Comics for November 2, FL November 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.
Bleah, too warm for November.  Almost 80.  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.

November 9:

     Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #2: Marvel - It's Hudlin Month in the
crossover.  And he can write Spidey pretty well.  But it's when Black Panther
comes on stage that it becomes apparent he writes everyone like Spidey.
Mildly recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Drax the Destroyer #3 (of 4): Marvel - Hm.  Amusing, not too over the
top, and the annoying little girl is less annoying.  Plus there's some
concrete character and plot advancement.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     House of M the Day After: Marvel - For the most part, this is a "catch
up on a dozen series and see where HoM left them" montage, with some
world-affecting events and a couple of cheezy Evil Government bits tossed
in.  Decent at explaining the new (until the next mega-event) status quo.
$3.999/$5.75Cn
     Cable & Deadpool #22: Marvel - When you empathize with Deadpool, maybe
the plot isn't as straightforward as Fabe is insisting.  :)  Still, enjoyable
even for someone who missed Act I.  And II, III, etc.  Recommended.
$2.99/$4.25Cn
     eXiles #72: Marvel - Off to the New Universe!  I'd been wondering how
that'd work given events in Quasar, but Bedard's solution is elegant and
effective.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     New Thunderbolts #15: Marvel - Ahh, old home week.  A solid piece from
Nicieza, and the art by Rick Leonardi is generally good.  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.

     Captain Universe/Hulk #1: Marvel - Faerber turns in a decent tale here,
and I didn't feel lost for not having read the lead-ins in Amazing Fantasy.
It also helps that there's a brief history of the Uni-Power page.
Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Spider-Man House of M #5 (of 5): Marvel - Good, quiet ending that
doesn't really care what happens in the main HoM story.  Recommended.
$2.99/$4.25Cn
     Marvel Team-Up #14: Marvel - We break from the Titannus storyline for a
short crossover with an issue of Invincible that won't happen until next
year.  Gotta give plenty of lead time to get those pre-orders in :).  The
story's a bit heavy on exposition, but that's a GOOD thing in a crossover
like this...most MTU readers won't know Invincible, and a lot of Invincible
readers won't be up on Spidey's recent events.  Cory Walker does a good job
merging  classic Spidey look and Invincible's art style.   Recommended.
$2.99/$4.25Cn
     Outsiders #30: DC - Okay, a bit juvenile, but good for some laughs.  New
Sabbac is a fun guy, but there's not a whole lot more to this issue.  Still,
recommended.  $2.50/$3.50Cn
     JSA #79: DC - Having two big and seemingly unrelated magical battles
running at the same time is a bit busy, kinda steals thunder from both.
Champagne (the writer, Johns is kinda busy writing half the other books at DC
right now) is shooting for Big Event feel, but it's more Channel Surfing.
Recommended, but could be better.  $2.50/$3.50Cn
     Flaming Carrot Comics #4: Image - Ut!  Good Halloween-ish issue.
Generally standard FC fare, but even standard FC is better than most.
Strongly recommended.  $3.50/$4.15Cn

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 11/2:

     Transformers Way of the Warrior TPB (which shows as "backordered" on
Diamond's system, meaning they're out) and Bone Sharps, Cowboys and Thunder
Lizards.  Add on Exalted #1.


Awards:

Best Book: Flaming Carrot Comics #4

"Am I Blue" Award to Captain Universe/Hulk #1

"I Suck.  A LOT" Award to Spider-Man House of M #5 (of 5)

"Will He Meet Team M.E.C.H.A.?" Award to Marvel Team-Up #14

"Sin Thesis" Award to Outsiders #30

"You Said A Mouthful" Award to JSA #79

"The World Outside Your Broken Window" Award to Flaming Carrot Comics #4

   Dave Van Domelen, "Spider-Man's definition of 'cosmic stuff' is very loose." - Captain America, MTU #14