The title of the post says it all: Happy birthday to Jeff Lester, and may you have another fifty, at least.

Happy Halloween to everyone else.

Comics criticism will be back tomorrow, I promise...

-B
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Something got screwed up in my settings, making sure this is working now...

EDIT: Yes, it is, Thanks again, Jeff for figuring shit out!

[Jeff's back, BTW, hooray!)

-B
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I've been trying since late Tuesday night to post, but=, for some reason, it keeps getting stuck in "publishing post"

Since it is now Thursday, I think posting "comics this week" and the week/weak/book from last week seems pointless... but I pretty much promiose I'll have a full length Critic written by Monday morning with this week's books. I'm getting itchy, y'see.

Let me also remind you, if you're in the SF area, we have GEOFF JOHNS here on SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30, from 4-7 PM. We haven't done a signing in half a decade, so this should be a fun little event.

See you soon, I swear, with actual reviews....

-B
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This week's list of stuff that arrived at Comix Experience for 10/27. Woof, what a huge list!

2000 AD PROG #1410
30 DAYS OF BLOODSUCKERS TALES #1
ADAM STRANGE #2
AMAZING FANTASY #5
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #513
AQUAMAN #23
AUTHORITY REVOLUTION #1
BART SIMPSON COMICS #20
BATMAN #633
BIRDS OF PREY #75
BLACK WIDOW #2
BLUE MONDAY PAINTED MOON #3
BREAKDOWN CVR A #1
CANDYAPPLEBLACK #5
CARTOON NETWORK BLOCK PARTY #2
CASUAL SEX #5
CATWOMAN #36
CITY OF HEROES #6
COOCHY COOTIE MENS COMICS
COSMIC GUARD #3
DAREDEVIL #66
DAWN OF WAR CANNON HAWKE #1
DEMO #11
DICTATORS SADDAM HUSSEIN #2
DOCTOR SPECTRUM #3
DOOM PATROL #5
ELEKTRA THE HAND #3
EXCALIBUR #6
FLASH #215
FRANK MILLERS ROBOCOP MILLER CVR #7
FRANK MILLERS ROBOCOP RYP WRAP CVR #7
FREE CYCLONE BILL AND THE TALL TALES #1 INCENTIVE
GHOST SPY #5
GI JOE REG CVR #35
GREEN LANTERN REBIRTH #1
GRIMM REAPER HALLOWEEN SP
HARRY JOHNSON #2
HELLBLAZER #201
HORRORCIDE #1
JACK STAFF #6
JLA #107
LAST TRAIN TO DEADSVILLE A CAL MCDONALD MYSTERY #4
LOSERS #17
LURKERS #1
METAL GEAR SOLID #2
MYSTIQUE #20
NYC MECH #6
OUTSIDERS #17
PLANETARY #21
POWERLESS #5
PS238 #8
PVP #10
RAZORS EDGE WARBLADE #1
REAR ENTRY #7
RICHARD DRAGON #6
RIDE 2 FOR THE ROAD ONE SHOT
SILVER SURFER #14
SINGULARITY 7 #4
SOLO #1
SOULFIRE #2
SPAWN #139
STAR WARS REPUBLIC #70
STRANGE #2
STRANGERS IN PARADISE #69
SUPER MANGA BLAST #46
SUPERMAN #210
TEEN TITANS GO #12
ULTIMATE ELEKTRA #3
USAGI YOJIMBO #79
VAMPIRELLA HALLOWEEN 2004 REGCVR ED
WE 3 #2
WITCHING #5
WOLVERINE #21
WONDER WOMAN #209
X-MEN #163


Books / Mags / Stuff
2000 AD #1408
2000 AD #1409
ANITA BOMBA BY CROMWELL AND GRATIEN HC #3
BATMAN AS THE CROW FLIES TP
BATMAN DETECTIVE #27 SC
BATTLE ANGEL ALITA VOLUME 6 TP (SECOND EDITION)
BOOK OF BALLADS HC
BRIGHT ELEGY GN
CHRONO MECHANICS GN
COMPLETE PEANUTS VOL 2 1953-1954 HC
CRYPTO ZOO TP
CSI DEMON HOUSE TP
DEVLIN WAUGH SWIMMING IN BLOOD TP
EXCALIBUR VOL 1 FORGING THE SWORD TP
EXILES VOL 8 EARN YOUR WINGS TP
FABLES VOL 4 MARCH OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS TP
FRED THE CLOWN GN
HYDE GN
ILLUSTRATED ART OF WAR TP
JADE SCREEN VOL 2 #6
LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW GN
MARVEL VISIONARIES JACK KIRBYVOL 1 HC
MEGAMANGA VOL 19 BEST OF NEW BONDAGE FAIRIES 2 TP
ONCE IN A BLUE MOON VOL 1 GN
PINK SKETCHBOOK VOL 2 CHEESE SC
PREVIEWS VOL XIV #11
R CRUMB CONVERSATIONS TP
SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATER VOL 2THE FACE AND THE BRUTE
SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE VOL 1THE TARANTULA TP NEW PTG
SCREEN POWER THE OFFICIAL JACKIE CHAN MAG VOL 6 #2
SLOWPOKE AMERICAS GONE BONKERS TP
SUPERMAN BIRTHRIGHT HC
SUPERNATURALISTS GN
SURGE FALL 2004
SWAMP THING REGENESIS TP
THE JACK KIRBY READER VOLUME 2 TP
TOM STRONGS TERRIFIC TALES VOL 1 HC
TRANSFORMERS GEN 1 MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE VOL 1 TP
WIZARD COMICS MAGAZINE #158 AVENGERS CVR
X-RAY COMICS VOL 1 TP FILTH
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Just so this is at the top of the page, I thought of this first, but published it last, and I want to profusely thank Jeff Lester for filling in here and doing the reviews while I was sans-'puter. I think he did a great job, so hurray Jeff!

-B Click Here to Read More...

So, since I'm still getting my computer's house in order, and since I had the new TILTING AT WINDMILLS up at Newsrama, and since I got into it in a few threads (also at Image Comics' BBS) and since Jeff's on Vacation so that means I have to solo ONOMATOPOEIA (even if it is only 8 pages this month), so that means no full length Critic last week. Wah.

I figure the least I can do is sort through the Picks and the Books.

So, Pick of the Week: Not the greatest week in the world, really -- many things in my personal in-box disappointed me from the ASTRO CITY A VISITORS GUIDE (I don't much care for the Who's Who portion of the content, though it was laid out intelligently as a nice mimic for the type of guidebook it emulates) to SECRET WAR #3 (Huh, jumping all over the narrative might not be the best trick for a quarterly mini-series), so the best thing I think I read this week was POWERS #5. Felt like an "old-school" issue of Powers.

I also kinda want to give it to THE COMICS JOURNAL #263, excpet that's not a comic. I really like TCJ under Deppey, and this might have been the first issue where I read 90% of the pages in a lonnnng time.

Pick of the Weak: Much easier, the work that disapointed me the most was SUPERMAN: TRUE BRIT HC. Really really not funny, nor worth the $25 price tag. Wow, a stunning indictment of the British Tabloid press, both a hard target, and just what we're looking for. *le sigh*

The TP/GN of the week is a much trickier thing... lots of good choices like HARD TIME, or the complete ULTIMATES V 1 HC, even MY FAITH IN FRANKIE (except I hate the digest format), but I think I'm going to give it to the nice thick LOCAS HC. That's a real value right there.

Hopefully (though I doubt it) a full column next week...

-B Click Here to Read More...

Just so we'll have some "content" when I don't type up a full Critic, here's what's arriving at Comix Experience for sale on Wednesday, 10/20

ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #633
AMELIA RULES SUPERHEROES #3
BART SIMPSONS TREEHOUSE OF HORROR #10
BATGIRL #57
BATMAN GOTHAM KNIGHTS #58
BATMAN STRIKES #2
BOOKS OF MAGICK LIFE DURING WARTIME #4
BRIAN PULIDOS LADY DEATH DEADRISING
CABLE DEADPOOL #8
CANDYAPPLEBLACK #4
CONAN #9
DARKNESS VOL 2 #16
DEANNA OF THE DEAD #1
DEFEX CVR B #1
DONALD DUCK AND FRIENDS #321
FANTASTIC FOUR #519
FATHOM DAWN OF WAR #2
FIRESTORM #6
GAMBIT #3
GI JOE RELOADED #8
GOON DH ED #9
HERO #21
HUMAN TARGET #15
IDENTITY CRISIS #5
IDENTITY DISC #5
INVADERS #3
JAVA #2
JSA STRANGE ADVENTURES #3
LESS THAN HERO #4
LUBA #9
LUCIFER #55
LUCIFER FAWKES BLOODFLOW #1
MADROX #2
MANHUNTER #3
MARVEL AGE HULK #2
MARVEL AGE SPIDER-MAN #14
MEGACITY 909 CVR A #2
MICHAEL CHABON PRESENTS ADVENTURES O/T ESCAPIST #4
MICKEY MOUSE AND FRIENDS #270
NAIL #4
NEO DAWN #2
NEW X-MEN #6
NIGHTJAR #3
NIGHTJAR TAROT COVER #3
NOBLE CAUSES CVR A BUENO #3
OCEAN #1
OFFICIAL HANDBOOK MARVEL UNIVERSE WOLVERINE 2004
PLASTIC MAN #11
POWERPUFF GIRLS #55
PSCYTHE #2
ROBIN #131
ROGUE #4
SABRETOOTH #2
SECRET SKULL #2
SHI JU NEN #2
SIMPSONS COMICS #99
SMALL GODS #4
SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #20
STAR WARS EMPIRE #25
STAR WARS TALES ART CVR #21
STOKERS DRACULA #1
TALES OF TELLOS #1
TEEN TITANS #17
TERRA OBSCURA VOL 2 #3
TOE TAGS FEATURING GEORGE ROMERO #1
TRANSFORMERS WAR WITHIN VOL 3 #2
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #67
UNCANNY X-MEN #451
VICTORY VOL 2 CVR A DEFIANT #2
VOLTRON VOL 2 #10
WORN TUFF ELBOW #1
X-MEN UNLIMITED #5




Books / Mags / Stuff
1000 STEPS TO WORLD DOMINATION VOL 1 GN
BATMAN HUSH VOL 2 TP
BIGHEAD GN
BLOODY WINTER GN
BOY VAMPIRE GN VOL 3 DESTRUCTION
COMIC BOOK DIGEST #1
COMIC BOOK MARKETPLACE #115
COMICS BUYERS GUIDE DEC 2004
COUP DETAT TP
CSI MIAMI BLOOD MONEY
ESSENTIAL TOMB OF DRACULA VOL3 TP
FLESH FOR THE BEAST VOL 1 GN
GAME INFORMER NOV04
GOLDEN AGE SANDMAN ARCHIVES VOL 1 HC
HOUSE ON POLLACK STREET GN
IDW TALES OF TERROR HC
JIMMY OLSEN ADVENTURES BY JACK KIRBY VOL 2 TP
JSA VOL 6 SAVAGE TIMES TP
JUNGLE HC
MARVEL MASTERWORKS GOLDEN AGEMARVEL COMICS VOL 1 HC
NEFERU THE CAT
NEGIMA VOL 3 GN
OTHELLO VOL 1 GN
PINUP THE ILLEGITIMATE ART TP
SON OF THE GUN TP
STICKS AND STONES GN
SUPREME POWER VOL 2 POWERS AND PRINCIPALITIES TP
THOR SON OF ASGARD VOL 1 WARRIORS TEEN DIGEST TP
TOMARTS ACTION FIGURE DIGEST #127
TRIGUN MAXIMUM VOL 3 HIS LIFEAS A TP3 & 4)
VIDEO WATCHDOG #112
WALLFLOWER VOL 1 GN
WICKED WEST GN
WONDERLAND GN
XXXHOLIC VOL 3 GN
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Well, my computer is back from Florida, which is the good news.

But the bad news is that they decided it would be a clever idea to reformat the hard drive without bothering to tell me.

This, despite asking on two seperate occassions whether the HD would be safe and protected (I suspect I actually worded it to ask if the HD was physically OK... but, damn, you'd think they'd double plus underline that reformatting is SOP there)

So, while I'm "back", I have about a week's worth of data (re)entry in front of me to recover everything from the first of the year on, which makes Brian a very sad man.

At least I have my address book back now -- that only took me 90 minutes of typing!

Anyway, back to data entry for me -- HOPEfully I'll be Criticing next week... but I wouldn't count on it, really. (I've got to write a Tilting during then, too, sheesh!)

-B
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Friday was one damned quiet day at the comic book store so I had plenty of opportunity to read stuff. Despite this, I didn't read any more of the week's new releases--so let's just shuffle along to my equally lethargic picks, eh?

Pick of the Week is tough because nothing really got me fired up. However, despite my can't-put-my-finger-on-it misgivings (and Jim Treacher's apt critique in one of our comments) about Y: The Last Man, those last few pages were a hell of a shock. If you like picking up a book and wondering what the hell the creators are going to do next month, this is the book to check out.

Weirdly, Pick of the Weak isn't particularly easy, either. Hibbs, for the brief time I saw him at the store, did a pretty good job at seeming well and truly repulsed by Youngblood: Bloodsport #1 but it just didn't bother me that much--it's like getting skeeved out by carnies, you know? Once you realize they're trying to skeeve you out, then you can almost appreciate the theatricality of it. (My apologies to any of our regular carnie readers.) I think I've got to give the Weak to Hulk/Thing Hard Knocks because it's a waste of Jae Lee's talents and everyone else's time and money. I hope Lee can one day overcome whatever resistance he has to good material.

If I was on my game, the Trade Pick would probably be Battle Royale Vol. 9, but I'm two volumes behind and haven't even broken the shrink-wrap on my copy. So lemme just take a second to put in my two cents for Jeff Smith's Bone saga. We've still got a few copies at the store of the big-butt "Bone-in-One" softcover which blows my tiny mind--how can people not snag the steal of the year? Also, I read it over the last day or so and it's a genuinely impressive achievement. Oddly, the "Uncle Scrooge-meets-Lord-of-the-Rings" high concept works all the way to the end, and a wiser comix scholar than I can probably craft a smart essay on why: something to do with the way in which the former's sense of "humor through unchanging character" meshes so well with the latter's concerns with the complexities of destiny (which I guess we could think of as "history's unchanging character"), maybe. All I know is, Smith's storytelling chops allowed me to lose myself in a big old adventure for a day or two and that's pretty great.

So that's that. As mentioned earlier, this'll be my last post for a while, and thanks for putting up with the "all-Jeff's-mouthiness, all-the-time" approach. Hibbs got his computer back but, if I understood him correctly the other day, it's under a scary gypsy curse so you might hear from him by the middle of the week, you might not. As they used to say back in the day: Watch This Space For More Details.

Labels: Jeff

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Hmmm. Either I'm just not feeling the comics vibe, or it was not a particularly strong release week. Either statement could be true: I know I spent more time playing Katamari Damacy yesterday than I did reading and thinking about comics. So the following reviews should be taken with a grain of salt--a grain of salt that can be rolled up with a cookie, a thumb tack, a stamp, a mouse, a battery, etc., etc., until eventually it's rolling around the town collecting sumo wrestlers and policemen and cars in its unstoppable mass.

303 #1: I always like Ennis's war stories, and I like Jacen Burrows' art, but this was somehow less than what I expected: the weapons look fabulous and finely detailed, but all the faces seem to have the same broad, broken nose look to them which washes out the sense of individual personalities that, say, Steve Dillon would bring to the project. And I know it's a sign of a mentality ravaged by cheap comic books, but the concept implied by the cover--unstoppable Army guy versus zombies--seems like it might have a bit more going for it than the rather standard Ennis War Story being set up here. I'll be curious to see where it goes, though. OK.

CAPTAIN AMERICA & FALCON #8: I think I may have figured out one of Priest's big flaws--he has to have things both ways. Here, he takes MODOK, the dopey, big-headed guy in the chair, and he and Andrea Divito make him an entirely creepy presence. (That big old head crashing through the walls over the urinals? That disturbed me, man.) But three pages later, Sam Wilson is sitting there reading a paper saying, "He's a big head due with tiny arms. Don't know how you fight the thing without cracking up." Similarly, just as I'm getting used to The Falcon being a hard-edged character, Joe Robertson drags Cap aside and says, "What's wrong with you? Was The Falcon ever a hard-edged character??" Uh, wha? It's like the writer's so aware of any possible criticism he shoots himself down in advance...which may be why so many of Priest's plots feel overly byzantine and labored. All that said, this book seems far less fucked up than most of the books Marvel's publishing these days, which is why I'll pick up next issue, too. OK.

CONAN AND THE DAUGHTERS OF MIDORA: Didn't work for me even on its simplest level--an excuse to see Mark Texiera drawn Conan. Instead of the violently scratchy Texeira work, we get flatly inked figures, dull backgrounds and the occasional landscape that looks like it was cribbed from a Brothers Hildebrandt calendar. The panel-by-panel flow was pretty bad as well. The script didn't do it for me, either, somehow managing to hit every mark necessary to make a good Conan story and yet missing some piece of understanding that would pull it all together. (I'm not exactly sure what it is, but any Conan story where you feel more for the sorcerer than you do for Conan might be one of the problems). Lot and lot of potential here, but it only serves to point out more how it doesn't pay off. It'd be an Eh at $2.99, but at $4.99, I gotta go with Awful.

DETECTIVE COMICS #799: "War Games, Act Three, Part 1" and I've got agree with the cops on this one: it's a fucking bloodbath and it's Batman's fault. I had more fun wondering who in the name of God is so eager to win the Heroscape sweepstakes they'll read a whole page of rules set in bitty ten-point white-on-brown type. I got a migraine just looking at it. Also, in some back-up I haven't been following, Poison Ivy shows The Riddler he's not a particularly impressive super-villain. Yeah, that was a shock. Eh.

EXILES #53: I liked that, finally, some seeds are being sown for a longer arc. (It's pretty impressive in a way that Exiles has been published for over three years now and everyone who's worked on it has just taken the premise at face value.) And, you know, living planets versus Celestials--who can have a problem with that? (Even if it's only for the comedic value of Ego, The Living Planet "hiding.") It seemed a bit more like a Fantastic Four story with The Exiles thrown in, rather than vice-versa, but that's a minor quibbble. It was definitely OK, maybe even Good. I can't quite decide....

HULK/THING: HARD KNOCKS #2: My new theory? Jae Lee is blind. He is completely without sight, and he only picks scripts that are so stinky, he can find them by smell alone. Why else would he waste his chops on a one-shot (in which characters rehash their first fight) padded out to four issues? Hibbs liked last issue's Toyfareish take on Ben Grimm; this issue doesn't even have that. Awful.

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED #2: Note to the DC marketing department: if you're going to spend a whole page having Johnny DC hype the other all-ages books, maybe showing the character snoring at the bottom of the page gives the wrong impression. Just an idea. As for the comic itself, I think this needed one more pass--all the pieces are in place, but somehow the transition from the poker game to the Royal Flush Gang didn't feel as organic as I would've liked, and the hook about Superman and poker didn't actually seem borne out by the story's events. Good art though, and good enough for a high OK.

MAJESTIC #3: Well, nothing happens but I'm still liking this more than any of the "real" Super-titles. The flashback to The Bay of Numbers reminded me of some of those fucked up "Planet of Krypton" back-ups Superman used to have--I think I kind of miss 'em. Good.

SABRETOOTH #1: Kind of reminds me of the first issue of Venom that Way did, which had a similar horror movie vibe. Works better here, though, in part because Sears really buckles down and tells the story (I dug some of those close-ups where thick tension lines are flying off the head--pretty neat), and in part because Way doesn't let things drag as badly as previous. I'm not thrilled by the last page reveal--I would've preferred a tight suspense story with Sabretooth versus the poor Coast Guard bastards since it's set up properly--but I appreciate the idea that things are going to stay lively. A very accomplished OK.

SUPERMAN/BATMAN #12: I waited four months for that? If I'm going to wait for a third of a year for a comic book, I'd like to feel like the writer spent more than twenty minutes writing it, and the artist spent more than a week drawing it--the only thing more disturbing than Darkseid's reappearing like a superpowered Jason Vorhees was Supergirl's distorted midriff. I read this book *because* it's over-the-top and super-absurd, so it's not like my expectations are high, so for this book to fall short (after that damn long wait!) is particularly grating. Awful.

SWAMP THING #8: Whoops, I missed an issue (I think?), so this didn't make a whole lot of sense. Like the Corben art, of course, and I'm completely unqualified to comment on the story but there seemed something kinda pat about it. The girl wanders into the swamp just based on what Tefe says? And then encounters Swamp Thing? Those two things are pretty much comic book gimmes, I guess, but then she also knows who Max Ramhoff is, and wants to do him? Maybe Part Two lays the groundwork for this perfectly, but it seems pretty Eh plot-hammering to me. And if this is Part Two (because didn't that first story arc run six issues?) then I gotta give it an Awful.

TEEN TITANS/LEGION SPECIAL #1: The first couple of pages read like gleeful Grant Morrison captions: "A hundred Emerald Empresses, all with powerful eyes. A hundred lightning-wielding Validuses. A hundred Manos with antimatter hands..." and I really liked that. I also liked the epilogue in the pocket universe that sets up the Legion reboot's angle. But the emotional subplot of Superboy being torn between two teams felt very tacked on, as did the Impulse subplot, as did...well, everything with the Titans, basically. Still it was done with enough panache I'll give it a Good.

TOMB OF DRACULA #1: Feels like a failed pitch for a Blade sequel that got turned into a miniseries and sadly it looks like the goofy touches (there's a female samurai on the team of vampire slayers, all of whom seem like they sprang directly from their own action figure designs) are far outweighed by the formulaic touches (somehow, I just knew Dracula was going to be shirtless and wearing leather pants on that last page). Dull but competent, seems like a big old harmless Eh.

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #66: Not really the "squirt soda out your nose" type of hilarity the creative team seems to think it is, but I still found the issue amusing. Droll, I think is a good word for it: droll fanboy humor. OK.

WOLVERINE #20: Saying Mark Millar's work these days seems calculated and cynical is like saying today's superhero comics are off-putting to the casual reader--it's taken so much for granted it hardly seems worth pointing out. And, to its credit, this issue seems largely well-calculated: ripping off some choice Millerisms (ninjas in a graveyard, a "nobody's that fast" villain) and having John Romita, Jr. illustrate them seems like a very smart way to go. I also appreciated the story starting as a relatively typical Wolverine story (Logan doing a favor for a pal, writer ripping off the plot of a movie--in this case, Kurosawa's High and Low) and then running into much weirder territory in very recompressed fashion (a year ago, it would have taken three issues to get to that Manchurian Candidate style twist). But the whole "hey, it's Nick Fury! And Elektra! Shield CSI! A superhero hit list! And did I mention Elektra! It's like 'Hush' but in the Marvel Universe!" angle is, I think, too cynical and not as well-calculated. I'm gonna give this a Good because frankly I enjoyed it more than the last thirteen to fifteen issues of the title, but I know I'm gonna feel like a chump for doing so when Wolverine is fighting the Fantastic Four and the Avengers two issues from now.

WORLDWATCH #2: In color, and with 80% less icky sex scenes, Worldwatch still has a little too much of the tittering fanboy to it. Also, I guess Austen liked the "big opening fight scene where it turns out the villain has been sleeping with the hero" from issue #1 so much he recyles it for issue #2..or maybe he's got even fewer ideas for this book than I thought. Padded out with a text piece that's either a shill for another Austen book ("Now that I've done superheroes but with sex, let's do Archie...but with sex!") or a very, very lazy approach to deepen his setting, Watchmen style, this feels really, really skimpy despite a good price and professional presentation. Kinda Awful.

UNCANNY X-MEN #450: Chris Claremont is a wacky dude. Why all the blibbity-blab about Rachel never having seen swashbuckler movies for that opening sequence when it's so clearly a very beautiful Alan Davis homage to Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars books? Claremont knows it too since the Danger Room sequence is called "Burroughs-17," so why? There's a similar feel to the rest of the book, some crucial shortcut in Claremont's thinking, I just don't get: "Everyone will think you did it, Wolverine, that's why you should investigate!" But won't that make everyone jump to the "mutant cover-up angle" like the kid's dad did? Yummy Alan Davis art makes this an OK or better, but man does that Claremont guy hurt my head.

Y: THE LAST MAN #27: I'll forgive some of the San Franciscoisms, because the little twist at the end was enjoyably nasty and the arcs are moving forward finally. Something's kind of rubbing me the wrong way, though, and I can't quite put my finger on it. Until I do, let's call it a Good.

YOUNGBLOOD: BLOODSPORT #1: Those first few pages really made me think of kids who use swear words when they don't quite know what they mean: "Boy, I'm sure liking this blow job!" "Me too, this blow job is great!" "We should apply for this new Youngblood team! Okay, but first I'm gonna have another two or three blow jobs!" Apart from that, weirdly, I thought of Alan Moore. Just as his Promethea sprang from the work he did on Liefeld's Glory, so too is it easy to see Millar's Wanted developing from this ultra-nihilistic Youngblood story. I'm not sure what's more sad, that this came out a year ago and I'm only just reading it now, or that there still hasn't been a second issue, but neither lead me to expect I'll ever be seeing this wrap up. Since I see it as just a dry run for the more accomplished Wanted--given a choice between J.G. Jones and Rob Liefeld, would anyone actually pick Liefeld?--I don't actually care that much. Still kind of a shame, though. Eh.

See? Nothing really show-stopping. I'll update again after working at CE Friday, in case I stumble across anything else.

Labels: Jeff

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As promised, a new Fanboy Rampage is up (and, as expected, I put it up about a week later than I said I would).

I don't know if I mentioned it, but I'm going on vacation next week and won't be back until the last week in October. My hope is Hibbs' computer will have returned from the shop by then and there'll be no delay in all the savaging and the criticing but who knows? I'll keep you updated as I get an idea of what's going on.

Labels: Jeff

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I thought there'd be more choices for Pick of the Week but really there's just Darwyn Cooke's super-fab New Frontier #6: in case of Identity Crisis poisoning, take one of these for instant relief. See your doctor if symptoms persist.

For Pick of the Weak, well....Amazing Spider-Man #512--not just because 2004 is a really bad year for Gwen Stacys, but because a character's mythology means more than just an aphorism and sticking to walls. Runner-up is Metal Gear Solid #1, recreating the experience of a twelve year old telling you about the game of Metal Gear he just played, except wasting some sweet Ashley Wood art in the process.

Trade Paperback: I hate to keep picking reprints of old DC Comics, but looking at the difference between Loeb and Sale's Catwoman: When in Rome and their old Challengers of the Unknown trade is edifying: Sale's always had a love of the full-page splash and the double-page spread, but in Challengers he jams every page with storytelling verve--Bendis' intro rightly points out that Monopoly page, but Red killing his way out of a prison, the crumpled Kirby summaries, the tiny robot making his way across a vent of a panel border, are all pretty masterful stuff, designed to do more than fetch high prices for the original art come convention season. I hate what the mini did to my buddies the Challenegers and Loeb's script gets way, way, way too in-jokey by the end, but it's mighty fine comic book reading and worth checking out.

Labels: Jeff

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The good news is, I read more books at the store. The bad news is, I don't have much time to finish this up. I apologize in advance for any criticisms made less trenchant by the accidental excision of a noun or verb.

DAREDEVIL 2099 #1: Apparently, "2099" is codeword for "bummer twist ending." And I should have pointed this out when reviewing Black Panther 2099, but it was Hibbs' big complaint so I'll put it here: why revive the 2099 line if you're not going to follow your old continuity? It's almost like Marvel commissioned research that showed they should alienate their readership, and feel compelled to follow it. Plus, how can he be the Kingpin when he says earlier that the Sentinels wiped out almost all crime? Eh.

METAL HURLANT #13: The opening goth cheesecake story didn't do much for me, but goddamn did I love the "Lucha Libre" story by Jerry Frissen & Bill. I've got a fondness for Mexican Wrestlers so seeing 'em caught as squat manga cartoons bitching about their rides and each other while fighting a gang of vandalous werewolves was pure chewing satisfaction for me--it definitely worked better than any of the nine million masked wrestler comics thrown our way in the last year or so, probably because (as with the Frissen/Guy Davis story with zombies, hired investigators and angry rednecks) it's a story that plays with the idea of America as melting pot not just of cultures, but of pop cultures. I really, really enjoyed it and, at $3.95, feel comfortable giving it a high Good.

MUTANT 2099 #1: Okay, I've made a few mistakes with these 2099 one-shots. First, they're listed as Marvel Knights 2099 which explains the line-up--one-shot for each of the first Marvel Knight titles (I should've remembered that from the solicitation a few months back). Second, I read them: this was the only book I actually liked (that didn't have Kyle Hotz drawing Dr. Doom), maybe because its twist ending was that it wasn't a big downer like the rest of the books. It doesn't make any more sense than the rest of the books, though: where were the ubiquitous Sentinels when the Mole People attacked? On their lunch break? And Reed Richards seems pretty blase for a guy in his situation, dontcha think? Still, OK or maybe Good, kinda.

OUTSIDERS #16: I haven't followed the title very closely after the first arc so I assume Judd took the time to set up the whole Nightwing/Arsenal conflict and explained why Arsenal resents Nightwing, and how Nightwing got that pointy stick stuck up his ass...but I ain't buying it. I just can't see Dick Grayson getting pissed off enough to try and hurt one of his oldest friends with the "junkie" card. I thought the whole point of Nightwing is he wants to be like Batman without being an asshat? Gotta give it an Awful because I failed my saving throw against suspension of disbelief.

PUNISHER 2099 #1: And the big bummer twist is...nothing happens! And as Tom the Dog points out on his site, the idea of Elektra giving birth to a child in 2038 when she's at least sixty is a more dramatic premise than anything that happens here. Awful.

RICHARD DRAGON #5: I remember liking this more than previous issues, but I don't remember why. There's a ringing endorsement. Eh.

SIMPSONS COMICS #98: I give Ty Templeton full points for clever, as he makes use of one of the show's longest running visual gags, the Olmec head in the basement, but have to deduct points as most of the jokes he sets up with it (particularly Homer's whole "I'm dreaming!" shtick) don't really pay off particularly well. Feels like he did a lot of work just to get to that last page which, admittedly, I found both clever and touching. So an OK, more or less.

SUPERMAN #209: Wow, Jim Lee draws four great giant monsters, one of whom is an earth elemental with the head of Mount Rushmore, and I still hate the issue? That's an impressive achievement. Maybe I'm alone in this, but it seems to me Azzarello's grand pitch for this storyline was a bunch of hastily developed ideas for Superman stories spitballed together. What a prettily drawn pile of Awful this is.

X-MEN #162: Austen and/or Editorial overplay their hand a bit on setting up the "is he or isn't he a traitor?" situation with Caine and Bobby spends wayyyyy too much time with the whole "How could you trust him? You just trusted him! Aren't you sorry for trusting him?" And, thinking back on it, it seems the story falls apart as the rest of the Brotherhood doesn't mind Juggernaut flipping out and ripping apart Black Tom too much, but I'm giving this an OK because, I dunno, I like Salvador Larroca's art. Sue me.

Okay. Pick of the Week, Pick of the Weak and my highly uninformed Trade Paperback Pick later tonight.

Labels: Jeff

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I couldn't do it. My plan was to review the comics in the order I read 'em because there were lines of thought that developed from going one to the next, but a super-crap day at work yesterday and the debate last night totally knocked it all out of my head. So back to our good ol' pal alpha order this time around. Foo.

A FINE MESS #2: I liked this second issue of Matt Madden's formally playful comix--at their best, they give off the precocious charm of stuff I've read by Calvino, Barth or Cortazar (Madden namechecks Queneau who I should hunt up) and there's great fun in catching on to the games Madden plays in the first two pieces. But there's kind of a big "yeah, so?" price to be paid pretty quick--everything seems clever and glib, but can only point in the direction of emotional resonance. I'm giving this a Good because I had fun, Madden's seems to be getting better and better, and I'm glad someone's picked up the banner of dedicated formalist experimentation that Spiegelman's basically abandoned post-Breakdowns. I do hope future work brings a little more steak to the sizzle, though.

ADAM STRANGE #1: I didn't think I'd like this but, as with his opening run on Swamp Thing, Andy Diggle seems to be only toying with jettisoning the old while bringing in the new (the first third had me sadly shaking my head but the rest of it put a stop to that). The real stars, however, are Pascal Ferry's art and Dave McCraig's colors: Ferry's cleanly detailed work looks surprisingly deep, in no small part because of the way McCraig plays with gradations of color (the mundane scenes are colored in muted greens, blues and browns with flashes of brighter colors during flashbacks and when action finally starts). The story's just starting and it could hit the crapper pretty quickly but this team give me hope. Good.

BATMAN #632: Guys who've just had their big toes just cut off move would still move more gracefully than the events in this issue: the whole "yeah, I planted a bomb out in the hall" manuever felt pretty plot-hammered and of course, Batman's a genius who lets absolutely nothing get by him until the writers need him to act like a trusting lunk (until it's revealed an issue or two down the road...that he was never really fooled at all!). Awful.

BLACK PANTHER 2099 #1: My favorite of the 2099 books I read, mainly because Kyle Hotz draws a really, really nice Dr. Doom (I've had a weird Doom fixation since finishing the "Essential" Super-Villain Team-Up a few weeks back) and you get a Doombot on almost every page. Also, shit really happens, although admittedly too hurriedly to really care about it. For the price? OK I guess, unless you share my Doom fetish in which case a very, very low Good.

BY BIZZARE HANDS #4: Haven't read the Lansdale story Barrett and Verma adapt but they do a very good job: it's got that distinctive Lansdale feel to it, a mixture of explicit gore, black humor and poignant sadness. I'm kinda bummed that without Jacen Burrows' cover I never would've understood how "the roses" look or work, but that's a minor quibble. If there's a fault, it's with the story itself which, adapted as a comic, overwhelms its own emotional point with all the vivid viscera. But that's a quibble. If you're a Lansdale fan (or just a fan of gruesome, but not mindless, horror) I say you should seek this out. Very Good.

CATWOMAN: WHEN IN ROME #1: Ahhh, Jeph, Jeph, Jeph. If there's one thing I always admired about your recent "every cameo ever!" approach, it's that it never descended to "it was all a dream!"...until now. 22 pages of story that feel like 6 (it's actually ten if you ignore the dream sequence) I think it's too flimsy for the price. But if you're buying it for the gorgeous Tim Sale pin-ups, you'd probably disagree (I would still say wait for the inevitable trade where you'll get better bang for your buck). A big Eh from me.

DAREDEVIL #65: As promised, a very pretty issue of Daredevil. Weirdly, I think the least interesting aspect of Bendis' run on Daredevil is what the other Marvel heroes think of Murdock's shit, and that's what this issue is: The all "what other Marvel heroes think of Murdock's shit" issue: only the Dr. Strange bit at the end carried any weight (and yeah, probably in light of the way Murdock acts through the rest of the issue but if you've been following the run it would pack the same punch) with me. Maybe I'd be fangasming over this if the last storyline hadn't felt like a flop to me, but this is a high-priced OK. If you like cameos and pretty pictures, you'll like it much, much more than me.

DOOM PATROL #4: I really liked those first three pages--they showed a lot of, I dunno, moxie. And in this issue, Byrne really breaks up his traditionally stoic panel layouts, which was a very pleasant surprise. But it's all the usual Byrne blah-blah-blah of our heroes figuring out a vaguely scientific solution to their vaguely scientific dilemma--it's like the most boring parts of DC's Silver Age squared. I kinda wish Byrne would kinda take the spirit of those first three pages, drop some acid, and just go apeshit, but what are the chances? Anyway, to sum up, this issue was dull, but surprisingly OK.

ELEKTRA: THE HAND #2: All the stuff that annoyed me about Nu-Marvel in one convenient place: faux manga, decompressed narrative, and a book designed to reach outside the current marketplace while packaged with a hook to sell in the current marketplace. More to the point: I don't care, and I don't know why I should care. Awful.

FUTURAMA #19: Kinda great that I missed parts I and II of an apparent trilogy and it didn't get in the way of any laughs. Some of it runs a little too fannish for my tastes (or maybe it just didn't work--I should have loved that whole Hogan's Heroes, Captain Kirk gag and I didn't...) but a lot of it made me laugh ("A Vote for Xavius is a vote for Big Olive Oil" was pretty great). Futurama fans have gotta be pleased the cartoon is gone but this book is still around. Good.

GAMBIT #2: It's kinda like Layman made a list of things he likes (heist movies, John Woo's Hard Target, Tim Powers novels) and tossed 'em all into a big pot, but he and Jeanty aren't big-time chefs--they're cooks still learning their way around the kitchen and their concoction feels uneven and watery. Got potential, but little more than that here. Eh.

GREEN LANTERN #181: A mixed blessing for me--I'm so happy Kyle didn't get fucked over (by every DC hero's ultimate nemesis, DC Editorial) that I'm willing to let all the inconsistencies slide. Why does Kyle take Force's word about his mom? How does he get the jump on Force after he gives up the ring? What's with the "yeah, space didn't work before, but I gotta do something to give this an ending" conclusion? Answers: I don't care. I give it the Eh of relief.

HELLBLAZER #200: Kinda clever, and the art is lovely, but there's always a problem with these "it's the same thing...only different" stories: if you don't make the vignettes sufficiently different, it just feels like reading the same thing several times over. But as a way of twisting the old "It's A Wonderful Life" angle, and giving John some creepy new adversaries for the future, I think it's highly OK.

INHUMANS 2099 #1: Thank you, Paddy McPadPad. I think it was supposed to be "glimpse insight into other characters' lives so that you feel for them when the twist ending rolls along," and if this was written by, I dunno, Alan Moore I would have, maybe. But it wasn't, and I didn't, plus I didn't buy the twist anyway so it felt like a big ol' waste of time and space and paper. Awful.

LUBA'S COMICS & STORIES #5: Beto is such a tough call because half the time he's ten steps ahead of what everyone else is doing, and half the time I suspect he's ten steps ahead of what he's doing and trying not to act like he's lost--and from back here, it's impossible to tell which it is. I think this was unfocused and lost(?) but it was also charming and funny and lighter than it's been and I really enjoyed it. Good.

MARVEL 65TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL: This almost entirely dashed my hopes of ever seeing Everett's Sub-Mariner and Burgos' Human Torch material collected--I was going to rant about what a sloppy job Marvel did of reprinting the material until I noticed the long list of restorers. Unless someone undertakes collecting all the original art, I guess this stuff is just gone: I've seen wax dixie cups with cleaner reproduction. A shame, because this material, underneath its crudeness, has a slyly subversive nasty edge (Marvel Mystery Comics should've been called More Pricks Comics) Millar lovers and fans of Morrison's Marvel Boy would eat up with a spoon. I loved the stories, but it looks like utter garbage and it's five bucks. How the hell do I rate it? Good, but don't buy it? Awful, but go read it? I honestly wish I knew what to tell you.

METAL GEAR SOLID #1: Wow, a video game adaptation that's just a video game adaptation. Kris Oprisko just played Metal Gear Solid and then wrote down what happened. That's...uninspired. I guess the audience is Metal Gear fans who want to see Ashley Wood draw their favorite characters, but...aren't they gonna be bored reading a story they've already played, and likely played several times (I think I made it through twice, myself, although I gave up at the final boss battle both times)? Seems kinda like a lazy, book-killing approach to me. Pretty book, but an Awful choice.

NEW FRONTIER #6: Man, this just knocked me on my ass. Do I think it's the next Watchmen, like some onliners are apparently saying? Actually, I'd be suprised if you could give this to a "civilian" and they did more than like it and admire the art. But for fans of DC's Silver Age, this is a gorgeous heartfelt valentine and it'll be hugely appreciated as long as there are fanboys still drawing breath. This last issue felt kinda like the movie Return of the King in that Cooke gave us three endings when one would have done (and each kinda diminishes the other's effectiveness accordingly) but man, oh man. Great great work by Darwyn Cooke. A very high Very Good.

Crap, outta time and still about ten books to go. I doubt I can wrap it up before tomorrow or early Sunday, but if I can, I will.

Labels: Jeff

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