CBR Review Special - comics Diamond won't sell me

[dvandom]

                      Dave's CBR Format Capsules Special
                                      or
                 Diamond Just Doesn't Want My Money, Do They?

     Book of Note: PS238 #25

     When it comes down to the argument about filesharing, the usual reasons
given are "People are thieves" (given by the industry) and "Businesses charge
too much" or "It's free advertising and we buy the stuff we like after trying
it" (given by the customers).  Lost in the shuffle for the simple reason that
most filesharing is of music and movies is possibly the most compelling
reason to fileshare comics: "I want to buy it, but no one will take my
money!" 

     Regular readers of mine will know that I almost never have a blank entry
for my "Books Diamond Didn't Ship" section.  In fact, if it weren't for the
fact that I eventually give up on titles and take them off the list, I'd
probably have a full screen's worth of stuff in that section by now.  It
usually happens with smaller publishers, but even "Premiere Publishers" get
nailed by Diamond's refusal to care at times.  Sure, the initial lack of
order is my store's goof as often as not, but it has taken on occasion
several months and repeated calls to get Diamond to fulfill a reorder request
from stock they had on hand.

     So...a friend of mine has been pretty aggressive about converting his
hardcopy comics collection to digital format.  Sometimes scanning his own
books, but often just finding pre-scanned CBR format copies of books he has
in his longboxes.  Which, of course, means he can also easily find and
download books he never owned in hardcopy.  After repeated offers from him to
find copies of books Diamond won't sell me, I've gone ahead and taken him up
on it.  

     Here's my current list of Stuff I'm Waiting For And Would Buy If I
Could.  It doesn't count stuff I gave up on long ago, like some of the later
Donna Barr hardcopies, or back issues of G-Fan (which, if I really wanted, I
could just order directly from the publisher...but it's partly a news
magazine, so my incentive is low).  The ordering is from "longest wait"
(several months) to shortest (just over a week).  For reference, I'm using
SimpleComic to view the files.

     Dr. Debunko the Short Stories
     Devil's Panties #7, #8
     Fallen Angel v2 #15
     Transformers Timelines #2
     Doktor Sleepless #2
     PS238 #25 
     Transformers Beast Wars Sourcebook #1

     Debunko may or may not exist as a CBR, I haven't really asked.  I was
going to just eventually buy the Devil's Panties books from the publisher,
but I just checked their online store and they'll only sell the trade of #1-6
and a bundle of #1-12 now, so I guess I'm not going to bother...I read most
of the content online already, and mainly buy the individual issues because I
want money to go to the creator (although I've emailed her to see if she's
got any copies she'll sell me direct).  The other five books, however, I got
CBR format copies of last night, and will now review.  Note that these are
not obscure little indie publishers...the Transformers Timelines one might
count at that, I suppose, and is the only one on the list I'll currently
believe is the publisher's fault rather than Diamond's.  But two of the books
are IDW, which got some sort of publisher award from Diamond last year, eh?

     I will still try to buy these, but I'm no longer going to tear my hair
out over it.

     Fallen Angel v2 #15: IDW - The cover is yet another homage of the Action
Comics cover with Superman holding a car overhead and smashing it into the
hillside, although without the obligatory fleeing thugs that most homages
include.  This is the start of the story of Lee's predecessor, who is still
not actually Peter David's Supergirl, but comes closer (and yes, there's some
blatant references beyond just her name of Lin and her powers).  Kristian
Donaldson does guest art in a style reminscent or Mark Wheatly or Ken
Steacy.  While #16 did a good job of filling in gaps for me, it does feel
more coherent now that I've read #15.  Recommended.  $3.99

     Transformers Timelines #2 - Fun Publications - This is a publicly
available (in theory) version of the BotCon 2007 exclusive comic.  Given that
it took until January 2007 for me to get the FP edition of the 2006 comic,
you'll see why I don't hold out a lot of hope for seeing this one in person
soon.  Story by several people (Forest Lee, Pete Sinclair, Ben Yee), but
actual writing just Lee.  Alex "Made Car Wash Of Doom Look Good" Milne is on
art.  Where #1 featured Beast Wars, this one features Classics, tying in with
the Classics recolors/remolds in the BotCon exclusive set.  The Target
exclusive Ultra Magnus gets in on the act too.  Anyway, as one might expect
from a convention comic, there's loads of fan references and general fanficky
Gotta Explain 'Em All aspects sprinkled throughout.  As for plot, call it
"Revenge of the Gobots".  The story ends on a big confusing fragfest that
leaves several new characters probably dead and a few more possibly dead.  Of
course, given that this sub-continuity (which seems to come out of the end of
the Marvel G1 comic) is unlikely to get more than 22 pages a year and will
need to cycle in new convention exclusive characters every year, a really
high death rate is really no hindrance.  It's not like they'd have pages to
devote to doing anything with Bugbite again, after all.  Ends with More Than
Meets The Eye pages for Springer (Cybertron Defense Hot Shot recolor),
Bugbite (Classics Bumblebee recolor), and a one page text piece explaining
how the Classics Mini-Cons came about (the Last Autobot spread bits of the
Matrix and his own spark across Cybertron after TFG1 #80 and the little
pieces grew into Mini-Cons).  All in all, it's pretty much a 12-16 page story
loaded down with a bunch of character introduction scenes.  Mildly
recommended if you can find it.  $4.95

     Doktor Sleepless #2: Avatar Press - The subtitle on this issue is Tesla
Boy Gangster, and the CBR includes the alternate covers.  Not a whole lot of
plot here, there's some backstory and a bunch of "stop to show off another
nifty feature of the setting" stuff, plus some weird questions asked and only
partially answered.  Interesting enough if you haven't been steeped in this
sort of stuff already, but on the self-indulgent side.  The fact that it
doesn't seem to do a whole lot with the promising start of #1 doesn't help,
it's kinda treading water.  Mildly recommended.  $3.99 (I presume...the CBR
doesn't have the final cover versions with price and indicia).

     PS238 #25: Do Gooder Press - A bit anticlimactic to read this after
reading #26, but ah well.  A lot of the focus is on Cecil Holmes, the little
conspiracy theorist who Revenant thought had been safely channeled into
something harmless.  Ha!  It's really not Revenant's day in general...when
getting bonked by one of Prospero's pingpong balls is the least undignified
thing to happen to you....  The theme of this issue is, like with many in
this series, "No plan survives contact with children, especially superhuman
ones."  At least the kids provide a few replacement plans that may stand a
better chance of working.  The CBR doesn't include the backup features, so I
may post an amended review once I get the hardcopy.  Strongly recommended.
$2.99 

     Transformers Beast Wars Sourcebook #1: IDW - Ben Yee, who co-wrote this
with Simon Furman, has a fair amount to say in terms of background and
motivation at his website, http://www.bwtf.com.  And since I read his
comments before actually seeing the comic, that does make me a bit biased.
:) I will, however, repeat what I said about Megatron Origin #1 and Eric
Harding...it kinda sucks to have your first big pro outing screwed up by the
people at the visual end of things.  I mean, at least this time there isn't a
story to get ruined by muddled art, but there's plenty of ways for production
foulups to reflect badly on the writer.  Stuff like utterly incorrect colors
on BB, or showing a character in Transmetal robot mode and non-Transmetal
beast mode.  That aside, while the general look and feel of the Dreamwave
"More Than Meets The Eye" books is followed with tweaks, it all looks a
little open and empty, probably because the backgrounds are mostly white with
a little mottling.  The inside front cover lists the characters in this issue
(Air Hammer to Drill Nuts) with artist credits.  Yee and Furman do a decent
job splicing together continuities (and non-continuities, like the Happy Meal
toys) that were never really intended to mesh, and bringing some differences
to characters that share a mold but not a name (i.e. Apache and B'Boom).
Given that there's so much blank space in the entries, it would have been
nice to include a note about the origins of each character (like, whether
Beast Wars show, BW toys, BWII, BW Neo, convention exclusives, Happy Meal,
etc...for instance, it would have helped to say that Blackarachnia's
Transmetal form was a McToy).  All told, it looks like a somewhat pale
imitation of Dreamwave's books, but most of the fault lies clearly with the
production people, not the writers or artists (well, except for Orange BB).
The raw materials are good, they're just assembled in a half-assed fashion.
Note, while the book mixes in a lot of Beast Wars lines, it does NOT include
Beast Machines.  I shudder to think of how they'd have tried to cram
Blackarachnia into one page if they'd had to include her BMac version too.
:) Speaking of the page counts, some of the two-page spread choices are a bit
odd.  Blackarachnia only gets one page for three distinct versions (so 6
pieces of commissioned art) of a well-known character, but obscure Cohrada
gets a two-page spread, as does Big Mos.  And I'm not sure why Double Punch
is placed between Drill Bit and Drill Nuts.  Recommended for the content, but
you might want to wait for the likely trade paperback collection to see if
they fix the production issues.  $6.99.


Awards:

"Up, Up And Go ^&%$ Yourself!" Award to Fallen Angel v2 #15

"I Foresee Fanfic In Which It's Revealed Bugbite Doesn't Keep His Brain In
     His Head" Award to Transformers Timelines #2

"Already Thinking Of Ways To Mess With Shriekygirls" Award to Doktor 
     Sleepless #2

"Dip-utized" Award to PS238 #25

"Break Uzumaki, At Your Service!" Award to Beast Wars Sourcebook #1

   Dave Van Domelen, "What's about to happen here won't be fun for any of us. But of all the people here not having fun...YOU'LL be NOT having it the MOST." - Fallen Angel #15