dvandom | First Looks Comics for Feb 2

                    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.
The Spanish Main be my pond, matey!  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. 

     Phoenix Endsong #2 (of 5): Marvel - Well, the art is still pretty
typical Greg Land, while Pak's writing is rather wanting in the coherence
department when it comes to stitching scenes together...it's the sort of
thing that really needs the captioning that has been banned at Marvel.
$2.99/$4.25Cn
     New Avengers #3: Marvel - Heh, they included two copies of this one.  To
be honest, this one is a lot beter than the first two.  Bendis is
concentrating on personality and dialogue rather than plot, playing to his
strengths.  If things keep trending this way, I'll probably start picking the
book up soon.  $2.25/$3.25Cn
     eXiles #59: Marvel - Very much a bridging issue, catching up on a
previous arc while preparing for the Big X-Event next month.  Sakakibara's
art does okay for this story, and Bedard's writing is okay, if necessarily
expositiony.  Mildly recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Marvel Team-Up #5: Marvel - Whee, X-23.  Anyway, as with last issue, the
cover "team up" doesn't really happen this issue, although I continue to
enjoy Kirkman's efforts to show that the Marvel Universe is actually all one
place and not a half dozen or so editorial fiefdoms that don't interact.
Recommended.  $2.25/$3.25Cn
     The Intimates #4: DC/Wildstorm - Interesting focused issue, although the
footnote feed at the bottom seems to think this title won't make it past the
first TPB's worth...or even get a TPB.  Ah well.  $2.95/$4.50Cn
     Superman: Strength #2 (of 3): DC - Amancio sucks at drawing kids, and
there's a big chunk of this issue that involves kids.  In fact, the art in
general is really dropping my overall enjoyment of the book.  Storywise, this
feels more like it should have come out as six regular-sized issues.  While
the total cost would be the same that way, it'd feel less like the format was
too fancy for the story.  Mildly recommended.  $5.95/$9.25Cn

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.

     http://www.midtowncomics.com/eshop/weeklyrelease.asp has the following
books I intend to buy: Superman: Strength #2 (maybe), Grimjack Killer
Instinct #1, eXiles #59, Marvel Team-Up #5, Supreme Power #15, Bugtown #2,
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures TPB, Gold Digger v3 #60.

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 1/26:

     Savage Henry Puppet Trap, Savage Henry Powerchords #2, Flare #2,
Serenity Rose #5, OHOTMU Golden Age, Invader Zim action figures.  Black
Enchantress #1 never showed up either, but I didn't actually order that.

Awards:

Best Book: Pending
Dave Van Domelen, "Sometimes I look at all the things Peter Parker does in a month, and I have no idea how he gets it all done." - Daredevil
First Looks Comics for Feb 2

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