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Welcome
back, my friends, to the show that never ends. Jeff here, with some
apologies for this being a wee bit later than usual: birthday brunches
and a brain-judoing exhibit of the work of Gerhard
Richter at the S.F. MOMA helped remind me that there is indeed a
world to be found outside of comix. Sadly, that reminder came at the
expense of my ability to get the Critic posted in a timely manner, and
I apologize.
Oh,
and you know what’s cool, as long as I’m being all “la, la, la, Gerhard
Richter,” and everything? Charles fucking Dickens, that’s what. I
somehow finally got around to reading Great Expectations and
it rocked the house, yo. Clever and funny and without a pretentious
bone in its body, GE knocked me on my ass for the leisurely month-plus
I spent reading it. It also made me wonder, given the original serial
publishing nature of Dickens’ books, where our Dickens is, you know?
Who’s our go-to guy for long moving works of entertainment that also
manage to pack in a ton of trenchant social commentary, an acute eye
for detail and character, and a genuine knowledge of what stuff our
hearts are made? Artsy-fartsy guy that I am, sometimes I feel like
our best comix lit has skipped right over this “warm” period of literature
and gone straight for the strong, steely gaze of “cold” modernism (Clowes
and Tomine are who I’m thinking of here, and the Hernandez Bros. some
indistinct area in between my two arbitrary definitions).
Thinking
about it, the only series that comes to mind for me as Dickensian is
Ennis and Dillon’s Preacher—which is expansive and funny and
will probably be useful after the fact for explaining our crazy times
to future cultures, and yet also is sentimental in the best sense of
that term. I’m sure I’m overlooking a bunch of equally good choices
(I sure hope I am, anyway): I guess I’m throwing it out there in the
hope somebody reading this will step up to the challenge, and break
all of our hearts in a good way.
Anyway,
with that out of the way, let’s get to the funnybooks. As usual, my
comments are in my color, and Brian’s are in
his color [speaking
of which, Bri told me that somebody had trouble reading my red text,
and wanted it to be a different color. Do you agree? Do me a favor and
drop me a quick note,
so I can figure out if I should change it] and so without further ado…
100
BULLETS #41: I’m torn. While I’m very glad
that the actual plot seems to be back, it was counterpointed with the
second story that just didn’t seem to have anything directly to do with
the Graves bits. I mean, sure, there was some resonance between the
two stories, but it sorta felt to me that Az had 12 pages of story and
didn’t know what to do with it. Still, this was the most “focused” issue
in a while, so I’ll go with Very Good. Yeah,
me too. We’ll see if it turns around what I was thinking was a downward
slide with this book but here we’ve got a one-shot, we’ve got continuity,
we’ve got characters, and we’ve got them doing things so Risso doesn’t
have to vamp. I liked it. Very good.
AQUAMAN
#2: Well, it’s a good try, but I’m not onboard
yet. Between the mutant kelp that cuts off the satellite GPS (wha?)
and Aquaman’s laying on of hands to destroy it (double-wha?), this seems
a little too front-loaded with cheats already. On the other hand, the
art made the scenes in the water feel different from the scenes in the
air, which was half my problem with previous Aquaman stories. I thought
it was highly OK. I’ll happily
second that second point – there was a really solid difference between
“in the water” and out, which really really helped. Still “Atlantis
Attacks!” is “Aquaman/Submariner plot device #3”, and points to one
of the basic problems with the concept – if there is a whole city fulla
people who all basically can do the same thing, then what makes (the
lead) all that interesting? I’m going to give it to the next issue before
I make any kind of “final” decision – new costume/whatever – but I’m
still unconvinced the very concept really has much (sea) legs... OK
from me as well, but more like “barely” than “highly.”
BATMAN
LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #163: I liked the
art (though I realize full well that Jeff and I are in the minority
here for Landridge on mainstream books), and thought the story read
like the ill-fated 1970s Joker series – while it was nice to
see “The Clown Prince of Crime” again as opposed to “Psychopathic Mass
Murderer”, there wasn’t a lot of weight to the story. So, OK
from me. For me, though, the closer
this got to being a typical Batman story, the worse it was: I wish
they’d just had the nerve to let Landridge cartoon everything—his Batman
was too straightforward to be enjoyable, and yet too goofy to be convincing.
Hopefully, you’ll fall in love with the art and look for Roger Landridge’s
(whose name, sadly, gets misspelled on the cover) other work. Eh.
Now I’m all nostalgic for that Joker series…
BLACK
PANTHER #53: Again, the more obvious Priest
makes his scripts, the better these work. My only problem is all the
stuff with T’Challa isn’t working: popping up in prison in his pajamas?
(What a fine alliterative phrase that is…..) I just don’t buy him as
this incredible mastermind, no matter how many people say it. Somebody
give Priest a crime comic to write, because he might have a great one
in him when not allowed to use the omniscient superhero cheat card.
OK. Actually, Panther as a 4-dimensional
chess master works just fine for me – but you’re right, it doesn’t work
at all in this story. I couldn’t muster better than an Eh
DAREDEVIL
#41: A mere quarter. What I noticed yesterday
in the store is that people seem to be either picking up this OR the
Superman (below), but not both – not because they’re “zombies”,
but because no one is noticing the cover prices on both. Hand-selling,
I’m getting everyone to try both, but that’s a whole lot of work for
such a small profit. (Yah, I know, like you care) As for the comic itself,
sure another solid issue, but judging it as a promotional effort, this
wouldn’t be the place in the current threads/story that I would
plop down a newbie. I’m starting to be troubled by the fact that Matt
is so obviously in the wrong in the way he’s handling the secret identity
thing... and that he seems to be so gleeful about it. When is Cap going
to stop by and give him some shit? Further, every time DD shows up it
becomes more implausible to me – in the real world there’d be a photographer
on each and every rooftop surrounding Matt’s house in a block radius.
In the Marvel Universe the paparazzi are apparently agoraphobic. Finally,
I wish that “twice a month” at Marvel didn’t mean “weekly for two issues,
then a month later for the next one”. Scheduling, Look into it! OK.
Heh. Agoraphobic paparazzi—no wonder why Peter
Parker’s a star photographer! I didn’t like last issue at all, so it
was pleasant to see something that sorta seemed like an actual ‘Daredevil’
story. Also, with all the outings that happened in the Marvel Universe
last year, Bendis is the only guy who really has a grasp of how it affects
the way both the hero and civilian identity are handled. Great jumping
on point in that, even though it doesn’t even bother with being an introduction
to the character, it gives you an idea of what the book is like these
days. Too bad Hibbs’ gotta lose money on it, though. Very good.
DOOM
PATROL #16: Great art, and the occasional decent
quip, but really nothing to write home about. I don’t feel like they’re
even trying, frankly: more cheap filler than a carnival-won teddy bear.
Eh. Yah, these characters really
aren’t natively very interesting. And one gets the sense that the creative
team know they’re going to be cancelled “soon”, but just don’t know
exactly when, so they’re trying to keep the story going without actually
launching into any big stories that they might suddenly have 1 issue
to wrap up. Still, god damn NICE art. Eh
DORK
TOWER #21: I kept flashing to “Goatboy” from
that horrendous SNL sketch – “re-mehhhhhhhh-bahhhhhhh the 80s?” – for
me this is the weakest of the “gaming related” comics because it seems
to WANT to be a “relationship” comic, and all of the “gaming” jokes
are basically exactly the same. KODT is also basically one joke,
but because it all takes place “at the table”, they can milk it forever.
Gotta go with Awful this month. Y’know,
I know almost all modern cartoonists learned from it, but I’m just so
fucking tired of the punchline style taken directly from Berke Breathed’s
Bloom County (which is just the two punch final panel of Trudeau’s
Doonesbury with more physical wackiness. If Trudeau could have
patented that final panel one-two punchline thing, he’d have more money
than Bill Gates by now). I think that’s part of why all the jokes feel
exactly the same even when they’re not. In short: evolve or die, dammit!
You gotta move out of your parents’ house sometime. A low Eh.
ELEKTRA
#19: Oh god. Okay, on the one hand: that art
by Carlos Meglia was seriously great. Really. I felt like I was watching
a ‘70s Bakshi movie (a good one, mind you) while turning the
pages. The storytelling, the cartooning, the coloring: all very, very
first-rate. Far better in fact, than the similar style used in The
Truth. Great work all around.
But
I also think it’s entirely wrong for Elektra. Not just because
of my own personal pet peeve about huge disparities between the styles
of the cover and interior artists (I don’t think Horn and Meglia’s styles
could be any more different and still be the same medium), not just
because the change in art styles happens in mid-storyline, but because
Meglia’s art, combined with Rucka’s by-the-numbers purification of Elektra,
makes this book seem even more profoundly toothless—more Elektra:
The Animated Adventures than Elektra: Assassin—than it did
already.
Elektra
is sexy ninja death, remember? She comes straight from Noirville—the
death object which men worship and are destroyed by, okay? And although
you’d think that’d make for a very limited range of stories to tell,
it’s the basis for any number of good classic tragedies, to say nothing
of the vast field of American film noir which I love. I’m assuming Rucka
just doesn’t have much interest in that idea, and so is crafting a storyline
that either permanently (or just for the duration of his run) changes
thing up a bit. But combined with the art, it’s like watching Double
Indemnity being redone first as an earnest social drama, and then
morphing into a Disney cartoon partway through. It’s either going to
drive away any of the readers you’ve got left, or you’ll end up with
a readership wanting more of Disney’s Barbara Stanwyck Adventures.
Either way, it’s still the same in the end: Elektra’s dead. (Poor Hibbs
has to listen to this sort of crap from me all the time at the store.
Pity him ladies and gentlemen.)
As
for a rating, I don’t even fucking know. Awful? Eh? Whatever
I give it, you should pick the book up and look at that art. It’s almost
impossible to believe it could come from what was once the House of
Buscema.
That
was a very nice rant, Jeff! I basically agree, and I guess you’ll be
happy when Robert Rodi comes in for the next arc (at least based on
the (Newsarama? Pulse? I forget) interview with him). As for the art,
sure, it was alright, I guess, but wildly out of place, both for Elektra,
as well as for the story that Rucka is telling. I gotta go with Awful,
myself.
FABLES
#9: I’m really on the fence here – there’s
a lot of possibilities for this book, but it’s hamstrung partially by
not having everything out on the table. I thought resolving the situation
by pulling Draconis Ex Machina was fairly cheap. Interesting cliffhanger,
though. OK. Yeah, I loved that
cliffhanger. And I also dug the art mightily here—Kirby ho that I am,
this reminded me in spots of the Kirby/Simon days (like that double-page
spread of the Three Giants--wow). I think, sadly, that the book hinges
on not having everything on the table and making us guess which characters
are which fables and without it, the book loses its hook—which is just
me justifying the fact I found this good.
FUTURAMA
SIMPSONS SPECIAL CROSSOVER CRISIS #2: I was
gonna gripe about this since issue #1 came out 75 bajillion years ago,
but they had a helluva detailed recap, and the rest of it had some decent
laughs. A little too fannish for this fanboy but Good. “Mediocre
laughs” for me. I’ll go with Eh
GEN
13 #5: I don’t WHY I put this in the pile –
I really should know better by now. I’ll grant you that Claremont seems
to be trying to do something unexpected with these characters and situation,
but it all seems too convenient and easy and predicated on Claremontism
with every character seeming to have the same exact voice. Eh.
Yeah, why did you put this in the pile, Hibbs?
You were Mr. “Good news, I decided we’re not reading X-treme X-Men this
week” and then you throw this into the mix? Thanks for the sour persimmons,
cousin! As for the book: Is there some world record Claremont’s trying
to break? This is his fifth consecutive issue of pure padding.
Awful.
GREEN
ARROW #20: Aaaannnd it looks like Meltzer ran
out of gas one issue too soon: that Catman encounter couldn’t have been
more lame, I’m afraid. Check, please! Eh. Pretty
much ditto – plus I can’t see how this is going to lead to anything
particularly interesting. What do all of these objects add up to? Will
I care at all? Not this moment, that’s for sure. Eh
HARLEY
QUINN #28: It looks nice enough, and I like
this new direction generally (though, again, “stalked by own patient”
is a hoary chestnut), and I thought the Joker scene was really well
handled. But as I read this I wonder why. Why is this being published?
Who is the audience? WWASD? (What Would Arleen Sorkin Do?) The Bat-books
need a serious house-cleaning, because all of these “middle tier” titles
are dragging consumer interest in the line way way down. A strong OK,
with a “...but why?” attached. I don’t
know why I like this less than you, Bri, although I didn’t hate all
of it. In fact, the idea of Quinn as an actual therapist who might
be good, or who might just be stringing everyone along, is a bit of
a nice spin (in a Shannon Tweed movie kind of way), but the execution
on the whole is lazy and simple. Also, my advice to Lieberman is, if
you’re going to rip off a movie, try to find one your audience hasn’t
seen. That True Lies/Charlie’s Angels scene made me groan aloud.
Awful.
HAWKMAN
#11: Again, a little too heavy on the cheats.
“It’s the Absorbacon, it can do anything!” “Indeed, it can change us
into a weird bird-creature on the last page!” “How useful! Just the
other day I was wishing I had a tool that would allow me to absorb other
people’s karma, give me access to all earthly knowledge, and
change me into a weird bird-creature!” “Me, too! I was on the Internet,
and I wanted to change into a weird bird-creature for a cool webcam
pose, but couldn’t!” “Does this Absorbacon also do windows?” “I haven’t
yet said it hasn’t, so let’s assume yes!” Nice art, though. Eh.
Some books I wonder why we even
DO tag-team reviews. Jeff nailed it better than I could. Except I’ll
veer into Awful
HULK
WOLVERINE 6 HOURS #1: A Movie of the Week with
some superheroes. I was actually digging how the clock and the time
was being weaved into the background until about page 8 or something
where they apparently decided it was too much staging trouble and gave
up until the last few pages. I’m sure this’ll be a fun $9.99 TP, but
as a mini-series I just shrug and wonder why (other than “movies are
coming”) OK. God help us, this
is the secret to writing a Hulk story nowdays: watch an old
episode of the TV show, then figure out a way to pad it for six issues.
Well-constructed scene transitions do not a good comic make. And I
normally like Scott Kolins’ work but it looked ugly and busy here—is
this is a different colorist than he uses on The Flash? Awful.
INCREDIBLE
HULK #49: That…was…godawful. I don’t even know
where to begin, and for that I blame Hibbs. A month ago, we had a whole
long talk (by which, I mean “bitchy bicker fest”) about how he thinks
the phrase “jumping the shark” has passed its expiration date whereas
I, on the other hand, think it’s an incredibly useful phrase although,
admittedly, I am easily confused on its precise usage. Does it mean
that the subject under consideration has deviated so far from its original
premise in its slavish devotion to attention that it will never find
its way back? Or does it mean that the subject under consideration has
reached its apex of possibility, and the subject is no longer worth
further scrutiny? By either definition, I feel Bruce Jones’ run on The
Hulk has jumped the shark: a series of incredibly empty plot-twists
concerning characters I don’t care about, which is actually good because
I would’ve given my superego a hernia trying to suspend the requisite
amount of disbelief to buy any one of said plot-twists. I promise
to never again use the phrase “jumping the shark” (despite, I should
add, its growing use in the New York Times and other influential
sources of public opinion…although I imagine Hibbs would happily say
that only proves his point)—just don’t ever make me read this book again.
Crap. Heh. Yah... and maybe the
worst part is that loverly Maurice Sendak-style cover which has less
than nothing to do with the insides. I nearly threw the comic across
the room in disgust with the “He... he’s a ROBOT!” scene. LMDs were
probably the most ill-considered addition to the Marvel Universe ever.
Still, I’ll give them until #50 before I write off the book altogether
– the first arc was good enough for that much at least. Crap,
yes.
JSA
#44: A reasonable wrap-up on the Egypt storyline,
but the more entertaining bit was right there at the end as they try
to undo the end of Armageddon 2001. Curious to see where they
go with that. Good. I don’t get
why Black Adam and Captain Marvel can’t be friends now: because Cap
assumed the worst of Black Adam (with pretty good reason). Still, very
good.
KILLRAVEN
#4: I still miss the floridness of the original,
but these are extremely well-constructed fun comics. And I’ve babbled
enough this column so I’ll spare you my lecture about the use of the
word “Sob.” Let’s just leave it at Very good. Yah,
this really is “fun” – not much “to it” other than that, but it’s sure
been missing from comics in general lately, hasn’t it? Very Good.
POWERS
#27: I laughed most mightily at the Super Powers
adventure with swearing. I know, incredibly juvenile of me. Deal with
it. Very Good. But there’s having
your cake, and then there’s eating it, too. Although I thought the
foulmouthed nine page comic-within-the-comic was pretty hilarious, it
drained any genuine sense of drama from the storyline—Walker’s emotional
snit and the final page of the storyline had no weight whatsoever for
me. Kind of a shame considering how really, really dark and perverse
this storyline is: maybe Bendis thought it needed some comic relief.
I thought it was a misstep but still very good.
STORMWATCH
TEAM ACHILLES #7: Okay, what do you think is
the biggest cheat: The alien laptop? The shapechanger on a team that’s
anti-superpowers? Or the racist Southern senator as straw man enemy?
I still gotta give it to the alien laptop which threw me out of the
story every time it was mentioned. (Like, do they play Alien Freecell
on it?) At least I got an issue without Portacio doing the art so I
can judge the story without his influence: this book’s crap.
It’s the shapechanger which got me. Though,
I will grant you that the convenient alien laptop is just a “power”
like any other.... I won’t go quite to crap – I actually liked the art
for once – but I can’t give this anything better than an Awful
SUPERMAN
& BATMAN GENERATIONSIII #1: At least it
feels like Byrne’s heart is in it this time. Something actually happens
on most pages! Still, there are bits here that don’t make a ton of sense
– I’ll let Jeff recreate his riff on Batman’s investigation – but I
was befuddled by the “I must warn Superman, but I’ll wipe everyone’s
memory” trick of the last few pages. It sure didn’t SEEM like he was
“warned”. This is probably too generous, but I think I’ll just squeak
this with a Good. I’m not sure
what my riff is anymore—other than the absurdity of Bruce Wayne going,
“Oh, no! The power went out in the entire country—quick, to Smallville!
(Kansans are a cowardly, superstitious lot…)” Byrne worked so hard
to fit so many pieces into place for his set-up here that it just stuck
out as odd—the golden and silver-age guys wouldn’t have hesitated to
have Bruce already in Kansas as part of an Orphanage field trip or whatever.
I just can’t see the point of “Quick, Alfred (or whomever)—to the biplanemobile!.”
But, y’know, as Hibbs points out, things actually happen (instead of
your usual Byrne explainathon, and the art is grimy and smudgy and unpolished
in a way that was darn appealing: I too gave this a good.
SUPERMAN
THE 10 CENT ADVENTURE: Well, on the plus side,
if you want a concise summary of what’s wrong with the Superman titles,
it’ll only cost you a dime. Check out that “faster than a launching
rocket, more powerful than an atomic bomb, able to leap between worlds
with a single bound” thing on page three. Or the supervillain whose
power comes from clanging gizmos on his wrists together so Superman
spends twenty-plus pages in no way stopping him from clanging
his gizmos together. Or the passport problem with Perry White which
can be solved in the phrase, “I lost that one and had to get another.
Thanks for finding it, Perry.” To sum up: Superman’s too powerful, so
the book is filled with nothing but endless false dilemmas to artificially
create a sense of drama. And because the false dilemmas are really ridiculously
obvious, the superbooks comes across as patronizing and dumb. DC, please
clean this mess. Please? Awful, even for a dime.
Exactly and precisely it – False Jeopardy abounds (“I’ll take ‘being
out of character as a plot device’ for $200, Alex”), and there’s just
nothing here that I would think would lead new readers back to this
book. What we need is the 21st century equivalent of the
“Sand Creature”... sure, in another decade we’ll be back where we started,
but depowering is the only route that makes any sense in the super-books
today. The art rescues this from being total ass, but I’m uncharitable,
and I can’t possibly give this anything else than a Crap.
ULTIMATE
DAREDEVIL & ELEKTRA #4: After page three,
when Melissa finally protects herself and then runs off rather than
beating Trey to a pulp and then calling the police, I wanted to throw
the book across the room. But I kept reading and it just kept getting
worse. Not only do I stand by what I said earlier about this book, but
this climax, because it was so thoroughly artificial, renders it more
thoroughly absurd than anything in the original. In the end, read like
utter hackwork which is just the biggest god-damn shame. Crap.
Yah, I hated this, too – far too “PC” and touchy-feely
and not showing, for even a second, why these characters even like each
other, let alone have a love that changed them both forever. Or whatever
the appropriate movie tag line might be. Awful.
ULTIMATE
X-MEN #27: I like the Finch art, and I still
like Millar’s dialogue but this issue made me realize that he’s got
a much better feel for the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants than he does
for the X-Men—it’s the Brotherhood’s book, frankly: the X-Men are just
the name above the title. And while that’s not awful, there’s something
kinda wrong about that. Maybe it’s why I’m not really emotionally engaged
by the book at all. Eh. Meanwhile,
I’m enjoying Ultimate Brotherhood, though you’re right, it’s
not really the X-Men. It’s more like marking time between issues of
Ultimate War (which beats the Ultimates trick of just
not putting out any issues). OK
VERTIGO
POP LONDON #3: While Jeff may well be right
that these actions are out of place for the specific characters, I am
still enjoying the book quite a bit. In my failing as a REAL critic,
I can’t even tell you WHY – certainly “I must be hallucinating” is a
cheap plot device, but yet, I still found this Good.
Actually, despite everything I complained about
earlier, I know what you mean, Bri. None of this is particularly original
(in fact, this was one of those few comics where I saw absolutely all
of it coming), but Bond’s art is so strong (I did a double-take at a
few of his characters, sure I recognized them from life), and Milligan’s
voice fresh and original even when his tropes aren’t, that I’m tempted
to give it a good myself. And yet this still feels squandered to me,
so no more than OK, alas.
WAR
STORY CONDORS: Wow. Educational, yet utterly
without any sort of dogma or cant, and entertaining while also being
dark and unflinching. I’m running out of superlatives for Ennis’ War
Stories. Very good. And I thought
this was probably the best single issue that Garth has ever written
– four completely contradictory perceptions, and each one handled believably,
and utterly touching and human and smart and real. It’s only the second
week of the year, but this has my vote for “Best Comic of 2003, so far”.
Excellent.
WARREN
ELLIS STRANGE KILLINGSBODY ORCHARD #5: If you
ever wanted to see the Police Station scene from Terminator in
R-rated glory, then this’d be the book for you. Me, I just don’t care.
Eh. Hah! After months of telling
me I was high for liking this, you went and gave it a higher rating.
I love the panel straight out of The Streetfighter, but there
wasn’t really any tension here since the Major can blow up anyone’s
head any time he wants (which got dull mighty damn fast). Goes down
to an awful for me, which is a bummer.
ZERO
GIRL FULL CIRCLE #3: Gah. Somehow all of my problems about the
characters’ emotional blackmail get turned on their head this issue,
as it’s revealed that Nikki has the power to control things. This somehow
makes some previous scenes more forgivable and yet strips the story
even more of any weight. This stuff is charmingly crazy-ass, but until
the wonkiness gets tied to a more rigorous intelligence (or at least
a more measured intuition), I can’t give it more than an Eh.
Agreed, and I’m late for work, so Eh
For Sake
of Completeness, here’s a list of all of the OTHER comics that CE got
in this week, that I did NOT read (and, therefore, am unlikely to review!).
Note, that in most cases this is limited to 1) Manga, which I try to
read as it is collected; 2) “Kids” comics like most of the Archies;
3) titles that were subs-only, either by design or accident; 4) Porno
[oh, like you need me to REVIEW it!], 5) Things that looked SO bad on
the racks that I didn’t bother, and 6) stuff that I’ve assessed before,
and I care so little about that I don’t want to waste my time reading
anymore. You decide which is which.
ARCHIE
AND FRIENDS #66
ARKANIUM #3
BETTY #121
BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #112
CAVEWOMAN PANGAEAN SEA #5
DEFIANCE #5
GRENDEL GOD & THE DEVIL #0
MADAME TARANTULA #0
MEKANIX #4
MYSTIC #32
SCOOBY-DOO #68
SHONEN JUMP VOL 1 #2
SUPER HERO HAPPY HOUR #1
TOMB RAIDER JOURNEYS #9
TRANSFORMERS WAR WITHIN #4
VAMPI #24
VIOLENT MESSIAHS LAMENTING PAIN #2
WARLANDS VOL 3 #2
WAY OF THE RAT #9
X-TREME X-MEN #20
And, for
even MORE completeness sake, here’s a list of books, TPBs, GNs, magazines,
and other things that CE got this week. I generally haven’t read any
of this by the time I post these reviews. Though I generally attempt
to give at least one recommendation amongst the TPBs each week, since
I HAVE read the material at SOME point.
CALL
OF DUTY VOL 2 TP
COMIC BOOK ARTIST SPECIAL EDITION #1
COMICS JOURNAL #249
DAREDEVIL LEGENDS VOL 1 YELLOW TP
DECIDE VOL 1 HC RAGE AGAINST THE GODS
DOLL & CREATURE GN
GIRL SECOND COMING VOL 2 (A)
HELLBLAZER HAUNTED TP
LEES TOY REVIEW JAN 2003
SCIENCE OF SUPERHEROES HC
SPIRITED AWAY VOL 3 TP
STAR TREK COMMUNICATOR #142
STAR TREK MAGAZINE #45
STAR TREK MAGAZINE #46
THUNDER AGENTS ARCHIVES VOL 1HC
TOMARTS ACTION FIGURE DIGEST JAN 2003
TOYFARE #67
UNCANNY X-MEN VOL I HOPE TP
WILL EISNERS NAME OF THE GAMESC
This
Week’s TP recommendation is:
Okay, this is kinda
long-winded and a cheat but here it goes. While in the story Friday
I got a chance to read the Gary Groth/Debbie Dreschler interview in
The Comics Journal #249, and I thought it was tremendous.
As is usually the case with the best TCJ interviews, my favorite parts
are the stuff that explores stuff outside comics, and this one was particularly
devastating: the thoughtfulness with which Dreschler explores her belief
in the perniciousness of memory as it relates to her recovered experiences
of incest was far more sophisticated than you ever see in the mass media.
As a result, I tromped back to our indy section and grabbed a copy of
Daddy’s Girl, which was even more extraordinary, and even
more devastating. So they’re both my pick for the week, even though
one’s not a trade paperback and one didn’t come out this week.
Astonishing stuff. It’s neither my
pick, nor, in fact, on this shipping list (generated by what we receive
from Diamond), but Last Gasp shipped us a porno GN from Priaprism press
called “Sex Attack” (heh), and, if I didn’t know any better, I would
have guessed Terry Moore drew it – looks like his style of big eyes
and broad facial expressions between all of the ass fucking. I just
had to mention that. For my REAL pick... let’s go to the Master: Will
Eisner’s Name
of the Game SC.
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