Comics for...let's just say the first week of July, okay?

[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.
Another late night at the comic shop.  Rants, Capsules can be found on my 
             homepage, http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/Rants 

     Well, UPS didn't bring the comics until nearly closing time on Thursday,
so I couldn't get 'em until Friday.  I didn't read the First Looks, due to
time concerns (went to see the FF movie this afternoon, liked it, Alba wasn't
as horrible as I'd feared...in fact, she was actually competent and not
jarring in the role).

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.

     None this week.

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.

     Uncanny X-Men #462: Marvel - Okay, had to take a look inside the
"Captain Britain and all the multiverse stuff" cover by Davis.  And having
looked, am doomed.   To buy this book, anyway.  It's a nice bit of nostalgia,
and it looks like Uncanny may cross over with HoM by...not beong directly
involved.  :)  Recommended.  $2.50/$3.50Cn  (Note: I did not actually get to
buy this...a lot of people added it to their pulls after the order had
already been made, and there weren't enough for even all the pulls.)
     Marvel Team-Up #10: Marvel - Cap and Logan get tossed into the mix, and
then everyone from the disconnected stories of the past several issues
converges.  Heh.  Kirkman dishes out one MEAN anticlimax.  Recommended.
$2.99/$4.25Cn
     eXiles #66: Marvel - A transitional episode, as everyone figures out
what to do next, at least short term.  And what to do next looks like it's
gonna be fun fun fun.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Incredible Hulk #83: Marvel - House of M crossover.  It offers an
interesting interpretation of the whole event, complementing that of Uncanny
X-Men.  Anyway, while Spider-Man HoM shows the gentle tyranny of mutant rule,
this arc shows...a different mind on matters, if you will.  And it brings
back Pyro, which makes a friend of mine very happy.  :)  Recommended.
$2.99/$4.25Cn 
     DC Special: The Return of Donna Troy #2 (of 4): DC - I think I may have
dropped this from my pull last month, but it was a relatively slow week, so
what the heck.  This pretty much picks up from the end of the Insiders arc,
and it's better than #1, if still a bit infodump-y.  Mildly recommended.
$2.99/$4.00Cn 
     Villains United #3 (of 6): DC - Booyah.  A bit of Secret Origins, some
nice moral ambiguity, yet a distinct impression that the "good guys" came out
on top.  Whatever that means in a book with all villains.  And, just as an
aside, Black Adam really looks like Captain Marvel in Semeiks's portrayal.
The face, I mean.  Wonder if it's intentional?  Recommended.  $2.50/$3.50Cn
(Warning: a couple bits are not for the squeamish.)
     JSA #75: DC - Lots of life and death stuff, and this is definitely Black
Adam Week at DC.  I can't really say much more without giving away the Big
Spoilers of the issue, but suffice to say that Johns pulled off some good
storytelling tricks.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.00Cn
     The Dead Boy Detectives: DC/Vertigo - Yes, I'm not a Sandman fan.  But I
liked Jill Thompson's previous semi-shoujo Sandman manga, so I ordered this
one too.  This is a fun "schoolgirl adventure mystery" story, and despite not
really being a fan of the genre, I liked it.  Quite fun, and as an added
bonus they include some pages from At Death's Door, some of which recounted
the origins of the Dead Boy Detectives.  Recommended.  $9.99/$13.50Cn

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 7/8:

     Tales of the Champions #1.

Awards:

Best Book: I'm gonna go with Dead Boy Detectives by a nose.  Liking a story
     from a genre I don't like is more of an accomplishment than making me
     like a story from a genre I *do* like. 

"I Blame Larry" Award to Uncanny X-Men #462

"Actually, It DID Seem That Silly At The Time" Award to Marvel Team-Up #10

"GREEEEERONNNNNNK!" Award to eXiles #66

"A Greener Shade Of Pale" Award to Incredible Hulk #83

"Maybe The Fault DOES Lie In The Stars" Award to DC Special: The Return of
     Donna Troy #2 (of 4)

"Excellence In Innovative Retasking" Award to Villains United #3 (of 6)

"Awww, I Wanted Giant Scissors" Award to JSA #75

"Hijinks Ensue" Award to the Dead Boy Detectives 

   Dave Van Domelen, "What in the world just happened? I thought you were fighting the RINGMASTER!" "I don't know -- he's all COSMIC now. Got some new ring. Just -- uh -- die knowing he's not as lame as he used to be." "That brings me no comfort whatsoever." - Daredevil, Spider-Man, Moon Knight. - Marvel Team-Up #10

P.S. I did look through the First Looks packet, nothing in it that I absolutely had to read, nor anything I was on the fence about buying.