Comics for Mar 9, First Looks for Mar 16

[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.
Got a good Annual Review at work, whew.  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. 

     Books for March 16:

     Black Panther v3 #2: Marvel - The Pentagon scenes still leave me cold,
but the flashbacks (while nagging at my sense of continuity) aren't too bad.
Still, nothing here convinced me to un-drop the book.  $2.99/4.25Cn
     Young Avengers #2: Marvel - Better than last month, and the cast gets
fleshed out a bit with a "Legacy" hero of sorts (as opposed to the other YA,
who don't necssarily have an actual connection to their elder versions).  If
things keep trending this way, I may add this book to my pull.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Captain America v5 #4: Marvel - I liked the flashback bits this time,
and there's some signs that this is going in a non-bad direction, but I'm
still not coming back to the book yet.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     eXiles #61: Marvel - With the AoA background stuff out of the way,
Bedard gets down to the actual story here, and it's going pretty well.
Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Hulk #79: Marvel - Well, we get AN explanation for the weirdness, but
then we get another, so it's unlikely *either* is the truth.  Lotsa good
dialogue.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Space Ghost #5: DC - The endgame approaches, and there's plenty of nice
booms.  The big character development turning point is off-screen, though,
which is a bit disappointing.  Good art.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.00Cn

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.

     Green Arrow #48: DC - Fowler's art didn't really irk me this issue,
although if I look carefully I can still see the elements that don't work.  I
guess he manages to make the whole better than the sum of the parts.  Fun
story, with some great dialogue and at least moderately interesting plot
advancement.  Recommended.  $2.50/$3.50Cn
     JSA #71: DC - Good solid issue, feels penultimate.  Recommended.
$2.50/#3.50Cn (Sorry, feeling weary, slept badly last night and running out
of steam, gonna be terser from here on out.)
     Ultimate Fantastic Four #16: Marvel - Sure, it's somewhat decompressed,
and there's not a whole lot of action, but it's a fun read.  Ellis is
rebuilding bits of the classic FF mythos without being snarky about it or
trying too hard to be hip and ironic, which means he's doing some of his
better work.  Recommended.  $2.25/$3.25Cn
     New Thunderbolts #6: Marvel - BIG monkey throwdown, as they say.  Well,
as I say, anyway.  Classic-style high stakes climax, with several decks'
worth of cards hitting the table...and some cards are STILL being held close
to the vest.  Big badda boom.  Strongly recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Bugtown #3 (of 6): Aeon - Bugtown seen through yet another new arrival,
as Howarth continues to weave in the personal stories of the newbies and the
ongoing plotting of the setting.  Recommended.  $2.95/$4.25Cn
     Blue Monday Painted Moon #4 (of 4): Oni - A number of long-running plot
threads have Significant Events, but can't really be said to have resolved.
If anything, they're less resolved than ever before.  :)  And we get a
cliffhanger (of sorts) that won't be picked up until next year, gah.
Recommended.  $2.99/$4.60Cn (in teeeeny eye-destroying typeface)

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 3/9:

     Savage Henry Puppet Trap, Savage Henry Powerchords #2, Flare #2, Bill
and Ted's Excellent Adventures v1 TPB, Livewires #1 and Essential Luke Cage
v1, Love as a Foreign Language v2.

Awards:

Best Book: New Thunderbolts #6

"Pique Oil" Award to Green Arrow #48

"Flaming Bag of Sheet" Award to JSA #71

"Teenage Burnout" Award to Ultimate Fantastic Four #16

"Turnabout Is Phair Play" Award to New Thunderbolts #6

"That's Not What 'Inner Child' Is Supposed To Mean, Ron" Award to Bugtown
     #3 (of 6)

"Not Even Aiming In The Same Direction As The Point" Award to Blue Monday
     Painted Moon #4 (of 4)

   Dave Van Domelen, "Dude. We met our first alien and his name is like E-Vill or something." - Ben Grimm, UFF #16

Comments

hmm. (*SLIGHT* T-bolts spoilage, nothing major)

[loki-liesmith.livejournal.com]

I was going to ask what the hell Liz Phair had to do with things, until I remembered that particular panel. And while I buy PH's whole "I don't remember much" bit, I would've expected more of a reaction from Songbird, and ESPECIALLY Atlas, considering the circumstances. I doubt they're planning on ignoring the issue, but I would have liked to have seen something show up there. I'm not knocking the recommendation, I love the concept both then and now (excepting the Fight Club bit), but did parts of the plot seem rushed a bit? I don't want to spoil the book, so I can continue in mail if need be.

UFF was good, but I'm generally not disappointed by Ellis. :)

-Loki

Re: hmm. (*SLIGHT* T-bolts spoilage, nothing major)

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

Thinking about it, things were only rushed because we've gotten decompression hammered into our expectations. Heck, twenty years ago, this story would have been told in four issues, not six. :)

And I wonder if Monica Rambeau will go back to being Captain Marvel now that Genis took her backup codename?

Re: hmm. (*SLIGHT* T-bolts spoilage, nothing major)

[loki-liesmith.livejournal.com]

I can see that. I can understand why there wasn't a mjor reaction this issue to Genis's return. What was really irking me was the whole Speed Demon was a spy bit. There hasn't been any illusion to that so far in the comic, so there was no tension or suspense when they revealed it, just a "wtf?" reaction. It just seemed like there were some plot elements with Strucker that they were intending to draw out for a bit longer, and other things, possibly the "Enemy of the State" storyline, rushed the timetable. I certinaly hope it's not "the book's getting cancelled and we're rushing to squeeze some stuff in" type of situation, because it seems like everything I end up enjoying in either comics or television ends up getting cancelled in less than a year.

Re: hmm. (*SLIGHT* T-bolts spoilage, nothing major)

[loki-liesmith.livejournal.com]

And I meant ALLUSION up there, and had intended to put some white space into the post as well, but my computer at work is ANCIENT, and slower than crap. But that's the price of working in public radio. All the money goes into the studio computers that don't have net access. Ah well.

I guess my biggest worry is where they go from here. One of the big points of the book was that you had a team of heroes being financed by a major villain. And from the Strucker/Jenkins interchange this issue, it's more than likely that no more Hydra money's going to the T-bolts. Which could be good or bad. The series fumbled a little bit originally after Zemo outed the team in Vol 1, but picked up again after a few months. Hopefully it won't take as long this time around.

Part of me is worried though. There are a lot of problems with a mystery set-up like Thunderbolts. You don't want to play all the cards at once, because there's a lot of fun to be had with the suspense, and it can fall flat once you reveal it all, but you can't hide your hand indefinitely lest your audience lose interest. That's my main concern with LOST as well. I can't wait for teh big reveal, but then what? I love the Thunderbolts, I just hope they've got some good plans in the works now that the "big secret" is out.

Re: hmm. (*SLIGHT* T-bolts spoilage, nothing major)

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I figured you meant allusion. And who's to say they won't STILL be funded by villains after this?

"Mr. Jenkins? I represent certain...persons...who would be quite pleased if Strucker was handed a few more setbacks like that one in New York. They will pick up your financial support, as well as provide you with some useful information..."

"Fine. Just don't put any plants on my team, we've run out of bedrooms for all the outside spies."

Re: hmm. (*SLIGHT* T-bolts spoilage, nothing major)

[loki-liesmith.livejournal.com]

I knew you'd get what I meant, I just hate it when I make stupid typos. :)

And if anything like your scenario happened, that would be HOT. I hadn't thought of that possibility.