May 25, 2011

     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.
An archive can be found on my homepage, http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/Rants 
   Still no offers of employment, but had a decent phone interview today.

     This week, my local comic shop finished making the transition to pull
list only for comics...not enough walk-in traffic for comics to risk having
stock on the shelves.  The only way new comics will hit the shelves is if
Diamond mis-ships or if someone drops their pull.  So from here on out, if I
didn't order the comic, I'll only see it on the shelf if Hastings carries
it. 

     Items of Note (strongly recommended or otherwise worthy): None

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 5/25/11: Shadowland Power Man #4, Transformers
Timelines G2 Redux, Gold Digger #127, Transformers Dark of the Moon Rising
Storm #3-4, X-Factor #218, Transformers Foundation #3, Time Lincoln Jack to
the Future, Science Dog Special #2.


"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.  Still haven't watched Tales of Asgard, was
distracted getting caught up on new Avengers Earth's Mightiest Heroes (which
is off to a good start this season).


Time-Shifting:
     Sometimes I get a comic a week or two late because of Diamond's
combination of neglect and incompetence.  If it's more than a week late,
though, I won't review it unless it's very notable.  Additionally, I will
often get tradepaperbacks long after publication or even sometimes before
Diamond ships them, and those will go here.  If I'm reasonably sure I'm
reviewing something that didn't ship this week, this is the section for it.

     Nothing this week.  I picked up the Bone YA novel over the weekend, and
once I read it I'll review it in this space.


New Comics:
     Comics and comic collections that I got this week and were actually
supposed to be out this week, as far as I can tell.  These reviews will
generally be spoiler-free, but the occasional bit will slip in.

     Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #3: IDW - Still don't have #2, but I read
it on the shelf and didn't much care for the direction the book was taking.
This issue nosedives right into Total Suck, though.  Did Powell set out to be
campy-bad?  Maybe.  But the result is just plain awful.  And keep in mind I
willingly watch things like Godzilla vs. Hedorah or Gamera vs. Zigra.  Avoid
this titanic turkey.  $3.99
     Super Dinosaur #2: Image - Kirkman goes deliberately toyetic this issue,
almost to the point of making me wish there really was a toy line associated
with this book.  Unfortunately, when you play that card and there *isn't* a
toy line, it...doesn't always work.  This issue is okay, but the book still
wobbles for me.  Great high concept, not so great execution.  Mildly
recommended. $2.99
     X-Men: Earth's Mutant Heroes: Marvel - This is an OHOTMU-style book,
focusing on updating and filling in the gaps on the mutant books.  In
addition to new things like the 2099 Timestorm update, it's got entries on
the Bamfs, Lords of Light and Darkness (from MTU Annual #1 in 1976) and the
Warpies.  There seems to be an assembly error, not sure if it's just mine or
line-wide, a page was folded over before stapling so the entries for
Saturnine and Shinobi Shaw are stuck in the middle of Madison Jeffries's
entry.  A useful resource, though.  Recommended.  $4.99
     Power Man and Iron Fist #5 (of 5): Marvel -  Well, it all wraps up and
things are explained.  Somewhat light and frothy all things considered, an
amusing read but without a lot of lasting impact.  Mildly recommended.  $2.99 
     Spider-Girl #7: Marvel - Well, next issue is the final one, so the Raven
plot is coming to a head (with the help of Spider-Man).  The "trust me, I've
been there" messaging is laid on a little thick, which feels a bit like Tobin
had originally planned to spread some of this character development out but
had to cram it in before the hammer fell.  And while Anya may be without
measureable superpowers, she's still hooked into the Comic Book Smart People
field (i.e. all scientists can do any kind of science, all computer
programmers can write code on the fly for an unfamiliar OS, etc).  The art by
Clayton Henry and Sergio Cariello is a bit wobbly in places.  Recommended.
$2.99 
     The Amazing Spider-Man #662: Marvel - A decent wrap-up to the Avengers
Academy crossover, although there's a plot hole or two in the climax.  The
Infestation two-pager was okay, and Tieri's backup story was a lot better
than I'd expected (I have low expectations of his writing in general).
Recommended.  $3.99


Awards:

"This One Would Break Joel And The Bots" Award to Godzilla: Kingdom of 
     Monsters #3

"As Long As SD Doesn't Start Dating One Of The Kingston Girls" Award to
     Super Dinosaur #2

"Xraven.  Really.  (forehead slap)" Award to X-Men: Earth's Mutant Heroes

"Something Against Kerry Gammill?" Award to Power Man and Iron Fist #5 (of 5)

"As Long As He Doesn't Access The Black Ones" Award to Spider-Girl #7

"So, Psycho-Man's Naked Now?" Award to The Amazing Spider-Man #662

     Dave Van Domelen, (for the third time) "Bite.  Me."  "I am beginning to
seriously consider it." - Skinhead punk and Iron Fist, Power Man and Iron
Fist #5 (of 5)

Pollinate back to the May 2011 Page.