Comics for December 28, 2006

[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.
Reminder, Thursday comics next week.  Rants, Capsules can be found on my 
             homepage, http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/Rants 

     You can definitely tell it's the last week of the month, what with all
the Antarctic books hitting at once.  :)

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.

     The Immortal Iron Fist #2: Marvel - Two writers and four artists, but
the use of flashbacks and the like keep it from being an incoherent mess.
Decent story.  $2.99/$3.75Cn
     Annihilation #5 (of 6): Marvel - Well, things are certainly happening in
big ways.  And the Spaceknights have a cameo, too.  $2.99/$3.75Cn


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): Blue Beetle
#10, 

     Fallen Angel v2 #11: IDW - A new arc begins that might borrow some style
from other IDW books.  :)  Also, Sachs & Violens look to be here to stay.
Woodward seems to be shifting to more of a traditional pencil/ink/color look
this issue, with less of a painted feel.  Recommended.  $3.99
     Avengers Earth's Mightiest Heroes II #4 (of 8): Marvel - Goofed and
missed this last week.  Speaking of goofs, looks like there's a magenta-cyan
swap error in the cover coloring.  While there's some ongoing subplots
advanced here, this issue is mainly about Hank Pym and presumably
foreshadowing his Yellowjacket breakdown.  It's an okay story, but nothing
really impressed me.  Mildly recommended.  $3.99/$4.75Cn
     1602 Fantastick Four #4 (of 5): Marvel - While there's a suitably
impressive resolution to the cliffhanger (waterfallhanger?) of #3, most of
this issue is about romantic entanglements...unsurprising given who shows up
at the bottom of the world's edge.  :)  The comic relief gets pushed a little
too hard in places, but otherwise a good issue.  Recommended.  $3.50/$4.25Cn
     All New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #12 (of 12): Marvel
- Ultragirl to Arnim Zola (Zzzax got an entry in the Hulk 2004 book, and the
Most Wanted Files).  The Wizard gets an entire page for his accessories,
heh.  And boy, is it made clear how much Union Jack has been jerked around
over the years...no one seems to be able to make any one concept stick for
very long on him.  Recommended.  $3.99/$4.75Cn
     52 #34 (of 52): DC - Well, when antiheroes fight, it does tend to get
bloody.  I'm afraid the AR Legion fans won't get any answers this issue,
though.  Looks like they're getting ready to bring the Everyman plot to a
head, though.   Mildly recommended.  $2.50/$3.50Cn
     Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #25: DC - Well, that's
certainly an interesting way to bring some classic stuff back without just
copying it.  And Brainy is in fine form.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.00Cn 
     Blue Beetle #10: DC - It's fun to see the "doesn't know everything, but
can find out quite a bit if they dig" side of the DCU here.  Jaime's support
crew are connected enough to move the plot along, without being uber plugged
in like Oracle, which can help when the readers aren't expected to have an
encyclopedic knowledge of continuity...but that continuity is an important
part of the story.  :)  Strongly recommended.  $2.99/$4.00Cn
     Gold Digger v3 #80: Antarctic Press - Heh, the cover was previewed in
the GD calendar.  In one of the various sourcebooks, Perry said that he
didn't plan to bring Brittany back until the endgame, because by the time she
came back, she'd be REALLY powerful...not someone you just have hang out.
This issue is all about getting a preview of what she's become.  As sometimes
happens when Perry gets all over the top with effects, it can be a bit hard
to follow at times, but it's generally nifty and shows off what he can do
with his mix of hand-drawn and computer-generated work.  Recommended.
$2.99/$4.05Cn
     Mischief & Mayhem Winter Fun Special #1: Antarctic Press - Wordless and
somewhat senseless, this is a pretty quick read.  High concept: the title
moppets find that Santa has died, and set out to remedy this, with
predictably horrifying results.  Fluff, but fun.  Has two covers and looks
like a flipbook, but it's not.  Recommended.  $2.95/$4.05Cn 
     DinoWars #1: Antarctic Press - Ah, this is where Espinosa has been.  :)
Despite the seemingly goofy nature of the setup, this is definitely
Espinosa's attempt at fairly "hard" milSF in the vein of Ringo's Aldenata
books or other such Baen offerings.  He also brings his talent for panoramic
spectacle to the story, and a definite flavor of 1950s horror (although the
story is set in a near future), including the ominous unveiling of the threat
while humanity waits and wonders.  While nothing is revealed clearly yet, I'm
guessing that one premise of this title is "What if the dinosaurs didn't so
much go extinct...as leave?"  Recommended, but promising enough to be a Book
of Note.  $3.50/$4.75Cn  
     The Official Handbook of the Gold Digger Universe #1: Antarctic Press -
Takes the "Universe" from the old OHOTMUDE as did the OHOTInvincibleU book,
but doesn't go for the homage inside.  Instead, it's got a strong RPG
handbook feel to it, with a stat system that appears to be influenced by the
Palladium system (including "Mega" points that are really 100 per point
rather than 1000000 per point).  Oh...and this issue covers the letter A.
Not A-M or A-F or even A-B.  Just A.  Something tells me this will be a long
series.  :)  Even if A is an overrepresented letter (heck, "Array" alone
takes four pages to cover).  Recommended.  $3.95/$4.70Cn


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 12/28:

     Still missing Gold Digger Tangent #2, Fred Perry's S-Guild #1,
Dr. Debunko: the Short Stories, Transformers Timelines Featuring Beast Wars
#1, Fallen Angel #8, Devil's Panties #7.  Add Captain America and the Falcon:
Nomad TPB and eXiles #89 (the first may have been mis-ordered, but the second
was definitely Diamond's fault).


Awards:

"I Think Freud Just Exploded" Award to Fallen Angel v2 #11

"Am I Blue" Award to Avengers Earth's Mightiest Heroes II #4 (of 8)

"Behind Every Great Man Is A Woman, Feeding Him Lines" Award to 1602:
     Fantastick Four #4 (of 5)

"Yum, Bite-Sized X-Men!" Award to All-New OHOTMU A-Z #12 (of 12)

"What Would Captain Atom Say?" Award to 52 #34 (of 52)

"Let's You And Him Fight" Award to Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes
     #25

"If You Meet Buddha On The Road, Eat Him" Award to Blue Beetle #10

"Three-Hole Punch" Award to Gold Digger v3 #80

"Where's Bun-Bun When You Need Him?" Award to Mischief & Mayhem Winter Fun
     Special #1

"One Giant Leap For....AIIIIIEEEE!" Award to DinoWars #1

"If Alfred Peachbody is under A Instead of P, Why Isn't Achmed bin Akbar
     Ahead Of Agency Zero?" Award to The Official Handbook of the Gold
     Digger Universe #1

   Dave Van Domelen, "I will KILL you for this." "Oh, I think *this* will attend to *that*." - Doom and Wizard at the edge of the sea, 1602: Fantastick Four #4