Comics for January 11, First Looks Jan 18

[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.
Time for the school semester to start.  Rants, Capsules can be found on my 
             homepage, http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/Rants 

     http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/Rants/Best05.html is now up.  Kind of a
disappointing year.

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.

January 18, 2006:

     New Mangaverse: the Rings of Fate #1 (of 5): Marvel - Taking another
shot at form over function.  It does seem to be using the characters and
settings Dunn's version had, at least.  Cebulski's story is reasonably
interesting, but Ohtsuka's art is almost parody, at least when it comes to
the female form.  I may pick thje up if it's slow on the 18th.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Incredible Hulk #91: Marvel - The end of the beginning.  This was a
REALLY short read...some technobabble, then a wordless fight scene and a bus
to the next plotline.  Ehn.  The art is okay, but a little wooden.
$2.99/$4.25Cn
     Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #4: Marvel - Back to the 'regular'
writers this month, so Peter David wraps up his part of the crossover.  With
lots of literary references to kick things off, who said comics weren't
educational?  Fun issue with good Wieringo art and plenty of schtick.
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.

     Tales of the Champions #3: Heroic Publishing - Tigress is the focus for
the next few issues, a character I only barely recall from the previous
incarnation of the Heroic comics.  Not that it matters much, this is an
all-new version.  Okay story, a bit narration-heavy.  The backup story's art
was so-so and the writing a bit too reliant on people having sharp memories
of the previous chapter.  Mildly recommended.  $2.99/$3.99Cn
     MetaDocs Type A #1: Antarctic Press - The cover date of November 2005 is
kinda ominous.  Why?  Because while this is a good read with great art, it
REALLY doesn't work too well read several months after #0.  It's a second
issue, not a #1, and while there's a "what has gone before" bit on the inside
front cover, there's almost no context in the story itself for what's going
on.  That's a serious problem in a #1, and a general pacing issue even if it
has a #2 on the cover.  Mildly recommended.  $2.99/$4.05Cn
     Gold Digger v3 #71: Antarctic Press - More leprechaun focus, and a
little mystic archaeology on the side.  It's okay, and Perry does a decent
job of avoiding the "lost in the backstory" syndrome that sometimes plagues
him, but I'm a lot more interested in the Gina side of the story than the
leprechauns.  Mildly recommended.  $2.99/$4.05Cn
     JLA #124: DC - Harras does pull off a few good bits, and Derenick's art
is quite good, but the stench of "marking time until the reboot" hangs heavy
about this book, making it hard to recommend.  Very mildly recommended.
$2.50/$3.50Cn 
     Green Arrow #58: DC - Wrenching every last bit of melodrama from what's
really a four or five page transitional story.  Calafiore writes but does not
draw (Paul Lee is on art), and it's visually very nice.  But there's not a
whole lot of THERE there.  Mildly recommended.  $2.50/$3.50Cn
     Ultimate Extinction #1 (of 6): Marvel - Peterson does some interesting
things with screentones.  Um...and that's about it.  The first half is
essentially a powerpoint presentation about how Galactus kills planets, the
second half focuses on Ultimate Misty Knight running into a different side of
the threat.  Mildly recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Cable & Deadpool #24: Marvel - A fun little runaround for Deadpool, well
drawn by Zircher.  Not a lot more to say.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn 
     Ares #1 (of 5): Marvel - The Previews blurb for this didn't sound too
good, but Oeming does a really good job with it.  Foreman's art doesn't
really sing, but it's technically proficient.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     New Thunderbolts #17: Marvel - Well, the Mystery Of The Swordsman is
finally resolved, with a few squickful bits along the way.  There's a few
pages for the rest of the characters here and there, but it's definitely a
focus on the Swordsman.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     eXiles #75: Marvel - Off to 2099 for the next leg.  The original, not
the newer version appearing over in MTU.  This one seems to insert about the
time of the pseudo-Asgardian plot, a sensible place for it.  It also allows
for a little irony.  :)  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     She-Hulk v2 #4: Marvel - A flashback issue, covering some of the eight
month gap between v1 and v2, with apropos guest art from Scott Kolins.
Really good character story from Slott.  Strongly 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 1/11:

     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, Keif Llama V2.1,
Captain America and the Falcon: Secret Empire TPB.
     I'm also annoyed that no stores around here seem to have the Flash TV
DVD box set (well, none did yesterday, didn't have time to shop again
today). 

Awards:

Best Book: She-Hulk v2 #4

"Waiting For Morlun" Award to Tales of the Champions #3

"I'm A Doctor, Not An Architect!" Award to MetaDocs Type A #1

"Archaeology Power One Million!" Award to Gold Digger v3 #71

"The Nosebleed Seats" Award to JLA #124

"Maybe This Cover Was Supposed To Be Used Next Issue?" Award to Green Arrow
     #58

"Knight In Shining Arm" Award to Ultimate Extinction #1 (of 6)

"At Least His Costume Isn't Such A Blatant Rip-Off Anymore" Award to Cable &
     Deadpool #24

"I Liked The Evil Grizzly Adams Look Better" Award to Ares #1 (of 5)

"The Power Of Porn" Award to New Thunderbolts #17

"You'll Never Be Lunch In This Town Again" Award to eXiles #75

"Heavy Burdens" Award to She-Hulk v2 #4

   Dave Van Domelen, "You got a SUPER HERO HQ in your real estate holdings just waiting for someone to use it?" "Uhm...actually...I have about EIGHT..." "Geek." - Joystick and Nighthawk, New Thunderbolts #17

Comments

[z4nd4r.livejournal.com]

UPS delayed my comics AGAIN.

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

I'm still waiting for Rocketmen. It wasn't in today's Alliance shipment either. We'd better get it by the end of the week, I have sealed booster tournaments I need to run Sunday.