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Dave's Comicbook Capsules for May 2018

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Dave Van Domelen

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May 31, 2018, 5:18:34 PM5/31/18
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Dave's Comicbook Capsules Et Cetera
Intermittent Picks and Pans of Comics and Related Media

Standard Disclaimers: Please set appropriate followups. Recommendation does
not factor in price. Not all books will have arrived in your area this month.
An archive can be found on my homepage, http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/Rants
Man, a lot of my regular books just didn't publish at all in May.

Items of Note (strongly recommended or otherwise worthy): Ms. Marvel #30

In this installment: Batman Ninja, Deadpool 2, Sparks!, Economix: How
Our Economy Works (And Doesn't Work), The Manga Guide to the Universe,
Ms. Marvel #30, Deathstroke #31, Future Quest Presents the Herculoids #10,
Invader Zim #30, My Little Pony Ponyville Mysteries #1, My Little Pony
Friendship is Magic #66, Transformers vs. Visionaries #5 (of 5), Transformers
Unicron #0, Optimus Prime #19

Current Wait List (books either Diamond didn't ship or my store failed
to order): Transformers: Requiem of the Wreckers (I've read a scan, but won't
review it until I have hardcopy in hand...I will say it really needed to be
about twice as long to work).


"Other Media" Capsules:

Things that are comics-related but not necessarily comics (i.e.
comics-based movies like Iron Man or Hulk), or that aren't going to be
available via comic shops (like comic pack-ins with DVDs) will go in this
section when I have any to mention. They may not be as timely as comic
reviews, especially if I decide to review novels that take me a week or two
(or ten) to get around to.

Batman Ninja: DC/WB - Wow. The most charitable thing I can say about
this is that it contains a lot of cool set pieces, and a few absurd ones. In
fact, it feels like they had a brainstorming session for scenes, decided to
do every scene proposed, and then spent ten minutes figuring out how to
stitch them together. The writing is SOOOO BAD. Like, not even amusingly
bad, just bad bad. This is best watched in a language you don't understand,
with subtitles turned off...because at least you can pretend a better story
than what was delivered. Avoid otherwise.

Deadpool 2: Marvel Studios - Quite profane, as one might expect,
although they do use "imply, don't show" for some of the more extreme stuff.
While the gore levels are really really high, and the swearing is
deliberately gratuitous, there's a solid story and all the R-rated stuff
makes perfect sense in the context of...he's ****ing Deadpool, man. The red
band trailed for The Happytown Murders shown before this provided a good
contrast: Happytown (at least the trailer) goes for crudity and gratuitous
"bump it up to R" stuff for shock value, it really felt like they were
pushing it way past the point it was funny. But even the most cringeworthy
scenes of Deadpool 2 feel like they belong, rather than being forced for a
cheap laugh. (Well, cheap laughs are still a goal of the movie, but they fit
well into the story.) Definitely watch all the way through the credits, not
just for the scenes inserted between the "prestige" credits and the regular
ones, but also for the final piece of music. I really enjoyed the movie, but
you do need a high tolerance for blood, limb removal, splatter, foul
language, and highly flexible morality to enjoy it.


Digital Content:

Unless I find a really compelling reason to do so, I won't be turning
this into a webcomic review column. Rather, stuff in this section will be
full books available for reading online or for download, usually for pay. I
will often be reading these things on my iPhone if it's at all possible.

Looks like nothing this month.

Trades:

Trade paperbacks, collections, graphic novels, pocket manga, whatever.
If it's bigger than a "floppy" it goes here.

Sparks!: Scholastic - I got this because of the first chapter being a
FCBD book. It's basically, "What if Pinky and the Brain were cats who wore a
mechanical dog suit to be a superhero and fight off an alien invasion?" A
lot of plot and character elements don't make a lot of sense, but that's on
purpose, because no one involved on either side is what you'd call a totally
rational adult. Or any kind of adult, really. Otherwise a fairly standard
bildungsromans, but with a superintelligent cat protagonist. Recommended.
$12.99/$16.99Cn

Economix: How Our Economy Works (and Doesn't Work): Abrams Comicart -
This came out several years back, I picked it up at a local convention. The
team of Goodwin and Burr do a good job of distilling centuries of economic
thought into a comprehensible presentation, emphasizing the core point that
all economic theories are models that come with assumptions. Sometimes the
models work decently even when the assumptions aren't met, but most of the
time not so much. Or, worse, they work well enough for a while, making
people rich enough to convince them that the model will always work...and
then the crashes happen. A bit of a depressing read towards the end,
especially since it was written in 2011 and ends on a bunch of "here's some
things that might help us forestall collapse," and we kinda did the opposite
of most of them. (There are updates available on www.economix.com to cover
the last few years, but as a work in itself it ends on a Cassandra-like
tone.) Recommended. $19.95/#23.95Cn

The Manga Guide to the Universe: No Starch Press - Another convention
purchase. The basic premise is that a high school drama club wants to update
the "moon princess" fairytale (the one that was adapted for Kubo and the Two
Strings, among other movies), but put the kingdom somewhere more plausible
now that we know the Moon is uninhabitable. With the help of one character's
brother (a physics major in college) and the brother's astronomy professor,
they learn about the cosmos in ever-widening gyres. It's a mix of manga
storytelling and more textbook-style pieces (which are, sadly, a pretty dry
read in the translation...can't say if they were dazzling prose in the
original, though). The goal is to liven up the learning via the
storytelling, but it tends instead to just grind to a halt once the text
pieces start. Now, the content itself is accurate and reasonably well
explained in factual terms (although, thanks to being a 2011 translation of a
2008 book, it's stuck with Hubble images of Pluto rather than the much more
stunning New Horizons imagery). Mildly recommended. $19.95/$22.95Cn


Floppies:

No, I don't have any particular disdain for the monthlies, but they
*are* floppy, yes?

Not going to do a separate FCBD listing this time. Sparks! resulted in
a purchase above, I'll cover Unicron #0 down with the rest of the TF books,
and the only other FCBD books I picked up (the CLBDF anthology and the :01
First Second all-ages anthology) didn't really impress me with anything.

Ms. Marvel v2 #30: Marvel - Several plot threads come to satisfying and
sensible (well, where possible) conclusions, a few are put on a bus for a
while, and Wilson shows how to do correctly one of the truncated plot threads
in Requiem of the Wreckers. Some of this is likely because Wilson is leaving
the book soon (or so I hear), and she doesn't want to leave too many
danglers. But in many ways, if the book were over as of this issue it'd be a
satisfying end...I suppose clean arc endings are so rare these days that we
only ever get them when a book is cancelled, eh? The fight scenes may be a
bit overly chatty, but that's okay in a slightly trope-tweaking book like
this. I suppose you could view it as seeing only snapshots of a longer fight
but getting to hear all the dialogue. Strongly recommended. $3.99

Deathstroke #31: DC - Okay, I missed the teeny note on the title page
last month, but this whole arc takes place "prior to the current events of
the DC Universe." Shortly after the Batman guest shot about 25 issues ago,
in fact. I'd been wondering how Deathstroke got out of Arkham. Maybe he's
doing an extended flashback, since being in Arkham is reminding him of all
things Bat. Anyway, Batman won't let this matter drop, so Deathstroke has to
stay involved if only to make sure nothing blindsides him, but the two have
very little direct interaction, dramatic cover aside. In fact, it's mostly
Bruce Wayne here, rather than Batman per se, because having seemingly failed
to bait the Bat, the mysterious person(s) behind this go after Bruce more
directly. And he gets some wonderful BS bits as he investigates things.
Also, Wintergreen and Alfred are best teamup ever. Recommended.

Future Quest Presents: The Herculoids #10: DC - The middle part of
Animan's temptation of Dorno, mostly involving Dorno and the surviving
non-humanoid Herculoids dodging disaster after disaster as their planet
dies. It's not so much that it feels particularly padded, more that while
stuff happens and character development progresses...I never really felt
engaged. I didn't care. Mildly recommended. $3.99

Invader Zim #30: Oni Press - The Poopocalypse is nigh, and unless Dib
can get Zim's help, the world is doomed! The high concept is promising, but
the execution feels kind of defanged, turned into the blandest level of
Nickelodeon content. Poop jokes and petty spite. Meh. Neutral. $3.99

My Little Pony Ponyville Mysteries #1: IDW - Based on the series of
young reader chapter books written under the pseudonym Penumbra Quill (but
NOT written by G.M. Berrow). I did read the first book in case I'd need to
know backstory, but there's really just a couple panels of "Gee, I'm glad
things worked out with (characters from the first book)," and "I kinda like
this mystery-solving thing." Unfortunately, while the chapter book was able
to put enough twists in to keep things from being too obvious, a single issue
isn't really enough to go into more depth than an Encyclopedia Brown
mystery...and Rice isn't Donald Sobol. I think they'd be better served by
two issues per story, so that there can be a cliffhanger, time to speculate,
etc. Mildly recommended. $3.99

My Little Pony Friendship is Magic #66: IDW - The published diaries from
the episode of the cartoon in which the writers complain about the fandom are
turned into a movie. Each of the Mane 6 is invited to direct their own
segment of the story, which ends up like Rashomon meets Duck Amok. One
interesting bit at the very end is the implication that any comic story that
can't be reconciled with the cartoon anymore is just something Pinkie Pie
remembers having happened...but didn't necessarily. Mildly recommended.
$3.99

Transformers vs. Visionaries #5 (of 5): IDW - I really get the feeling
that the series was rough-plotted before the hammer came down on this
continuity, but by the time #2 or #3 was being scripted they knew what was
coming. So the wrap-up here is clearly has what was intended to be a
"there's a lot of potential in this" ending, but the increasing body count as
the series progressed spoke to the fact that everyone who survived this
series was still likely doomed in some fashion. And the villain of the
piece, Merklyn, is recast as probably having the right plan, and now that
he's lost they're all doomed. A rather bittersweet ending, with a big
emphasis on the bitter. Mildly recommended. $3.99

Unicron #0: IDW - A FCBD teaser for the "end of the IDW continuity"
series. Timing is going to be really dicey here, given that both Lost Light
and Optimus Prime need to hit #25 simultaneously with Unicron #6, and this
issue already gives up several important plot points from Optimus Prime #19
and onward. Especially since no issues of Lost Light came out this month,
and only one of Optimus Prime.
Most of this short story focuses on trying to save Elonia, the capital
of the Solstar Order, with some last minute revelations tying things together
and explaining why Unicron would go after Elonia anyway (and explaining the
plot device of Rom's armor). Obviously, Unicron isn't stopped or even slowed
down much, else there wouldn't be Unicon #1-6, but it's still the sort of
loss that could be recovered from if we didn't know that, you know, the
continuity is being cancelled. (Yeah, it could end on "and everyone left
survived and there was a new golden age of peace among those who banded
together in the face of Unicron," but at best we'll get a panel or two of
Elonia's survivors rebuilding.)
The back cover has a checklist of all the remaining tie-in stuff, which
skips June entirely and picks up in July with Lost Light #21 (they're gonna
have to get out three issues in June to make that), and Optimus Prime #22 in
August (that one is a realistic goal). Free comic.

Optimus Prime #19: IDW - This is mostly The World According To
Starscream, who apparently wasn't as resigned to his punishment and guilt as
shown in Windblade Annual...to the point it feels like Barber disagreed with
Scott and wanted to undo that story as soon as possible. Optimus himself
appears only in flashbacks prior to the last couple of pages, and other than
"Starscream retcons his life" stuff there's not a lot of story here. Maybe 8
pages. So I can't shake the feeling that the primary purpose of this issue
was to undo Starscream's character growth so that he could be back in
Barber's preferred mode at the end. Very mildly recommended. $3.99


Dave Van Domelen, "The biometric scanners you touch here use an
inverting amplifier to alter a supply voltage. This active current on your
hands reacts with esters of low molecular weight commonly used as fragrances
-- like those in antibacterial soap. This combination interacts with the
butadiene in the nitrile gloves you used to handle Suds' cash -- and left a
crude signature on the hundreds' 3-D security ribbon." "Bull. I missed a
camera somewhere, didn't I?" "34th and Broad. Got your license plate." -
Batman and Adeline Kane, Deadpool #31


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