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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.
Seattle was cold and damp, what a shock. Rants, Capsules can be found on my
homepage, http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/Rants
Annoyances of the day: it'd REALLY cold, and the mailman flubbed and
instead of delivering my week's mail today, thought it needed to be held
today too. So no mail until tomorrow, if I'm lucky...if not, nothing until
next Tuesday. I hope there weren't any terribly time-sensitive things in
there.
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.
None this week.
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): Cartoon
History of the Modern World vol 1, Agents of Atlas #6 (of 6).
Transformers Timelines Featuring Beast Wars #1: FP Comics - This is
basically the BotCon 06 comic with a new cover (and a nice Matt Moylan logo).
As one might expect from a story written around a bunch of convention
exclusive toys (the ones from 06, plus some upcoming exclusives), the story
is a bit on the iffy side. It has to wedge everyone into the story in a
single issue, not to mention provide two forms for Megatron (presumably to
match the bio entry at the end, which isn't the form used for his convention
toy). This leads to some pretty pointless scenes and plot choices that might
have made more sense if the story were free to evolve on its own without
having to shove all dozen or so characters into place and get them back to
"starting places" for Beast Wars. Oh, it looked nice enough, and had some
interesting ideas, but as a story it kinda fails. Don't bust your hump
trying to find this one (which I finally found in Seattle, Diamond doesn't
seem to want to ship it to my store). $4.95
Cartoon History of the Modern World part 1: Collins - Well, this would
have been Cartoon History of the Universe vol 4, but from what I hear there
was some trouble with switching publishers and the old publisher refusing to
let Gonick take the trademark with him, etc. This volume covers roughly
Columbus to the U.S. Constitution, with some backtracking for Mesoamerican
history fill-in, and is mostly focused on Europe and its dealings with the
rest of the world during that time (i.e. China under the Ming is barely
touched on). It has Gonick's usual wit and charm (and occasional minor
nudity), plus sources listed in the back for those who want to delve deeper.
Strongly recommended. $17.95/$22.95Cn
Captain America and the Falcon: Nomad TPB: Marvel - I do not exaggerate
when I say I waited over 25 years for this volume. When I was a kid, my
cousin lent me CAF #178, #179 and #184...bracketing the Nomad issues. He'd
lent #180-183 to a friend, who eventually claimed his mom threw them out
(although these days I suspect this was a lie to let the borrowed keep 'em in
perpetuity). Additionally, he'd never gotten #185-6, which resolved the
locked room mystery from #184 (or so I thought...they never DID explain
exactly how that particular locked room murder was pulled off). By the time
I found places where one could buy back issues, those comics were either
impossible to find, or more than I was willing (or able) to pay. Thus, I was
quite pleased when CAF #177-186 got reprinted in this volume. Less pleased
when Diamond didn't ship it the first time my store asked, though. But I
finally got it last week, and read it on the plane to Seattle. Was it worth
the wait? Dude, almost nothing would be. :) But I enjoyed it, despite the
uneven art and occasionally spotty writing. Recommended. $24.99/$40.00Cn
(in full color)
The Champions Classic vol 2 TPB: Marvel - The rest of the story.
Champions #12-17, Iron Man Annual #4, Avengers #163 (which was my first, and
for a long time only exposure to the team), Super-Villain Team-Up #14 and
Spectacular Spider-Man #17-18 (the last two there being the post-cancellation
wrap-up...back in the day, when Marvel cancelled a comic, they tended to tie
off any leftover plot threads in another book, like how Shogun Warriors and
Nova both got wrapped up in other titles). With the opening fight having
Stilt Man fending off the entire Champions team, it was pretty clear that
this was not a group that was exactly gelling. Even with the more cosmic
threat showing up later in the same issue and being dealt with, being unable
to beat Stilt Man is one of those things you just don't get over. :) The
fact that the team's most persistent and dangerous foe was the contractors
who built their HQ was also, perhaps, an ill omen. Like a group of
characters from the Champions RPG (which debuted hot on the heels of the
comic being cancelled), they were kinda randomly tossed together as if by
players who didn't get together to pool ideas before making up characters.
Still, Mantlo, Byrne and Shooter had some interesting ideas in the mix, and
it's fun to see that 70s Byrne art before he stylized himself sterile, as
well as George Tuska's old stuff. Mildly recommended, mainly for nostalgia
buffs. (And if you really just want to soak up the 70s Marvel, the
Essentials volumes from the period are a better value.) $19.99/$32.00Cn
Wonder Man #2 (of 5): Marvel - I'm starting to suspect things about the
framing sequence. :) And it's nicely topical for PAD to be able to tie this
issue into his blog entry of Jan 11 without being blatant about it....
Currie's art reminds me less of Corben this issue, but that may be a result
of the cast of characters this time out, with fewer people in general, and
mostly either superhuman, Chinese, or both. Recommended. $2.99/$3.75Cn
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #16: Marvel - The overt conflict
resolves a bit quickly, but that lets Peter David focus more on the
psychological conflict that he set up in the flashback scene last issue. And
it's clear that PAD has watched his share of MASH episodes. :)
Recommended. $2.99/$3.75Cn
Agents of Atlas #6 (of 6): Well, Parker wraps things up pretty
satisfyingly, while leaving open many avenues for future stories (sadly, I
hear sales haven't been good enough to guarantee such future stories).
Retcons abound, but of the "inscrutible motivations finally explained"
variety rather than the "blatant contradictions" variety. Definitely a
series to go back and pick up if you haven't already. Strongly recommended.
$2.99/$3.75Cn
52 #36 (of 52): DC - Inching along. The space plot seems to be hitting
a climax, and may have done something semi-permanent, but you never know.
The Question plotline goes in an obvious direction that it should have gone
ages ago. The Osiris plot gets a little time, and there's finally some plot
convergence between two of the more frustrating threads. Oh, and Adam Hughes
draws the two page Power Girl origin piece. Mildly recommended.
$2.50/$3.50Cn
Outsiders #44: DC - Ew, Dominator porn. This is a flashback issue to
the early days of the One Year, so no Wolverine Syndrome worries yet
regarding the guest on the cover. :) Winick seems to be taking some time to
go back and tidy up one of his more controversial plots. Mildly
recommended. $2.99/$4.00Cn
Green Arrow #70: DC - Okay, not a lot of plot, but this one is all about
the banter. Winick's got his A-banter going this time out, enough to make up
for McDaniels's art. Recommended. $2.99/$4.00Cn
Justice Society of America #2: DC - Starman has the cover, woot. The
whole legacies thing gets cranked way up this issue, and Johns does take it
in multiple directions rather than sticking to one path. Recommended.
$2.99/$4.00Cn
Welcome to Tranquility #2: DC/Wildstorm - Hm, a small hint that this may
be set in the main Wildstorm universe. Also, I think some Lea Hernandez
rubbed off on Gail Simone (or vice versa, or a common source, whatever).
Recommended. $2.99/$4.00Cn
Gen13 v4 #4: DC/Wildstorm - Yeehaw, it's Gail Simone week! :) There
are so many innuendo-laden comments I could make about the main thread this
issue, but I'll restrain myself. Grunge does finally come into his own,
though. 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 1/12:
Still missing Gold Digger Tangent #2, Fred Perry's S-Guild #1,
Dr. Debunko: the Short Stories, Fallen Angel #8, Devil's Panties #7, #8.
Awards:
"Okay, Not The Shadowy Figure I Was Expecting" Award to Transformers
Timelines Featuring Beast Wars #1
"Let Me Ask You For Something" Award to Cartoon History of the Modern
World Part 1
"She Certainly Bounced Back Quickly" Award to Captain America and the
Falcon: Nomad TPB
"The Bees From Brazil" Award to The Champions Classic v2 TPB
"The Ties That Bind" Award to Wonder Man #2 (of 5)
"Stroke of Genius" Award to Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #16
"Not A Scratch" Award to Agents of Atlas #6 (of 6)
"Untrustworthy Translator" Award to 52 #36 (of 52)
"Detritus Of An Old Crossover" Award to Outsiders #44
"Pineapple Does Not Belong On Pizza" Award to Green Arrow #70
"Cognitive Development Must Be Different In The Future" Award to Justice
Society of America #2
"Just Talkin' About His Shaft" Award to Welcome to Tranquility #2
"A Sporting Chance" Award to Gen12 v4 #4
Dave Van Domelen, "Why the hell do you wear a MASK underneath the HELMET?" "Long story. I did it once for dramatic effect, and then it just got to be a habit." - Brick and Red Hood, Green Arrow #70
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