March 14, 2007

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.
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).
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