Transformers Evolutions: Heart of Steel #1: IDW - The Evolutions line is
meant to be to Transformers what Elseworlds used to be to the DC Universe,
looking at taking the basic characters and concepts and transplanting them to
new settings, new times. In Chuck Dixon's first arc, we have the
Transformers waking up in the late 1800s after a different (and possibly
worth a one-shot of its own) initial war on Earth. The inevitable cameos by
the famous (Mark Twain and Jules Verne) and fictional (John Henry) are
handled fairly well, although Dixon glosses over the usual adaptation phase
in the story. For instance, one character goes from a dino altmode to a
steam engine altmode between panels with no explanation (although that may be
given next issue). Ominously, while there's several pages of house ads and a
Stormbringer preview, there's no masthead page talking about what will be
coming out next month, nor lettercol. It may just mean they're worried this
issue will blow deadlines, but some are taking it as an omen of IDW pulling a
Dreamwave collapse. Hopefully they're wrong. Anyway, while the writing is a
bit wooden in places, I give this one a Recommended. (I got Cover A, BTW.)
$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 7/7:
Still missing Keif Llama V2.1 and Big Max #1 (argh), Five Fists of
Science. I've given up on Diamond, and taking someone up on an offer of
their copy of Big Max, though.
Awards:
Best Book: Tie between Beyond #1 (of 6) and Secret Six #2 (of 6)
"East Is East, And West Is West, And Ever The Twain Shall Beat On Each
Other" Award to Ares #5 (of 5)
"Eminently Quotable" Award to Beyond #1 (of 6)
"Does Anyone Have The Number Of The Livewires?" Award to Marvel Team-Up #22
"Jack Russell Scarier" Award to Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #17
"At Least He Didn't Need A Brit Milah Too" Award to The Thing #8
"The Fae's Plan Would Have Ended Just As Badly For Her" Award to Manifest
Eternity #1-2
"Yeah, Names Like That Never Go With Warm Fuzzies" Award to 52 #9 (of 52)
"Gravity Is A Harsh Mistress" Award to Outsiders #38
"Not A Whole Lot Of Fury, Really" Award to Teen Titans #37
"So Much For The Stargirl 'Shipper Fics" Award to JSA #87
"Twenty Years From Now, Ther Is Going To Be SUCH A Frakked Up Family
Reunion" Award to Secret Six #2 (of 6)
"Spotty Reception" Award to Exalted #4
"Who Knew Joss Could Style-Bite Too?" Award to Dark Horse 20 Years, with a
side order of "I Wanted To See Bob Burden Draw Zoe"
"Thankfully, No 'Getting Head' Jokes Around The Moai" Award to Ninja High
School #139
"Now Museum, Now You Don't" Award to Fallen Angel #6
"Steeling A March" Award to Transformers: Evolutions #1
Dave Van Domelen, "Dude, I just hit you with a car. There's a TRUCK right over there." - Gravity, pointing out to a somewhat wobbly villain why he should just give up, Beyond #1
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Bwah?
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I'm not sure what to think of that, honestly.
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Ouch! That's PAD level bad punnidge.
I thought Beyond! rocked to. Got it purely for the JLU factor.
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Dini + JH Williams = awesome. And it was.
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