Comics for December 22, up late, oops.

[dvandom]

Sorry, forgot to do this last night.

                    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.
MAN it's cold outside.  Saw Sun Dogs.  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 #5: Marvel - I guess they figure that if they always put it in
the First Looks packet, at least SOMEONE will read it, for free.  Most of the
issue is talk talk talk, and not particularly interesting stuff at that.
Nicieza is clearly having to do a data dump, and he's not one of the few
writers who can make such a thing interesting (especially when it's a Liefeld
plot dump).  But the last few pages are, at least, pretty good.  Not good
enough to BUY this turkey, of course.  But you might want to read the third
to last page.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Astonishing X-Men #7: Marvel - Okay, some really fun scripting,
especially how everyone gets a page of action with internal monologue
captions...and then we get to Wolverine's page.  Heh.  On the other hand, the
plotting, the stuff being done to characters over in other books and then
dropped into here as if I'm reading all the X-Books, that still turns me
off.  This is where continuity works against a book, I think.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Solo #2: DC - A bunch of Richard Corben shorts.  For those who don't
know who Richard Corben is, I could tell you what he's done, but you probably
wouldn't recognize it either.  :)  John Arcudi co-writes the stories.  Corben
flexes his art in here, using variations of his style ranging from art that
is either CG or rendered so closely to that as to make no difference, to
deliberately sketchy ink work.  All but one story is of the "something
horrible happens to the protagonist, the antagonist, and frankly just about
everyone who comes on panel" variety, which isn't exactly a surprise.  :)
The "one story" is a Spectre story that's, well, rather upbeat for a classic
Spectre tale.  Anyway, the craft is good, but I'm not really into the gloomy
style.  If more of the stories were like the Spectre one, though, I'd be
buying this.  $4.95/$7.50Cn

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.

     New Thunderbolts #3 (84): Marvel - You know, this comic does a number of
things that I complained about in other books lately, yet Nicieza manages to
pull them off in such a way that I *like* it.  Plus the usual good stuff with
the Thunderbolts.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Green Arrow #45: DC - It's all about making statements, with words, with
fists, with outfits.  Winick avoids being TOO preachy, but the opening scene
is preachy nonetheless.  And next issue, Roy's going to be awfully bemused.
:)  Good resolution to the two main plotlines of the arc.  Recommended.
$2.50$3.85Cn
     Space Ghost #2 (of 6): DC - Pacing is pretty good on this one. Last
issue was what he was before, this issue is how he becomes Space Ghost, and
that leaves four issues to tell the story of his first adventure at a good
level of detail.  There's a few more cliches than I think were really
necessary, but it's a good story, taking a camp character and making him a
serious hero.  Recommended.  $2.95/$4.50Cn
     Hardy Boys #2: PapercutZ - Again, speaking as someone who hadn't read
any Hardy Boys since the mid 70s or so, I was generally able to follow what
appears to be a fairly dense mythos being tapped into here.  And while I no
doubt am missing some nuances that the hardcore fans would catch, I found it
a good read, which is important for anything trying to hook new readers.
Recommended.  $2.95/$3.95Cn
     Conan #11: Dark Horse - I'm kinda torn on this one.  It felt a bit
padded out, an effect made worse by the fact I knew the secret behind this
murder mystery (and could probably have figured it out last issue from the
hints dropped).  A good story, but I spent too much time thinking, "Yes, get
on with it!"  Mildly recommended.  $2.99
     Savage Henry: Powerchords #3 (of 3): Aeon - Still no sign of #2.  The
cover shows the ending without actually spoilering it, a nifty trick, all
things considered.  And while it's still somewhat screedy about bootlegging
and filesharing, Howarth does inject some graytones this issue, so it's not
completely black and white.  Recommended.  $2.95/$4.25Cn
     Gold Digger v3 #58: Antarctic Press - Fred Perry REALLY indulges his
penchant for cheesecake (and, to a lesser extent, beefcake) this issue,
although before diving into the action he does provide a few pages of recap
(which also allows him to re-show some scenes from, um, a different
vantage).  Still, despite the focus on, ah, breathtaking vistas, there's some
significant plotpointing in here as well, revealing a long-standing mystery
about one of the supporting cast.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.05Cn

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 12/22:

     Savage Henry Puppet Trap, Savage Henry Powerchords #2, Flare #2,
Serenity Rose #5, OHOTMU Golden Age.  Add Invader Zim action figures.  Filthy
humans!

Awards:

Best Book: New Thunderbolts #3

"U.N. Spacey" Award to New Thunderbolts #3

"Another Ex-Junkie Shoots Up" Award to Green Arrow #45

"Evil Overlord Handbook Entry #42 - Never Go For A Poetic Death" Award to
     Space Ghost #2 (of 6)

"eBay Spoofing To The Nth Degree" Award to Hardy Boys #2

"Bowling For Dullards" Award to Conan #11

"Lager Louds" Award to Savage Henry: Powerchords #3 (of 3)

"Never Wear Self-Aware Armor That Finds You Attractive" Award to Gold
     Digger v3 #58

Dave Van Domelen, "Never doubt the power of the Bulldaggers' music." - Caroline, Savage Henry: Powerchords

Comments

[scavgraphics.livejournal.com]

So...a new Swordsman in Tbolts...any thoughts on who's under the mask?
I have my thoughts, but I don't want to leave potential spoilers...instead, enjoy this little picture!

o
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