Comics July 13, First Looks July 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.
My students did pretty well on Exam 2.  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 July 20:

     Defenders #1 (of 5): Marvel - Ah, the joys of inflation.  I've seen
enough 5 issue minis lately that it's clearly the new preferred TPB size at
Marvel.  As for the story...eh.  It has some good moments, but they're trying
too hard to recreate the old JLBwahaha.  Not gonna be buying this one.
$2.99/$4.25Cn
     Spider-Man HoM #2 (of 5): Marvel - Act I is exposition, Act II is
complication, and that's pretty much how this series is going.  I expect
things to get truly nasty next issue.  Mildly 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.

     Green Arrow #52: DC - The cover is a bit misleading, but not in a bad
way.  And while Identity Crisis still annoys me, this is a good use of the
event's fallout.  Recommended.  $2.50/$3.50Cn
     JLA #116: DC - See above, although the cover isn't misleading.  :) I
suppose I shoulda seen the Surprise Villain coming, all things considered.
Recommended.  $2.50/$3.50Cn
     Gravity #2 (of 5): Marvel - Good "getting into the business" story,
feels like a part of the MU rather than being its own little deal.  A little
heavy on the irony, but tolerable.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     New Thunderbolts #10: Marvel - Ooooookay.  Weirdness falls from the air
annat.  Nicieza does a good job of quickly dealing with some of the
continuity chaos left in his path by other writers, so that the book can get
involved with HoM.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Dr. Blink #2: Dork Storm - I think I've just seen too many Robin
parodies in my life, this one didn't work so well for me, although it was
structurally good.  The b-plot was kinda tiresome.  I kinda liked the backup,
though...Wednesday White as a superhero, sorta.  :)  Mildly recommended.
$3.49
     Dork Tower #31: Dork Storm - Feel the premise strrrrrretch.  :)  Shoulda
seen it coming, with Igor being put in a position of responsibility and all.
Decent issue overall, though.   Recommended.  $2.99
     Serenity #1 (of 3): Dark Horse - Does an okay job of introducing all the
characters and the basic situation but still pretty clearly reads as
something for existing fans.  Of course, given that even a bomb of a TV show
gets more eyeballs than most comics, it's not exactly a bad sales strategy.
Recommended for existing Firefly fans, mildly recommended otherwise (has fun
bits, but is liable to leave the uninitiated cold in other places).  $2.99
     Invincible #24: Image - Fairly straightforward stomp-the-mastermind
plot, but with lots of ominous foreboding.  Recommended.  $2.99/$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 7/13:

     Tales of the Champions #1.

Awards:

Best Book: None.

"And Yet, The Hat Stayed On" Award to Green Arrow #52

"Ten Minutes I'll Never Get Back" Award to JLA #116

"Greenwich Guardian?  Yeah, I Know Where THIS Is Going" Award to Gravity #2
     (of 5) 

"The Authorial Fallacy" Award to New Thunderbolts #10

"The Astonishing New Character Find Of 1942...and 1945, and 1952, and..."
     Award to Dr. Blink #2

"Con-Tempt" Award to Dork Tower #31

"Is It When Yet?" Award to Serenity #1 (of 3)

"Unrippable My Butt" Award to Invincible #24

   Dave Van Domelen, "Say hi to CANADA! Jerk." - Gravity

Comments

[lurkerwithout.livejournal.com]

My comics shop didn't get Dr. Blink this week. *sigh*

And Fowler needs to stop drawing. Forever.