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.
40F today.  Climatological whiplash, yay.  Rants, Capsules can be found on my 
             homepage, http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/Rants 

First Look Comments:

     Books I read over the weekend as First Looks, but didn't buy, so can't
really say much in detail about.

     Union Jack v2 #3: Marvel - I've actually been reading this every month
as a First Look, and still haven't found a reason to buy it.  The art is
okay, and the story well-defined for a miniseries (which ISTR it is), but
despite having several obscure characters I like, it just didn't grab me.
     What If: Spiderman - The Other: Marvel - My lack of enthusiams for The
Other crossover kept me from ordering this book, and reading it convinced me
I'd made the right choice.  It's got some interesting ideas, but the
execution felt flat.


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.

     Books of Note (Strongly Recommended or otherwise worthy): None.

     Invincible #36: Image - The problem with having a low-level plot on the
back burner while dealing with a cosmos-shaking one is that, well, when you
get back home from dealing with world-beating Viltrumites, it's kinda hard to
take the back burnered threat seriously.  Okay, there's a built-in source of
threat that's not just physical, but it felt like Kirkman was trying to hard
to make the physical threat important too.  I did like the obligatory "hero
team fights slightly silly menace" two page spread, though.  Mildly
recommended.  $2.99/$3.40Cn
     1602 Fantastick Four #3 (of 5): Marvel - As befits a third act, there is
much action and some small revelations.  Some more revealing than others.
Khoi Pham picks up some of the penciling, and while his art is more mundane
than Alixe's, it also lacks the aspects of that artist's work that I find not
to my taste.  Mildly recommended.  $3.50/$4.25Cn
     Squadron Supreme #7: Marvel - Running fight against Redstone, in which
the title's usual love of gory collateral damage is expressed.  Lovely Gary
Frank art, and a decent slugfest story, with at least one twist I wasn't
quite expecting.  Recommended.  $2.99/$3.75Cn
     Ms. Marvel #9: Marvel - Well, this one certainly took a sharp left
turn.  While Civil War-ness is still in evidence, this goes back to the
opening arc of the title and plays around with it some (and with nice
Wieringo art).  I'm a little worried that there's going to be a cop-out used
here to undo a few years' worth of character development to let Reed redo it
his way, though.  Tentatively recommended.  $2.99/$3.75Cn
     Cable & Deadpool #34: Marvel - I think Nicieza may be going to a
particular plot well a little too often here.  I don't want to give away any
details, but there have to be other ways to show how clever and three-steps-
ahead-of-everyone Cable is.  Mildly recommended.  $2.99/$3.75Cn
     Thunderbolts #108: Marvel - Penultimate issue (that I plan to get).
Everything explodes a lot, the Civil War factions get scolded, and somebody
had better not be getting the Phoenix Force next issue.  :)  Recommended.
$2.99/$3.75Cn 
     Marvel Adventures Avengers #7: Marvel - Bedard on writing again.  The
"villain origins" theme continues, with aspects of the villain of the month
simplified out of the way but most of the basics kept.  Gallant's Marvel
House Style art does a good job of telling the story, although she (or he,
"Shannon" can go either way these days) has trouble with the villain's
costume at times.  Recommended.  $2.99/$3.75Cn
     52 #28 (of 52): DC - Back to the Batwoman thread, plus the Emerald Eye
(which is either a major retcon now or they meant it to be revealed as a
green herring but didn't make it as clear as I'd like) and some more on Red
Tornado.  So-so issue.   Mildly recommended.  $2.50/$3.50Cn
     Aquaman Sword of Atlantis #45: DC - Well, many cards are laid the rest
of the way onto the table.  But the story gets a little TOO talky, and
Guice's recent style has yet to grow on me.  Mildly recommended.
$2.99/$4.00Cn 
     Shadowpact #7: DC - Derenick picks up the art chores for this issue, and
either didn't have reference for the hellhounds of #6, or Just Didn't Care,
because I was momentarily thrown by the change in appearance.  Willingham's
story is a bit scattered, but all the pieces are good, and it looks like
they'll be tightening up soon enough.  Recommended.
     Astro City Dark Age Book 2 #1 (of 4): DC/Wildstorm - One thing about
nostalgia stories is that they're frequently stories about the present,
merely clothed in the trappings of the past.  And that's definitely how this
issue feels to me.  Sure, the mid 70s saw a certain darkening of superhero
stories, if only as a reaction to the camp of the late 60s, but this feels a
lot more like the more recent past, with heroes taking the harsher road and
writers acting like fun is a dirty word.  A promising start to the sub-arc.
Recommended.  $2.99/$4.00Cn


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 11/15:

     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 and 5, Elric #4, the
Transformers Beast Wars poster, Fred Perry's S-Guild #1, the Amelia Rules
TPBs, Ninja High School #142, Dr. Debunko: the Short Stories, Transformers
Spotlight: Nightbeat.  Add TF Spotlight: Hot Rod, Monkeybug Madness
(although, to be fair, that one was the store's fault for not ordering in the
first place).


Awards:

"So, What Does The Student Handbook Say About THIS?" Award to Invincible #36

"Stop The World, I Wanna Fall Off" Award to 1602 Fantastick Four #3 (of 5)

"You Know How To Whistle, Don't You?  Just Put Your Lips Together And Blow
     Up" Award to Squadron Supreme #7

"eXiled" Award to Ms. Marvel #9

"How Modern?  Thoroughly" Award to Cable & Deadpool #34

"Tik tik tik tik tik tik" Award to Thunderbolts #108

"Loquacious" Award to Marvel Adventures Avengers #7

"You Have To Wonder If Even The Writers Know What '52' Means Yet" Award to
     52 #28 (of 52)

"Water On The Brain" Award to Aquaman Sword of Atlantis #45

"Damned Yankee" Award to Shadowpact #7

"Cloak And Danger" Award to Astro City Dark Ages Book Two #1 (of 4)

Dave Van Domelen, "SHUT UP!" "God knows I HAVE tried. Just ask him." - Domino and G.W. Bridge in unison, then Deadpool.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Date: 2006-11-16 02:40 am (UTC)

From:

lurkerwithout.livejournal.com

no subject

Actually I thought the new Astro City showed how SOME of the heroes were getting darker, making a nice follow-up to the first arc's Blue Knight. While Honor Guard & Starfighter are watching the birth of giant Kirby alien thingys and the Furst Family are touring alien universes and what not, you have the more "street" level heroes growing darker...

Date: 2006-11-16 03:08 am (UTC)

dvandom.livejournal.com

Well, yes, but those cases are mainly for contrast and background. The main story is all about the descent into darkness.

Date: 2006-11-16 04:37 am (UTC)

loki-liesmith.livejournal.com

Why the leaving of Thunderbolts? Is the title being cancelled or is there something coming up that you're not interested in? I pick it up monthly, but I've been staying away from comic forums for a good long while now, so I haven't heard of any direction change that may be coming.