Comics for January 19

[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.
3 Marvel, 3 DC, 3 Antarctic books.  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. 

     There was nothing in the First Looks stack that I didn't buy, and only
two books I even read.  However, I've looked at an online copy of the new
Black Panther #1, and I am...not impressed.  Or pleased.  More details later,
presuming it's in this week's First Looks.

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.

     Spider-Man India #3: Marvel - I think they had an actual plan for the
new Doc Ock's look, but just failed to consistently portray it.  Which seems
to be symbolic of the book as a whole.  It started with some promise, but now
just seems to be going through the motions.  Neutral.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     eXiles #58: Marvel - Bedard's story is clever, the twists make sense, it
gives a nice feel of resolution...and it's utterly undercut by Sakakibara's
inability to make big muscular characters look at all imposing.  Tanaraq
looks more *cute* than evil.  And that really torpedoes the story.  Mildly
recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Madrox #5 (of 5): Marvel - Well, the two plotlines come together sorta,
in a thematic way, but not in any obvious way.  It's a pretty good read,
though, leaving that aside.  As far as I can tell from the editorial page,
the editor didn't want to make this an unlimited series no matter how good
the sales might be, he wanted to relaunch as a new book (the title of which
is in the last panel).  But I can't be sure, because it's such a load of PR
bullspin-speak.  I was in a conversation the other day about how the
influence of an editor is often invisible the reader, making it hard to know
which editors to seek out and which to avoid.  But that presupposes they
don't draw attention to themselves.  I'm not sure I care too much for Andy
Schmidt.  Anyway, the comic is recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Outsiders #19: DC - Well, Winick takes a big chance with the emotional
climax of the "missing children" arc.  Why?  Because he scripts something
that ONLY works if the reader has been drawn in and really empathizes with
the protagonist.  Otherwise, it comes across as gratuitous.  And that's how
it felt to me.  He didn't hook me deeply enough, and I just found the scene
excessive.  Neutral.  $2.50/$3.85Cn
     Teen Titans #20: DC - Johns does a similar thing here, dealing with the
emotional fallout of Identity Crisis.  But he doesn't depend so hard on the
reader getting emotionally hooked, and turns in a story that's more engaging
precisely because it's not dependent on being engaging.  He doesn't force it
so hard.  Johns deals with IC as well as Outsiders crossover matters, and
still manages to tell a story that's comprehensible and interesting to
someone who doesn't read either of those books.  Oh, I wouldn't say it's a
*great* story, but it's a good one, and that's enough.  Recommended.
$2.50/$3.85Cn 
     Space Ghost #3 (of 6): DC - Olivetti's art is lovely, but it does
sometimes transition clumsily regarding Bach's outfit.  The executioner-style
garb he wore at the end of #2 evolves into the classic Space Ghost costume as
a result of chance happenings, but there's a few awkward jumps.  The story
starts out as a sort of emotional climax (yes, I'm using that term a lot this
week) for the man who will be Space Ghost, but gets some interruptus as the B
plot moves to the fore.  I'd kinda hoped for an actual resolution before
moving on to the next threat, especially since we get about a panel away from
it before it's put on hold, but I don't think it's a fatal-to-the-story
move.  Recommended.  $2.95/$4.50Cn
     Quagmire U.S.A. #6 (FINAL ISSUE): Antarctic Press - I never really got
the impression that this was intended from the start to be a miniseries, but
that's what it's become.  The arc is resolved in an...interesting fashion,
followed by a somewhat self-indulgent series wrapup.  Mildly recommended.
$2.99/$4.05Cn 
     Ninja High School #123: Antarctic Press - Okay, there is much wrongness
here, but in a good way.  It also helps that the protagonist cast is pared
down to only four easily-distinguished-from-each-other characters for this
stage in the story, really focusing on just two of them.  Recommended.
$2.99/$4.05Cn 
     Neotopia v4 #5 (of 5): Antarctic Press - The end of the journey.
Unfortunately, a guy in the comic shop started talking to me about the big
plot surprises as if I had read it already (he started by saying he'd missed
the early issues, but had figured out what was going on from later issues,
and then without any segue went to this issue, giving away most of the plot
before I realized he wasn't talking about back-issues).  Normally spoilers
don't bother me a lot, but this time it did, because there was so much payoff
in this issue, and I didn't get to experience it as Espinosa intended.
Grrr.  Fortunately, I stopped him before he gave everything away, and there
were some things I was pleasantly surprised to find I was utterly wrong
about.  :)  Also, the text page epilogue helps deflect the story from seeming
like it's traveling across the tails of some of my pet peeves.  This issue on
its own is recommended, the series as a whole has my highest recommendation.
The trades are out there, get 'em.  $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 1/19:

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

Awards:

Best Book: Neotopia v4 #5 (of 5)

"It Must Be A Marvel Miniseries, It's Sucking By Issue 3" Award to Spider-
     Man India #3 (of 4, I'm guessing)

"Doc Ock Has The Right Idea" Award to eXiles #58

"Too Many Crooks Spoils The Plot" Award to Madrox #5 (of 5) (the plot was
     fine, but I couldn't resist the gag)

"Please, Sir, May I Have Another Nine Panels?" Award to Outsiders #19

"Yay, Blue Devil Continuity!" Award to Teen Titans #20

"What, Exactly, Worked On Hammer?" Award to Space Ghost #3 (of 6)

"Getting Some Tail(s)" Award to Quagmire U.S.A. #6

"NMILF" Award to NHS #123

"World's Straightest Shoreline" Award to Neotopia v4 #5 (of 5)

   Dave Van Domelen, "It is a dark day for martial arts..." - Yoji, NHS #123

Comments

[scavgraphics.livejournal.com]

ehhh..I found Schmidt to be more cheerleader there than pushy editor..he's one of Breevort's boys, so I'd assume he's ok..especialy considering that David is working with him, which lets be honest, he'd throw a fit if he didn't like the guy.

Exiles....eh...I loved the supervillian byplay, but with last issue and this, seemed to whip up the conclusion pretty quikly to a big story.

You really need to read Cable & Deadpool....ignoring that it's just a good book, this months is somewhat a Thunderbolts crossover...checking in with other team members who haven't shown up in the new series yet (Fixer).

Y'know, I haven't seen Flare #2 either...did find Black Enchantress #1 though.