Comics for June 2

[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'm thinking of doing a webcomic.  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.

June 8:

     Green Arrow #51: DC - Peaty (writer) and Battle (art) take over for a
bit.  Decent one-shot story, if a bit purple at times.  Recommended.
$2.50/$3.50Cn 
     (There was no Marvel pack this week, probably gonna arrive Friday or
something.) 


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.

     DC Special: the Return of Donna Troy #1 (of 4): DC - As seen in
Otherworld, Jimenez has a LOT of ideas, but doesn't do a great job in pacing
how they come out.  Add to this that the main bad guys of the piece have
never really clicked with me (despite many things that SHOULD make me like
them), and the fact that it's tied into the Rann/Thanagar War in the
clumsiest way possible, and you get a book I'm not sure I'll be picking up
more of.  Garcia-Lopez's art is okay.  Very mildly recommended.
$2.99/$4.00Cn 
     JSA #74: DC - Despite the whole crossover mania, this is readable and
generally keeps up with the title's own plots and themes.  Good art from
Leonard Kirk.  Recommended.  $2.50/$3.50Cn
     Villains United #2 (of 6): DC - Well, the way things turn out is
unsurprising, if a little disappointing.  Decent read.  Mildly recommended.
$2.50/$3.50Cn 
     Fantastic Four Foes #5 (of 6): Marvel - Well, the flailing plot changes
SEEM to have settled down, although there's some bits that seem to be
careless continuity errors.  Mildly recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Marvel Team-Up #9: Marvel - A whole issue of 'meanwhile' stuff again.
Some good bits, but still feels like marking time.  Mildly recommended.
$2.25/$3.25Cn
     eXiles #65: Marvel - Some fairly clever bits here, most of them well-
foreshadowed.  Calafiore goofed a bit on the cover.  Recommended.
$2.99/$4.25Cn
     Incredible Hulk #82: Marvel - Quick followup for this one issue buffer
story.  Jae Lee's art is about as murky as usual, and his visual storytelling
leaves a lot to be desired.  Decent story from Peter David, tho.  Recommended
despite the art.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Invincible #23: Image - Ahhhhh, captions and footnotes.  On the title
page, I find out who the unfamiliar focus character is, what he's doing, and
in what issue he last appeared.  Oh, for the days when this was standard
practice.  By page 5 the captions do get a bit out of hand, though.  :)
Anyway, the actual story is both light-heartedly fun and brutally gory, which
I'm starting to suspect is the norm around here.  Recommended.  $2.95/$3.70Cn
     

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 6/2:

     Savage Henry Puppet Trap, Savage Henry Powerchords #2, Flare #2 and #0,
Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures v1 TPB, Essential Luke Cage v1,
Transformers: Aspects of Evil TPB. 

Awards:

Best Book: Invincible #23

Rabbit-Breeders Cup: Robert Kirkman, who wrote nearly half of what I bought
     this week (FFFoes, MTU, Invincible).

"Needed To Spend More DMPs" Award to DC Special: The Return of Donna Troy #1
     (of 4)

"Man Loves, God Kills?" Award to JSA #74

"Real Horrorshow" Award to Villains United #2 (of 6)

"Thinking Too Much Or Too Little" Award to Fantastic Four Foes #5 (of 6)

"Did Stilt-Man REALLY Need An Upgrade?" Award to Marvel Team-Up #9

"Don't You Hate It When Sand Gets Into Everything?" Award to eXiles #65

"Home Is Where The Heartless" Award to Incredible Hulk #82

"Discreetly Looking Award" Award to Invincible #23

   Dave Van Domelen, "I know this is not my style -- but sometimes you must HIT things." - The Red Ghost, FFFoes

Comments

Invincible

[lurkerwithout.livejournal.com]

Quote: Anyway, the actual story is both light-heartedly fun and brutally gory, which
I'm starting to suspect is the norm around here.

Yeah, pretty much.