July 2015

     Dave's Comicbook Capsules Et Cetera
     Intermittent Picks and Pans of Comics and Related Media

Standard Disclaimers: Please set appropriate followups.  Recommendation does
not factor in price.  Not all books will have arrived in your area this week.
An archive can be found on my homepage, http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/Rants 
    Heading into my second year here, got an overload teaching schedule.

     Items of Note (strongly recommended or otherwise worthy): Ant-Man
(movie), Transformers More than Meets the Eye #43, Invader Zim #1.

     In this installment: Ant-Man (movie), Justice League Gods and Monsters
(movie), Fresh Romance #1, Rocket Queen and the Wrench #2-3, Batman: the Jiwo
Kuwata Batmanga vol 2, Gold Digger #223, SHIELD #8, Astro City #25, Kaijumax
#4, My Little Pony Friendship is Magic #32, My Little Pony Friends Forever
#18, Transformers Robots in Disguise Animated #1, The Transformers #43,
Transformers Windblade #5, Transformers Combiner Hunters One-Shot,
Transformers More than Meets the Eye #43, Invader Zim #1.


"Other Media" Capsules:

     Things that are comics-related but not necessarily comics (i.e.
comics-based movies like Iron Man or Hulk), or that aren't going to be
available via comic shops (like comic pack-ins with DVDs) will go in this
section when I have any to mention.  They may not be as timely as comic
reviews, especially if I decide to review novels that take me a week or two
(or ten) to get around to.

     Ant-Man: Marvel Studios - Okay, if Edgar Wright had made the movie he
wanted, it might have been funnier, it probably would have had fewer obvious
mechanical bits showing in the plot department (there were some REALLY
blatant setup-payoff pairs), and it almost definitely would have been
unsuitable for inclusion in the overall Marvel Cinematic Universe.  I mean, I
liked Scott Pilgrim and World's End, but between them and Wright's other big
movies, the guy definitely has a preference for poking fun of genres rather
than playing within them.  Since Marvel's unlikely to make anything right now
that doesn't fit the MCU, I figure breaking with Wright was probably best for
all involved.  And the movie we did get, while it does have flaws, was fun
and expands the MCU rather than subtracting from it or mocking it.  
     As for the movie we did get, I liked it.  It had a few cliches I could
have done without, but it was generally worth enduring those.  Strongly
recommended.  

     Justice League Gods and Monsters: DC/Warner Brothers - I was initially
wary of this.  Another dark interpretation?  Sigh.  But it's the DCAU crew,
so I decided to give it a chance.  Fortunately, in this case, because it's
actually a pretty well thought out counterfictional.  It's not just another
Crime Syndicate retread, or Justice Lords II.  Nor is it a simple "what if?"
that turns on a single event.  Rather, it changes a bunch of things, then
lets the dominos fall from there.  While I found the revelation of the true
villain a bit cliche (it's not his first time being cast as an insane
villain), I enjoyed the rest of the storytelling.  Recommended.
     I got the regular DVD for $13, but there's also BluRay and
"BR/DVD/crappy figure" packs I passed on.  Oh, and speaking of merchandise,
Batman uses some of his own crappy consumer-level merch in the movie.  Heh.  


Digital Content:

     Unless I find a really compelling reason to do so, I won't be turning
this into a webcomic review column.  Rather, stuff in this section will be
full books available for reading online or for download, usually for pay.  I
will often be reading these things on my iPhone if it's at all possible.

     Fresh Romance #1: Rosy Press - I picked this up on a freebie promotion
through a podcast, that I saw reblogged on tumblr.  Romance comics are
definitely outside my usual wheelhouse, but I figured I'd give this anthology
a shot.  There's three stories, each of which advance juuuust far enough to
make it clear that not only is something weird going on, there's more to it
than it seemed at first.  Two of the stories are modern day with a mystical
element (although only one is obviously mystical from the start) and the
third is set several centuries ago, and all involve romances that are in some
way in danger of being doomed.  A pretty good read, but I'm not hooked enough
to spend the $5 per issue for #2 and #3.

     Rocket Queen and the Wrench #2-3: Space Goat Productions - Not sure why
these came out at almost the same time after such a long delay, but I'm glad
they did come out.  There's some worldbuilding here, with some variants on
the standard "of course there's a Batman clone" tropes, and we get the origin
of the armors' supertech (well, as much of the origin as the characters
wearing it know, further details are grist for future arcs).  It strikes a
good balance between the usual "teens outsmart their parents" tropes and the
parents being competent and plausible heroes in their own right, always a
tricky balance when focusing on teenaged legacy hero protagonists.
Similarly, Peniston is doing a good job with the emotional arc between the
title characters, who once were friends and probably will be again, but right
now they have a rocky relationship for many good reasons.  Recommended.
$1.99 each at ComiXology.


Trades:

     Trade paperbacks, collections, graphic novels, pocket manga, whatever.
If it's bigger than a "floppy" it goes here.

     Batman: the Jiro Kuwata Batmanga volume 2: DC - As in volume 1, there's
a mix of existing villains and new ones.  Clayface returns, and the somewhat
obscure Alfred Pennyworth as the Outsider story gets adapted (clumsily).
There's also a pro wrestling storyline, a mystery at a traveling masquerade
carnival, and a Loch Ness Monster mystery.  The writing quality varies from
competent and amusing to clunky and cliched, with a touch of casual
background racism here and there.  It's worth reading for the weirdness, but
it's not what I'd call GOOD.  Mildly recommended.  $12.99

     I got Courageous Princess Volume 2 right at the end of the month, I'll
cover it in the next column. 


Floppies:

     No, I don't have any particular disdain for the monthlies, but they
*are* floppy, yes?  

     Gold Digger #223: Antarctic Press - This is a done in one side story,
showing what Gina and Brittany were doing during the events of the last few
issues.  Light bit of super-archaeology fluff, in which several overlapping
dangers end up mostly countering each other.  There might be some stuff that
will show up later (well, some of the SPECIFIC things won't be coming back,
but their ilk), but it felt mostly like a breather/filler story.  Mildly
recommended.  $3.99
 
     SHIELD #8: Marvel - Shifting gears a LOT from the rest of the series,
SHIELD goes after a low-to-no-power seamy underbelly sort of operation that
is all too plausible for someplace like the Marvel Universe.  Mockingbird is
the main focus, and her science side is significant, although to some it may
feel like it comes out of left field.  A decent story, but it suffers from a
fairly big editing fail in the denounment.  "Remember the tentacle girl?"
You mean the one who, prior to that mention, had only appeared in the
background on a display screen as tiny line art partly covered by a caption?
I'm guessing the script told the artist to make the screen prominent, and it
was not.  And then the colorist decided to make all the screens monochrome to
help the main characters pop.  And then the letterer, not knowing that
particular screen was important, partly covered it.  Waid's been around long
enough he should've known to at least put one line about her into that scene
if he wanted to do a callback.  Mildly recommended.  $3.99

     Astro City #25: DC/Vertigo - This is, essentially, Sleeping Beauty as a
superhero tale.  The specific curse isn't eternal sleep, but it's on the same
level.  Busiek does a good job balancing narrated history and events as they
happen, unsurprising given how often Astro City stories span years or even
decades.  Recommended.  $3.99

     Kaijumax #4: Oni Press - And now, things start to go straight to
Hedorah-scrapings.  Either there's someone out there who REALLY wants the
Kaiju prison island to turn into a warzone, or several independent plans
happen to be coming to a head at once...there's some coincidence, probably
(pretty sure Electrogor himself is not there as part of anyone's plans, but
he's certainly acting as a catalyst or accelerant for some of the plots).
Also, this issue manages to be strangely topical by accident, relating to
events of a recent high-profile prison break.  Recommended.  $3.99 

     My Little Pony Friendship is Magic #32: IDW - Zahler has an amusing
premise here, a sort of "color out of space" story in which a fragment of
Nightmare Moon's residual evil falls to Ponyville and infects the apples, but
it really feels like he had a 1.5-issue idea that's getting padded out to 2
issues rather than tightened up into a single issue.  For instance, one Apple
computer joke is expected in such a story, but the third one is forced, and
there will probably be a fourth and a fifth in #33.  Mildly recommended.
$3.99 

     My Little Pony Friends Forever #18: IDW - Rice tells a nice little done
in one story of dubious continuity (it refers to flight camp, apparently
meaning the schooling seen in the Sonic Rainboom origins ep, but doesn't
really fit well) with Fosgitt's Disney-ish art.  While it treads the stale
trope of "distract character while a party is set up for them," it's an
amusing read despite that.  Recommended.  $3.99

     Transformers: Robots in Disguise Animated #1: IDW - The cartoon may be
off in its own little world, barely possible to connect up with Transformers
Prime, but the comic isn't playing along.  While fighting the Decepticon of
the Week takes up most of the pagecount (another Quillfire-like anarchist),
the real conflict is Bumblebee's view of what a team should be.  He starts by
comparing his new team unfavorably to his old one, but then is hit by the
complication that maybe his team from Prime isn't as great as he thought.  In
one issue, it's already got much more dramatic potential and interest than
the cartoon's managed in over a dozen episodes.
     As a gimmick, it includes a special scannable code insignia for the app
game, part of a two page mini-comic plugging the app.  The included code
unlocks "Cybertron Underbite," a black redeco.  About as strong overall as
One-Step Underbite, but trading might for speed.
     Overall, recommended.  $3.99

     The Transformers #43: IDW - So, a bunch of stuff that would probably
have been a subplot over three or four issues if the crossover hadn't pushed
everything aside all drops at once.  Cosmos's ongoing "I don't get no
respect" subplot comes to a head as he runs into Soundwave.  This also plays
into Soundwave's ongoing "noble idealist" subplot quite nicely...because even
if you're a fan of Soundwave and see him in the best possible light, there's
still a really good chance that he has an unrevealed angle on his current
Noble Decepticon campaign.  And that he's playing Cosmos like a fiddle.
Recommended.  $3.99

     Transformers Windblade #5: IDW - Ugh.  While the robot mode art is
slowly growing on me, Howell does good emoting and the like, his vehicle
modes bite.  They look like they came from a "how to draw Sci Fi stuff"
book aimed at grade school kids.  Seriously, I've gotten a few of those for
my How To Draw Robots reviews, and Howell's Velocitronians look like they
drove out of a kiddie HTD.  Scott's story is okay, although the Benefit 500
seems to run for 500 meters or something, unless a lot of racing happened
between panels.  Mildly recommended.  $3.99

     Transformers Combiner Hunters One-Shot: IDW - Well, this is much like
the Combiner Wars arc in that it's there to justify some toys and moves the
overall plot forward only a tiny bit.  It happens at some point after
Combiner Wars, but not solidly anywhere with respect to Windblade's title.
The SDCC redecos are handily explained away (ceremonial paint jobs for the
two Camiens, and Arcee has a stealth paint job for somewhat less plausible
reasons given that she's always been sneaky enough in bright pink), and the
Victorion team are given a reason to be around, but...it's all pretty
perfunctory.  Arcee's reasoning behind her actions ties into Prowl's own
motivation in Combiner Wars, and is about as sketchy and skeletal.  Speaking
of sketchy, the art looks rushed, the backgrounds are usually minimalist
washes, and it feels like something done as layout reference for another
artist who never showed up.  Neutral.  $3.99

     Transformers: More than Meets the Eye #43: IDW - And then we switch to
Milne's art, which while messy-looking in places is very detailed and has
backgrounds rich in character and hidden meaning.  As with most MtMtE issues,
it's full of lighthearted gags and weirdness hiding a deep emotional core.
Swerve has somehow managed to create a holomatter Sitcom Earth and retreated
into it, forcing others on the crew to project their own avatars onto the
phantom planet and try to figure out where Swerve really is before he dies.
What, you thought creating an entire planet of holomatter wasn't lethally
stressful?  Strongly recommended.  Also, major fodder for "Only Human" fan
art.  $3.99

     Invader Zim #1: Oni - Written by Jhonen Vasquez and drawn by Aaron
Alexovich.  The long wait since the last Zim content that wasn't sold at Hot
Topic is explained in-story as part of Zim's clever plan.  Of course, that's
clever for Zim values of clever.  But FEAR NOT STINK HUMANS, he had an even
cleverer and devastatinger plan to put into motion now that he has proven his
superioriry over the Dib creature!  Ahem.  Strongly recommended.  $3.99


     Dave Van Domelen, "You CAN'T sing your own montage music." - Gaz,
Invader Zim #1

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