RANT: Dave's Capsules & Awards: Nov 13
Dave Van Domelen
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.
Crud, fave pizza place is closing. Rants, Capsules can be found on my
homepage, http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/Rants
Capsules:
The regular Capsule reviews of books I actually buy. If I get a book
late due to distributor foulups or whatever, I'll put it in the Missing
section.
Harley Quinn #26: DC - Not an auspicious start. It's one thing to start
a ways into the story with unknown situations and adversaries. But when
everything is still mysterious and veiled by the last page, that's bad pacing
for a comic. Plus, with so many flashbacks stuck into this issue (within
other flashbacks), even the characters who weren't cloaked in shadow weren't
particularly clear. Maybe Lieberman is writing at TPB pace, but it makes for
a lousy first issue. When it's all tease and no followthrough, it can
backfire. Neutral. $2.50/$4.25Cn
Hunter the Age of Magic #17: DC/Vertigo - The collage cover is apt,
considering that this issue is a bit of a plot collage. Horrocks has a lot
of irons in the fire right now as he bridges elements of the uber-arc, but
it's not as muddled as Harley Quinn. Still could use some tightening,
though. Mildly recommended. $2.75/$4.60Cn
Green Lantern #156: DC - Last issue the baton was passed, this time the
new GL starts running with it. No big plot arc stuff (except some long term
setup), but some nice closure and opening. Recommended. $2.25/$3.75Cn
JSA #42: DC - Cool issue, even if it's just a step along the way to the
main event. Recommended. $2.50/$4.25Cn
Tom Strong's Terrific Tales #5: DC/ABC - Good to see this second title
getting some slightly more experimental stuff, rather than just being more of
the same stuff as in the main Tom Strong title. The lead story is told as a
series of trading cards from 1966...a bit hard to read without cutting them
out, but it's nice to see this uncommon format played with. The second piece
is a silent piece drawn by Aragones and written by Leah Moore (I wonder who
the giant woman is...doesn't quite look like Tesla, could it be Leah?). The
final piece is another Young Tom Strong, the only "normal" one in the issue.
Recommended, at least for the novelty of seeing Aragones working with a
writer other than Evanier. :) $2.95/$4.95Cn
Mek #1: DC/Wildstorm/Homage - Warren Ellis is remarkably restrained in
this outing, a tale of the founder of a counterculture movement who has come
"home" to find it ain't her movement anymore. And really, for all the
cyberpunk and posthuman veneer to it, this doesn't seem to be about
transhumanism in the way many Transmetropolitan stories were. That may come
later, but for now the cyborg movement ("Mek") seems to just be chrome, if
you'll pardon the pun. The main character has gone from counterculture
vanguard to "sellout", but now finds that her roots are important again and
isn't sure she can get back to them. A promising start. Recommended.
$2.95/$4.95Cn
Killraven #2 (of 6): Marvel - More of Killraven's origin, then more
fighting against the humans who are as much a menace as the Martians. It
continues to look nice and read kinda average. It's not a bad book, it's
just hopelessly mediocre at the writing level. At least it's pretty. Mildly
recommended. $2.99/$4.75Cn
Black Panther v2 #51: Marvel - Most people can't pull off a plot that
jumps around a lot. Priest is one of those who can. I'm a little worried
that in the current atmosphere of mass cancellations it won't get to finish,
but despite the asynchronous storytelling I'm not feeling either cheated or
teased here. Lucas's art could use a little work (the inking is a bit light
at times), but that's really the only flaw I can point to. Still, it's
probably not for everyone, which is a pity. Recommended. $2.50/$4.00Cn
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!)
Arsenic Lullabies still missing. But I got it from my old shop, I
should have it in hand by next week. For floating values of "next week" of
course.
Awards:
Best Book: Black Panther v2 #51
"Gee, New Arkham Villain Mentioned In Passing. Wonder How Long Before He's
The Main Villain In The Book?" Award to Harley Quinn #26
"Dude, You Give The Sword to Arthur, Not Merlin" Award to Hunter #17
"Oh, THIS Is A Relationship That's Gonna Work" Award to Green Lantern #156
"Dude, He Has Ten Thousand Talents" Award to JSA #42
"I'll Give You Reason To Weep!" Award to Tom Strong's Terrific Tales #5
"Cyberphunk" Award to Mek #1
"Mmm, Minty" Award to Killraven #2 (of 6)
"Wolves Aren't Domesticated, Remember This" Award to Black Panther v2 #51
Dave Van Domelen, "Though with them 66 Bridges fools blasting Grand
Theft Auto 4 on the Gamecube, I could set off grenades without anybody
noticing." - Kasper, Black Panther v2 #51