October 14, 2009

     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 
     Bleh, alarm clock went off half an hour late this morning.

     Items of Note (strongly recommended or otherwise worthy): Nothing this
week. 

"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.

     None this week.


Late Books:
     These are comics that were not listed as shipping during the week they
were reviewed.  Sometimes someone recommends a book to me that's already out,
and I grab it over the weekend.  Sometimes it's a trade paperback I ordered
online rather than trusting Diamond.  Sometimes the store screwed up or I was
inobservant and I missed something I meant to get.  USUALLY, though, it's
because Diamond didn't ship what it was supposed to ship and I had to
scrounge around or wait on a reorder.

     None, sort of.  Not counting X-Men/Agents of Atlas as late because it
seems that most of the country got it this week rather than last 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.

     Farscape D'Argo's Trial #3 (of 4): BOOM! Studios - No trial yet, in the
literal sense.  This is the "trying to get Jothee to safety" piece of the
story, intercut with Macton's flashbacks covering stuff that happened after
his second-to-last scene in #2.  Most of the artist's structural tricks this
issue involve Macton's flashbacks, with transitions going between similar
panels (i.e. Macton in the same position talking to someone, but the person
he's talking to changes between panels, as does the background).  Still
rather sketchy.  Overall, it's interesting structurally, but not that
compelling emotionally.  Mildly recommended.  $3.99
     Adventure Comics #3: DC - Ah, more bromance between Conner and Tim.  I
mean, it almost goes to light yaoi in mood here.  Meanwhile, Krypto
symbolically dismantles the previous Superboy series by pwning most of SBoy's
old villains with ease (only Scavenger even stays conscious long enough to
complain about it).  The Legion story focuses on Brek and Dirk on Tharr, with
a bit of role-reversal for the two...Brek's all angsty and Dirk's back to his
pre-Johns irrepressibility (although he finds that making fire is not a good
way to wow the ladies on Tharr).  Recommended.  $3.99
     R.E.B.E.L.S. #9: DC - A lampshade gets hung on the title during one of
the short "doing a megacrossover in one book" scenes.  Adam Strange gets a
good Witty Retort, although his presence in the book isn't as major yet as
the cover might imply.  Unfortunately, this massively multiplotline story is
about to get even more crowded with a Blackest Night crossover, which Adam
has come to warn everyone about.  Quibbles aside, though, recommended.  $2.99 
     Secret Six #14: DC - Y'know, given the whole "pile of muscle and Venom"
tning Bane has going on, it's easy to forget that the main reason he was so
dangerous to Batman the first time around was that he's got brains too.  Mind
you, later portrayals of Bane in other media have tended to emphasize the
brawn over the brains too, and his puppydog behavior in Secret Six so far
hasn't done much to dispel that impression.  It gets dispelled this issue,
but not in the way that's been brought up repeatedly as a possibility for
much of this arc.  Also, we learn that Vandal Savage isn't all that picky.
Recommended.  $2.99
     Booster Gold #25: DC - No, my store didn't order enough to get the
Orange Lantern rings.  The main story comes full circle, reprising the
mission that kicked off the whole Dead Titans arc and giving Booster a chance
to really be a hero in quieter ways.  Meanwhile, Black Beetle continues to be
a villain in rather loud ways, both in the main story and in the Blue Beetle
backup.  And Paco's seen Watchmen.  Recommended.  $3.99
     The Marvels Project #3 (of 8): Marvel - It's a good thing I got the
Mysterymen Handbook and read it through, a lot of characters from it are
showing up this issue.  Including Ferret.  The binding thread of this series
seems to be John Steele, though, for all that he doesn't really get any lines
yet.  Projects trying to replicate him, projects trying to find counters to
him or equivalents to him.  Not every one of the plot threads is obviously
connected to this yet, but there's signs that there will be a whole lotta
dovetailing in a few issues.  This is a good thing, as it suggests an actual
plot rather than just excuses to have characters show up and fight.  :)
Angel's narration (well, Brubaker's) is a bit soporific in places, and
there's still a lot more tell than show, but it's otherwise going pretty
well.  Recommended.  $3.99
     Marvel Adventures Super Heroes #16: Marvel - Featuring Giant-Girl,
Spider-Woman and the Beast (who's got the cat-face).  And also featuring the
wake of Hercules.  No, not the funeral kind of wake, the "trail of chaos and
pining women" sort of wake.  As mysteries go, it's a perfect fit for the
Adventures line, as it has a good reason to be fairly straightforward.
Hercules tends not to do subtle very much.  Recommended.  $2.99
     X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas #1 (of 2): Marvel - AKA Agents of Atlas #12,
picking up with the "Aphrodite's not happy about Venus running around using
her name" subplot.  Of course, there's lots of X-stuff in there too, but with
the help of some suitably snarky captions and obligatory exposition, Parker
manages to make the X-stuff comprehensible to a non-X-reader like me and
presumably manages the same for non-Atlas-readers without it being too
intrusive.  The premise setting up the conflict is a fairly small thing,
really just a "doohickey we need to advance this other plot over there" sort
of issue, but the reputations of both sides get in the way of doing things
the non-fighty way.  The backup story has the original X-Men taking on an
Agents of Atlas team that never was, either an alternate Earth thing or
perhaps it'll be revealed as having some sort of in-story place (i.e. Ken
telling someone a tall tale).  Recommended.  $3.99
     The Incredible Hercules #136: Marvel - Sometimes you need a noble hero
like Thor.  Sometimes you need an extreme hero like Hercules.  Fortunately,
or unfortunately, we get both!  A bit goofy in places, but this is the
lighter storyline to counter the somewhat dark Cho story, so that's to be
expected.  Recommended.  $2.99
     PS238 #41: Do Gooder Press - Well, the origins of the Green Gauntlet get
hashed out, and we get an Invincible crossover on deck.  Well, not really.
But thematically.  Less blood, though, one would hope.  Recommended.  $2.99

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 10/14/09: Official Handbook of the Gold Digger
Universe #22, Ninja High School #169-171, Gold Digger Tech Manual #3, Gold
Digger v3 #105, Middleman GN (I ordered direct from Viper and it shipped
yesterday), Farscape Gone & Back #3, Models Inc. #2.  Add Transformers All
Hail Megatron #16.


Awards:

"A Little Too Literally Red-Handed" Award to Farscape D'Argo's Trial #3 
     (of 4)

"At Least He Didn't Dig Up Knockout" Award to Adventure Comics #3

"Disked Over" Award to R.E.B.E.L.S. #9

"Family Reunions Are Always Trouble" Award to Secret Six #14

"Next Time Out, Black Beetle Will Claim To Be Captain Atom" Award to 
     Booster Gold #25

"Come To Think Of It, He's Probably Used To Being Naked Behind Enemy Lines"
     Award to The Marvels Project #3 (of 8)

"At Least They Weren't Pearls" Award to Marvel Adventures Super Heroes #16

"Being Canadian Isn't Really A Mutant Power, Usually" Award to X-Men vs.
     Agents of Atlas #1 (of 2)

"No, The OTHER Adamantine Mace" Award to The Incredible Hercules #136

"Silver Shield, Emerald Gauntlet, Whatever" Award to PS238 #41

     Dave Van Domelen, "We're FLOATING here.  Just hoping for clues to JUMP
OUT."  "True, but it's not like we're following after somebody SNEAKY, like
WOLVERINE or SPIDER-MAN.  This is HERCULES.  He leaves a TRAIL." - Beast and
Spider-Woman, Marvel Adventures Super Heroes #16

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