Late comics for July 26 (yay, I'm back)

[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.
I really don't like traveling by air.  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.

August 2:

     None this week.


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.

     Gold Digger v3 #76: Antarctic - Back to the extradimensional jailbreak
plotline, with a cover that doesn't seem to belong on this particular issue.
Lots of fight sceneage, and some origins flashbacks here and there.  Mildly
recommended.  $2.99/$4.05Cn
     Annihilation: Ronan #4 (of 4): Marvel - A big confused running battle,
with all of the plot threads getting somewhat unsatisfying resolutions, and
Ronan's main redemption plot is To Be Continued.  Very mildly recommended.
$2.99/$4.25Cn
     eXiles #84: Marvel - A prelude issue, setting up the next arc while also
giving us a good done-in-one story focusing on Heather's home reality.
Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     All-New OHOTMU A-Z #7 (of 12): Marvel - Victor Mancha (Runaways
character) to Phantazia (Liefeldian thing).  There seem to be some minor
running format changes here.  All the half-page entries are pushed back to
the last three pages, and teleporters now have explicitly split Speed
values.  I'm a bit annoyed to find that Hulk: Destruction is explicitly
repudiated as out of continuity, though (in Mercy's entry).  Why does Warren
Ellis get to rejigger Iron Man's origin, but Peter David can't alter the
origins of a second-string villain like the Abomination?  Feh.  Recommended.
$3.99/$5.75Cn 
     52 #12 (of 52): DC - A little Question, a little Ralph, mostly Black
Adam.  Kinda dry, despite the scenery-chewing.  Wonder Woman "origin" backup
is just two pages.  Mildly recommended.  $2.50/$3.50Cn
     Action Comics #841: DC - Nicieza joins up as co-plotter, on what feels
like an attempt to redo the Cluster "straight" (as opposed to "bwahaha"),
meanwhile dealing with an undercurrent of "but is this REALLY Superman?"
It's okay, and I like how they keep things feeling connected, so recommended
for now.  $2.99/$4.00Cn
     Blue Beetle #5: DC - Guest artist Duncan Rouleau's style has shifted
some, less McFarlane imitation, but still "messy".  I also think it's
becoming a running gag how the cover's implied event takes place in the first
few pages and then has no effect on the rest of the story.  :)  Meanwhile,
the main plot continues to deliberately distance itself from the rest of the
DCU.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.00Cn 
     American Way #6 (of 8): DC/Wildstorm - This issue feels mostly like the
final buildup, where actions are taken that can't be taken back, thus
ensuring a tragic end.  In that role it works, but the pacing is a bit off
when read on it own.  Not decompression bad, though.  Recommended.
$2.99/$4.00Cn
     Astro City Special: DC/Wildstorm - Largely narrative in nature, looking
over the life and times of Infidel, Samaritan's arch-enemy.  A quiet story,
but a good one.  Recommended.  $3.99/$5.50Cn


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 7/28:

     Still missing Keif Llama V2.1, Five Fists of Science, Stinz Tribals
(which Diamond's system says "will come in" June 14, and nothing else), Gold
Digger Perfect Memory v5, Anthem #3.  Add PS238 #17, surprise surprise.


Awards:

Best Book: None.  Maybe it's the travel fatigue, but nothing really wowed
     me this week.

"Inverted Array" Award to Gold Digger v3 #76

"Sound And Fury, Etc." Award to Annihilation: Ronan #4 (of 4)

"Darkstar Sim-Phony" Award to eXiles #84

"Now I Too Know Stuff" Award to All-New OHOTMU A-Z #7 (of 12)

"We Gonna Get Space Samurai Now Too?" Award to 52 #12 (of 52)

"Cluster ****ed" Award to Action Comics #841

"Once I Might Have Engaged In A Cameo Appearance, Exchanged Light Banter,
     Perhaps Teamed-Up To Fight A Minor Foe, But Now I Must Remain..." Award
     to Blue Beetle #5

"Probably Not Completely Coincidence That His Chest Symbol Looks Kinda
     Like A Four" Award to The American Way #6 (of 8)

"Towards A Better Dystopia" Award to Astro City Special #1

   Dave Van Domelen, "No. You don't understand. I'm not crazy. I just hear VOICES in my HEAD! Sigh." - Jaime, Blue Beetle #5

Comments

[foomf.livejournal.com]

1) When will Exiles stop sucking?
2) Ellis gives better blowjobs than David? It's the only explanation.
3) Gold Digger cover joins the Teen Titans "Kid Devil" cover on the 'printer swapped covers?' list, huh?

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

1) When it stops treading water waiting for Claremont? Maybe not then either, but it's not exactly under the best circumstances right now. And I liked it well enough, anyway.

2) I really didn't need that mental image.

3) Gold Digger seems to have inappropriate covers a lot. Perry must play things a bit too close to the deadline.

[loki-liesmith.livejournal.com]

Now that the World Tour's wrapped up, is Spidey 2099 still around?

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

Yes. For now. But next issue it's all Wolvies, all the time.

[loki-liesmith.livejournal.com]

Cool. Maybe I'll start picking it up regularly then. I got the two issues they were in the 2099 reality, and I was happy to see him go with them, but I didn't bother adding it to my pulls with the assumption that he'd be gone in 3-4 issues when the story wrapped up. 2099's the one now-defunct Marvel lines I actually *miss*.

[scavgraphics.livejournal.com]

for the moment, at least

[1boringperson.livejournal.com]

No PS238 at my shop, either. :-(

Regarding Hulk: Destruction...

[severefun.livejournal.com]

The mini was a video-game tie-in, so I wasn't really expecting it to be part of the ongoing canon. If nothing else, I'm not sure the revised Mercy makes any more sense than the cosmic version.

As an aside, the game is actually pretty fun, it really sells the Hulk's sheer power in a Grand Theft Auto: Gamma Base sorta way.