Comics for Sept 14, First Looks for Sept 21

[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.
The Monarchs are fluttering by today.  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.

September 21:

     Machine Teen #5 (of 5): Marvel - And the retelling of the Machine Man
story finishes out its first tale.  They really missed a step in naming the
arc "History 101001".  Shoulda been 110011, but I'll leave it as an exercise
to the reader why.  :) Anyway, decent ending, if not too surprising or
sensational.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Black Panther #8: Marvel - gotta love a cover that features Storm naked
save for strategic wisps of cloth, and with breasts clearly bigger than her
head, for that matter.  On the other hand, for once a Marvel cover depicts
something that happens inside the book.  :) The story is disjointed even for
a crossover, and Black Panther sounds like they grabbed some random actor and
stuffed him in th suit.  Bleh.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Captain America v5 #10: Marvel - HoM tie-in.  This is your basic montage
story, covering the outline of Steve Rogers's life in the new "monkey's paw"
timeline.  Decent, if not riveting.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     eXiles #70: Marvel - HoM tie-in.  Good story, even if it gets a bit
exposition-heavy at times.  And I really like the Pelletier, Magyar et al
art.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Top 10 Beyond the Farthest Precinct #2 (of 5): DC/ABC - Hm, is this
weekly or something?  More easter eggs, some advanccement of various plot
threads, then a plot development that verges on farcical cliche.  Eh.
$2.99/$4.00Cn


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 #464: Marvel - Forgot to grab this last week.  Of course,
they forgot to actually continue the story from last issue (yes, it may well
have been continued through another book in the HoM event, but it was still
sloppy storytelling).  Bachalo's art is okay, but it's no Alan Davis.  And
the story is...ehn.  It makes sense, it's not the Moron Plot or anything.
But it's a let-down after #463.  Mildly recommended.  $2.50/$3.50Cn
     Marvel MegaMorphs #3 (of 4): Marvel - Good schtick, especially from
Spider-Man ("Sure doesn't *feel* over.  It feels only, like...three-quarters
over.").  Plot's a bit on the dumb side, though, and no free pass for being a
tie-in to a crappy toy line.  Mildly recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Gravity #4 (of 5): Marvel - Meanwhile, in Sean McKeever's other book
this week, the protagonist goes through some emotional whiplash and the Final
Conflict is set up in a reasonably competent manner.  The Page 22 Twist was
foreshadowed fairly clearly during the issue, but there's still at least one
question about it to be answered beyond "will Gravity survive?"
Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Green Arrow #54: DC - This issue's cover really belongs on #55, I
think.  There's some good quiet stuff, and a decent fight scene, but too much
of the lingering bad taste of Identity Crisis.  Mildly recommended.
$2.50/$3.50Cn 
     JLA #118: DC - Speaking of which, more IC stuff here.  Incriminations,
angsting, etc.  But also some good, solid Villainy That Must Be Opposed as a
break from the gray area stuff.  Batista's layouts are a bit too oriented
towards the Convention Resale Cheesecake market, unfortunately.  Mildly
recommended.  $2.50/$3.50Cn
     JSA #77: DC - Ostensibly a Day of Vengeance tie-in, but it's really a
grab bag of all the "countdown" event crossovers.  As a result, it lacks
focus and gives the impression that the plot threads in this issue won't
resolve in the pages of JSA.  It was nice to see Hal Jordan again, though.
No, the other one.  Well, both.  Mildly recommended.  $2.50/$3.50Cn
     Gold Digger v3 #67: Antarctic Press - Lots of flashy CG effects and
fight scening.  Took a couple read-throughs to figure out what happened on
pages 6-7, though, especially since it happened to minor characters.  Mildly
recommended.  $2.99/$4.05Cn
     PS238 #12: Dork Storm Press - Ah, the air abounds in Doctor Who
references (and I finally got the reference in the name of the time traveling
kid at the school), plus the usual "note that was never actually written"
sort of time loops typical to time travel stories.  Williams apologizes in
the inside front page for any headaches the two-parter (with option for a
third later on) may cause.  Heh.  Strongly recommended.  $2.99

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 9/14:

     Transformers Way of the Warrior TPB (which shows as "backordered" on
Diamond's system, meaning they're out).  Thunderbolts was charged to my
store, but not actually delivered.  Wonder if the reorder will be ignored
because it's under $600?

Awards:

Best Book: PS238 #12

"The Focused Totality Of My Convoluted Backstory" Award to Uncanny X-Men #464 

"The New Fantastic Five!" Award to Marvel MegaMorphs #3 (of 4)

"We're Not A Couple" Award to Gravity #4 (of 5)

"Or We Could Just Wait For A Large Explosion And Go That Direction" Award to
     Green Arrow #54

"?CI tegroF esaelP I naC" Award to JLA #118

"Picking Up Realtime Radio From Rann?  Oooookay" Award to JSA #77

"Is That A Mage In Your Pocket, Or Are You Just Happy To See Me?" Award to
     Gold Digger v3 #67

"Gee, I Can Be A Real Jerk" Award to PS238 #12

   Dave Van Domelen, "No one talks inside Hulk's brain -- except HULK!" - Marvel MegaMorphs #3

Comments

[foomf.livejournal.com]

so, 101001 is octal 51. What's the problem?