First Looks for January 12, 2005

[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.
Off to make a left turn in Albuquerque.  Rants, Capsules can be found on my 
             homepage, http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/Rants 

     http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/Rants/Best04.html - Best Books of 2004!

     Note: I'm going to be busy this week, and won't get the regular capsules
done until Thursday at the earliest, maybe Friday.

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 Pulse #7: Marvel - On the one hand, this is the absolute worst kind
of crossover tie-in story.  If you don't know what's going on from reading
the other books, you won't get anything here either.  Just a lot of pages of
characters not knowing what's going  on either.  On the other hand, it's very
well done "no one knows what's going on" storytelling.  Or, in summary, good
scripting, annoying plotting.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     New X-Men #8: Marvel - I think Ryan's been trying to absorb some style
elements from either McKone or Sprouse lately, and it works well.  At a
guess, I'd say this book is behind the main continuity (specifically, behind
Astonishing).  The ghost story continues, and it's a decent one, if not
spectacular.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Marvel Team-Up #4: Marvel - Okay, the indicia say Marvel Team-Up, so I'm
just going to stick to calling it that from now on, regardless of what the
cover logo says.  In other cover news, this one's a bit disingenuous, there
really isn't an Iron Man/Hulk team-up this issue.  In fact, it's still more
of a FF/Doc Strange one.  Still, it's a decent story as Kirkman bounces the
plot from one Marvel charater to another.  Recommended.  $2.25/$3.25Cn
     Spider-Man/Human Torch #1 (of 5): Marvel - Dan Slott and Ty Templeton,
be still my heart.  :) For this issue's story, set "ten years ago", Templeton
affects more of a John Romita Sr. style, with a few Kirby touches.  Slott's
in fine form as well, knee deep in history and continuity and FUN.  Strongly
recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     New Thunderbolts #4: Marvel - Okay, this one's a tie-in to a story I
don't recall ever HEARING of (Enemy of the State), but fortunately Nicieza is
a bit better at nodding to a crossover without making the experience
frustrating to the uninitiated.  Meanwhile, he has fun with the Purple Man,
and drops just enough clues to eliminate some of the obvious suspects in the
new Swordsman identity mystery.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Green Arrow #46: DC - Good done-in-one story focusing on Mia.  Although,
did the DCU *really* need a Stilt-Man copy?  New artist Fowler has a few weak
spots, but is generally good, shows promise.  Recommended.  $2.50/$3.85Cn
     JLA #110: DC - More focus on the badguys, almost none on the goodguys,
but it's an interesting conflict nonetheless.  Internal conflicts, of course,
coming down on different sides all around.  Recommended.  $2.25/$3.50Cn
     JSA #69: DC - It's the traditional "everyone split up" part of the
story, and the cover even kinda reflects that.  There's a bit more "feet of
clay" stuff here than I'd like, but not to the point of being toxic.  Pretty
solid character-driven stories.  Recommended.  $2.50/$3.85Cn

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.

     http://www.midtowncomics.com/eshop/weeklyrelease.asp has the following
for me: Green Arrow #46, JLA #110, JSA #69, Avengers: Earth's Mightiest
Heroes #5, Captain America and the Falcon #11, Marvel Team-Up #4, New
Thunderbolts #4, She-Hulk #11, Spider-Man/Human Torch #1, Stormbreaker: the
Saga of Beta Ray Bill #1.  Huh, looks like nothing other than Marvel and DC
for me this week.  And any missing books that drift in off the list below.

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 1/5:

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

Awards:

Best Book: Pending, but Spider-Man/Human Torch stands a good chance.

   Dave Van Domelen, "I think I just shot some webs outta my nose!" - Spider-Man, to Paste Pot Pete, Spider-Man/Human Torch #1