The Savage Critic: January 23rd, 2002 By Brian Hibbs

Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends.

One of these days I’ve got to get this done on Thursday night so I can actually write preambles again. 75 minutes before I need to leave for the store though, so let’s go! Small week for the third time in a row, "thankfully."

AVENGERS #50: The end of the Triune plot, and it unfolded pretty much exactly like I thought it would. Well, except for being out in space and completely side-tracking the Kang plot. Not bad, just predictable. Eh.

BATMAN GOTHAM ADVENTURES #46: I was really with this story until it hit the last few pages, and I realized that they weren’t going to explain the inexplicable behavior of the Ventriloquist. That sucks. If they had bothered to resolve the plot point, it would have gotten a "Good", but oddball plotting makes Brian’s head hurt, and downgrades it all the way to Awful.

BONEYARD #5: I was a little surprised to see this return – the end of the first arc seemed pretty conclusive. But I’m sure glad it did – this was warm and funny and all around good comics. Good.

CATWOMAN #3: Nice production from top to bottom. Good.

DARKMINDS MACROPOLIS #1: I wanted to kill during the first few pages – light blue narrative lettering captions over dark colored backgrounds is a horrible fucking mistake. But that went away soon enough, and I was actually quite taken with the story itself. Still, can all of the colorists in the world please understand that applying design sense to lettering is a bad idea? Thanks. OK.

ESTABLISHMENT #5: I’m still trying to figure out what the point of this title is. Its solid storytelling, and, on any technical level, is perfectly fine comics.... but I don’t see WHY this book exists. What is it that separates it from any other comic on the shelf? Without that clearly expressed, I can’t see this lasting at all. OK

FLASH #182: The Secret Origin of Captain Cold. Very well done, but probably more suited to a Secret Files or something. Still, very well done. Very good.

GEN 13 #73: Solid and eminently readable – the Britney gag was gold – but I really detest the "blacking out" for swear words. That really is distancing for this reader. Good.

GREEN ARROW #11: Good solid issue. This Kevin Smith guy might have a future in comics! Heh. Very good.

HOWARD THE DUCK #1: Whoa mama. I was always a Howard fan, and the time was certainly ripe to bring back Howard-style satire to comics. If anything, the intervening years have made this a stronger book, and Gerber, freed from the pure-PG Marvel editorial, did a superb job on his return to the character. The art was fab, too. Especially towards the end I was thinking "this looks like Modern Gene Colan". About the only criticism I can give is that the cover was an odd choice, but fish or fowl or rat, Howard is still Howard. Excellent on all levels.

JSA #32: I would think that you’d need more than just Johnny’s body to control the T-Bolt (it’s not like he said "Say you" or "so cool", right?), and it’s almost disrespectful to old Mr. Thunder to do that to him.... but I was genuinely surprised. Especially after the Rockwell-esque cover. Good.

LUCIFER #22: Getting better and better with every issue. I’m enjoying this more than any other Vertigo book, I think. Very good.

MARVEL MANGAVERSE AVENGERS #1: When I (and every other retailer in America) read the solicitations for the Mangaverse books, I said "whoa, that looks like a dog" and ordered conservatively. We were wrong from a sales perspective – almost every one has sold out of these, and fast – but from a story perspective, most of this week’s are not just dogs, but big stinky slobbering dogs who get their foul dog breath all over your nice new suit, then throw up and die. To wit: this one. Man, did that suck – cardboard and interchangeable characters running around wildly and screaming and firing energy blasts. It's not continued, and it's not any good, and any sane and sensible reader should avoid it like the plague. Crap.

MARVEL MANGAVERSE FANTASTIC FOUR #1: See Mangaverse Avengers. Crap.

MARVEL MANGAVERSE GHOST RIDER#1: Not all of them sucked that hard though – I was quite surprised that the one I expected the dead least from was actually one of the best. Low-brow, but very funny, and while I don’t think of Austen’s art as "manga", he did a workmanlike job here. Only complaint: the font. Someone needs to go over to Austen’s house and delete that ugly ass font from his computer. Now. OK

MARVEL MANGAVERSE PUNISHER #1: Another "non-sucker." Now, this is not something that I think any Punisher fan, anywhere, would be interested in, but the central conceit of "punishing" being spankings was fun and funny. All around cute, and would probably appeal to any Ranma ½ fan, I imagine. OK

MARVEL MANGAVERSE SPIDER-MAN #1: Also didn’t suck. Pretty straight-forward ninja story, one you’ve read a dozen times before, but professionally done, at least. OK

MARVEL MANGAVERSE X-MEN #1: See Mangaverse Avengers. Except even worse. The biggest stinker in the pile. Crap.

MIDNIGHT NATION #9: Somehow I forgot to order this and the other Top Cow books on the list. Don’t ask me – doing quick data entry when the order form is already late is probably the culprit. Thank god for observant Savage Critic readers is all I can say, for asking me why I didn’t review them. I think this story will read very well in TPB form. Good.

ORION #22: I wasn’t sure how "Blind Orion" would work, but this was a good solid story in the Kirby mold. If the book wasn’t getting cancelled, I’d call this a great "jumping on" point. Good.

OUTLAW NATION #17: Also on its way out, and I can’t see, at all, how this can possibly be resolved in a satisfying way in the issues they have left. Eh.

POWER COMPANY BORK: Again, the dumbest looking component of a marketing stunt turns out to be the best one. Goofy Silver age stuff, but it works. I REALLY like the idea of a villain who reforms because his mother nags him to. Good.

RISING STARS #17: Another jump forward a few... months? Years? Its not really that clear, and RS comes out too infrequently to remember the last issue very well. But this was a strong issue with a lot of heart. Good.

ROBIN #98: A bit contrived, but decent enough. OK

SCARY MISS MARY FUN WITH KNIVES #1: This strikes me less a creative vision than one prong of a marketing campaign. Might be all of those ads for the "Fine" clothing line. Completely misses what makes other "goth" comics (like last week’s Lenore) good. Awful.

SUPERGIRL #66: Not much to say, except that while I’m enjoying Linda and Buzz’s relationship, that ending sure felt contrived to me. Eh.

SUPERMAN THE MAN OF STEEL #122: I like the new logo. The story is kinda standard hero plot #137 ("Oh, no, Jean has become Dark Pheonix!"), but it was competently done... which is more than one can say for most of the Super-line lately. OK

TERRY MOORES PARADISE TOO #5: An actual comic book story, not just scrapings from Terry’s reject drawer! I don’t think Kixie is as cute as everyone else does, but I was glad to see this format rather than rejected strips. OK

TOMB RAIDER JOURNEYS #1: Well done, but I don’t see how this is a Lara Croft story, or, even, how this premise adequately sets up 11 more issues of story, or, even, why this is a separate mini-series. Eh.

UNIVERSE #4: No one is buying this at CE, and you can see why. Man, that is hideous art! Awful

USAGI YOJIMBO #54: I should just write a standard "One of the best comics being published; why doesn’t Sakai have a much higher profile?" review and slot it in here every month. This is one of the best comics being published, and I really wonder why Sakai doesn’t have a much higher profile! Very good.

VIOLENT MESSIAHS #8: Running and shouting. Lots of it. Not appealing to me. 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!

BETTY & VERONICA #171
BETTY & VERONICA DIGEST #127
CRUX #10
HAPPY #1
INU YASHA PART 6 #9
JUGHEADS DOUBLE DIGEST #83
KOMIC FANTASIES VOL 2 #12
NEGATIVE EXPOSURE #3
NIGHTSIDE #4
POP GUN WAR #2
SCION #20
SEXY SYMPHONY #6
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #106
STAR WARS #38
TIGERS OF THE LUFTWAFFE #4
TIGRESS TALES PINUP BOOK
VAMPI #14 REG ED
WITCHBLADE #53

And, for even MORE completeness sake, here’s a list of books, TPBs, GNs, and magazines 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.

9-11 V 1 AND 2
ACE THE BATHOUND SOFT TOY
BIZARRE COMIX #1
COMICAL TRAGEDY OF PUNCH AND JUDY GN
FEMME FATALES VOLUME 11 #1
FEMME FATALES VOLUME 11 #2
HEAVY METAL MARCH 2002
KIN VOL 1 DESCENT OF MAN TP
LOLITA VOL 4
METAL MEN PVC SET (Cool looking!)
SFX #83
SPYBOY VOL 4 BOMB APPETITE TP
WIZARD EDGE KEVIN SMITH SILENT BOB LIBERTY MEADOWS CVR

This Week’s TPB recommendation is: Actually, first, let me question "Wizard Edge" – if you’re doing a magazine ostensibly on "alternative" or "marginalized" books then why does every article seem to be about "and, kids, if you do the marginal stuff for a while, maybe some day YOU can grow up to draw Spider-Man too!"? Except for the Sim interview (which was pretty puffy), this was a waste of trees. In terms of TPBs, the two 9-11 volumes win basically by default. I haven’t read either all the way through, but it looked pretty good on the flip test, and it's for a good cause anyway.

Average Rating for the Week: 31 books "reviewed" for an average rating of 4.00 exactly (out of a possible 7.00).

Pick of the Week: Not a contest: Howard the Duck #1. If you can find it, rush out of your way to buy it.

Pick of the Weak: The crappiest and most exploitive one: Marvel Mangaverse X-Men. Pure shit.