Delayed comics for Apr 13, First Looks for Apr 20

[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.
16 days is way too long to have a cold.  Rants, Capsules can be found on my 
             homepage, http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/Rants 

First Looks:
     Every so often, I'll have the time (either while waiting for comics to
be sorted on Wednesday, or over the weekend) to pull out my PDA 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.
     If I read the First Looks on Wednesday, I won't include them in the next
week's review.  But if I don't get around to them until the weekend, I'll
include them in the next regular post.

For April 20 - 

     JLA Classified #6: DC - ICBINTJL continues this issue, after Countdown
kicked it in the teeth.  The main "burgers in Hell" joke is a bit weak, but I
continue to like how Guy is written, even if it's probably already been
retconned away.  I'll be keeping an eye out for the TPB.  $2.99/$4.00Cn
     Hercules #1 (of 5): Marvel - Tieri's writing is better than I remember
it, and Texiera's art is a little more subdued.  I may actually pick this up,
the plot looks promising.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     New X-Men #12: Marvel - Okay story and art, decent soap opera going on.
Nice to see that even though the events of #10 turned out in a predictable
manner, it's still having an impact.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Amazing Spider-Man #519: Marvel - New Avengers spillover, and an amusing
read most of the way.  But then it becomes a chapter in the Hydra War.  As
has been pointed out in things like the Life of Reilly (Clone Saga analysis),
there's some stories that are too big to really work with Spider-Man, and
this looks like it may be one of those stories.  $2.25/$3.25Cn
     Fantastic Four #525: Marvel - Kesel and Grummett take over this issue.
Good start, although some historical stuff gets mixed up (i.e. there was no
Spanish Inquisition in the 9th Century).  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn 
     Livewires #3 (of 6): Marvel - Another fun op, seen from multiple angles,
plus another short origins infodump.  A good read.  Recommended.
$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.

     Iron Man v4 #3: Marvel - Granov's fight scene blocking could use some
work, especially since he eschews standard visual shorthand of the comic
form.  For instance, there's a panel where I *think* Iron Man is firing some
pellets at his opponent, but there's no real indication of motion or
direction...the pellets could be coming from the opponent instead, or be a
shotgun blast from off-panel fired by cops, or just some road grit kicked up
in the battle, etc.  At least the non-fightscene parts of this issue are more
than talking heads.  Mildly recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     eXiles #62: Marvel - The cover proclaims this is the secret origin, but
it's more like the lead-in to the origin.  Interesting enough read, though.
Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     New Thunderbolts #7: Marvel - Story-wise, it's a fairly standard "wrap
up and catch your breath" issue, but the involvement of Sienkiewicz adds a
bit of spice.  Oh, and Fabe isn't afraid to use the real Condi.  Recommended.
$2.99/$4.25Cn
     Green Arrow #49: DC - Battle's art is off and on, and the story felt
like it could lose about a third of its pages without missing them.  Not bad,
just...trying to avoid peaking early, and being a little too obvious about
it.  Mildly recommended.  $2.50/$3.50Cn
     JSA #72: DC - I feel like I missed an issue between #71 and #72, or at
least a few pages.  It was a good wrap-up and set-up, with some good homages
(not least being the cover), and I like how Degaton's handled (the ultimate
winner, yet the ultimate loser).  Recommended.  $2.50/$3.50Cn
     Tom Strong #32: DC/ABC - Moorcock wraps up his Elric-esque story with a
plot twist reminiscent of the Legion of Substitute Heroes.  The story's a bit
scattered, but generally entertaining.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.00Cn
     Flaming Carrot Comics #2: Image/Desperado - More lovely weirdness and
sexy women.  :)  Burden manages to avoid going too far with some of the
political stuff, retaining the absurd and avoiding the polemical...the
impression one gets is less of right or left wing and more of "you should
stop being so easily offended, have some baloney".  Recommended.
$3.50/$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 4/13:

     Savage Henry Puppet Trap, Savage Henry Powerchords #2, Flare #2, Bill
and Ted's Excellent Adventures v1 TPB, Essential Luke Cage v1.

Awards:

Best Book: None.

"The Other Anti-Cap Meat" Award to Iron Man v4 #3

"Bugs In The System" Award to eXiles #62

"The Purple Gang" Award to New Thunderbolts #7

"Never Assume You've Disarmed A Guy Who Calls Himself Arsenal" Award to 
     Green Arrow #49

"Crisis Of Infinite Cleavage" Award to JSA #72

"What's Melnibonian For 'You Shore Got A Purty Mouth'?" Award to Tom Strong
     #32

"Those Who Live In Glass Haberdasheries" Award to Flaming Carrot Comics #2

   Dave Van Domelen, "...or will you simply cease to be just prior to it? Will the timeline retcon you out? Erase you as it erased your precious Huntress?" - Per Degaton

Comments

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

New Avengers #1 is several months in the future, and has not happened yet as of New Thunderbolts #7. Or #25, most likely, the way Marvel Time works. But yes, that's the Purple Man.