Comics for November 24

[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.
Happy Thanksgiving and all that stuff.  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. 

     Amazing Spider-Man #514: Marvel - Okay, the Sins of the Past arc comes
to an end in this issue.  Some of the head-scratchers of previous issues are
explained in a somewhat talky segment.  Overall it's a decent read if you
ignore the continuity issues, but not enough to get me buying the title.
$2.25/$3.25Cn 

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.

     Tom Strong's Terrific Tales #12: DC/ABC - The opening story by Moore and
Bagge (yes, THAT Bagge) is funnier than it has a right to be, especially
given the excessive wink-and-nod element.  The Jonni Future piece is, well,
about what you might expect, although the art is by Chris Weston instead of
Art Adams (which means less nudity).  The final Young Tom Strong piece was
okay, if a bit hamhanded in places.  Recommended.  $2.95/$4.50Cn
     New Thunderbolts #2: Marvel - I could almost cut and paste my review of
#1 here, just leaving out the bit about sympathizing with Atlas (as that
subplot doesn't really come up this issue).  Good combat scenes and deepening
of various subplots.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Spider-Man & Wolverine MTU #2: Marvel - Not as fun as #1, I suppose
Kirkman shifted a little too hard into "serious plot" mode.  I was a bit
disappointed that the "big reveal" was so predictable, I'd been hoping for
some inventive twist on the cliffhanger shown in #1.  Several scenes
foreshadowing future issues were inserted kinda abruptly.  Still,
recommended.  $2.25/$3.25Cn 
     Supreme Power #13: Marvel MAX - A good issue.  Things happen, the basic
idea of a Squadron Supreme seems to be coming together despite interpersonal
problems, and we have a nice solid villain to hit (I'm not inherently against
all the intra-team stuff where the shades are extremely gray, but it's nice
to break that up occasionally with a clear blackheart to pummel).
Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Ultimate Fantastic Four #13: Marvel - Adam Kubert takes over the art,
and while it's clearly his own style, he doesn't give the reader a jarring
change, following Immonen's models pretty well.  Lots of great dialogue and
character stuff, and there's even a quick flashback to get people up to speed
if they decided to start reading the book this issue.  Strongly recommended.
$2.25/$3.25Cn
     Dork Tower #29: Dork Storm - Almost entirely a single story, rather than
reprints of 1-2 page strips.  Yet it still paces as scenes that are funny on
their own, which is a Good Thing.  And there's a Blue Monday reference, heh.
The Snapdragons piece is okay, the Lethargic Lad three-pager is so-so, and
while the Dr. Blink piece doesn't actually involve Dr. Blink, it's funny.
Recommended.  $2.99

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 11/24:

     Savage Henry Puppet Trap, Savage Henry Powerchords #2-3, Gold Digger
Perfect Memory #4, Blue Monday #3, Amelia Rules Superheroes #3, Flare #2.

Awards:

Best Book: Ultimate Fantastic Four #13

"Cat (Watching) Fight!" Award to Tom Strong's Terrific Tales #12

"The Law Of Unintended Consequences Upside Yo' Head" Award to New
     Thunderbolts #2 (gray-numbered as #83)

"Didn't Even Spill His Beer" Award to Marvel Team-Up #2

"Juggernaut?  I Hardly Know 'Er Not!" Award to Supreme Power #13

"Skin Conditions" Award to Ultimate Fantastic Four #13

"So Make With The Inspiration Dust Already" Award to Dork Tower #29

   Dave Van Domelen, "He had me order some explosives." "What on earth would he want explosives for?" "No idea. Fifty pounds of C-4. He said he'd be in the Blast Room for a while. (pause) You know, I must be going senile." - Dr. Storm and Sue Storm, just before the huge BLAM sound effect.