COMICS: Dave's DC Preview Pack Augury for June
Dave Van Domelen
Dave's DC Auguries: June Preview Pack:
Time for another pack of DC previews, B&W photocopies of complete or
partial comics. As usual, I'll be presenting spoiler-free comments about
the books to help you decide if you want to pick them up.
This month I have:
Batman: The Scottish Connection
JLA: World Without Grownups #1 (of 2)
Wonder Woman: The Once And Future Story
Legends of the DC Universe #7
JLA: The Nail #1 (of 3)
I got but didn't read the Vertigo title, Books of Faerie: Auberon's Tale
#1 (of 3). Looks like a month for spinoffs.
Batman: The Scottish Connection - Written by Alan Grant and drawn by
Frank Quitely. For most of you, I can probably just stop here, this is
enough to convince you to buy or not buy. }-> The story's a bit deep in the
ancient religious conspiracies angle, if you don't willingly watch a lot of
History Channel-type stuff you might be a tad bored by it. The art is, of
course, lovely, although I think Quitely makes Batman's cowl look a little
too much like the Adam West version's. This copy cuts off before the end,
just after the badguy has shown up.
JLA: World Without Grown-ups - Written by DeZago, drawn by Ramos and
McKone (I'm guessing that McKone does the bits where there's still grownups,
and Ramos the parts without 'em...hard to be sure since this is a very
incomplete copy). What bits I got aren't too bad, but the hinge on which the
story will hang is missing, so it's impossible to say if the story will hold
together. Heh, a typo has Freddie Freeman called CMJ. There is one big plot
hole in what we do get, however, so I don't have too much hope of the rest of
the book coming together.
Wonder Woman: The Once And Future Story - Written by Trina Robbins,
drawn by Colleen Doran, and overinked to death by Jackson Guice. Only the
first two thirds (or maybe half) of the story is completed, so I can't tell
if the ending will be as "very special episode"-ish as I suspect, but neither
is it particularly engrossing. Maybe if Doran's art wasn't so obscured by
Guice's badgirl inking I might recommend the book just on the art, but as it
stands I don't advise getting this one unless you're a hardcore WW fan.
Legends of the DC Universe - Written by Denny O'Neil, art by Greg Land
and Dick Giordano. I'll spoiler just enough to point out that it's a Green
Lantern/Green Arrow story. Right off, I found quibbles with both the art and
the current continuity (Hal does something he's explicitly said in recent
stories that he never does...and the plane Hal's flying was retired from
service long before the 10-years-ago continuity would let Hal fly it, and
Ferris wouldn't be makeing early-60s-vintage F-104s anyway). This doesn't
bode well. This is a complete issue, part one of two or more, however, so
the story isn't complete. Well, not this iteration, anyway. I've seen it
before in other titles, and it's not worth sticking around for unless Denny
pulls some major twist out of his back pocket.
JLA: The Nail - Alan Davis writes and draws, with Mark Farmer inking.
Very good art, interesting Elseworlds concept and execution. Can't say
much more about this without spoilering, so I'll just say I plan to get it
and think you should too. }->
Dave Van Domelen, off to teach....