Comics for Apr 27, First Looks May 4

[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.
Day 30, coughing finally going away.  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 May 4 - 

     Villains United #1 (of 6): DC - Oooooooh, five months until Infinite
Crisis, according to the banner across the top of the cover.  I do believe I
will have to buy this book, if only because Mike the Parademon is in it.  Not
to mention scads of other obscure characters.  However, I didn't care for the
"kill a classic character off just to show they're hardcore" thing.  Other
than that, though, a good start.  Recommended.  $2.50/$3.50Cn
     Power Pack v2 #2 (of 4): Marvel - The main story's plot is pretty
well-trod ground, but decently traveled.  The Franklin backup is okay.
$2.99/$4.25Cn
     New X-Men #13: Marvel - This is a "fallout" book, with the events in
other X-books driving what happens in this one, offering a different
perspective on those events.  DeFilippis and Weir do a good job of making it
accessible to someone who, like me, didn't read the main story.
$2.99/$4.25Cn
     GLA #2 (of 4): Marvel - Significantly heavier on the humor this issue.
The Swordsman scene alone is worth the price of admission.  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.

     Red Sonja #0: Dynamite - 'Tis the week for cheap zero issues.  And
speaking of cheap, this one opens with a butt-cleavage close-up that slowly
pans out.  Yeah, can see what market segment *this* book is shooting for.
And like porn, the story is just barely enough to allow for the action.
It'll take much better than this to lure me into buying the regular series,
although a quarter for some pretty good bloody cheesecake isn't a bad deal.
25 cents.
     Invincible #0: Image - Not really sure why I didn't start getting this
book from the start, as I like Kirkman.  Maybe I was feeling swamped at the
time or something.  Anyway, when this zero issue came up in Previews, I
decided to pick it up and see if I'd been wrong to pass the title up.  On the
plus side, this is a pretty good  summary of the series, neither too dry nor
too shallow/splash-pagey.  On the minus, since it *is* a summary, it's harder
to tell how Kirkman's storytelling flow is on this book.  I've read some
great stuff from him and some royal clunkers, so I can't just trust to past
history.  Still, a very good starting point info-wise.  Recommended.  50
cents.
     House of M sketchbook: Marvel - This one's free, woo.  Pencil art from
all over the event, a nice ad.  I particularly like the "process" stuff on
the last page.  Worth snagging if you see it.  Free.
     FF Foes #4 (of 6): Marvel - The best issue so far, and I'm amused to see
one of the "un-cliffhanger"  situations made into a cliffhanger again
(although I can see a way for it to be un-cliffed again).  Numerous very good
bits, and the actual story is improving a bit.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     eXiles #63: Marvel - It's not ALL laid on the table, but a lot certainly
is.  And Sakakibara's art is better than usual.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Ultimate Secret #2: Marvel - Definitely makes up for the decompressed
start.  Much fun.  Strongly recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Supreme Power #16: Marvel MAX - I'm not too keen on the "Evil
U.S. Government out to destroy or control the heroes" plots.  You could say I
hate them with a passion.  But JMS is doing a good job of humanizing the
people behind it this issue, so I'm willing to endure.  Recommended.
$2.99/$4.25Cn (some nudity)
     Otherworld #2 (of 12): DC/Vertigo - Really confusingly written.  Some of
that is appropriate to the chaos of the issue, but a lot is because Jimenez
is trying to juggle a too-large cast.  Oh, and some nudity.  Mildly
recommended.  $2.99/$4.00Cn 
     Legion of Super-Heroes #5: DC - A little subplotting goes on, but mostly
this is a done in one story showing the Legion running into its first serious
threat.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Heaven Sent #9: Antarctic Press - Quite a lot of pose-downs, not so much
resolution.  Felt a bit thin.  And when the apocalypse feels kinda ehn, you
have problems.  Mildly recommended.  $2.99/$4.05Cn
     NHS #127: Antarctic Press - Fred Perry takes over this issue, hot on the
heels of B&B's departure.  As with a lot of Perry's inks-only work, it gets
kinda hard to follow in places.  The plot is kinda thin as well, but it's
amusing.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.05Cn

     I also picked up the 40 Years of Amazing Spider-Man CD set, 500 comics
in PDF form (with Acrobat readers for Windows and Mac included, other OS
users should be on the ball enough to know where to get it) for $49.99.  The
packaging is a bit on the flimsy side, but it's not like I plan to keep it in
the box.  No, I haven't read it all yet.  Probably never will.  But a great
reference collection, and I can ditch any hardcopies of the series I may
still have from before 2004.

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 4/27:

     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: Ultimate Secret #2

"More Like Issue 00" Award to Red Sonja #0

"Start At The Very Beginning, A Very Good Place To Start" Award to Invincible
     #0  (side note: Yeah, like that's the whole story about dad, suuuuure.)

"Iron Man Seed" Award to House of M Sketchbook

"No Flies On Him" Award to Fantastic Four Foes #4 (of 6)

"A Bug In The System" Award to eXiles #63

"The Blind Watchbreaker" Award to Supreme Power #16

"He's Given WAY Too Much Thought To His Cover Story" Award to Ultimate Secret
     #2

"Maybe I'll Make Sense Later" Award to Otherworld #2 (of 12)

"When Life Gives You Lemnos, Make Lemnoade?" Award to LSH v5 #5

"Kids Today" Awart to Heaven Sent #9

"Freudian Sledgehammer" Award to NHS #127

"Archival Bliss" Award to 40 Years of Amazing Spider-Man

   Dave Van Domelen, "So, Captain Marvel. You're a Cree. Guess that's one way to get off the reservation, right?" - Nick Fury, Ultimate Secret #2

Comments

[lurkerwithout.livejournal.com]

Actually that kind of is the whole story to Marc's dad. He summed it up pretty well there...

What got me to start grabbing Ult. Secret was the "Its a still" bit...

[scavgraphics.livejournal.com]

can ditch any hardcopies of the series I may
still have from before 2004.
I'll just take those 1-25...and the ones surround #300.