dvandom | Comics for September 27

                    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.
Still have the cold.  And allergies.  Sux.  Rants, Capsules can be found on my 
             homepage, http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/Rants 

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.

     Cable & Deadpool #32: Marvel - Eh.  Felt kinda padded, like Nicieza had
to make the Civil War tie-in last longer than it really needed to.  Staz
Johnson's art doesn't help, and a lot of the scenes just don't feel like they
do much.  There's still some good stuff in here, but a lot of repetition and
stretching.  Mildly recommended.  $2.99/$3.75Cn
     She-Hulk v2 #12: Marvel - A previous plotline rears its multi-faced head
and puts the Civil War/Starwolf stuff on hold...and it strikes me that this
is probably set pre-Annihilation.  Slott probably knows how and if it fits
into continuity, in any case.  Or why it doesn't, if that's the case.  :)
Recommended.  $2.99/$3.75Cn
     All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #9 (of 12): Marvel
- Red Ghost and his Super-Apes, dude.  Recommended.  $3.99/$4.75Cn
     52 #21 (of 52): DC - "You asked for it!  Infinity Inc." proclaims the
cover.  Yeah, along the lines of "You asked for it, now you're gonna get it,
good and hard".  Plus one of the alluded-to-in-their-own-book Temporary Teen
Titans teams.  All to show that Luthor was, indeed, as much of a villain as
we already knew he was, and would do all the things people suspected him of
in previous issues.  Whee.  There's a little bit of Dark Unfun Ralph, and a
couple pages on Red Tornado.  Eh.  Okay storytelling and art, in service of
uninteresting or unpleasant plots.  Neutral.  $2.50/$3.50Cn
     Action Comics #843: DC - Last of the Busiek/Nicieza issues, and it's
okay.  Several threads are left dangling for the next team to pick up, but
none really interest me, so this is my last issue.  Mildly recommended.
$2.99/$4.00Cn 
     Teen Titans #39: DC - Y'know, I'm definitely getting too used to
decompressed storytelling.  My initial impression was that this issue went a
bit fast, in terms of introducing characters and then moving on (although
Zatara wasn't actually introduced to me here, as I read 52 first, and he was
in there).  But then I thought about it for a moment, and realized that this
is what used to be NORMAL comic pacing, if maybe on the SLOW side in places.
Gah.  And, that resolved, it's a good issue.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.00Cn
     Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #22: DC - I forgot about the
cartoon premiering last weekend, so I can't comment on it yet.  The main plot
this issue is teenage soap opera with superpowers, as the relationships of
several characters to Supergirl get advanced in one way or another.  I'm a
bit annoyed that Brainy doesn't even appear this time out, although it's good
to finally get back to Sun Boy.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.00Cn
     American Way #8 (of 8): DC/Wildstorm - And so the miniseries wraps up,
with a bang and some whimpers.  Not everything is resolved, and there's
plenty of bits left open for a sequel, but enough is resolved to be
satisfying.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.00Cn
     Blue Beetle #7: DC - A pause to go back and look at what happened to
Jaime during the Infinite Crisis, and an explanation of why he lost a year
and what the deal is with the new Peacemaker.  It still doesn't really answer
the question of whether this scarab is related to Dan Garrett's, or why it
was in Shazam's knickknack collection, or even if it was that one.  But it's
a start.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.00Cn
     Secret Six #4 (of 6): DC - Good story from Simone, as usual, and
acceptable art from Walker and Palmiotti.  Good illustration of the
difference between Cheshire's amorality and Doctor Psycho's amorality, too.
Recommended.  $2.99/$4.00Cn
     Invincible #35: Image - Very talky issue (many pages have over ten
panels) as the title character tries to deal with his issues, both personal
and professional.  The Capes backup goes all hoo-rah, if a tad icky.
Recommended.  $2.99/$3.35Cn
     Transformers Evolutions Hearts of Steel #4 (of 4): IDW - While there
were certainly some cool bits, like Scourge the airship, it felt like they'd
headed the climax off at the pass.  With the pacing up to this point, the
story really should have gone two more issues...the two sides barely even
skirmish and the battle is suddenly over, apparently because all the
Decepticons forgot they could transform or something.  Feh.  And the art,
especially on the humans, looked rushed.  Neutral.  $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 9/27:

     Still missing Keif Llama V2.1, Stinz Tribals (which Diamond's system
says "will come in" June 14, and nothing else), Gold Digger Perfect Memory
v5, Gold Digger Tangent #2, Devil's Panties #3, Elric #4, the Transformers
Beast Wars poster, Fred Perry's S-Guild #1, Flare Adventures #17, the Amelia
Rules TPBs.  Add Ninja High School #142 and a growing sense that Diamond
doesn't like Antarctic.


Awards:

Best Book: None.  Maybe my upset stomach is just interfering with my
     ability to really enjoy these.

"WMD Of A Different Sort" Award to Cable & Deadpool #32

"Witness For The Persecution" Award to She-Hulk v2 #12

"Okay, I Suppose Sentinels DO Deserve Four Pages" Award to OHOTMU A-Z #9 (of
     12)

"Wait, What Is Al Gonna Say About This?" Award to 52 #21 (of 52)

"Never Underestimate Shrinking" Award to Action Comics #843

"Oooh, Gear Krieg" Award to Teen Titans #39

"She Blinded Cos, With SCIENCE!" Award to Supergirl and the Legion of 
     Super-Heroes #22

"Attack Of The Fifty Foot Mutant Racist" Award to American Way #8 (of 8)

"Then Why Isn't It Yellow?" Award to Blue Beetle #7

"Do You Suppose It's Vegan Fare?" Award to Secret Six #4 (of 6)

"Given All The Exposition, You Don't Suppose The Little Girl Who Isn't Really
     A Little Girl's NAME Couldn't Have Come Up ONCE?" Award to Invincible
     #35

"And Not Even Some Tesla, Bummer" Award to Transformers Evolutions Hearts of
     Steel #4 (of 4)
Dave Van Domelen, "Shady and I didn't make it as a couple because I think too much. With Ultra Boy, that'll never be a problem. Never ever." - Karate Kid, SG&LSH #22
Comics for September 27

no subject
