First Looks for December 15

[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.
It's Finals week, but I don't have any!  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. 

     (Leaving MTU #3 in place, because it's been delayed to this week.)
     Ocean #3 (of 6): DC - A bit talky, but things are happening in a nicely
creepy syberpunky way.  I'm almost definitely going to be picking up the TPB
of this, but will continue to pass on the individual issues.  $2.95/$4.50Cn
     Justice League Elite #6: DC - Kelly's nonlinear storytelling isn't as
incoherent this time out, although the "Was any of my crew actually working
for me?" lament does seem appropriate here.  A bit too much wheels within
wheels at times.  A decent tale, with some good quips.  $2.50/$3.85Cn
     Marvel Team-Up #3: Marvel - Dr. Strange and the FF are teaming up this
time out, so Kirkman's clearly not out to make this an extra Spider-Man title
like the previous incarnation ended up being.  This issue's kinda
transitional in nature, and does seem to be treading old ground from eXiles,
but it's a decent read.  Recommended. $2.25/$3.25Cn
     Spider-Man India #2: Marvel - The story starts to diverge more from just
being a rechroming of the Amazing Fantasy #15 origin, which is a good thing.
It's a good, if rushed, basic Spider-Man type of story.  Recommended.
$2.99/$4.25Cn 
     eXiles #56: Marvel - Very much a middle of the story sort of issue, with
plenty of skullduggery and doublecrossing, but not so much that it's hard to
follow.  I generally liked Calafiore's art, except on one or two characters.
Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Madrox #4: Marvel - Speaking of skullduggery and doublecrossing....  I'm
still wondering if the two plot threads will dovetail more completely next
issue.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Fantastic Four #521: Marvel - Not as freaky as last issue, but it
centers nicely on playing characters against type, as well as on exploration
of interesting powers and abilities.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn

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: Earth's Mightiest Heroes #3, eXiles #56,
Fantastic Four #521, Madrox #4, Marvel Team-Up #3, OHOTMU Golden Age (can't
recall if I ordered it, but will probably get it if it makes it to the
shelf), Spider-Man India #2, Serenity Rose #5, Ninja High School #122.

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 12/8:

     Savage Henry Puppet Trap, Savage Henry Powerchords #2-3, Flare #2.  Full
Frontal Nerdity didn't come in, but I'm not sure if I even ordered it.  And
it looks like MTU #3 was delayed after all.

Awards:

Best Book: Pending.

   Dave Van Domelen, "In this case, though, when it comes to learning first hand the truth about being incinerated...it's one thing that I have no burning desire to experience." - Madrox, because sometimes I have to quote Peter David's puns.