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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.
Looks like no post-season for K-State. 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. If I don't give it a recommendation, I'm probably not
buying it.
X-Force #4: Marvel - Still pretty much an excuse for Liefeld to draw the
characters he created. This issue has people mostly standing around and
talking or fighting at intervals without too much sense in the transitions.
At least I didn't see any howlingly bad art this time, and Nicieza gets in a
good zinger from one character. No, I am not buying this. $2.99/$4.25Cn
Pulse #6: Marvel - I dropped this to avoid the crossover stuff, and it
looks like I was correct in my judgement. Oh, you can follow what goes on
without reading Secret War (something I have not done myself), but the heart
isn't there. Characters act abnormally for reasons one presumes have to do
with Secret War, but it's not really explained here. And, shockingly, Brent
Anderson turns in art that I don't consider to be very good. The coloring
hurts it a lot, mind you. $2.99/$4.25Cn
Spider-Man India #1: Marvel - I picked this up from the First Looks pile
for the same reason I grabbed X-Force...expecting a train wreck. However,
aside from the name mapping being a little too cute, this was a pretty good
comic. The core of the Spider-Man story is transferred pretty well to the
Mumbai (formerly Bombay) streets. One nitpick, though...I'm a bit spotty on
karma vs dharma, but when the new Spider-Man is told he's fulfilling his
karma, shouldn't that be dharma (duty)? Recommended. $2.99/$4.25Cn
Captain America v5 #1: Marvel - No volume number is listed in the comic,
but Midtown's list says v5, so I'll go with that. The art is dark and murky
on purpose, setting a dark and murky mood. While I liked some of the
character bits Brubaker puts in, and the plot looks to be suitably cosmic in
nature, the issue-ending shocker put me WAY off this book. I hadn't
pre-ordered this title, and I'm not going to be putting it on my pull (unless
it turns around and I read First Looks that show this). $2.99/$4.25Cn
Fantastic Four #520: Marvel - Whoa. A lot of good scenes, some
excellent "a mile in your shoes" scenes, and an extra freaky Page 20
Shocker. Strongly recommended. $2.99/$4.25Cn
She-Hulk #9: Marvel - Pelletier is back on the art, and Slott is back on
the top of his game. Strongly recommended. Nuff said. $2.99/$4.25Cn
Space Ghost #1: DC - While a lot more graphic than anything you'd have
seen in the original Space Ghost cartoon, this really does feel like it could
have been the origin of the "real" Space Ghost. A definite Lone Ranger in
Space feel without being a total cut and paste of the Lone Ranger. Joe
Kelly's got my interest. Recommended. $2.95/$4.50Cn
JLA #108: DC - Heh. There was a complaint about #107 that is answered
here in spades and in irony, I like. It's a pretty good issue overall, and
sets up the characters involved well enough that those of us who have never
read their previous appearances aren't left out. Recommended. $2.25/$3.50Cn
JSA Strange Adventures #4 (of 6): DC - The two plot streams of this
series finally merge all the way. This is good, because the other main plot
event of the issue was not only spoilered by the cover, but also telegraphed
several pages before it happened. Generally a good read. Recommended.
$3.50/$5.25Cn
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.
According to Midtown Comics, I should be getting: Conan #10, JLA #108,
JSA Strange Adventures #4, Space Ghost #1, Teen Titans #18, Fantastic Four
#520, Madrox #3, She-Hulk #9, Spider-Man India #1, Bosom Enemies: Bridgework,
Gold Digger #57, Ninja High School #121, Quagmire USA #5, Transformers
Energon #29, Hardy Boys #1, Flare #2. Dayam. Glad I have that 20% discount
at the store.
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!)
Savage Henry Puppet Trap didn't show up, but I'm not sure I even ordered
it. Same deal on Gold Digger Perfect Memory #4 and the Little Endless
Storybook. Still waiting on Blue Monday and Amelia Rules.
Updates pending.
Awards:
Best Book: Pending, She-Hulk and FF are strong contenders.
Dave Van Domelen, "I'm getting dizzy just looking at you." "I don't believe that for a second. You wouldn't get dizzy standing on a moving helicopter blade." "But only YOU would actually try to do that." - Sharon Carter and Cap, Captain America v5 #1
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