Comics for December 13

[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.
Just found I have a cavity under a crown.  Rants, Capsules can be found on my 
             homepage, http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/Rants 

     Hm.  It's been exactly two months since I was diagnosed with diabetes.
Feels like a lot longer.

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.  DC has stopped having First Looks, so it's
just Marvel and Image...and there's word that Diamond doesn't want to bother
with the program at all anymore.

     Nothing this week, either.

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): X-Factor v2
#14, PS238 #19

     Elric: the Making of a Sorceror #4 (of 4): DC - Por FIN.  And, sadly,
this really wasn't worth the wait.  Oh, it was okay, and certainly better
than the almost summary-like style of some earlier issues, but...ehn.  Mildly
recommended.  $5.99/$8.00Cn
     52 #32 (of 52): DC - A bit scattered, but in a good way.  By that, I
mean that this title often doesn't feel like one weekly book but rather a
bunch of monthly books that share a masthead.  But with bits of the space
plot, the Teen Titans plot and the Everyman plot mixing in with the main
action around Ralph, it did feel like a weekly book.  And there's some
foreshadowing for the World War Three that no one has been talking about in
any Ony Year Later book until last week.  :/  Yes, I'm still annoyed about
that.  Recommended.  $2.50/$3.50Cn
     Green Arrow #69: DC - Back to the present, some good interplay between
GA and his special guest.  A bit decompressed, but a fun read.  Recommended
despite the art.  $2.99/$4.00Cn
     Gen13 v4 #3: DC/Wildstorm - I got the Adam Warren variant cover.  The
elements of the series that annoyed me in the first two issues are still
there, but a little toned down.  And Simone otherwise does a good job on the
writing.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.00Cn
     Akiko: Pieces of Gax MMHC: Delacorte Press - This is the second "Teen
Akiko" novel, and the ninth overall.  Although, if you want to be Beeba-like
about it, it's probably a novella, or a novelette, being 209 pages with
larger type (14 point Hoefler New Roman) and occasional illustrations.  Under
30,000 words, to be certain, well short of even the lax standards of
NaNoWriMo.  And now Spuckler informs me I should shut up about that sort of
thing and get to the meat of the story before he finds a new place for his
pegleg.  The plot is pretty straightforward: Gax ends up in pieces, and
everyone needs to go retrieve those pieces and put Gax back together.  But
the new owners of the pieces pose ever-escalating threats.  Oddly, though,
despite being just as large a piece (novel or whatnot) as The Training
Master, it felt a lot shorter.  Perhaps it was the somewhat lighter nature of
the plot.  Oh, and while Spuckler is distracted for a moment, I'll point out
that there is a continuity glitch that Crilley admitted to online some time
back: Akiko has been to Gollarondo before, in the comics, but this story has
her visiting it for the first time.  Personally, I think it would have been
funny to have Beeba doing all the exposition the same, as if Akiko had never
been there before, despite her occasional protest that she'd seen the place
back during the Bornstone Elixir adventure, but ah well.  Also, more's the
pity, the Akiko comic initially planned for the hardcover as a backup
(according to Crilley in a post to the Yahoo board back in September) didn't
happen.  Anyway, enough Beebing.  A worthwhile read, although you may need to
work a bit in tracking it down (bookstores around here have sadly stopped
stocking Akiko books on the shelves).  Recommended.  $9.95/$12.95Cn
     Gargoyles #2: Slave Labor Graphics - Well, better late than never.  And
unlike some late books, it was generally worth the wait.  This finishes the
adaptation of the first episode of the Goliath Chronicles, and lays some
groundwork for the divergence that will start next issue.  I found the art a
bit needlessly confusing in places, but otherwise felt it kept to the spirit
of the cartoon without being slavish cel-copying.  Recommended.  $3.50
     Transformers the Animated Movie #3 (of 4): IDW - Goes from the
underwater sequence on Quintesson to the revival of Ultra Magnus on Junk.  22
pages of story (with page numbers), 10 pages of house ads.  The compression
effects aren't so bad this time around, although there's a LOT of action
sequences in this part of the movie, and those tend to be easier to shorten
in the name of space.  Recommended.  $3.99
     Essential Luke Cage, Power Man vol 2: Marvel - Covers Power Man #28-49
and Annual #1, overlapping Essential Iron Fist v1 a little (it has Power Man
#48-50), and wrapping up the pre-PM/IF stories.  Most of the stories in this
volume are written by Don McGregor, Marv Wolfman and a few at the end by
Chris Claremont (plus the Annual), with Bill Mantlo penning one story
entirely and doing scripting over Wolfman on several issues.  Plus McGregor
scripting over Mantlo, and a few others scripting over Wolfman.  One gets the
feeling that a lot of deadlines got blown on this book (in fact, the Mantlo
solo story was an inventory piece, and #36 was left out of this volume
because it was a pure reprint of #12).  Oddly, Mike Zeck is credited on the
cover, but nowhere inside that I could find.  The McGregor stories stand out,
but not for good reasons.  The prose is so purple that you expect Zeb
Killgrave to be ghostwriting it.  Very overwrought stuff, and I was glad to
be out of it and into the Wolfman section.  Even after McGregor's stint,
though, the sociopolitical stuff was very much present, occasionally
painfully "relevant".  Artistically, it's all over the place, with very few
runs of more than three issues by a single artist (Bob Brown, worst of the
lot, also had the longest run).  It swings from a very gritty style to Marvel
Hosue Style to bad Kirby imitation and back pretty frequently, with some
pretty extreme racial caricatures showing up in the mix.  I was amused by how
strong Frank Robbins's stamp was on his issues, though...I kept expecting
Nova to show up.  Anyway, both in writing and art, it's very much a product
of its time.  The Bullpen system of comic creation is strongly in evidence,
as well as the 70s "relevance" movement.  Thematically it tends to wander,
even moreso than volume 1 (which transitioned from superhero-tinged
blaxploitation to blaxploitation-tinged superhero), searching for an
identity.  In today's market, I doubt it'd have gotten past #6, much less to
#50.  But I'm glad it didn't have to compete in today's market, because there
was some fun stuff in among all the wandering.  Recommended.  $16.99/$27.25Cn 
     Bullet Points #2 (of 5): Marvel - Mostly Peter Parker this issue,
although there's some time spent with both Steve Rogers and Reed Richards,
suggesting where they'll be going in this alternate non-history.  Felt a bit
padded, however, which makes me worry that this is really a 4 issue story
being stretched out to 5 issues.  Mildly recommended.  $2.99/$3.75Cn
     eXiles Annual #1: Marvel - Ah, the sort of thing Annuals used to be
before the event-driven 80s turned them all into crossovers and finally
killed 'em for a while.  This is a nice done-in-one story that's reasonably
accessible to new readers (although some of the exposition is a tad clunky)
but has plenty for long-time readers.  Unfortunately, it has a multiple
artist team, and the weakest of the lot gets to draw the climax, which
weakens it.  Still, recommended.  $3.99/$4.75Cn
     Wonder Man #1 (of 5): Marvel - "My Fair Super Hero" is the title on the
cover, ironic in light of one of the arguments inside the actual story.
Peter David is in fine form here, restrained just enough that his humor
doesn't go into unfunny territory.  Andrew Currie's art is...distinctive.
Reminds me in some ways of Richard Corben.  It's ugly in bad ways sometimes,
but in good ways other times.  Storywise, I have to wonder if PAD's returning
to some of the ideas he had with Crazy Eight back in Hulk.  In any case, the
underlying theme is that of destiny...whether people can change.  Definitely
familiar ground for Mr. David.  Recommended.  $2.99/$3.75Cn
     X-Factor v2 #14: Marvel - Another "quiet" issue for the most part,
dealing with fallout and so forth.  And it's a great one in that role.  Also,
be sure to read the "what has gone before" page at the start.  Strongly
recommended.  $2.99/$3.75Cn
     Dork Tower #35: Dork Storm - We interrupt the many cliffhangers in the
ongoing plots to bring you (well, us) the Dork Tower Holiday Special, Geeks
of the Magi!  Heh.  Nice twist ending.  The Lethargic Lad piece was a bit
cheesy, though, and the Dr. Blink two-pager's twist was as easy to see
through as black ice.  Recommended.  $3.49
     PS238 #19: Dork Storm - Y'know, I just realized VonFogg's helmet is
supposed to look like a bowler hat.  Anyway, the teleporting bully arc is
resolved (for now, but with an ongoing subplot getting some more grist), and
Moonshadow gets his chance to shine.  Plus, short backups with Doc Positron,
Full Frontal Nerdity and Nodwick.  Strongly recommended.  $2.99

     Note: the stack of materials reviewed above comes to 7.0cm high.

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 12/13:

     Still missing Gold Digger Tangent #2, Fred Perry's S-Guild #1,
Dr. Debunko: the Short Stories, Transformers Timelines Featuring Beast Wars
#1.  Add Fallen Angel #11.  I got the BW poster, but won't be reviewing it.
     Diamond has cancelled the orders for Devil's Panties #3 and #5, as well
as for Stinz Tribals.  So, looks like I won't be getting those at my comic
shop.  I went ahead and ordered the Devil's Panties issues at Silent Devil's
webpage...more expensive than going through my store, but at least this way I
can GET 'em.


Awards:

"You Rule, I'm Bitter" Award to Elric: Making of a Sorceror #4 (of 4)

"What's Chinese For 'Puny Banner'?" Award to 52 #32 (of 52)

"Truce Is Over, Apparently" Award to Green Arrow #69

"Gonna Make Some Nephilim" Award to Gen13 v4 #3

"Arrr, Freebooters!" Award to Akiko: Pieces of Gax

"Not Wise Indeed" Award to Gargoyles #2

"Bah-Weep-Graaagnah Wheep Ni-Ni Bong!" Award to Transformers the Animated 
     Movie #3 (of 4)

"Cut To The Chase" Award to Essential Luke Cage, Power Man vol 2

"Steve Rogers, Steve Austin, Whatever" Award to Bullet Points #2 (of 5)

"Sore Loser" Award to eXiles Annual #1

"One Word, No Hyphen, It's Trademarked" Award to Wonder Man #1 (of 5)

"Does Monet Shop At Go-Girly.com?" Award to X-Factor v2 #14

"Do Reindeer Games Have House Rules?" Award to Dork Tower #35

"But Does He Drink YooHoo?" Award to PS238 #19

   Dave Van Domelen, "No big deal. It ain't like I'm *sleeping* with him...anymore." "PPPBBBBBBBBBBTTTTHHHHHHHHH!" - Rictor and Madrox, X-Factor v2 #14

Huh, they changed the format of the posting window.

Comments

[querldox.livejournal.com]

Von Fogg has a bowler hat because he's named after and mildly inspired by Victor Foglio, Phil and Kaja's son...and since they do occasionally show Von Fogg the father, who of course looks a lot like Phil and since Phil's self-drawn comic avatar in Phil 'n Dixie and elsewhere wears a bowler, well....

World War III bothers me less because it hasn't been mentioned prior to last week, but because it just strikes me as the wrong name for whatever it is. Call it 52-Crisis-Pickup, The Superhero War, whatever, but use a name that'd be used in the comics but not real life...and particularly because what its real life resonances imply. Namely involvement of most countries on Earth and very serious devistation/loss of life/property discussion. None of which we've seen any sign of in the One Year Later books. Also something that people would mention/study for decades to come, and which is only going to confuse future readers (or, more likely, it's not going to be namechecked again after 52 #52 except perhaps in Legion).

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

Well, I suppose what they're building to with WWIII is a purely superhuman international conflict. A proxy war of sorts. Khandaq vs. the new Chinese team vs. JSA, etc.

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

Not to mention -- Superboy-punching-related retcons aside, hasn't WWIII (or similarly sizable conflict) come already in DCU continuity? At least once in Grant Morrison's JLA. It may be many things, but "World War III" has specific connotations like you described, and obviously none of those came to pass. It's sloppy nomenclature, and I expect it to be swiftly ignored....

(Though I like "52-Crisis-Pickup," especially because it encapsulates the scattershot nature of the entire mess....)

[lurkerwithout.livejournal.com]

The grand finale to the Morrison JLA run was called WWIII...

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

And this is why I miss captions. A simple "* As seen in JLA #blah" or "* Confused? Keep reading 52!" caption would have helped a LOT. But NOOOOOO, the powers that be at DC and Marvel are ashamed of the trappings of their own medium.

[redneckgaijin.livejournal.com]

Huh, they changed the format of the posting window.

{marvin}Yes, hateful isn't it?{/marvin}

[andrusi.livejournal.com]

I noticed that too. It just doesn't look right anymore.

[funct.livejournal.com]

No "Spirit"?

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

If this had been a slow week, I might have tried it. But I'm not really a big Spirit fan, and the writer attached to the title wasn't anyone I was familiar with, so no draw there either.

[funct.livejournal.com]

Not anyone you're familiar with? I'm surprised you could buy as many comics as you do and have no idea who the Eisner award winning writer and artist on New Frontier was. . .

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

New Frontier is one of those books I avoided because of overly aggressive "YOU MUST READ THIS" fannishness, actually.