Jan 12th's comics, up a bit late

[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.
Back from Albuquerque.  Tired, aching.  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!

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

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.

     Two Bits #1: Image - Well, interesting thematic idea.  Two pieces (bits)
of uninked, uncolored preview story pages in a flip book for 25 cents (two
bits).  Both stories look at less light-hearted (but not actually dark, per
se) aspects of childhood fantasy: Lullabies takes the Alice in Wonderland
story a different direction, while The Imaginaries looks at out of work
imaginary friends.  In both cases, the art is good (adventure manga with a
touch of Foglio for Lullabies, indy-flavored superhero for Imaginaries), but
the writing has big patches of extreme clunkiness and characters talking like
plot summaries and story pitches.  Worth a quarter and your time, but I'm not
really sold on either upcoming book.  25 cents/30 cents Cn.
     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
     Stormbreaker: the Saga of Beta Ray Bill #1 (of 6): Marvel - I didn't
order this, but I decided to pick up the one copy on the shelf because of my
fond memories of the Simonson run on Thor.  My main reactions were, in order,
"So much exposition, so little substance" and "Boy, am I glad I haven't been
reading Thor."  Oeming's story isn't totally without merit, but this is
likely the last issue of the book for me.  DiVito's art is nice, but nowhere
near dazzling enough to make me want to keep buying the book.  $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
     Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes #5 (of 8): Marvel - Maybe it's just
my less-than-chipper mood today, but this issue didn't do much for me.  It
felt a little too fragmented, even by the standards of a book that fills in
the gaps between existing stories.  Mildly recommended.  $3.50/$5.00Cn
     Captain America and the Falcon #11: Marvel - Okay, the strongest
criticism of this issue is really a criticism applied backwards to previous
issues.  The "Previously" page spells out several things that *weren't*
really previously revealed.  Hinted at, sure.  Clear in retrospect, yeah.
Not certainly not obvious enough to merit mention in a "previously" summary.
Most of it really only becomes clear in *this* issue's story.  I'd probably
have enjoyed this issue more if I'd ignored the first page, actually,
although there was still something of a "we've covered this already" tone to
some of the dialogue.  Also, while this isn't really Priest's fault, the
deadman switch gimmick in this issue is also being used by someone in New
Thunderbolts this week, giving the impression that a theme crossover is
coming or something.  Bennett's art is still lovely, although after the
transition from #10-11, I'm concerned that there are more places where he
didn't draw what the script called for.  Mildly 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
     She-Hulk #11: Marvel - Wow.  Massive continuity sorting dump issue.  It
pretty much proclaims in oversized font that Slott wrote this after finding
out that the book was cancelled, and wanted to get in all the danglers and
recent inconsistencies (i.e. use of Shulkie by Austen, Avengers Dissed) as a
fan service (no, not THAT kind of fan service, although Pelletier does his
part), before the climactic final fight scene issue.  As a result, while
there were still some good scenes, it felt rushed almost to the point of
panic.  A sort of "I wish I could take my time and really have fun with these
ideas, but the clock's running out" thing.  On the low end of Recommended.
$2.99/$4.25Cn 
     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

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 1/12:

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

Awards:

Best Book: Spider-Man/Human Torch #1 (of 5)

"Alice And Old Lace" Award to Two Bits #1

"Seriously...Stilt Man Pastiche?" Award to Green Arrow #46

"Superwoman Is Mrs. Shibata?" Award to JLA #110

"Legacy Veritas" Award to JSA #69

"Let Me Know When Bill Goes Gold" Award to Stormbreaker #1

"More Than We Really Needed To See" Award to Marvel Team-Up #4

"Mugged By Jamie And Coop?" Award to Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes
     #5 (of 8)

"Rivas Reavers" Award to Captain America and the Falcon #11

"Shouldn't He, Like, Have Trouble Using His Legs, At Least?" Award to New
     Thunderbolts #4

"Dragonball She" Award to She-Hulk #11 (of 12, IIRC, sigh)

"A Hair-Raising Tale" Award to Spider-Man/Human Torch #1 (of 5)

   Dave Van Domelen, "I did NOT sleep with the Juggernaut! Why does everyone keep saying -- " "Jen, you're blocking. That's not the way to gethealthy." - She-Hulk and Doc Samson.