Dave's Capsules for January 2024

[Dave Van Domelen]

Dave's Comicbook Capsules Et Cetera
Generally Monthly 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
Ugh, back to wearing the abdominal binder, hope I don't need more work.

Items of Note (strongly recommended or otherwise worthy): Cursed
Princess Club vol 3, My Little Pony Classics Reimagned: Unicorn of Odd #4 (of
4)

In this installment: What If? Season 2, Reborn as a Vending Machine, I
Now Wander The Dungeon vol 1, Go Go Loser Ranger vol 8, Kaiju No. 8 vol 9,
The Great Cleric vol 7, Cursed Princess Club vol 3, Spider-Man Quantum Quest,
Fantastic Four #15, Moon Knight #30, Vengeance of the Moon Knight #1,
Superman Lost #9 (of 10), Gargoyles #11, My Little Pony Classics Reimagined:
the Unicorn of Odd #4 (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.

What If? Season 2: Disney+ - Okay, there was something of an arc, and
annoyingly it seemed to be largely about shooting a redemption arc square in
the head. Granted, at least What If? has a long history of "this is the
story outcome we all agree sucks," in the comics. Still, leaving aside the
absolute clunker of a season finale, it was pretty good, with some deep cuts
(like the Tales of Suspense issue that turned Happy Hogan into a pseudo-Hulk,
they dug up that point and put it in an alternate MCU). They also managed to
do the entire 1632 series in 22 minutes with room for the season arc. Worth
a watch, although you might prefer to skip the finale if you prefer not to
undo part of the season 1 finale.

I've owned Harley & Ivy S3 for a while, but didn't manage to get around
to watching it during the holidays, ah well. The Justice League Crisis on
Infinite Earths Part 1 (half a dozen movies into the new continuity and
Crisis already, sigh) came out at the end of the month, I'll cover it in next
month's column.


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.

Nothing this month. I did get the PDF versions of some books I backed
on Kickstarter, but I'll wait to review the hardcopies as usual.


Trades:

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

Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon vol 1: Yen Press -
Okay, this one kept its full Light Novel title. As suggested by that, it's
another isekai, and a particularly weird one. The premise is that a major
vending machine fan is killed trying to stop a vending machine from toppling
over (it falls on him but as he dies he sees it wasn't hurt)...and he's
reborn as a vending machine in a fantasy world. One thing that makes this
premise a little harder for U.S. audiences to get is that the vending machine
ecology here is pretty sparse. Mostly soda and snacks, occasional other
stuff at travel centers and the like. But due in part to the rather hard to
break into vertical distribution monopolies, a vending machine can be the
easiest way for a new company to get their product to customers. So you'll
get vending machines that can serve heated food, clothing, toys (the capsule
type that tends to get sold just on the shelf here), etc. So, "Boxxo" has
access to magical versions of a lot of potential products and services
(e.g. he can summon a hot water accessory magically and then dismiss it in
order to be easier to carry), and he's in a fantasy world where food items
provide immediate health benefits and stat boosts. However, he has a lot of
limitations, such as only being able to speak using a limited number of
pre-programmed marketing phrases (yeah, Japanese vending machines are a lot
more likely to be talky). Fortunately for this not being a 32 page one-shot
ending in his demise, one of the first beings he encounters is a hunter who
is conveniently strong enough to carry him around (adventurers all have some
sort of magical boon) and intuitive enough to figure out how to communicate
with him. And yet, for comedic purposes, still something of an airhead. His
only combat-related ability is a force field, which drains his life force
(replentished via money). He can't eject product in any way a properly
functioning vending machine can't, so he's basically a dedicated support
character strapped to a tank-role. Interesting enough I'll get the next one.
Recommended. For Older Teens (violence, mostly). $13.00/$17.00Cn

Go Go Loser Ranger vol 8: Kodansha - The second half of the Mysterious
Time Loop High School, with Fighter D running into an enemy he may be unable
to overcome: NUANCE. Created as an interchangeable mook and spending most of
his life in captivity of one form or another, I suppose he's to be credited
with coming up with anything like an ethical code, but while fighting the
Snake Boss and his lieutenants, D is starting to wonder about a lot of
things. He's already been given ample reason to ditch his loyalty to the old
bosses, but now he starts to see hints of why someone might want to follow
them after all. On top of that, revelations about the Green Keeper make him
wonder if he has to kill ALL of the Dragon Keepers...and if he's tied himself
to an even more dangerous monster than the Bosses. Sure, most of the
pagecount is hyperkinetic combat and Strange Power mind-mangling weirdness,
but the ethical development of this idiot is proving to be quite interesting.
Recommended. For Teen 13+. $10.99/$14.99Cn.

Kaiju No. 8 vol 9: Viz/Shonen Jump - Kafka does actually get some
spotlight in this volume, mostly an emotional realization bit where he gets
past his angst and feelings of self-loathing, but most of the volume involves
No. 9 setting off his big push and forcing the Kaiju Defense Force to deploy
several Number suits that may not entirely be ready or safe or willing to
shut the heck up. What had been a series about the title character and his
supporting cast has become more of an ensemble book. Time will tell if this
works better, or if Matsumoto has trouble holding focus and succumbs to plot
bloat. Still, going okay for now, and several character progress scenes.
Recommended. Rated Teen (for slicing and dicing kaiju). $11.99/$15.99Cn

The Great Cleric vol 7: Kodansha - A transitional volume. He's done
with the Labyrinth, and has a mission to travel the countryside serving those
who need healing, but he has a year and a half to prepare for it...and boy
does he have a lot to prepare. The last (probably) mysteries of Substance X
are revealed and Luciel comes to grip with it along with his new duties and
all the hazards that come with trying to reform the church. And yet, still
basically light comedy for the most part. There's one new character who has
the potential to be Problematic, but so far just skirts the edge as near as I
can tell (they get a bit handsy with Luciel, but it's mostly treated as
"talented crafters have their quirks" despite Luciel's mortification).
According to the end notes, this has entered adaptation of the third original
novel, and it strikes me that I have no idea how the ratio of manga to light
novel even works normally...but this seems like a lot of content at about
three manga volumes per novel. That aside, a solid volume, although not as
good as previous volumes. Recommended. Rated Teen 16+ (some violence, a
fair amount of innuendo). $12.99/$16.99Cn

Cursed Princess Club vol 3 (of 4): Webtoons - As the final volume
reaches its climax in weekly updates, it's weird to look back at this volume
and see that it's almost entirely "light adventure" with only occasional
hints of the Big Deal Plot of the endgame. A few more characters are
introduced, including another potential romantic interest for Gwen (an artist
who can see her inner beauty), but her brother does not Ship It and some of
the best silly humor of the volume involves Jamie trying to drive off the new
suitor. Several of the other Cursed Princess arcs carry the volume, plus the
upcoming Gala providing challenges and crises for various characters. Mostly
light, frequently funny, sometimes quite touching. A very good read.
Strongly recommended. $18.99/$24.99Cn

Spider-Man Quantum Quest: Marvel/Abrams Books - The sequel to Mike
Maihack's Spider-Man kid-GN from last year, and like that its main plot is
basically "Spider-Man trying to find the missing," although it's more people
than pets this time. The "it's Marvel, but played for laughs" aspect of the
setting increases here, it's not quite Not Brand Ecch or What The?!, but
Maihack is definitely aiming to tickle the funny bones of his younger
audience. There's also an extended sequence where you need to turn the book
around because reality has gone awry, at least until She-Hulk breaks the
fourth wall to help Spidey get his bearings. Light fluff, not for people who
aren't willing to see serious characters treated in a somewhat silly manner,
but worth picking up otherwise. Recommended. $12.99/$16.99Cn/#9.99UK


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.)

Some irregular titles didn't come out during the period covered by my
most recent shipment, and Vampirella/Dracula Rage was shorted by Diamond so
hopefully I'll have it for next month.

Fantastic Four #15: Marvel - "We made an AI, but will it save humanity
or enslave it?" is a premise Marvel has been using literally since the
beginning (original Human Torch), and it has cropped up pretty often since
then. Even the idea of an "unkillable" distributed AI without an actual body
has come up rather a lot from Marvel. I suppose the means of interaction
North comes up with for this AI is a little different, but the main
difference between this and the usual Marvel AI plot is that neither Hank Pym
nor Tony Stark is anywhere near it. (Just an Elon Musk riff with better
hair.) Also, the dilemma is less "how do we stop it?" and more a combination
of "how do we stop it without hurting it?" and "should we be stopping it in
the first place?" A decent examination of the ethics of true AI, although a
few points off for the Ominous Ending that made me remember Hickman's
"everything becomes Technarchy eventually" thing. Mildly recommended. $3.99

Moon Knight #30: Marvel - For a climactic fight, there's not a lot of
fighting. The true mastermind behind the arc does some monologuing and gets
a flashback scene before leaving Marc to die inside Madbomb 2.0 (and boo to
the mastermind for not recognizing that he was repeating someone else's plot,
MacKay mines enough obscure continuity that he has to have known about the
Madbomb). Taken on its own, the big "gotta save everyone even if I die for
good since Khonshu can't resurrect me again" scene works very well. But it's
not on its own, and less than a month later we get the comic right below this
one. It's like when Ms. Marvel "died" and came back within a few weeks...
when they can't even pretend for more than a few months that the character
might not return, it tends to cut the legs out from under dramatic self-
sacrifice. Also, the last page sets up a new status quo where all the people
Moon Knight inspired join together to continue his mission...it'd have been
nice to at least pretend they'd get a chance to do so, eh? Mildly
recommended. $4.99

Vengeance of the Moon Knight #1: Marvel - Okay, so is Marc back? This
issue definitely raises the question (not even a spoiler, he's on the cover),
in particular "How is he back, and is he still the same person?" Clearly
answering these questions will be the focus of the first arc. The focus will
not really be on the new Midnight Mission team doing anything else, we get a
couple pages of that in MK#30 and a little bit of it in this issue in short
vignettes, but it's as if MacKay was told he had to get the title character
back on stage immediately and was not allowed to actually do anything with
the team that he'd spent months building up as a viable replacement. Again,
I fully expected Marc to return, somehow. But it'd have been nice if we got
at least one full story where there were just hints and rumors and never
actually see someone claiming to be him. Disappointment over not getting the
teased story kinda dampens my enthusiasm for the one we actually got. Mildly
recommended. $5.99

Superman Lost #9 (of 10): DC - This is a bit of a confusing issue as
well, but not because of timeline shifts as in previous issues, but because
so much of it is "here is what (character) is imagining could happen"
counterfactual scenarios that aren't clearly set off as such until you get to
the end of the scene and it clearly didn't happen that way. Immediate
re-reading of the issue is rewarded, though, now that you know what to expect
and can try to figure out whether a given scene is Superman's "I would like
to but I won't" imagining or Luthor's "Here's what I'd do if I were Superman"
cynicism. Okay, it's not THAT uncertain who's seeing it, but it does take a
careful read to be sure of some of them, because Superman spends a lot of the
issue in a Mood. Recommended, but you do need to work for it. $4.99

Gargoyles #11: Dynamite - Coming in on the wrap-up (pretty sure #12 is
the last one), since Dynamite is allergic to ongoing titles and there will be
a new #1 coming along shortly. I won't be there for the new #1, though. I'd
kinda hoped that Weisman's comics would have improved since the old Gargoyles
comics (which I dropped after a while), but not really. The reason behind
the whole dull trial is revealed, and if this had been an animated arc
supported by good voice acting and music and so forth it would have been a
decent payoff. Instead, it just sort of thuds. There's a lot of ways the
stated goal could have been achieved without the extended captivity and trial
bit, and I think Weisman just wanted a courtroom drama and didn't care too
much how well it would work. Neutral. $3.99

My Little Pony Classics Reimagined: the Unicorn of Odd #4 (of 4): IDW -
Whew. After a lot of disappointment and confusion, ending on a strong note.
The Unicorn of Odd gets her chance to shine and complain about the plot, we
get the classic Balloon oops scene that made it into the movie, but then a
bunch of stuff from the book that got cut out in favor of a quick Witch ex
Machina in the movie. Applejack is definitely not a Wayward Girl candidate
here, she's happy enough to have all this nonsense behind her. The tone of
fourth wall breaking, in-jokes, and strong knowledge of the source material
carries on all the way to the end. Strongly recommended. $3.99


Dave Van Domelen, "AAAHH! PINK DEMON!!!!" - Prince Leopold, Cursed
Princess Club vol 3