Comics for February 18, 2008

[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.
I am typing this on my new iMac, woot.  An archive can be found on my 
             homepage, http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/Rants 

"Other Media" Capsules:

     Things that are comics-related but not necessarily comics
(i.e. comics-based movies like Iron Man or Hulk), or that aren't going to be
available via comic shops (like comic pack-ins with DVDs) will go in this
section when I have any to mention.  They may not be as timely as comic
reviews, especially if I decide to review novels that take me a week or two
(or ten) to get around to.

     None this week.

Comics 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.

     Books of Note (Strongly Recommended or otherwise worthy): Amazing
Spider-Man #587, Marvel Adventures Avengers #33, Gold Digger v3 #103

     The Brave and the Bold #22: DC - Last issue before a hiatus of some
sort, although given that the putative next arc involves the HERO dial I may
stick around.  The current arc ends on a pretty treacly note, which surprises
me not at all.  Neutral.  $2.99

     Justice League of America #30: DC - Mostly a big fight scene and vague
foreshadowing for, well, the villain who got his backstory dumped on us in
#29, so the vagueness was kinda unnecessary.  Cute use of science trappings
in the final plot device, though.  Mildly recommended.  $2.99

     Adventure #0: DC - I broke down and got this at a local media store
(Hastings, for those familiar with it).  The lead is a reprint of Adventure
#247, the first appearance of the Legion, complete with "wrong" names and
costumes, although adding in the more recent coloring retcon to place Brainy
on the scene.  Believe it or not, I think this is the first time I've read
the entire thing.  The backup is an Origins & Omens piece where Lex Luthor
wheels around Brainiac 1 and is all ominous while in jail.  Eh.  Anyway, if
you don't already have a reprint of Adv247, it's worth a buck to grab this.
$1.00 

     Mysterius the Unfathomable #2 (of 6): DC/Wildstorm - ("stealth"
miniseries, solicited as such but not listed on the cover)  Two or more plot
threads wind through this issue, and the reader can see some of the
connections, but the characters can't yet.  There's also a thinly veiled
pastiche of Anton "Fear My Scary Hat" LeVay in the 60s flashback sequence.
:) The writing's a little heavier on the "move the plot along" than in #1,
but still a good read.  Fowler continues to do good work in the Bernie
Wrightson mold.  Recommended.  $2.99

     X-Factor #40: Marvel - Well, this here's about how Madrox deals with the
Shocking Events of last issue.  And since angst is a natural part of the
Mutant Experience, it's not much of a spoiler to say he deals with it...
poorly.  Along the way, a few niggling details are resolved, one of which is
rather gross if you think about it too much.  :)  DeLandro's darker style is
certainly appropriate to the mood of the issue.  Recommended.  $2.99

     The Amazing Spider-Man #587: Marvel - Great scripting from Guggenheim,
and the Spider Tracer Killer mystery is finally let into the light, although
the plot has hardly resolved.  Certainly the month for revelations in ASM,
yes?  Strongly recommended.  $2.99

     Marvel Adventures Avengers #33: Marvel - BWAHAHA!  Tobin manages to work
the running gags just right and avoid them becoming tedious, while Guara's
art supports them well.  Also, there's a preview of First Class #12 at the
end that has me strongly tempted to pick that up as well, curse you Van
Lente!  Strongly recommended.  $2.99.

     Dynamo5 #0: Image - A little bit of downtime in civvies followed by a
short fight scene that shows off everyone's powers and resources, wrapping up
with ominous foreboding.  In other words, while short, the story does what a
promotional 99 cent issue should do.  There's also a text piece summarizing
the storyline so far, something that more promo issues should do.
Recommended.  $0.99

     Gold Digger v3 #103: Antarctic Press - Smaller company print job
batching can cause weird scheduling.  :)  The hidden city in chains plot gets
backburnered for a bit (well, sort of backburnered, they're doing research on
it this issue, but it's not really the PLOT plot) so that some bits of
pre-#100 business can get looked at.  The overwhelmingly overriding theme of
this issue is "blowing opportunities and getting second chances," and there's
at least three characters who get run through that particular wringer, form
scales grand to personal.  It starts a little shakily (as in, I read #102
last week and still felt like I had missed something), but finishes very
strongly.  Strongly recommended.  $2.99 US/Cn

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 2/18/09: Official Handbook of the Gold Digger
Universe #22, Transformers Maximum Dinobots #1 and 2, Transformers Revenge of
the Fallen: Alliance #1 and 2, Transformers Revenge of the Fallen: Defiance
#1, Jersey Gods #1, Booster Gold #17, REBELS #1, Gen13 v4 #27.  Add
Invincible #59.

Awards:

"Yes, Being A **** Is In Character For Him" Award to The Brave and the Bold
     #22

"When The Moon Hits Your...Asia" Award to Justice League of America #30

"Superdickery Survives 1000 Years" Award to Adventure #0

"Admit It, You've Wanted To See That Happen To David Blaine Too" Award to
     Mysterius the Unfathomable #2 (of 6)

"Nun Shall Pass" Award to X-Factor #40

"His Sense Of Sarcasm Is Superhumanly Heightened Too" Award to The Amazing
     Spider-Man #587

"Someone Alert Randall Munroe" Award to Marvel Adventures Avengers #33

"Janitors Get All The Cool Powers" Award to Dynamo5 #0

"LOLgods" Award to Gold Digger v3 #103

   Dave Van Domelen, "We're starting with FRENCH FRIES? This ALREADY makes no sense." - Wolverine, MA Avengers #33

   Bonus Quote: "'TEACHING MOMENT' usually means 'Let's try and get Kitty KILLED'..." - Kitty Pryde, X-Men First Class #12 preview