Comics for October 4

[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.
Lingering stomach bug making life bleh.  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.

     Marvel Team-Up #25: Marvel - Final issue.  Kirkman wraps up the big
Titannus thing a bit abruptly, and while the framing sequence with the
alternate future team is cute at first, it's ultimately dissatisfying.  Most
of the threads do tie together, but...eh.  Mildly recommended.  $2.99/$3.75Cn 
     The Irredeemable Ant-Man #1: Marvel - Billed as "The World's Most
Unlikeable Super Hero" on the cover.  I dunno about that...he's clearly
evidence that SHIELD hires fratboys, but I've seen more unlikeable heroes.
The pacing is scattered and feels like it's trying to be a sitcom, but I
watch so little prime time comedy these days it's hard to tell.  It has some
good bits, and shows promise, but didn't immediately grab me.  Mildly
recommended.  $2.99/$3.75Cn
     Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #13: Marvel - Resolution of the
Mysterios (Mysteri-Os!  Part of an unbalanced breakfast!) arc, although it
felt more like a prelude by the end of it.  The Big Mystery raised about one
of the supporting cast is explicated this issue, pacing I approve of.  Sure,
the secret may not become known to Spidey himself for a while, but PAD
demonstrates that you don't have to string the reader along every single
time.  Recommended.  $2.99/$3.75Cn
     Beyond #4 (of 6): Marvel - Largely a big fight scene against the baddie
revealed in #3, followed by a different cliffhanger.  Some good character
bits, especially with Hank Pym.  Recommended.  $2.99/$3.75Cn
     Agents of Atlas #3 (of 6): Marvel - While there's a bit of plot
advancement regarding the Yellow Claw, the biggest chunk of this issue (in
impact, if not actual pagecount) is devoted to retconning Marvel Boy's
situation.  It doesn't cover ALL the bases (for instance, it doesn't
explicitly address the Blue Marvel issues in Quasar), but enough is laid out
to let readers fill in the gaps.  It's perhaps a bit overwrought in places,
trying to wedge 1950s pre-Marvel stories into continuity while preserving the
uses of the characters in the 70s and 80s, but I do appreciate the effort.
Recommended.  $2.99/$3.75Cn
     52 #22 (of 52): DC - Disappointing issue.  The Superchief bits are okay,
the Luthor-related parts are by the numbers and kinda dull, and the
previously interesting Doc Magnus story dithers into gray.  Neutral.
$2.50/$3.50Cn 
     Outsiders #41: DC - Aftermath, cleanup, and then some parallel structure
as everyone takes stock and looks forward to the impending storm.  Despite
the cover focusing on Grace, she only gets a few pages, and the only
revelation about her is that, well, she's a Winick character.  Nothing about
her mysterious background.  Some sparkles in the dialogue, though, which make
the fairly padded issue an amusing read, at least.  Recommended.
$2.99/$4.00Cn 
     Fallen Angel v2 #9: IDW - Picking up after a lot of stuff happened off
screen, we follow a chase scene and a bunch of "you should have known better"
dialogue.  Sachs & Violens have become regulars, it seems.  The painted art
by Woodward is intermittently unclear.  Mildly recommended.  $3.99.
     Transformers Stormbringer Cover Poster: IDW - At 18" by 24", this is
actually slightly smaller than just putting the real covers together.  While
that does make it easier for me to find a place to put it up, it's kinda
disappointing to pay half the cost of just getting a second set of issues for
a smallish poster.  Yeah, the dimensions were listed in the solicit, but I
guess the large Dreamwave-era posters (that adorn most of the walls of my
living room) spoiled me.  Mildly recommended.  $5.99


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 10/4:

     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, the Amelia Rules TPBs, Ninja High
School #142.  Add PS238 #18 (no surprise there) and Dr. Debunko: the Short
Stories.  Flare Adventures didn't come in, I just gave up and dropped the
title as I've been thinking of doing for a while.


Awards:

Best Book: None, although I suspect I might have had two if Diamond would
     just frelling ship the stuff I order.

"Hey, What's The New Ant-Man Doing On The Cover?" Award to Marvel Team-Up 
     #25

"Well, This Cover He Should Be On" Award to The Irredeemable Ant-Man #1

"The New Multi-Tasking Man" Award to Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #13

"What Has It Got In Its Pocketses?" Award to Beyond #4 (of 6)

"What About Bob?" Award to Agents of Atlas #3 (of 6)

"We're All Mad Here" Award to 52 #22 (of 52)

"A New Level Of Sucking" Award to Outsiders #41 (it's an in-story thing, not
     a value judgement)

"Something In The Ayr Tonight" Award to Fallen Angel v2 #9

   Dave Van Domelen, "You don't KNOW how many labs you have in your pocket?" - Kraven, to Pym, Beyond #4