Comics for September 15

[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.
14,000 ppb ragweed REALLY bites.  Rants, Capsules can be found on my 
             homepage, http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/Rants 

First Looks:
     Every so often, I will take my PDA and its folding keyboard down to the
comic shop on the weekend and type up reviews of the stuff I read out of the
First Looks pile.  Books I end up buying will be moved down to the Capsules
section on Wednesdays.

     Iron Man v3 #58: Marvel - Okay, after a few issues of sucking, it
doesn't suck this issue.  But that's not enough for me to want to actually
pay for it.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     X-Men #161: Marvel - Okay, it's Austen at his most Austenny.  Bad
pacing, tin-ear dialogue, pacing that really bites.  On the other hand, the
Brotherhood of Evil Mutants isn't totally desecrated this issue, which I
suppose is a small saving grace.  Not that I'd pay money for it.
$2.25/$3.25Cn 
     New X-Men: Academy X #5: Marvel - It's a decent issue (although it's a
shame the cover has so little to do with the contents), but this series still
hasn't risen to the level where I'd be willing to start buying it.  Nor does
it have a hook that really grabs me in spite of low quality.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Batman Strikes #1: DC - This is the companion book to the new Batman
cartoon (which, as of the time I type this, I have not yet watched my tape
of).  And it's hopelessly mediocre.  Matheny turns in a story that has a lot
of bits that make no sense (perhaps assuming the reader has seen many
episodes of the cartoon), and the art by Christopher Jones follows the model
sheets but doesn't really inspire.  Not going to pick up this series until
and unless someone with a good track record takes over.  $2.25/$3.50Cn
     Terra Obscura v2 #2 (of 6): DC/Wildstorm - An okay story, but it feels
like a cross between the buildup it clearly intends to be and, well, just
killing time (pun intended).  The final page shocker felt more like a subplot
taking over.  Not picking this up.  $2.95/$4.50Cn

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.

     JSA Strange Adventures #2 (of 6): DC - The Gernsback/Williamson plot
interlaces nicely with the Lord Dynamo plot.  And there's JSUT enough doubt
sown in the reader's mind about Lord Dynamo.  Okay, sure, he's clearly the
antagonist, and he has some pretty unpleasant trappings.  On the other hand,
he might not have evil motives.  Granted, the JSA tends to go better with
more black and white situations IMO, but it works here.  Recommended.  $3.50/
$5.25Cn 
     Fantastic Four #518: Marvel - A good story, nice Big Cosmic sort of
thing that the FF fits well in.  The antagonists of the tale duplicate the
"schtick" of a pre-existing group, but it's not too surprising that there's
multiple groups with similar backgrounds and drives.  Recommended.  $2.99/
$4.25Cn
     Madrox #1: Marvel Knights - It's something of a slow start, but a
promising one.  Peter David brings a new angle to Madrox, while also doing a
little repair work here and there on the supporting cast that he uses.
Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     PS238 #7: Dork Storm Press - Huh, this was't on the Diamond list or the
NCRL, strange.  Anyway, this issue breaks a bit with the usual light tone
(even moreso than the "ghost" issue) and looks into the history of the
comic's setting.  Zodon gets to snark here and there, but doesn't steal the
show.  The backup piece is probably ALREADY horribly dated, but good for a
few laughs.  Recommended.  $2.99
     Transformers Micromasters #3 (of 4): Dreamwave - The story was a bit
hard to follow visually, especially at first, but does seem to be coming
together.  Unfortunately, it seems to be coming together to a rushed
anticlimax.  Ruffolo's staging and posing is rather...uncomplementary to
storytelling.  Mildly recommended.  $2.95
     GIJoe vs. Transforemrs v2 #1 (of 3, I think): Devil's Due - I have to
wonder if this was originally planned as a 6 issue series, and is just being
put out two issues at a time (there's a natural cliffhanger break at page 20
out of the 40).  The structure is very classic "team book adventure", which
is to say that the plot device forces everyone to split up into four teams
and run around on a scavenger hunt (one issue setup, one issue per segment,
one issue wrapup...another reason I think this was planned as 6).  Jolley and
Su don't give us anything highly original or masterfully crafted, but it's
good nostalgia and competently told.  And I don't mind a merely "good" comic,
especially when attempts at greatness (i.e. TF vs. GIJoe v1) can fall so
hard.  Recommended.  $4.95  (Oh, and the art deco Wheeljack image on the back
cover is nifty.)
     Transformers Second Generation TPB: Titan Books - Well, the impressive
epics and classic tales have all been collected, apparently.  Now we're
getting the completist stuff.  Of course, as a completist, I'm not really
complaining.  :)  The main arc(s) this time out are set around #15-17 of the
U.S. series and focus on Buster Witwicky (including a clever little bit that
lets the UK series introduce the combiner teams many months ahead of when
they'd have reprinted the U.S. issues featuring them).  After that, we get
the 1986, 1987 and 1988 Christmas stories, followed by a one-issue
Powermaster Angstimus Prime story picking up thematically from the 1988
holiday tale.  For the most part, the art is ehhhn on these stories (even
Wildman is in a very rough and uneven stage here), although there's a couple
of good ones.  Oh, and Soundwave spits at Robot Master.  Don't ask me how the
oil gets out past tht faceplate.  Mildly recommended.  $19.95/#14.99UK

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!)

     Still no Transformers Poster Book. 

Awards:

Best Book: None this week.

"Oo-oh Say You Can See" Award to JSA Strange Adventures #2 (of 6)

"You'd Think They'd Want Reed Dead Too" Award to Fantastic Four #518

"His Irregular Regular Table" Award to Madrox #1 (and I almost typed Maalox,
     since there's and ad for it on right now)

"Flying's A Little Wobbly" Award to PS238 #7

"Going Gold" Award to Transformers Micromasters #3 (of 4)

"Wait...WHAT Grenade?" Award to GIJoe vs Transformers #1 (of probably 3)

"We're Leaving Here Witwicky, Not Witout" Award to Transformers Second
     Generation TPB

     Dave Van Domelen, "AAAUUGH!  It's HORRIBLE!  Make it INVISIBLE!  MAKE IT
*INVISIBLE*!"  "Then how is Ben supposed to hit it?"  "I was TALKING about
Ben."  "You little...naw, wait.  That WUZ a good one." - Johnny, Susan,
Johnny and Ben, FF #518

Comments

[scavgraphics.livejournal.com]

ahem... I saw a new TF Dark Ages book on the stands...and you didn't review it..so how do I know if it's worth getting...you've failed your TF consituents..tch tch tch.