Comics for June 23

[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.
Looks like I got Jury Duty in October.  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.

     Marvel Previews #11: Marvel - I've said it before (offline, if not
online), if you can't draw Ben Grimm as the Thing, you shouldn't be working
for Marvel.  And Jae Lee simply CANNOT draw the Thing.  It looks like a pro
wrestler shaved himself bald and glued beef jerky all over himself.  The
Hulk/Thing preview convinced me to go nowhere near the book.  The Sienkiewicz
drawn Black Widow preview looks like a tiresome exercise in Dark Past
Syndrome.  The Rogue mini preview looks...so-so.  Well, at least the previews
were useful in making sure I don't buy books I probably wouldn't like.
$0.99/$1.50Cn or free with Previews.
     Captain America and Falcon #4: Marvel - Well, the story comes together
nicely, as we get not just a slugfest between Captains America, we also get a
thoughtful philosophical debate.  Sure, it may stretch credibility a bit to
have someone debating fine points of the American Dream while being punched
through a window, but this is comics.  :)  Sears's art still has plenty of
"doing it for the sale of original pages at conventions" stuff, but it's
generally readable.  I thought he went a little overboard in making the two
Caps visually different, but better than not enough, I suppose.  It would
have been nice to see a single clear shot of the Torch of Friendship, though,
as Priest seems to have relied on the art to carry the point that this is
where the fight ended up.  It's an homage to "Two Into One Won't Go," the
final part of the fight between Steve Rogers and the 1950s Captain America,
which ended at that same location.  (Cap v1 #156, probably the most beat up
and tattered comic I still own.)  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Teen Titans #12: DC - Somewhat confusingly told story, as people pop in
and out of other dimensions without warning or even much indication.  There
was some inventive power use, and a realllllly disturbing last page, plus an
obvious fangeek joke I'll be using below.  Overall, felt like a lot of ideas
thrown around will-he-nil-he.  Largely good ideas, but still.  Mildly
recommended.  $2.50/$3.85Cn
     Batman Adventures #15: DC - A departure from the usual team for this
series, perhaps inventory stories being slotted in before the book is
cancelled.  A pity, really, because there's some implications in this story
that I'd really like to see followed up on.  Recommended.  $2.25/$3.50Cn
     Conan #5: Dark Horse - The study in contrasts between young Conan and
ancient Hyperboreans continues to develop nicely, and while it gets a bit
exposition-heavy at times, that exposition is never laid at Conan's feet.
No, no talk for Conan, by Crom, only action!  Ahem.  Anyway, another good,
solid issue.  Recommended.  $2.99
     Transformers Prey TPB: Titan Books - The bulk of the stories reprinted
here take place between US G1 #23 and #24, giving Optimus Prime one last
huzzah before getting "killed" and downloaded onto a laughingly low-memory
disk.  Also, Megatron's madness in #25 is further developed.  Furman did a
good job of working between the cracks of the US Marvel issues here.  The
next-largest chunk of this collection isn't as clearly slotted between US
issues, but takes place prior to the return of Prime as a Powermaster,
covering a personal story for Swoop, nee Divebomb.  Yes, the grand superhero
tradition of the Name Battle comes to Transformers, as Swoop fights for his
old name...and his life.  Dun dun DUN!  The last short bit is a vignette with
the Pretenders done by Dan "drove me away from Legion of Superheroes" Abnett,
and it's pretty pedestrian (not that he had a lot of pages to work with, to
grant him that).  The last of the timeline synopses is in this installment as
well, suggesting that they might be done reprinting for now.  Most of the
remaining material was B&W, so they'd have to choose between breaking with
the full color presentation or hiring someone to color the strips.
Recommended.  $19.95/#14.99UK
     You Can Draw Transforming Robots: Antarctic Press - Sherard Jackson, who
did the robot bits in How To Draw Manga #25-26, fills a 192 page book with
advice this time.  And while some elements from the HTDM issues are
incorporated here (with new art), there's a few things here and there not
included, making it worthwhile to hunt down the HTDM issues.  I'll be talking
about this in more detail when I update my ongoing How To Draw Robots review
(http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Artifacts/HowToDraw) in a few days, but
here's a few quickies.  There's lots of good fundamentals, but a fair share
of "and then a miracle occurs" missing steps as well.  I think a little too
much time is spent talking about art materials...these days, anyone serious
about drawing is more likely to invest in a tablet than in technical pens and
brushes (I don't have a tablet in part because I Am An Old Fogey).  The book
isn't just "How To Draw Transformers (TM)", with several pieces recognizable
as being more inspired by GaoGaiGar and Dagwon from the Takara Yuusha shows,
and a couple designs being clearly PLEX-ish (GoBots, Machine Robo Rescue,
etc).  Very Takara bent overall, mind you.  Recommended.  $19.95/$26.95Cn 


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: None.

"Maybe If It's Supposed To Be Set In 1964?" Award to Marvel Previews #11

"Miami Pounding Machine" Award to Captain America and Falcon #4

"So, When Do We Get To See Powermaster Jericho?" Award to Teen Titans #12

"She's As Cold As Ice" Award to Batman Adventures #15

"If I'm Lion, I'm Dyin'!" Award to Conan #5

"Getting A Head In The Game" Award to Transformers Prey TPB

"I Guess Advanced Transformations Will Be In The Sequel?" Award to You Can
     Draw Transforming Robots

     Dave Van Domelen, "He KNOWS!  He knows the awful, terrible MISTAKE he
has made -- he knows he has LOATHED what he should have LOVED -- and mouthing
INSANITIES, he hurls himself -- onto the fist of someone MORE THAN A MAN!
THE ULTIMATE -- THE *ONLY* -- CAPTAIN AMERICA!" - Narrator (how I miss them),
Captain America v1 #156, Steve Engelhart scripter.