Standard Disclaimers: Please set appropriate followups. Recommendation does not factor in price. Not all books will have arrived in your area this week. Spring Break can't come soon enough. Rants, Capsules can be found on my homepage, http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/Rants First Look Comments: Books I read over the weekend as First Looks, but didn't buy, so can't really say much in detail about. DC has stopped having First Looks, so it's just Marvel and Image...and there's word that Diamond doesn't want to bother with the program at all anymore. Books for next week - Amazing Spider-Man #539: Marvel - Well, the inevitable dark stuff is happening, but I prefer the lighter edge PAD is keeping over in FNSM. $2.99/$3.75Cn Cable & Deadpool #38: Marvel - Muahahaha! Agent X guests, so we get double the weird narration, in multiple fruity flavors! Strongly recommended. $2.99/$3.75Cn X-Factor #17: Marvel - Something of a transitional issue with teasing involved. Still, pretty good, especially on the "getting inside their heads and under their skin" level. Recommended. $2.99/$3.75Cn 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. The Irredeemable Ant-Man #6: Marvel - Well, the two timelines finally merge into one, and the flashbacks run over the framing sequence. :) The split storytelling had worn out its welcome a while back, though, as far as I'm concerned, so I'm glad to see it go. Also, it looks like Ms. Marvel is the new Wolverine, in terms of being shoved into every book possible. Mildly recommended. $2.99/$3.75Cn Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes II #7 (of 8): Marvel - The plotlines start to wrap up, if a bit haphazardly and abruptly. It's almost like Casey really pitched three series and was forced to jam them together however he could make 'em fit. Mildly recommended. $3.99/$4.75Cn Thunderbolts Presents: Zemo Born Better #2 (of 4): Marvel - We were supposed to get #1 in this week's shipment too, but got shorted (all the way to zero). Anyway, while the pattern established in #1 is continued to some extent here, Nicieza does a good job of breaking things up by the end. Recommended. $2.99/$3.75Cn 52 #45 (of 52): DC - All about Black Adam cutting loose(r) and the reactions of others to it. It has some cool parts, but like so many payoffs in 52 it feels like too little, too late. Mildly recommended. $2.50/$2.99Cn Superman #660: DC - A done-in-one story from the Prankster's POV. I've seen this sort of story before, but Busiek does a good job with this iteration of it. Recommended. $2.99/$4.00Cn (hmm, typo on the Canadian price, or just really delayed?) Teen Titans #44: DC - Once in a while, you'll see someone talking about how authorial intent isn't important, that the text must be taken on its own merits. But I think this is one of those cases where intent is important. Specifically, was Batgirl's arc planned out from the beginning (in which case the execution could have been better, but it's at least a decent plotline), or was it the result of one writer coming up with a stupid idea and another having to fix it (in which case, it was still a stupid idea, even if later undone). That part aside, this issue is a pretty standard middle part of a team versus team fight, with everyone split up into different areas and having the baddies unleash their prepared torments on the heroes, before things get muddled up and the heroes bounce back. Remember, boys and girls, nine times out of ten the last villain you want to fight is the one who chooses you...they probably prepared extra-hard for you. Mildly recommended. $2.99/$3.65Cn Green Arrow #72: DC - While I wasn't there for most of the buildup on the Red Hood, I must say he's become a classic Batman villain, in the sense that his plans are overly elaborate and seek to fulfill goals of dubious merit with far more effort than is truly a good idea. Or maybe that's just how Winick writes him, since here and Outsiders is pretty much my only serious exposure to him. :) Anyway, given the sorts of barriers that surround a major franchise character like Batman, Winick does a decent job of at least maintaining the illusion of change. Recommended. $2.99/$3.65Cn Gen13 #4.6: DC/Wildstorm - The origin arc finishes, Gen11's fate is resolved, and unreasonably crazy villain is replaced by a more manageably crazy villain, I guess. A fun read, if a bit frothy and over-enamored of "trick storytelling" stuff. Recommended. $2.99/$3.65Cn 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 3/14: Still missing Gold Digger Tangent #2, Fred Perry's S-Guild #1, Dr. Debunko: the Short Stories, Roy Thomas's Anthem #4, Devil's Panties #7, #8 (Diamond cancelled the reorder on Devil's Panties #7), Thunderbolts Presents: Zemo Born Better #1. Add Dino Wars #3 (which I found was supposed to have shipped a month ago). Awards: "Demolition Derby" Award to the Irredeemable Ant-Man #6 "And That's Why The Hatut Zeraze Wear Vibranium Weave" Award to Avengers Earth's Mightiest Heroes II #7 (of 8) "The Things Some People Will Do To Get Their Thesis Done..." Award to Thunderbolts Presents: Zemo Born Better #2 (of 4) "What Giffen Creates, Giffen Destroys" Award to 52 #45 (of 52) "Never Work For Free, But It Always Pays To Advertise, Yes?" Award to Superman #660 "Peaking Early" Award to Teen Titans #44 "How Do You Carbon-Date Metal, Anyway?" Award to Green Arrow #72 "I Don't Think Waxing Will Solve That" Award to Gen13 v4 #6 Dave Van Domelen, "BLAST!" - Mitch Carson, Irredeemable Ant-Man #6 (and probably #1-5, now that I think about it).Back to the Main Rants Page.
Get blown back to the March 2007 Rants.