Dave's Comics Capsules for November 2023

[Dave Van Domelen]

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
Took a while, but I'm mostly recovered from the surgery.

Items of Note (strongly recommended or otherwise worthy): The Great
Cleric vol 1-6.

In this installment: Loki Season 2, Blue Beetle (movie), Adventure
Finders Book 3 Episode 15, Super Sons vol 1-3, The Great Cleric vol 2-6, Go
Go Loser Ranger! vol 7, Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear vol 7, Unnatural Order #1,Moon
Knight #28, Superman Lost #7 (of 10), Gargoyles #10, Gargoyles Halloween
Special, Gargoyles Dark Ages #4, Draculina Blood Simple #6 (of 6), Charm City
#2, Mech Cadets #3, My Little Pony Classics Reimagined: Unicorn of Odd #2 (of
4).


"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.

Loki Season 2: Marvel/Disney+ - Another short six-episode season, in
which episodes 2-4 are basically demonstrating a step at a time just how
hosed everyone is in the wake of Season 1. I've seen complaints that the
middle episodes feel like padding and it could've been a 2 hour movie, but I
found the "We have a plan! Okay, that didn't work either," escalation
effectively sold the drastic measures that had to be taken in the finale,
whereas compressing it into two hours would have made it feel too pat. Sure,
the final solution is elegant in its simplicity (despite being very
DIFFICULT), but it needed to feel like a last resort. A couple of hours of
increasingly desperate plans made that clear. "It's not a science problem
after all, it's a story problem!" or words to that effect. This does feel
like a solid ending for our Variant Loki, where trying to undo or mitigate it
would cheapen the series, but that doesn't mean Marvel won't retroactively
trash a good series in order to make a movie (glares meaningfully at Wanda
Maximoff's character "arc"). Despite bouncing throughout time and realities
it barely expands on the S1 cast (Key He Quan's addition is definitely a
highlight, the other significant character addition is a bit more
take-it-or-leave-it despite being a character who's got history with Thor in
the comics). I do hope that if they make a third season, it focuses on a
different Loki (like Sylvie, perhaps), since this one has definitely gotten
an ending that he earned...for better AND worse. Recommended. Streaming on
Disney+, BluRay will probably come out eventually.

Blue Beetle: DC/WBD - David Zaslav decided to let this one come out
rather than burying it for tax evasion purposes, but was it worth seeing?
For the most part, yes. I was really turned off by the opening scenes with
Jaime in which they just piled on the "protagonist's life must suck as much
as possible before they get the awesome adventure stuff" cliche that
action/fantasy writers seem obsessed with, but by about 15 minutes in that
was mostly unimportant. ONE of the Life Sucks plot points was important,
they should've just used that one and left out the rest. Anyway, they took
most of their cues from the John Rogers series, but added Ted Kord's evil big
sister as the main villain, reskinned Ted's origin story villain Carapax as
the nemesis figure, and made Jaime a fresh college grad (not just for the
Life Sucks, it also let them shed non-family supporting cast without needing
to explain why he had no friends). Probably for the best that they didn't
try to work Peacemaker in, not only is Cena's version tonally very different
from the one in the comics, but that'd be three stories in a row where
Peace(na)maker's involved with alien symbiotes. George Lopez as Uncle Rudy
was dead on, and Nana Reyes was a great addition. Oh, and everything was
Reagan's fault. Recommended once you get past the first couple of scenes.
(Technical note: the Reyes family mostly speaks Spanish, and not all of it is
subtitled. The untranslated stuff is basically "incidental dialogue" and not
plot-important as far as I could tell. Oh, and they slipped a LOT more
profanity past the rating board by simply not subtitling all the cussin'.)
Streaming on Max (which I don't get), otherwise price depends on format and
store.


Digital Content:

Unless I find a really compelling reason to do so (such as a lack of
regular comics), I won't be turning this into a webcomic review column.
Rather, stuff in this section will generally be full books available for
reading online or for download, usually for pay.

Adventure Finders Book 3 Episode 15: Patreon.com - In an interesting
storytelling choice, the cover doesn't so much show an event from the issue,
as it shows something that happened between episodes. The party reassembles
after being split several ways for much of the Book (one reassembles rather
more literally than others do), so there's a lot of reunions and glomping and
introductions. Basically, a breather and an impending mook-stomp prior to
the unresolved business back in town. Recommended. $2/month or more on
Patreon.


Trades:

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

Super Sons vol 1-3: DC/DC ZOOM - I found these for two bucks each at
Ollie's, and to be honest they're not worth even that much. If you like
Damian and Jon from the comics or even the recent animated movies...you won't
find that here. Ridley Pearson makes up an entirely different world and
different personalities, it really feels like he was given the character
names and an index card's worth of family tree info, then went with memories
of Superfriends and Adam West to make a faux Silver Age book. The pull quote
on the cover says it "moves faster than a speeding bullet," which I suppose
is one way to say the plot janks around and glosses over a lot of stuff when
there isn't an action scene. It's particularly disorienting given that every
location is made up, and what feels like a third of the landmass of the
planet is underwater due to melting icecaps (yeah, it's a post-apocalyptic
sort of setting where most of the consequences are reduced to a few refugee
camps and some resentment of "flood runners" in the places still above
water). Authors parachuting in from other media (YA novels in this case)
have a pretty spotty track record, and this trilogy is tossed on the bad side
of the scales. $9.99 each cover price, but even if you see them on the shelf
for $1.99 each...leave them there.

The Great Cleric vol 2-6: Kodansha - I agree with some reviews I saw
that said the first couple volumes were a bit of a slow start, but by the
time I hit volume 3 I was regularly laughing out loud. As I've noted in
other reviews, I'm not exactly deep into Isekai, so I can't really say if
this is a standard approach or a subversion, but like Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear
this is definitely following the path of "The protagonist is overpowered, but
the interesting thing about them is how they try to just live a quiet life
with creature comforts and wow does that not go to plan." Anyway, in looking
for more volumes, I found that this started its U.S. release as an online
exclusive on Kindle, so if I really wanted to read further ahead all I'd have
to do is go to...ComiXology's hollowed out corpse. As much as I'm enjoying
this series, I'll wait, thanks. (I suspect that this Kindle exclusivity
might be part of why the local B&N only stocks vol 1 on the shelf.) Anyway,
on top of themes of "the salaryman grind and the MMO grind are much of a
sameness," and "being a minimally decent person by modern standards can make
you a saint on certain historical issues," I'm pretty sure there's a general
condemnation of the for-profit American health care system despite this being
written originally in Japan for a Japanese audience. Anyway, the former
Luciel's number one motivation in his previous life was to get promoted, and
in this chunk of the story he finds out the truth of the old adage, "Let him
be promoted, and thereby removed." He's too well-loved by too many dangerous
people in the Adventurers' Guild (and Assassins' Guild) for the local crooked
Healers' Guild head to touch him, so this early baddie gets rid of him by
sending him to work as an exorcist for the Pope. The job basically involves
keeping a spontaneously generated dungeon's undead from growing too numerous
(by the end of vol 6 we know exactly why this dungeon exists under the
equivalent of the Vatican), and the bald baddie whose name I can't be
bothered to check figures that'll kill him in days...or at worst keep him out
of the way for the term of service. Of course, Luciel has been grinding his
combat skills along with his healing skills, and while he doesn't completely
OP his way through things (the dungeon bosses give him significant trouble),
he's a once in a generation find for the job. Volume 6 is definitely a
proper "end of an arc" book, as a lot of mysteries get resolved (but not
all...and I doubt the "who shot him with a sniper rifle in JAPAN?" question
will be answered any time soon). This is a good time to get into the manga,
since you can binge it and get past the two volumes of slow burn setup.
Strongly recommended. Rated Older Teen 16+ (volumes 4 and 6) or Teen 13+
(the rest...I think it's the rather violently hacked up undead in vol 4 and 6
that bump the rating a bit). $12.99/$16.99Cn

Go Go Loser Ranger vol 7: Kodansha - Now that the series has made it
past the first boss fight, a number of facts about the setting are revealed
to Fighter D and the reader (and by revealed, I suspect "changed so that the
series can go longer" might be the case), such as how many Bosses actually
survived the battle that saw the Rangers win...and how many didn't make it to
the present day. Otherwise, the majority of the volume has the rather
understrength Green squad investigating where the rest of the squad went, and
finding them...unfortunately. Another Boss, this one with a rather more
indirect approach. It lets the writer indulge in some High School Comedy
tropes while making sure D is kept off-balance as much as possible.
Recommended. Rated Teen 13+. $10.99/$14.99

Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear vol 7: Seven Seas Entertainment - The first half of
this volume covers the details of Yuna setting up a bakery in her adopted
hometown, because getting the creature comforts turns out to be a lot more
WORK than she anticipated. Where Luciel aka Saint Weirdo over in the Great
Cleric has a pathological work ethic, Yuna really REALLY does not. At all.
But she has more of a conscience than she expected herself to have (we see
her grandfather saw it in her, though), and sees a lot about the world that
needs fixing if she can get back to her primary goal of slacking and
snacking. Once she has her home area in enough order to salve her
conscience, she sets out for the rest of the volume to explore some other
regions...in search of food, of course. She has a hankering for seafood, so
sets out over the mountains for a seaport. Unfortunately, the town has many
troubles, not the least of which are caused by a greedy guildmaster (trade,
not healing, in this case). She also may have finally run into a
monster-based problem she can't just blow to meaty chunks (although that
WOULD get her some seafood in this case!). I remain dubious...it doesn't
feel like Yuna has actually come close to hitting her limit in being totally
OP, but at least she's not letting it go to her head. Recommended. Rated
Teen 13+. $12.99/$16.99Cn


Floppies:

No, I don't have any particular disdain for the monthlies, but they
*are* floppy, yes? (And not all of them come out monthly, or on a regular
schedule in general, so I can't just call this section "Monthlies" or even
"Periodicals" as that implies a regular period.)

Unnatural Order #1: Vault - My current store got a shipment of free
copies of this, so put it in everyone's pull. The premise is interesting,
but both of the previous Vault books I followed had two things in common:
very irregular publication schedules, and an interesting premise that
nosedived into an ending that felt like contempt for people who want things
like resolution. The Interesting Premise this time is that somehow a druid
taps into power from Elsewhere (or Elsewhen) and breaks the back of the Roman
Empire and conquers much of the world. A rag-tag group of PCs...er, heroes
from various lands seek to destroy the druid's power, and the whole thing
shifts from Fantasy to Sci-Fi on the last page. Neither the art nor writing
grabbed me, and while I admit the Interesting Premise is interesting, I think
I'll pass on this series. $4.99

Moon Knight #28: Marvel - "The Last Days Of Moon Knight!" proclaims the
cover banner. Yeah, it's renumbering at #1 in a few months, already been
solicited. Anyway, Moon Knight and his ablative supporting cast go after
Black Spectre, who clearly has a History with Moon Knight, but we don't yet
get to see what. This has some decent character moments (mostly Tigra's
moments), but otherwise hews to the "invade the Tower of Death and leave
behind allies one by one," cliche. Mildly recommended. $3.99

Superman Lost #7 (of 10): DC - Well, I'm not in the credits this time,
so you can't blame any technobabble on me. ;) The planet of exile part of
the arc is basically over here, and the "Lost" part of the book shifts to a
heavier focus on Superman being emotionally lost, even going to see Kara's
therapist. Lois also goes to see someone for help, and of course it's a
monkey's paw wish. Recommended. $3.99

Gargoyles #10: Dynamite - More legal drama, which continues to be the
sort of thing that works better with sound and motion. I'm guessing this is
an un-labeled 12 issue limited series given the new title launching in a few
months and how Dynamite is largely allergic to ongoing titles. I guess I'll
ride this into a landing, but I'm not picking up the followup title.
Neutral. $3.99

Gargoyles Halloween Special #1: Dynamite - Gargoyles go
trick-or-treating, set after Gargoyles #10. It has an explicit October 31,
1997 datestamp, something the main series doesn't generally bother with
(although based on a newspaper seen in one flashback panel, Goliath was taken
in back in mid-May 1997). This mostly features Brooklyn and Katana's kid
Nashville with some support from Bronx and Foo-Dog, as he makes friends,
engages in trick-or-treating, and deals with a resurgent Quarrymen plot.
It's decent, and definitely better suited to the medium than the somewhat
tedious main book plot. (Another downside of getting Dynamite books by mail
order, other than having to get two months' worth after deciding to drop, is
that I get random covers, which for Dynamite means high odds of random pinup
that has nothing to do with the story inside.) $4.99

Gargoyles Dark Ages #4: Dynamite - The battle over, the story shifts to
the building of Castle Wyvern, and the focus is split between getting
surviving characters where they need to be (such as Demona learning magic),
and fleshing out a bunch of Gargoyles who don't make it to the 1990s. The
sinister acting troupe makes me think that some of them won't make it to the
completion of the castle. Overall, though, the issue feels very thin, and
not just because the actual comics pages barely make it past the staple (more
text story, then loads of house ads). $4.99

Draculina: Blood Simple #6 (of 6): Dynamite - While there's a bunch of
angels versus demons versus Lilith going on here, the title characters are
mostly sidelined while the power players posture at each other, and while the
issue is told out of temporal order I'm not sure doing so in strict
chronological order would have changed much...old players, old beefs, arguing
as much in shorthand as anything. To the extent there's a resolution, nasty
Draculina accepts that she's not completely amoral and if she won't admit to
being suicidal she does seem willing to sacrifice herself for something other
than an end to it all. Mildly recommended. $3.99

Charm City #2: Scout Comics - This issue is built more around fleshing
out more of the magical underground of Baltimore, and while some stuff is
revealed about the killer (or killers), mostly we learn about the magical
community and the protagonist's links to it. The backup continues to show
the transgression she committed to get kicked out of the community (and which
landed her forbidden normie boyfriend in a semi-vegetative state). Some of
the pacing does make it feel like there's going to be at least a few more
layers under the overt mass murdering. Recommended with the usual disclaimer
that my brother draws it so I'm a touch biased. $4.99

Mech Cadets #3 - Boom! Studios - Yeah, I'm starting to feel the pacing
issues here that weren't as apparent when I binged the first three volumes in
TPB form. Some deliberately confusing space combat, then back to Earth for
the cadets to face the music only not really because they've got plot armor
and they know it. Some definite writing for the trade here, and the art is a
lot scratchier, suggesting there might have been a rush job here or there.
Mildly recommended. $4.99

My Little Pony Classics Reimagined: the Unicorn of Odd #2 (of 4): IDW -
While they don't QUITE show how the Tin Woodsman lost her flesh and blood
parts in her introduction here, they definitely describe it as graphically as
the original novel does. It's been a lot longer since I read the book
compared to the last time I saw the movie, so I can't swear the beats line up
(I honestly don't recall Kalidahs at ALL, I guess they were replaced by
"Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!" in the movie). Recommended. $3.99


Dave Van Domelen, "Darling, don't take this the wrong way, but you're
hardly A.K. Yearling. A Diamond Dog with a thesaurus could do better." -
Tinmare Rarity complaining about the narration, My Little Pony Classics
Reimagined: the Unicorn of Odd #2 (of 4)