Comics for March 1, First Looks March 8

[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.
Marah Carrigan Clark, b. 2/28/06 (niece).  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.

March 8, 2006:

     Firestorm #23: DC - One Year Later.  A combination of filling in new
readers and confusing the old.  Some interesting bits, but not enough to get
me to read the title regularly.  $2.50/$3.50Cn
     Captain Atom Armageddon #6 (of 9): DC/Wildstorm - Reading it piecemeal
like I am, it naturally feels jumpy.  But it's a decent read nonetheless.
However, not enough of one to overcome my lack of interest in the setting.
$2.99/$4.00Cn
     Tom Strong #36: DC/ABC - Moore and Sprouse are back for this issue,
which crosses over with the final arc of Promethea.  It says many of the same
things as that arc, but more concisely and less pretentiously.  Recommended.
$2.99/$4.00Cn
     Sentinel Squad O*N*E #3 (of 5): Marvel - Giant robots against cyborg
dinos, what's not to like?  Well, despite the great premise, the execution is
a bit flat.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     First Family #1 (of 6): Marvel - Another retcon series for the FF, this
time covering the gap between the discovery of powers and the actual founding
of the team.  Casey does a decent job of it, but I'm not really inspired to
add this to my pull (presuming I didn't already and have sine forgotten).
$2.99/$4.25Cn
     Cable & Deadpool #26: Marvel - Prelude to a big event.  And despite what
the recap page says, there's plenty of funny (and some icky) here.  Lan
Medina takes over the art this issue.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Thunderbolts #100: Marvel - Back to the previous volume numbering.  An
oversized big cosmic slam bang, then reprints of the origins one-shot and
some promo pieces.  Recommended.  $3.99/$5.75Cn


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.

     Ultimate Avengers the Movie: Marvel - I'm in the odd situation of having
only read part of the first Ultimates series (I ditched after #5), and while
it's clear this movie is based on that, it shuffles elements and takes out
most of the mystery.  It's rated PG-13 because a few guys get disintegrated
on screen and some aliens get sliced...man, used to be a cartoon practically
had to be Heavy Metal to get over a PG.  Anyway, the animation is good and
the voice acting okay.  The story is straightforward, and I wasn't bored, but
neither was it really riveting.  I got the Wal-Mart bonus pack with a
digest-sized reprint of Earth's Mightiest Heroes #2, there's also a Target
bonus pack with a CDROM of Hulk #1.  No, neither has the Ultimates in any
form as a bonus feature.  Nor does the half hour interview piece in the
extras do more than mention Ultimates in passing (half of it is about Perez's
two runs, the other half promoting the Bendis stuff with Joey Q dressed like
he thinks he's still in high school).  There's also a short promo bit using
storyboards and design art to presage the Ultimate Avengers II due in July.
Unless you're really into seeing things without ads, though, you might as
well wait and watch it on Cartoon Network (April 15).  I don't really think
anything will be cut, and the length is about right for a 2 hour block with
20-25 minutes of ads.  Maybe padded out with the Ultimate Avengers 2 piece,
if necessary.  $13.88 at Wal-Mart.
     Black Panther v2 #13: Marvel - On the plus side, this doesn't drag
things out, or go into any further (semi-current) political stuff.  On the
minus side, it kinda jumped around and resolved on a Deus ex Machina.  Mildly
recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Doc Samson #3 (of 5): Marvel - This one almost feels like an inventory
story, since it has a different artist ("Homs") and none of the supporting
cast from the first two issues.  Maybe this was plotted to be a four issue
series and they beefed it out to five with this?  Anyway, it's a done in one
piece featuring the new Scorpion, and it's okay.  If you're interested in
seeing Faerber's take on Doc Samson without the Sorcerer Subpar and the rest
of the new supporting cast, this would be a decent book to pick up.  Mildly
recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn  [Later note: oops, forgot DeFillipio was the
writer on #1-2.  Guess that makes this even more of a fill-in candidate.]
     Amazing Fantasy #18: Marvel - The DH story takes an odd plot turn while
still not really doing much in terms of developing the lead's personality.
The Merc backup is okay.  Mildly recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Marvel Team-Up #18: Marvel - Kirkman and Paco Medina wrap up the "second
stringers" plot, in a rather non-traditional way.  And one that tends to
contradict what's established about time travel in the Marvel U, to boot,
which makes it kinda annoying, as any ending that depends on something being
true when it's clearly not true tends to be.  Mildly recommended.
$2.99/$4.25Cn 
     Ms. Marvel #1: Marvel - Your basic story about a second tier super
wanting to break into the top tier.  Been done before a lot, but Brian Reed
does a good job of it.  De la Torre's art is very good, but he goes for the
easy cheesecake shots a little too often.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Star Brand v2 #1: Marvel - One of the Untold Tales of the New U
one-shots.  JRjr does the cover, Pulido the interior art.  Jeff Parker
writes.  Rather talky and theory-laden, but amusing.  Recommended.
$2.99/$4.25Cn
     Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #5: Marvel - Hm, methinks the sliding
timeline slid a little too far.  Still, a good done-in-one story.
Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     X-Factor #4: Marvel - Ah, right back in PAD's comfort zone.  :)  After
seeing Von Grawbadger's inks over Immonen in Next Wave, I think I may have
been a bit harsh on Sook.  The preponderance of shadows is still likely
Sook's doing, but the rest of the murkiness may not be.  Calero does some of
the pages as well, ehn.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Outsiders #34: DC - One Year Later.  Hm.  Really ambivalent about this
one.  It takes a tack that ends disastrously more often than not, but so far
hasn't gone off that cliff.  Mildly recommended for now.  $2.50/$3.50Cn
     Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #40: DC - One Year Later.  Heh.  Here's one
case where reading Busiek's Usenet posts really helps.  He's mining
continuity of a rather obscure sort, even for him (and remember, this is the
guy who brought back Bork), and doing it in a way that doesn't lock him into
any particular path while still laying out one possible future.  Or past.  :)
Guice's art is a bit better than I've seen it in recent years, and the
coloring by Dan Brown manages to look dark and underwater-y without being
unreadably murky.  Strongly recommended.  $2.99/$4.00Cn
     Infinite Crisis #5 (of 7): DC - Not One Year Later.  It's famous covers
homage time, heh.  There's some good bits, and it's nice to see the master
plan revealed, but by the end of the issue I was again left feeling that it
wasn't really that big of a deal.  Lovely art from Jimenez, though, and a
cute explanation for Kyle Rayner.  Recommended.  $3.99/$5.50Cn
     JSA #83: DC - One Year Later.  Levitz continues with his story from #82,
after a fashion, in a way that makes it feel like it's hardly any time later,
much less one year.  And I mean that in a good way.  Recommended.
$2.50/$3.50Cn 
     Mischief & Mayhem Field Trip to Heck: Antarctic Press - If you lived
through the 70s, you may recall (if you're unlucky) pop art involving little
children that were sort of chibi, but had button-like eyes and very wide but
shallow smiles that curled oddly at the ends.  I don't know if Hutchison
deliberately set out to make his little background sketchy girls evoke that
kitsch of days past, but it's certainly what he's managed.  In a largely
wordless story (with a little cheating using blackboards and signs), the
murderous little girls Mischief and Mayhem kill themselves in order to go on
a field trip to the afterlife.  Disturbing fun follows.  It appears this is
meant to promote an upcoming webcomic rather than an ongoing paper comic,
although the webpage only contains pages from this comic so far.
Recommended.  $3.50/$4.75Cn
     Fallen Angel v2 #3: IDW - The mystery inversion continues apace, as the
flashbacks of #1 are expanded on and fleshed out.  As it were.  Where the
original series was strongly motivated by the mysteries of the past, this
series seems determined to get all of that resolved and out of the way so
that the mysteries of the future can be addressed.  The painted artwork is
growing on me, as well.  As an aside, it's kinda weird to see books like this
and Clive Barker's stuff on the same lineup as Transformers.  :)
Recommended.  $3.99 (Some nudity) 

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 3/1:

     Bone Sharps, Cowboys and Thunder Lizards GN, Exalted #1, Keif Llama
V2.1, Captain America and the Falcon: Secret Empire TPB, PS238 #14, I (Heart)
Marvel: Outlaw Love.  Add on PS238 #15, whee.  Will I ever see another issue?  


Awards:

Best Book: Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #40

"Well, They're Not Quite So Assholish In This Version" Award to Ultimate
     Avengers the Movie

"Yeah, Kind Of The Obvious Solution" Award to Black Panther v2 #13

"It Ain't Easy Being...Oh, You Know The Rest" Award to Doc Samson #3 (of 5)

"You Have Been Served" Award to Amazing Fantasy #18

"2099 Plus Tax" Award to Marvel Team-Up #18

"Dropped Call" Award to Ms. Marvel #1

"Screwing Around With Timelines" Award to Untold Tales of the New Universe:
     Star Brand #1

"Blogger Zero" Award to FNSM #5

"Throat Assessment" Award to X-Factor #4

"It's A Filthy, Filthy Job, But Somebody's Gotta Do It" Award to Outsiders
     #34

"Favoring Curry" Award to Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #40

"Earth-Crabface" Award to Infinite Crisis #5 (of 7)

"Yep, Sure Was A Tough Year.  But Anyway..." Award to JSA #83

"Like Russian Nesting Dolls...OF DOOM!" Award to Mischief & Mayhem: Field 
     Trip to Heck

"Does It Mean You Have To Throw Your Body Off A Building?" Award to 
     Fallen Angel v2 #3

   Dave Van Domelen, "Proper adjective use is very important." - Sarah Day, Ms. Marvel #1

Comments

[megaspork.livejournal.com]

Dave, could you please post some spoilers on what's going on in the next firestorm? o_o besides the new partner, I kind of know about that. But I'm curious about how she's caused changes in the matrix, since the writer mentioned new powers.

[1boringperson.livejournal.com]

My shop didn't get PS328 this week, either. Nor did another nearby, although I'm not the habit of going in there and they didn't look like they were in the habit of getting it.