Standard Disclaimers: Please set appropriate followups. Recommendation does
not factor in price. Not all books will have arrived in your area this week.
I burned my knuckles on pizza today. 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 -
The Immortal Iron Fist #4: Marvel - Some nice Victoriana-flavored stuff
in the backstory, but while there's some good bits in here, it is really
paced for the trade. The usual gang of artists covers the various timeframes
well. $2.99/$3.75Cn
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #19: Marvel - Well, one of the
longish-running mysteries in the book is resolved, but with some nice
misdirection along the way. Recommended. $2.99/$3.75Cn
Thunderbolts Presents: Zemo Born Better #3 (of 4): Marvel - The
mysterious grad student's motivations become clear this issue, and Zemo
himself moves up into living memory. It's clear that Nicieza is setting up a
basic ethical dilemma for the endgame, and it's shaping up nicely.
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.
Gargoyles #3: Slave Labor Graphics - First issue to strike out on its
own after the Goliath Chronicles opener adaptation. And, while some of it
flows nicely and sets up a new player (who may be enemy, ally, both or
neither, he's that kinda guy), it also desperately needs a page of footnotes
at the end to explain the backgrounds of the plethora of characters dumped
into the reader's lap. Some get sketched out backgrounds, others just a line
or two...I saw the entire series and don't remember half of these. Of
course, if they're entirely new, then the lack of explanation is even worse,
because they're treated as if the fans are supposed to know 'em. A bit of a
shaky "start". Mildly recommended. $3.50
Transformers Escalation #5 (TF #15): IDW - I got cover B, but neither
really thrilled me. All the plots get moved forward at least some, but the
main focus of this issue is the brawl between Megatron and Optimus Prime, as
suggested by both cover versions. Nice to see some of the humans behaving
intelligently. The dialogue is a bit too peppered with Furmanistic grunts,
though, it's getting a tad, hnnn, cliche. :) Recommended. $3.99
52 #47 (of 52): DC - Closing in on...the middle. After a few weeks of
pretty focused issues, we're back to multiple threads, and both Batman and
Wonder Woman come back into the spotlight. Oh, there's some good parts, but
nothing to counteract the disenchantment I've had with this book for a while
now. Mildly recommended. $2.50/$2.99Cn
Firestorm the Nuclear Man #34: DC - Fight scene, fight scene, fight
scene, cosmic exposition, fight scene. An enjoyable read, if nothing
special. Recommended. $2.99/$3.65Cn
Blue Beetle #13: DC - Rogers doesn't make the mistake of trying to
string the reader along too long regarding the Reach, I'll give him that.
The rules of the game are laid out pretty clearly for this conflict, and it's
nice to see an alien antagonist who plays by (at least slightly) different
gameplans. Recommended. $2.99/$3.65Cn
PS238 #21: Do Gooder Press - Back to the present and a diversity of
plotlines. But they're all interesting ones, and well-executed, AND not
having to deal with prior disappointments, so I'm enjoying it. :)
Recommended. $2.99
Yep, slow week.
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 3/28:
Still missing Gold Digger Tangent #2, Fred Perry's S-Guild #1,
Dr. Debunko: the Short Stories, Devil's Panties #7 and #8, Dino Wars #3 and
#4. (Anthem didn't come in, I just decided I no longer cared.)
Awards:
"Hike!" Award to Gargoyles #3
"A Talky Power-Drunk" Award to Transformers Escalation #5
"Okay, We All Know The Prophecy's Not Really About Batwoman" Award to 52
#47 (of 52)
"Plenty Of Bondage, Not So Much Discipline" Award to Firestorm #34
"Will Geico Cover That?" Award to Blue Beetle #13
"Pimp My Glide" Award to PS238 #21
Dave Van Domelen, "Hey, I'm friends with Jaime. So [if I replace my
truck] it's just gonna get blown up again or eaten by monsters or humped by a
giant robot." - Paco, Blue Beetle #13
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