July 13, 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 
      Correction, it wasn't a bruise, it was some pulled muscles.

     Well, my announcement last week did kick up some discussion, and while I
addressed it at the time I figure I should mention some things here for the
benefit of anyone reading from the archives, or who didn't see all the
various places things were discussed.
     I'm not giving up on comics per se, just giving up on Diamond.  Since
they have a functional (if not legally-defined) monopoly on weekly comics, my
decision to stop giving money to Diamond does narrow my options rather
significantly.  And in any case there will be some disruption in the next few
months as my employment situation transitions, but that would have happened
even if I'd never gotten fed up with Diamond.
     Several people have pointed out stores with good mail order programs,
but that's not really the point.  I'm not giving up on weeklies simply
because I can't reliably get them, I'm giving up on Diamond because I'm
disgusted with their inability or unwillingness to keep a smaller store
supplied with product.  The fact that bigger stores can get their orders
filled doesn't change the core problem.
     As long as I'm heading into a month or more where there would be purely
practical issues with keeping up on a weekly pull, I might as well take the
opportunity to make a clean break.  In a few months, assuming I find work and
once things settle down, I may even return to a weekly column.  The focus
will simply shift to digital content and trades, plus maybe the occasional
batch of weeklies bought directly from publishers like Antarctic.

     
     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 7/13/11: 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, Captain America: America's Avenger,
Secret Six #35.  Add Godzilla Gangsters & Goliaths #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.


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.


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.

     Booster Gold #46: DC - More Flashpoint.  Booster fights Doomsday a lot,
one-dimensional snarling American soldiers snarl one-dimensionally a lot,
mysterious lady from last issue lies through her perfect teeth, to be
continued.  The fight doesn't even have a sense of drama, since it's all
about "He's still not really awake, try to kill him, gosh nothing dents the
uberkillingmachine plot device" stuff.  The entire issue could have been told
effectively in four or five pages, it feels like they wanted to wrap up the
arc this issue but had to pad it out to synch up with Flashpoint.  Neutral.
$2.99
     Marvel Adventures Super Heroes #16: Marvel - Featuring Captain America,
a reprint from Marvel Age Spider-Man Team-Up #2, written by DeZago.
Uninspiringly written, I might add.  And the art looks like some high school
student's sample trucked around to wave at pros in Artist's Alley...serious
problems with wannabe-mangaka style elements clashing with what looks like a
Scott Kolins imitation.  Avoid.  $2.99
     Alpha Flight #2 (of 8): Marvel - Fear Itself tie-in.  Eh, everyone seems
to have turned evil or been brainwashed.  Not feelin' it.  Won't miss this
book.  $2.99
     The Amazing Spider-Man #665: Marvel - Infested: the Road to Spider-
Island banner.  But the banner is pretty pro-forma, as there's almost no
Spider-Island content here.  Rather, it's writing an end to the "normalcy"
and shuffling a few characters off stage so they don't have to be part of
Spider-Island.  Catching up with the supporting cast before everything goes
to 666 in #666.  Recommended (and probably a good stopping point).  $3.99
     Gold Digger v3 #130: Antarctic Press - No banner, thankyewverrahmuch.
All the various Wee Folk plot threads seem to be coming to a head here, and
while the "and then we deploy the phlebotinum" plan-exposition levels are
pretty high in places, it's generally a fun read.  Recommended.  $3.99


Awards:

"Sleepwalking Through The Plot" Award to Booster Gold #46

"When Drawing Helmets With Thickness To Them, Make Sure It Won't Force The
     Head Inside To Be The Size Of A Baseball" Award to Marvel Adventures
     Super Heroes #16

"Puck's One Panel Of Exposition Was More Interesting Than The Entire Rest
     Of Fear Itself" Award to Alpha Flight #2 (of 8)

"Might Want To Send In An Exorcist Before Selling It" Award to The Amazing
     Spider-Man #665

"I Wasn't Aware 'Shinji' Was An Irish Name" Award to Gold Digger v3 #130

     Dave Van Domelen, "Wait.  This is New York!  Where else is there?!
Where would you go?"  "Boston."  "This.  This is the greatest insult in the
history of man." - J.J.Jameson and (spoiler), The Amazing Spider-Man #665

Flee into the air conditioned July 2011 Rants.