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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.
Garner's baby should NOT be making CNNHN. Rants, Capsules can be found on my
homepage, http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/Rants
Diamond's Denver warehouse reportedly dropped a great many balls, so I
didn't get my comics until Friday (so much for catching the 4:00 showing of
Serenity).
Oh, and I'm unlikely to do any First Looks next week. Massimo Pigliuci
is giving a talk on campus next Wednesday from 3:30-5:30, so I won't have the
time to slouch about the comic shop and read First Looks.
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.
October 5:
Spider-Man: the Other Sketchbook: Marvel - No, not that sketchbook, the
Other one. Well, it's art. From thumbnails to fairly tight pencils to inked
pages. Some hinting, but if you don't read the ad on the insideback cover,
little is really revealed. Nice art, but not really useful if you're into
Process for the purpose of improving your own art. The pencils are all too
finished to help in that regard. $2.99/$4.25Cn
Devil Dinosaur v2 #1: Marvel Monsters Group - Okay, not really v2, since
the official title includes the imprint. The lead story features Kirby
homage art by Eric Powell, the second story has actual Kirby art, being a
reprint of 1960's Journey into Mystery #62 featuring Xemnu (who is mostly
called The Hulk, predating Dr. Banner). The main story seems to de-retcon
DD's origins a tad. Otherwise, a fun and fluffy story. Recommended.
$3.99/$5.75Cn
Uncanny X-Men #465: Marvel - HoM tie-in. Lots of fighting and plot
device smacking, and that's about it for this disappointing end to what
started with such promise. Then again, it's looking like nobody is allowed
to steal any thunder from the main HoM book. Neutral. $2.50/$3.50Cn
Incredible Hulk #87: Marvel - Ooooh, main timeline consequences of HoM.
Decent denounment, but sadly also marks Peter David's last issue on the book
(for the time being, anyway). Nice Kubert art, but not his best.
Recommended. $2.99/$4.25Cn
Marvel Team-Up #13: Marvel - Good tie-up of loose ends and plot threads
before heading on to the even bigger plot threads. Recommended.
$2.99/$4.25Cn
New Thunderbolts #13: Marvel - Okay, it's a hero-on-hero fight issue,
but it's very well done. Both Nicieza's writing and Grummett's art (there's
a two page splash near the end that has amazingly well put-together
blocking). Strongly 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.
Otherworld #7 (of 12): DC/Vertigo - They're really pushing this one
hard, I think it's been in every FL pack since it started. Major things
happen this issue, but I got no sense of drama or importance. Mildly
recommended. $2.99/$4.00Cn
JLA #119: DC - Eh. Okay, it's following the logical consequences of
recent mega-events, and it's nice to see some characters quit angsting and DO
something, but this didn't really move me. Mildly recommended.
$2.50/$3.50Cn
LSH v5 #10: DC - Nice cover effect. This issue sort of teeters back and
forth between triumph and tragedy, a sort of mixed state that one might
expect from a #10 issue (given that big climaxes are usually saved for #12).
A good story, leaving things uncertain enough that we can't even be totally
sure that what did happen really happened. Recommended. $2.99/$4.00Cn
ABC A-Z #1: DC/ABC - This was billed as a sort of reference book, like
Secret Files or OHOTMU. It's definitely more like the former in format, and
like the latter in being more infodump than story. Both bits (Tom Strong and
Jack B. Quick) are written well enough to be engaging as well as
informative. Recommended. $3.99/$5.50Cn
Cable & Deadpool #20: Marvel - This does seem to be more typical then
last issue. Goes a bit overboard with the innuendo, but an amusing read.
Recommended. $2.99/$4.25Cn
Drax the Destroyer #1 (of 4): Marvel - Decent, uncomplicated story so
far from Giffen, making good use of obscure continuity. However, Breitweiser
is one of those artists who really can't handle aliens. They all look like
low-detail humans with maybe a blemish or two. Mildly recommended.
$2.999/$4.25Cn
OHOTMU Alternate Universes 2005: Marvel - I haven't done more than
skim this one yet (I mean, have you *looked* at the size of my pull list this
week?), but it looks worthwhile. The theme is kinda shaky...it covers
everything from stuff that's actually in the mainstream Marvel U (like High
Evolutionary's Counter-Earth) through alternate dimensions/futures all the
way to stuff that is less related to the Marvel U than, well, the DCU (like
the Shadowline imprint). Recommended. $3.99/$5.75Cn
Spider-Man House of M #4 (of 5): Marvel - Unsurprisingly, nothing really
gets resolved or clarified in this issue, since that gets saved for the final
wrap-up (and hopefully means that this HoM tie-in will actually get to have a
real climax, unlike so many others). Rather, the pieces are moved into place
for the resolution. Recommended. $2.99/$4.25Cn
Fantastic Four #531: Marvel - Big explosions and philosophical
blockbusting, pretty typical for Straczynski. :) I'm worried that the payoff
will be a letdown (I mean, the FF met God not too long ago, it's hard to go
cosmogenesic again so soon and have it not feel pale by comparison), but it's
going pretty well so far. Recommended. $2.99/$4.25Cn
Ultimate Secret #3 (of 4): Marvel - Wow, this series might actually get
finished. Mind you, from what little I pay attention to about the rest of
the Ultimate universe, there are dead characters running around here. Lots
of fun banter, especially the geekgasmic stuff. Even if it doesn't really go
much of anywhere, it's a fun ride. Recommended. $2.99/$4.25Cn
Hulk: Destruction #3 (of 4): Marvel - Innnnnnnteresting. Not only is
Abomination getting retconned, so is one of PAD's more oddball supporting
characters. Raiz's bits are pretty good this time, and he has a MUCH better
idea of how to draw a woman in bodyarmor than Muniz does. Recommended.
$2.99/$4.25Cn
Tales of the Champions v4 #2: Heroic Publishing - Back to new stories,
the Jensen family is taking over this title for the time being. Decent
stories, although some of the dialogue (especially in the Nemesis Girl story)
is cringeworthy. One interesting thing is that they do seem to be treating
the real life break in publishing as an in-story passage of time. Mildly
recommended. $2.99/$3.99Cn
Invincible #26: Image - Largely a "breather" issue as characters deal
with emotional issues and things get set up for another big boom. I was a
bit bothered that female insect people had mammaries, but that was more or
less resolved to my satisfaction by issue's end. :) Recommended.
$2.99/$3.65Cn
PS238 #13: Dork Storm - That was fast...I guess that's what happens when
time travel is involved. A weird, but fun romp through time. 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 9/28:
Transformers Way of the Warrior TPB (which shows as "backordered" on
Diamond's system, meaning they're out). Flare #28 didn't show up here, but
was on the store's invoice. Bone Sharps, Cowboys and Thunder Lizards did not
show up, but also wasn't on the invoice, and wasn't on shipping lists
either. So those of you who got it this week were lucky.
Awards:
Best Book: You know, with all of those books, you'd think there'd be at least
one that blew me away. But either I'm just shellshocked from the sheer
quantity, or there really wasn't a clear frontrunner.
"A Pox On Both Your Houses" Award to Otherworld #7 (of 12)
"And Yours, Too" Award to JLA #119
"Pox Galactica" Award to LSH v5 #10
"Never Underestimate The Ingenuity Of Fools" Award to ABC A-Z #1
"Nice Asp" Award to Cable & Deadpool #20
"Better Living Through Chemistry" Award to Drax the Destroyer #1 (of 4)
"Take 5555, Yes?" Award to OHOTMU Alternate Universes 2005
"A House Divided Against Itself" Award to Spider-Man House of M #4 (of 5)
"Big Bang Query" Award to Fantastic Four #531
"She's Not The Only Transparent One" Award to Ultimate Secret #3
"Beaucoup Mercy" Award to Hulk: Destruction #3 (of 4)
"Ogre? I 'ardly KNOW 'er!" Award to Tales of the Champions v4 #2
"Age Before Beauty" Award to Invincible #26
"BZOWNT!" Award to PS238 #13
Dave Van Domelen, "I don't get it. I'm rich and famous and gorgeous, and she wants to strip the alien." "Relax, she only wants him for his biology." - Tony Stark and Reed Richards about Sue Storm, Ultimate Secret #3
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