Comics for Feb 28, First Looks March 7

[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.
Loud neighbors at 4AM can ruin your day.  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.  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.

     Books for next week - 

     Dynamo5 #1: Image - Cute background cameo from one of Faerber's
early Image books.  Anyway, I've seen the basic concept of this book many
times before: hero dies, powers are split up among several new heroes in some
fashion, and they carry on the fight (Power Pack, Villains & Vigilantes, for
instance).  But this is a new twist, and it does lead to some interestingly
messed up team dynamics.  It's set in the Image shared universe (Invincible
and the Savage Dragon have cameos) but in a Silver-Age-ish isolated corner.
There's a strong Superman homage involved, but not slavishly so.  Definitely
promising.  Recommended.  $3.50/$4.05Cn
     (Marvel's books failed to arrive on time, I may read some over the
weekend to add to next week's Capsules, if there's any that interest me but
not enough to buy.)

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): Firestorm #33

     1602 Fantastick Four #5 (of 5): Marvel - Hm.  Practically observers in a
book supposedly about them, the Four don't do a whole lot in this final
issue.  It's mostly the villains self-destructing, leaving the Four to
scramble for safety.  Not exactly the most satisfying of endings.  Mildly
recommended.  $3.50/$4.25Cn
     Wonder Man #3 (of 5): Marvel - It's very much a middle issue, with sme
nice turning points and switchbacks.  The new baddies introduced here are so
far forgettable, though.  And PAD couldn't resist making at least one Kelsey
Grammar ref....  Recommended.  $2.99/$3.75Cn
     X-Factor #16: Marvel - Two moral quandaries this issue, solved in rather
different ways, albeit both heroically.  Recommended.  $2.99/$3.75Cn  (And
yes, that's three Peter David Marvel books this week...plus Fallen Angel
below!) 
     Ninja High School #147: Antarctic Press - It's back to the uberplot, but
fairly gently, which is a good thing.  There's also a return of some old
recurring characters from so long ago I forgot about them entirely (an issue
reference box would've been nice).  Mildly recommended.  $2.99/$3.45Cn
     Transformers Escalation #4 (TF #14): IDW - Got cover B.  A fair amount
of cliffhanger cheating in the old movie serial style, but it works, if a bit
anticlimactically.  A good point is made about why previous issues have been
about small scale conflicts, without being rammed home too blatantly.
Namely, if you use a wide variety of disguising altmodes for tactical
flexibility, it also means that when you get too many of your forces together
at once the result is...odd.  The human B-plot is a bit on the padded side,
and the TF A-plot has a couple of idiot moments, but it's generally good.
There's also a short preview of the delayed TF movie prequel comic (which I
hear leaked out a few places, despite publisher requests that the misprinted
few that did ship not be sold).  Recommended.  $3.99
     Fallen Angel v2 #13: IDW - The Jude vs. Asia plot is resolved, after a
fashion, and Malachi steals the scene despite only being in a handful of
panels.  A little on the overwrought side at times, but recommended.  $3.99
     52 #43 (of 52): DC - Animal Man may be on the cover, but this is really
a Black Adam Family issue.  And, of course, since I like 'em, they get
royally hosed.  Mind you, just about everyone featured in 52 and not
appearing in OYL books is likely to meet horrible fates.  :/  There's also
two pages that made no sense to me because they involved a quaternary villain
and no dialogue or explanation (I think it's related to the fact that said
villain died a while back but DID appear OYL).  Yeah, I'm spoilering all over
the place here, but frankly, I'm not caring so much anymore.  Even the one
definitely cool thing in the issue doesn't redeem it.  Neutral.
$2.50/$2.99Cn 
     The Brave and the Bold #1: DC - I forgot I'd ordered this, and it looks
like this month's pull adds didn't get added to the pull lists (they were
ordered, but then my list wasn't given to the person who puts the pulls
together, guess I get to print out two copies from now on).  Anyway, a
perhaps over-clever locked room murder (of sorts) brings Batman and Hal
Jordan together in a story written by Waid and drawn by Perez and Wiacek.  I
generally don't buy books purely for the art, but this is one of those times,
as Waid has recently used up a lot of the slack I normally cut him.  Mildly
recommended, mainly for the art and some of the patter.  $2.99/$3.65Cn
     Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #27: DC - Well, last issue's
anticlimax might have been less anticlimactic if Brainy had added a single
speech bubble explaining what the red mist was, because it's definitely a
credible threat.  It does, however, whipsaw the core metaphor of the series
onto a different (if adequately foreshadowed) track.  Unfortunately, it also
ties into the year-long tease of "Fiffffde-tu", which ties into that slack I
mentioned Waid's been using up.  There's slow buildup, and then there's
flatlined mysteries.  It does end with a nice Cockrum eulogy, though.  I'm
guessing that artist Andrasofszky has some fannish tie-in, because the skill
level shown is pretty journeyman...if there isn't a good sentimental reason
for the choice, it makes the tribute fall a little flat.  Mildly
recommended.  $2.99/$3.65Cn  
     Firestorm #33: DC - McDuffie comes on the title this issue, so I
followed.  :)  My only real complaint is that the character Gehenna isn't
sufficiently introduced (heck, the first time her name is used, I thought
Jason had picked up some weird cursing), otherwise it works well for a new
reader like me.  Strongly recommended.  $2.99/$3.65Cn
     Blue Beetle #12: DC - A bit more sedate of an issue, it finally gets to
the point about the origin of the Scarab, but just doesn't sparkle like some
of the previous issues.  Recommended.  $2.99/$3.65Cn
     The Devil's Panties #10: Silent Devil - Wow, two in two weeks!  Not as
bwahaha as #9, but still very good.  Recommended.  $4.95
     

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 2/28:

     Still missing Gold Digger Tangent #2, Fred Perry's S-Guild #1,
Dr. Debunko: the Short Stories, Roy Thomas's Anthem #4, Devil's Panties #7,
#8 (Diamond cancelled the reorder on Devil's Panties #7), Thunderbolts
Presents: Zemo Born Better #1.


Awards:

"Not So Much A Trident As A Petard" Award to 1602 Fantastick Four #5 (of 5)

"An Executioner Of Peers" Award to Wonder Man #3 (of 5)

"There's More Than One Way To Be Whole" Award to X-Factor v2 #16

"Masters And Mistresses" Award to Ninja High School #147

"Fort Wayne?  Surely A Coincidence" Award to Transformers Escalation #4

"A Jury Of His Seers" Award to Fallen Angel v2 #13

"How Cheerfully He Seems To Grin" Award to 52 #43 (of 52)

"I Demand Walking Money" Award to The Brave and the Bold #1

"AI-Complete Apocalypse" Award to Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes
     #27

"The Escape's Less Impressive Than The Fact He Halved Gravity" Award to 
     Firestorm #33

"Allez Cui...WTF?" Award to Devil's Panties #10

   Dave Van Domelen, "Is he going to HIT us with that?" "YOU maybe. I'm an escape artist." - Firestorm and Mister Miracle, Firestorm #33