Comics for July 12

[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.
Exam 2 average was 73%, a bit of a drop.  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 19:

     Comics were ready by the time I showed up, so I didn't skim any First
Looks.  Of course, the fact I was spending all afternoon grading exams is
part of why comics were ready by the time I showed up.  :)


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.

     52 #10 (of 52): DC - This is almost entirely focused on Clark Kent and
Black Adam (not in the same scenes, though) with a little Booster.  I rather
liked the Kent stuff.  Recommended.  $2.50/$3.50Cn
     Superman #654: DC - Structurally, Busiek is doing Astro City #1 here,
with Superman instead of his homage Samaritan.  However, there is a VERY
important difference here, and that's the fact that Clark Kent is more than
just a disguise.  So the same sorts of things happen, but with different and
generally deeper motivations and desires.  A very strong done-in-one story
(albeit with foreshadowing for a new storyline).  Strongly recommended.
$2.99/$4.00Cn 
     Green Arrow #64: DC - Generally a continuation of the GA/Brick unlikely
buddy film thing, with a side trip to see what Deathstroke's deal is.  The
art by McDaniels & Owens is okay, but no great shakes.  Plenty of fun banter
to make up for the somewhat thin plot.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.00Cn
     Transformers Infiltration #6 (of 6): IDW - The series takes something of
a left turn here, with the protagonists of #1-5 becoming at best spectators
and at worst refugees.  It's a good conflict, mind you, and it clearly sets
up the change of the status quo...it just feels a little like this could have
been done as #2 or #3, not #6.  On the plus side, it looks like they finally
got permission to draw the faction symbols instead of pasting them in.
Recommended despite some qualms.  (Got the Guidi cover, and it seems most apt
for the actual story.)  $2.99
     Annihilation: Super-Skrull #4 (of 4): Marvel - VERY narration-heavy,
trying to be portentious but coming across a little pretentious.  The ending
also fairly screams "retcon", both in terms of how it happens and the
likelihood of it being undone.  Still, on the low end of Recommended.
$2.99/$4.25Cn 
     Ms. Marvel #5: Marvel - A bit on the incoherent side, and it kinda feels
like what would have been a Big Storyline has been backburnered to make way
for Civil Bore.  Looks nice, but the story didn't really grab me.  Mildly
recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Squadron Supreme #5: Marvel - The rest of the origins of Inertia and
plenty of insane people to go around.  The theme is "doing horrible things to
people who deserve it," with a side order of "what does that make US, when we
do those things?"  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Thunderbolts #104: Marvel - Well, it's a Civil Bore tie-in, but Nicieza
manages to make it clear that he (and Zemo) are just using the Event as an
excuse to get what he wants.  :)  A lot of stuff that's the equivalent of the
"open the door to show a bunch of guys training" scene frmo Wayne's World,
sure, but that sort of thing is good in its place.  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 7/12:

     Still missing Keif Llama V2.1 and Five Fists of Science.  Add in Stinz
Tribals and the Gold Digger DVD-ROM set, although those are a case of "didn't
get restored to my pull until it was too late for this week's order, and
neither was ordered for the shelf".
     Oh, and last week people asked my why I didn't get Detective.  Because I
don't read the Batbook (or Superbook, or X-Book, or Spider-Book) solicits and
didn't know about it.  It had sold out by the time I next hit the store, so
no review this week either.


Awards:

Best Book: Superman #654

"I Learned It Watching YOU, Okay?" Award to 52 #10 (of 52)

"Well, There's Two L's At The Start Of Her Last Name, At Least" Award to
     Superman #654

"Ninja Interior Decorator" Award to Green Arrow #64

"What About The Giant Mutant Jellyfish?" Award to Transformers: Infiltration
     #6 (of 6)

"The Galaxy's Most Dangerous Pacifist" Award to Annihilation: Super Skrull
     #4 (of 4)

"Watoomb's Company, Three's A Crowd" Award to Ms. Marvel #5

"Buried Secrets" Award to Squadron Supreme #5

"All The World's A Game, And You Just Got Pawned" Award to Thunderbolts #104

   Dave Van Domelen, "We RUN AWAY. THIS is your plan?" "I've WEIGHED the options, and THIS is my plan, yes." "BATMAN could get our asses out of here." "Screw you." - Brick and Green Arrow.

Comments

[1boringperson.livejournal.com]

Annihilation: Super-Skrull #4 - VERY narration-heavy,
trying to be portentious

You meant "portentous," right? Not picking nits, just making sure I looked up the right word in the dictionary.

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

Hm, I've always heard it pronounced as if there was that 'i' in there.

[foomf.livejournal.com]

Hooked By Phonics!

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

Ganked!