Standard Disclaimers: Please set appropriate followups. Recommendation does
not factor in price. Not all books will have arrived in your area this week.
Diamond doesn't care about robot people. Rants, Capsules can be found on my
homepage, http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/Rants
"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.
Nothing this week. Saw more Brave and the Bold vehicle sets, passed on
'em.
Comics 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.
Books of Note (Strongly Recommended or otherwise worthy): None.
Doktor Sleepless #11: Avatar - "Butterfly on a Wheel" is the subtitle.
Doktor Sleepless Without Doktor Sleepless continues, with the out of town
reporter coming back to center stage while a gang war erupts in the
background. Mainly, the issue is about unintended consequences and the
question of whether they were really unintended after all. Recommended.
$3.99
Green Arrow and Black Canary #16: DC - Merlyn is the covergirl for the
Faces of Evil thing, which I still haven't figured out. Looks to be just a
cover gimmick event. Mind you, Merlyn *is* the main villain of the piece,
which is largely a done-in-one story despite the title calling it part one of
"Enemies List". Of course, the arc may just be a tour of old GA or BC foes
bound together thematically but not plot-wise. A creeeeeeepy stalker
represents either a subplot or a potential arc plot driver. Meanwhile, I
don't really know what's up between Oracle and Canary, but Kreisberg does and
it leads to a rather uncomfortable scene between the two. Recommended.
$2.99
Booster Gold #16: DC - Enemy Ace is the "Faces of Evil" covergirl...and
I thought he was a noble enemy, not actually evil? Well, the story does have
him actually called a face of evil by an Allied soldier, so there's that.
The story bounces around a little, but is generally a pretty good one for
being the middle of a macguffin hunt arc. Recommended. $2.99
Gen13 v4 #26: DC/Wildstorm - A break from the main storyline starring
Gen14 and featuring art by someone who's a bit too aggressively indie for my
tastes (Dan Hipp). The obligatory part three backup story is so-so. Mildly
recommended. $2.99
Marvel Zombies 3 #4 (of 4): Marvel - Eh, a few good bits here and there,
but way too much of it is setup for Marvel Zombies 4. Aaron does manage to
save the world and all that, but then he gets shuffled off and the story
continues without him. Or me, really, since I have no interest in Marvel
Zombies 4. The best thing about this issue is the preview of Agents of Atlas
in the back, really. Mildly recommended. $3.99
The Amazing Spider-Man #583: Marvel - I got the regular John Romita
cover, not the Obama variant. The main story is told from the viewpoint of
Betty Brant, by Waid and Kitson. A very good personal story. Wells and
Nauck have the Obama story, which is short, relatively incoherent, and
nowhere near as good as the Colbert backup from last year. An Agents of
Atlas mini-roster piece is the final backup. Recommended. $3.99
Invincible #58: Image - Heh, cute Doctor Venture cameo on the first
page. The main plot revolves around the evolving relationship between
Invincible and Atom Eve. Well, main in the sense of taking up most of the
pages, and being what the title's *usually* about...the stuff that happens
between the fight scenes. But the mystery of the spy orbs is finally resolved
here, and it looks like the fight scenes are going to take over the plot for
a few issues. Recommended. $2.99
I Hate Gallant Girl #3 (of 3): Image - Well, it's the end of the
miniseries, although no issue of the series actually said on the cover that
it was a mini. There's no "next issue" preview cover, though, even if this
story totally doesn't end much of anything. Lots more hints and teases and a
few fights (and a lot of deaths), but no resolution to speak of. If I knew
#4 were coming out next month (it isn't, to judge from Previews) I wouldn't
mind this so much. But it didn't really work for the end of a miniseries.
The story didn't end so much as stop, which knocks a lot of points off as far
as I'm concerned. Recommended, but it could have been a lot better. $3.50
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 1/14/09: Official Handbook of the Gold Digger Universe
#22, Transformers Maximum Dinobots #1 and 2, Transformers Revenge of the Fallen
Prequel #1. At TF:RotFP #2, Love and Capes #9 (no real surprise there, I
didn't order it until two weeks ago, by which time Diamond refused to admit
copies of #8 still existed, so it looks like I'll just get the two issues
direct from Maerkle). And it looks like I may just give up on getting the
individual issues of the two TF series and wait for the trades. And order
them from Amazon, at the rate Diamond is refusing to ship anything
Transformers-related (non-TF IDW books are still showing up).
Awards:
"Who Shot JR?" Award to Doktor Sleepless #11
"I Hope They Were Really Good Cheese Sticks" Award to Green Arrow and Black
Canary #16
"At Least It Sheds Mud Even When Powered Down" Award to Booster Gold #16
"The Gen Batches Seem To Work On The Harem Principle" Award to Gen13 v4 #26
"His Voice Still Causes Pain" Award to Marvel Zombies 3 #4 (of 4)
"When Peter Met Betty?" Award to The Amazing Spider-Man #583
"For His Next Trick, Robot Will Miniaturize It Into A Ring" Award to
Invincible #58
"Daddy Issues All OVER The Place" Award to I Hate Gallant Girl #3 (of 3)
Dave Van Domelen, "As a general rule, live television ISN'T the place to
make death threats. People tend to OVERHEAR." - Blue Thunder, I Hate Gallant
Girl #3
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