Comics for June 9

[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.
It has been a very damp day, bleah.  Rants, Capsules can be found on my 
             homepage, http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/Rants 

     Go check out http://www.whiterose.org/HowlingCurmudgeons/ when you're
done here. 

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.

     Archive Sampler: World's Best Comics Silver Age: DC - I picked this up
for the second story, a reprinting of the very first Legion of Super-Heroes
story.  In which Superboy is made to cry by the mean Legionnaires.  :) The
lead story is no great shakes, but it does seem to be pretty representative
of early silver age Justice League of America stories, down to the "take
advantage of the weaknesses of the heroes no matter how dumb it sounds" and
"the menace splits into pieces, one of which falls in the ocean" tropes.
Heh.  The final piece is a short Sgt. Rock story, notable for a reference to
him being in "East Company" rather than Easy Company.  Recommended.  99
cents/$1.50Cn
     Green Arrow #39: DC - Arc conclusion, with lots of action (well
portrayed by Hester) and a Hard Choice that's kinda telegraphed.  More
interesting, storywise, for what it sets up than for what it finishes,
though.  Recommended.  $2.50/$3.85Cn
     Fallen Angel #12: DC - I suppose it's only appropriate that after
finishing an arc that heavily involved flashbacks, we get a done-in-one
flashback story, set "one year ago".  A real Cinderella story, of sorts.  The
ending raises all sorts of amusing but not really plot-relevant questions
that I'll probably ask on Peter David's blog.  Heh.  Recommended.
$2.95/$4.50Cn 
     Iron Man v3 #84: Marvel - And so it begins.  This is an Avengers
Disassembled Prologue issue.  I'm really of two minds about it.  On the one
mind, this is gearing up for what, from everything I've seen about it, is
going to be a storyline that will have a VERY small chance of not sucking (at
least in terms of plot...it might be scripted very well, I just won't like
where the story's taking things).  On the other mind, this is the best
Avengers story I've read in a while (Avengers/JLA wasn't really an "Avengers
Story" so much as a "Mega Event Story").  Miller gets in a LOT of really good
little (and not so little) touches that show he really knows how this team
should work.  A pity they plan to make the team stop working.  Also, I have a
soft spot in my bra...er, heart for the menace unearthed in this issue.
Jorge Lucas does a good job on the art, putting in clues that are clear, but
not blatant.  I'd give this a "strongly recommended" if I wasn't filled with
trepidation about where this is going, so...Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Hawkeye #8: Marvel - On the other hand, this one isn't going anywhere,
it's cancelled as of this issue.  But it does get somewhere while it's still
going, this is a satisfyingly meaty issue.  Maybe knowing he had to wrap
things up so soon got Nicieza to dense-plot it, but it doesn't feel much like
a last minute change.  And while the plot resolves, the lives do not, there's
no overly-pat solutions.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Transformers Energon #24: Dreamwave - Whoa, major gear shift.  While it
starts out looking like buildup for the next phase of the war, it takes a
sharp left turn into becoming a very personal tale about the relationship
between two characters who are nothing like their cartoon counterparts: Tidal
Wave and Ironhide.  In the cartoon, Tidal Wave is a near-mindless thug, and
Ironhide is the "kid identification newbie", all annoyingly eager.  Furman's
versions of these two are much more interesting.  It gets a little
exposition-y at times, but is otherwise a good tale.  Strongly recommended.
$2.95 
     Savage Henry: Powerchords #1 (of 3): Aeon - One of the things I like
about Howarth's comics is that, for the most part, they're enjoyable and
understandable without having to know anything about the music scene that
saturates them.  For instance, I've heard of Hawkwind, but that's about it.
Yet my ignorance of Hawkwind's sound and history didn't get in the way of a
delightfully weird story.  This isn't to say that it's all spoonfed (i.e. the
mechanical plot device of the story has an awful, but obscure pun in its
name).  I also appreciated that while illegal bootlegging is portrayed as a
problem and ethically wrong, the reader isn't preached at.  In just a couple
of panels, Howarth brings up the issue, points out its complications, shrugs
wistfully and then moves on.  Recommended.  $2.95/$4.25Cn
     NHS #117: Antarctic Press - Wow, this really feels like a season
closer.  Big end of term blowout, revelations and departures and all that
stuff.  I can also kind of identify with it, having done a similar "stay up
really late at the end of the senior year with friends, to the point where
your brain curdles and everything becomes funny" thing.  Mind you, there were
no ninjas or demigods involved.  And the blurb promises *next* issue will be
about revelations?  Huh, wonder how they'll exceed this issue.  Recommended.
$2.99/$4.05Cn 
     Gold Digger v3 #53: Antarctic Press - While a little of the Uberplot
kicked off last issue moves forward, this is mostly going back to the Extreme
Fighting stuff and the Jade plotline.  Mainly an excuse for Perry to draw
lots of pages of hot babes beating the crud out of each other.  :)  But it's
amusingly done.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.05Cn
     The Beast That Ate Morioka: Sirius Entertainment - Mark Crilley's first
ever comic, now finally published.  Imagine your standard daikaiju (giant
monster) movie concept, but with a really cute, simple-looking monster.
Along the way, Crilley goes through a metamorphosis from "drew a lot, but
never as a comic" to the level of art shown in Akiko on the Planet Smoo.
It's a really interesting look at process, and an amusing story too (although
don't let Mark change currencies for you, he's off by a factor of ten...50000
Yen is $500, not $5000).  Also included are a number of previously
unpublished works, including one started for Akiko #50 but abandoned.
Strongly recommended.  $3.95
     Bone #55: Cartoon Books - This is it, the last issue.  Interestingly,
the Christmas Special from Hero Magazine, nearly a decade old, is worked into
the storyline here.  Things wrap up, the dead are buried, and a strong sense
of circular structure is imbued into this story (including a number of
tie-ins to #1).  Smiley Bone all but steals the show, although that should
surprise no one.  Recommended.  $2.95/$3.85Cn

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!)

     None for this week's stuff.

Awards:

Best Book: Tie between Transformers Energon #24 and The Beast That Ate
     Morioka

"Legion of Super-Hazers" Award to Archive Sampler: World's Best Comics
     Silver Age

"Arrowheads And Hearts" Award to Green Arrow #39

"Can I Remove The Mature Readers Label?" Award to Fallen Angel #12

"The Sins Of The Father" Award to Iron Man v3 #84

"By The Skin Of His Teeth" Award to Hawkeye #8 (of 8)

"A Velvet Heart In An Iron Hide" Award to Transformers Energon #24

"Three Quarks For Muster Mark" Award to Savage Henry: Powerchords #1 (of 3)

"Surfed And Turfed" Award to NHS #117

"The Full Monty" Award to Gold Digger v3 #53

The S. Chaput "I Think It's Coming Back Up!" Award to The Beast That Ate
     Morioka

"That's A LOT Of Bread Thingies" Award to Bone #55

     Dave Van Domelen, "And...I'm *babbling*, aren't I?" - Ironhide