Comics for December 1

[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.
Moved my art to http://www.dvandom.com.  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. 

     The Intimates #2: DC/Wildstorm - Casey throws a LOT of stuff at the wall
here, and some of it sticks, although it's kinda hard to keep the thread with
all the footnotes and popups (which mysteriously vanish in the second half).
Shows some promise, but feels like one of those things that will read better
as a TPB.  $2.95/$4.50Cn
     Firestorm #8: DC - Given the rumors I've heard of changes coming for
this title, I figured I'd give it another look.  Jamal Igle is on art this
issue, and does a decent job.  Jolley turns in a decent tale of a hero trying
to figure out how to do the right thing.  Not enough to get me to start
buying the book, though.  $2.50/$3.85Cn 
     Justice League Unlimited #4: DC - Adam Beechen turns in a decent Adam
Strange story, with competent model-following art by Carlo Barberi.  Nothing
spectacular, but it does do a good job of capturing the classi Adam Strange
feel.  $2.25/$3.50Cn
     New X-Men #7: Marvel - While this is, like many issues of the title, a
bunch of subplots mooshed together, one of them binds the rest together
pretty well.  Michael Ryan's art is a lot better than when I first saw him on
Iron Man.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     New Avengers #1: Marvel - Read this in the store on Wednesday and didn't
take notes, but here's some impressions.  As a purely standalone story, it's
decent, leaving aside one humongous stupid plot device.  But it HAS to be a
standalone story, because Bendis continues to largely ignore the fact there's
other books out there besides the ones he's written.  Missable.

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.

     Alpha Flight v3 #10: Marvel - Just got the news that #12 will be the
last issue.  Ah well.  A pity, as things are finally starting to get
interesting, and some connections between characters are showing up.
Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     eXiles #55: Marvel - Well, in the months leading up to this issue, I did
my share of speculating, all of it apparently wrong.  Heh.  And I like being
surprised when the results don't suck (which they don't in this case).
Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Captain America and Falcon #10: Marvel - The creepiness of last issue is
resolved pretty clearly.  Or...not.  :)  Well, okay, by the last page it's
probably clear, but it's fun watching the "follow the bouncing MODOK" along
the way.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn 
     Transformers G1 v3 #10: Dreamwave - Sheesh.  Now that the news has
broken that the writers on this series have been canned, of COURSE it starts
to come together and get interesting.  Lots of threads from previous issues
weave together, and there's even some more tight continuity with The War
Within.  While it gets a bit expository for my tastes, I'm actually looking
forward to how things turn out now...just as a new writer is about to come on
and probably go a different direction.  Sigh.  Recommended.  $2.95
     GIJoe vs Transformers II #4 (of 4): Devil's Due - The art quality drops
a lot this issue.  Not on every page, but on a lot...it looks like the
deadline got moved way up and the artists had to scramble to finish in time
(which might well be the case, since I've already noted how this feels like a
6 issue series crammed into 4).  Decent story wrapup, some fun scenes, and a
bit of broken internal logic that I suppose I can overlook because of the way
it's used to bring in a particular group of characters.  And the sequel is
pretty clearly set up.  :)  Recommended.  $2.95
     Transformers War Within v3 #3 (of 6): Dreamwave - Heh, Joe Ng is now a
time unit.  The story's a bit jerky in places, and spends a bit more time
than I'd like on a running battle against what's supposed to be a grunt,
albeit a grunt with surprises.  Pacing issue, basically.  Oh, and I'd like to
go on record as saying that "Turbomaster Flash" sounds like some bad 80s DJ.
:)  Recommended despite flaws.  $2.95
     Outsiders #18: DC - D'Anda's art is kinda jarring, all things
considered.  And while the dark and murky look fits the mood pretty well, I
could do with a little less ink.  The big cliffhanger is pretty predicable,
unfortunately, to the point of being belaboredly telegraphed.  Mildly
recommended.  $2.50/$3.85Cn
     Fallen Angel #18: DC - Confused about the Big Revelation this issue?
Check Genesis 4:17.  How big of a geek am I that I think of this as a
crossover with the Bible?  Don't answer that.  Anyway, I'm quite pleased at
how things thrashed out this issue, and now I have to wait a few months
before the next issue, gah!  (The news that #18 wouldn't be the last came a
little late, PAD didn't want to rush #19, so there will be a hiatus of a
couple of months.)  Recommended, leaning towards strongly.  $2.95/$4.50Cn

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 12/1:

     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: Fallen Angel #18

"Boxed In" Award to Alpha Flight v3 #10 (of 12, sigh)

"Fool For The City" Award to eXiles #55

"Never Kill Anything Bigger Than Your Head" Award to Captain America and the
     Falcon #10

"Zoned" Award to Transformers G1 v3 #10

"I Want To Fire The Big Gun" Award to GIJoe vs. Transformers II #4 (of 4)

"Grunt v2.0" Award to Transformers the War Within v3 #3 (of 6)

"Someday My Prints Will Come" Award to Outsiders #18

"Something In The Heir" Award to Fallen Angel #18

   Dave Van Domelen, "Oh my sweet lord, saved by physics." - Roadblock

Comments

[scavgraphics.livejournal.com]

The quote would be better if it wasn't said with a different "Saved by" on the next page.

There was some serious story disconnects..in the final pages..there seems to be something between Cover Girl and Storm Shadow(I guess that's who that was)..and couldn't we have had her in her underware...(Cover Girl was one of my favorite Joes..A fashion model turned Wolverine driver-woof!) and then later on the page, Destro and Cobra Commander are screaming at each other in the background, but then nothing becomes of it in the text.


Exiles--I finaly get what people see in Bedard. It helps that the Kulan Gath story in X-Men is one of my favorites. And I figured at Russel was Jack Russel-Werewolf By Night a page or two before it was revealed..how cool is that Werewolf by night, Zathros..wonder if Nimrod will get involved...