Comics for November 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.
"Turkey's a dry bird, almost sarcastic."  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 30:

     JLA Classified #14: DC - Verizon ad gags are kinda old, but given
Ellis's usual writing speed, he may have started this script whe the gag was
fresh.  Fairly standard superhero plot here, as far as I can tell.  Guice's
art isn't the best I've seen from him, but neither is it the worst.
$2.99/$4.00Cn
     Sentry #3 (of 8): Marvel - Ugh.  I can sort of see what Bendis is aiming
at here, and he may even get there in the end, but the ends don't justify the
lame characters and dialogue.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Black Panther v3 #10: Marvel - Once you get used to Hudlin's smorgasbord
approach to character background, it's not so jarring.  It also helps that
this issue mostly focuses on someone other than T'Challa, and Hiudlin writes
this other guy pretty well.  Does seem to be an unlabeled New Avengers
tie-in.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Amazing Fantasy #15: Marvel - Seven stories by six writers (Slott does
two), all but one are new character tales, the last takes a look at a VERY
old and noted, but unknown, guy.  Mastermind Excello: cute comcept and visual
bits.  Blackjack: only 2 pages at a time, but fun.  The Great Video: ehn.
Monstro: Interesting sorta retro look story looking at the sort off thing
supers can do without fight scenes.  Heartbreak Kid: Done in 60s style dot
coloring to evoke the original AF15.  An interesting addition to Parker's
backstory.  Positron: so-so.  Pretty run of the mill.  Guy In Spider-Man's
Armpit: cute.  Recommended.  $3.99/$5.75Cn
     Captain Universe/Silver Surfer #1: Marvel - Kinda anti-climactic,
although that's in part because this whole thing is just a prelude to an
ongoing Captain Universe series.  Mildly recommended.  $2.999/$4.25Cn
     eXiles #73: Marvel - Not much to say here, it's a middle bit.  A few
things SEEM to be resolved, but I can't shake the feeling they aren't.
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.

     Tom Strong #35: DC/ABC - Nice Sprouse art, but the story is a little
scattered at first, and rather anticlimactic (and anticlimatic).  Mildly
recommended.  $2.99/$4.00Cn
     Conan #22: Dark Horse - Rather talky, given that this is where the deep
backstory chunk is dropped in the Tower of the Elephant, but I enjoyed
reading it.  I like Nord's interpretation of the more cosmic end of Conan's
setting.  Recommended.  $2.99
     Invincible #27: Image - There's a Capes story stuck in at the beginning,
which is fun (and yay Techjacket!), but feels a bit like Kirkman wishes he
had a second title to put this stuff into.  It doesn't really mesh, and the
explicit backup for Capes only strengthens the feeling that this is becoming
a stealth anthology.  The main plot feels kinda compressed as a result,
several pages of talking heads and then a quick action sequence.  Good stuff,
but it woulda been nice to see it in two different comics.  Recommended.
$2.99/$3.65Cn 
     Keif Llama Xenotech V2.2: Aeon - Hm, either 2.1 came out more than a
year ago, or I never got it.  Given how Diamond only seems to ship about half
the stuff I order from Aeon, my money is on "never got it".  Fortunately,
this series is episodic in nature, with a complete story in this issue.  It's
an amusing little mystery, and possibly a lead-in to the arc plot for future
issues, so I rather hope I actually GET future issues.  Recommended.
$2.95/$4.25Cn 
     She-Hulk v2 #2: Marvel - Horn's cover is pretty bad.  Naughtily played,
Slott.  Cute use of time travel twists too.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn

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 11/23:

     Transformers Way of the Warrior TPB (which shows as "backordered" on
Diamond's system, meaning they're out) Bone Sharps, Cowboys and Thunder
Lizards GN, Exalted #1, Transformers Fallen Star TPB.  And, I suppose, Keif
Llama V2.1.

Awards:

Best Book: None.

"Left Me Cold" Award to Tom Strong #35

"Never Forget" Award to Conan #22

"Padding One's Expense Account" Award to Invincible #27

"Planted Evidence" Award to Keif Llama Xenotech V2.2

"Justice Well" Award to She-Hulk v2 #2

   Dave Van Domelen, "But...too much objectivity will distort the facts!" - Triptokep, Keif Llama V2.2