The Savage Critic: March
12th 2003
By Brian
Hibbs
Welcome
back, my friends, to the show that never ends.
Yup,
I’m back. Now that Rob is back from Vacation, Sue is not (as) sick,
and I’ve adjusted to doing the subs & back issues again (first time
in nearly 10 years – it is almost like I’m opening the store from day
1!) from losing Gary, my brain no longer feels soft and squishy. I’m
still a bit behind on a few projects, but I can see the light, yes I
can.
Mucho
double-plus-good thanks to Jeff Lester for soloing the Critic for the
last two weeks – I think he did a great job!
ADVENTURES
OF SUPERMAN #614: Not too bad. Let me swallow a few words and say that,
yup, the Super-books have gotten quite a bit better post 10-Cent Adventure.
While I tend to think that the “solution” was a little simplistic, and
while I think “adding” a few more score SPBs to the DC universe is always
a tactically poor idea (Aren’t we at the point where they outnumber
the “regular” people yet?), there is a certain charm to Casey’s He-never-throws-a-punch
Superman. OK
AGE
OF BRONZE #16: Shanower is a super-fab artist, and there’s a remarkable
density to this book... which makes it a not-quite-satisfying single
read, yet still worthy of Good
AQUAMAN
#4: Please oh please oh please let that last page make it ultimately
impossible for Arthur to “reclaim” Atlantis. I so so so so so so so
don’t want to read THAT story again. There’s some clever enough stuff
in here, and some interesting use of language, but it’s veering dangerously
close to “Royal” plot #1 that plagues fantasy. OK
AZRAEL
AGENT OF THE BAT #100: That was a strange-ass ending to a strange-ass
series, with plot points being dismissed off-panel (the “fake” az guy),
and the seemingly out-of-character veneration in the last page. Whatever,
it’s done. Awful.
BATGIRL
YEAR ONE #4: I liked this tremendously – though if they don’t do SOMEthing
to pay off that Alfred sub-plot (brought up twice!), I’ll be disappointed.
Very Good.
BATMAN
LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #165: Pacing here seems all wrong – doesn’t
seem like there can be enough time to really get back to the government
plot-threads which has absorbed almost an issue of the two so far. We’ll
see, but I’m not holding out much hope. Eh.
BLACK
PANTHER #55: Bits and pieces I like, but it doesn’t seem to hold together
all that well as a whole for THIS reader. Mostly I can’t figure out
T’Challa’s motivation or intent, and despite him not being in the costume,
he still “feels” like the central character to me. OK
BLOOD
AND WATER #1: Lots of set-up. Lots and lots of set-up. And there’s not
any pay-off in this issue, really. Eh as a first issue – I don’t
think I’d pay money to come back to see what happens next.
BLUE
MONDAY NOBODYS FOOL: Wacky hijinx! If this is your kind of thing, you’ll
love it, and if not, you’ll be like me and say OK.
BRIAN
PULIDO LADY DEATH #2 MEDIEVAL TALE: Pretty standard stuff, but it reads
adequately and has nice art. ie, your typical CrossGen book. Eh.
CAPTAIN
AMERICA #10: Allllrighty. Cap and Bucky clones? Deal me out, thanks.
Eh
CAPTAIN
AMERICA WHAT PRICE GLORY #2: I’m really really disappointed this didn’t
have any howlers like last week’s “Cap, I want you to sleep with my
wife!” That was pure comedy gold. Fab art by Steve Rude – even a lesser
effort like this looks GREAT – but the story is meandering and not very
engaging at all. And frankly, I can’t believe, even in Vegas, there’d
be a 60 foot tall statue of the Red Skull, with a swastika base as one
of the two anchoring pieces for an attraction. A very weak Eh.
CHIMERA
#2: Fucking terrific art (though it was a little “busy” this issue),
with a story that appears to be, more or less, Sojourn in Space.
A strong OK, but I’m kinda praying hard that CrossGen puts out
a comic one of these days that doesn’t have to tie into their silly
tattoo story.
CLOCKMAKER
#2: 16 pages for $2.50? Sure, if it’s dense and moving and engaging
and interesting. This isn’t. There’s absolutely no point to this weird
format, and I don’t care about a thing happening here. Awful.
FABLES
#11: Whoa boy, that was a good issue. Stunning Brian Talbot art, and
a very nicely told “done-in-one” story. I’d rather be reading this than
the “modern” Fables stuff, frankly. I don’t think I’ve given one of
these in like a month: Excellent.
FILTH
#9: I’m closer to getting it, but I still don’t. Which is fine in a
Morrison comic, I guess – there are more than enough individual moments
that it matters less that I can’t grasp the bigger shape and point,
and Weston’s art is eat-it-with-a-spoon great. Good
GOTHAM
CENTRAL #5: Wonderful wrap-up to the storyline. How do we get this quality
of police procedurals out in front of the “real world” audience that
would appreciate it the best? Very Good.
HELLBLAZER
SPECIAL LADY CONSTANTINE #4: Decent enough wrap-up, I guess, though
there was way too much old continuity being directly addressed – I especially
find Johanna’s estate being Fawney Rig to be... well, stretching credibility
a little too much. Overall this was a fun, if slight mini -- OK
HERO
#2: Terrific comic, with buckets of potential. I very much liked the
“crime is hard to find!” angle. Huh, for some reason this makes me want
to watch John Ritter’s Hero at Large again – pretty much my favorite
super-hero movie. Anyway, I’m only shying away from the coveted Excellent
because of the scene with the old women in the restaurant. Hopefully
the “old user/new user” transition will flow more smoothly in future
issues. Still, Very Good.
HUNTER
AGE OF MAGIC #21: The storyline is over? Oh thank God! Man, that dragged
on far too long. OK
INCREDIBLE
HULK #51: I don’t think I can read this any longer. It makes my head
hurt with all of the convoluted and pointless things happening just
to keep characters on the stage. Let’s be perfectly frank here, too:
this is going to be AT LEAST as off-putting to the “new” reader coming
in after the Hulk movie as Claremont’s X-Men was after
that film. Awful
IRON
MAN #66: The thing I don’t get about Iron Man is how it doesn’t really
seem to have much of a focus or a point. Even the high points of the
title seem more to be about a High Concept (Tony’s a drunk/has a heart
condition/eats too many prunes, or the ever-popular “IM tech going out
of control” stories), almost as if Iron Man is the most perfect characterless
character in comics. This doesn’t have any direct bearing on THIS issue,
but this book is likely to be hurt real bad when it goes to $2.99 –
who will pay $3 for it? Eh.
JSA
#46: Lots of Big Things happening, wall-to-wall action and fighting.
JSA does it well, to be certain, but I think it is suffering from Too
Many Characters right about now. OK
KILLRAVEN
#6: Nice end to a nice mini-series, wrapping up the threads just enough
while leaving hooks for more stories. Didn’t sell worth a damn though,
which is a shocker for an Alan Davis book. I’ll give it a mild Good
LONE
WOLF 2100 #7: Then again, maybe I’m wrong about Iron Man – people
seem willing enough to spend $3 on this characterless character book,
so who knows? Well told enough, but I Don’t Care. Eh
MARVEL
UNIVERSE THE END #1: Ah, Jim Starlin and Thanos, destroying the world
again. If I hadn’t already read this like 6 times before, I might be
more enthused, but it seems to me the “fun” of a book like this is seeing
the heroes get smacked around... which mostly happened in single panels
this go through, and so, was drained of any vicarious thrill. OK
MIDNIGHT
MOVER #1: I still think this sounds like a night-time laxative. Still,
barring the too-heavy-handed “Hey, the cop is a freak, too” bit, this
was a pretty tight little crime story. Good.
NIGHTWING
#79: Not much to say that I haven’t said in the last dozen or so “reviews”
– I like the characters, I hate the cop stuff, and I feel like I’ve
spent 79 months waiting for this book to find an enjoyable direction.
Eh
RELOAD
#1: Hi-octane action from Ellis and Paul Gulacy – in fact, some of Gulacy’s
best work in some time. This is, so far, a better pairing than the last
few Moench/Gulacy tales. A solid Good
SOJOURN
#21: Pretty art, cardboard characters and plot – basically the CrossGen
formula. I’m buying the trades because the art is so nice, but this
new female thief character might make me reconsider that. OK
STORMWATCH
TEAM ACHILLES #9: I very much liked the psychological take down of Billy
Mumy’s Twilight Zone character analogue, but I get the feeling that
Wright is more interested in real world facts (how weapons work, how
you kill a person) than in creating memorable and engaging characters
and situations. I can barely keep the team members straight. Also of
some note is the new Authority backup (part 1 of 3) which strikes me
as going straight for the least-interesting part of the concept (access
to the “Bleed” and the parallel realities) while ignoring the good,
“real-world” parts. Not the best introduction to the characters and
the concepts, for version two, I am afraid. OK, all around.
STRAY
BULLETS #30: Lapham is on the tip-top of his game, and has been for
issue after issue now. This caps the storyline masterfully, and I thought
it was Excellent.
SUPER
HERO HAPPY HOUR #2: Costumed folks standing around in a bar and bitching
about life. Can’t get much more High Concept than that. Sometimes funny
stuff, but not wildly so. OK
SUPERMAN
AND BATMAN GENERATIONS III #3: As I feared, the 100 year jumps have
started to work against this. The advancement of Kamandi was a bit fun,
but I don’t see how this is going to maintain momentum for another 9
(!) issues. OK
SUPERMAN
LAST STAND ON KRYPTON: Nice companion piece to Last Son of Krypton,
ending up in an elegant and very “right” place on the last page. Excepting
the lack of much explanation about the first mini, which made me go
“Wait... what? Huh, oh yeah, NOW I remember”, I’d call this Very
Good. However, if you didn’t read LSoK, you’d probably get
lost in the middle.
ULTIMATE
X-MEN #30: It would be very very cool if the threat of the last page
was really followed through – but it can’t be because then Ultimate
Spider-Man would have to cease publication. The real problem here
is that the X-Men are being presented as far too competent when there
wasn’t enough (or, really, ANY) build-up for that earlier. OK
ULTIMATES
#9: The long gaps between issues is now getting in the way of my enjoyment.
There was a point (a mere three issues ago! Which was like five years
in Dog Time) where I didn’t feel like I could wait for the next issue
– now it’s like “Sure, that’s nice, but whatever.” Very solid stuff,
but veering dangerously towards “overrated”. Good.
WOLVERINE
#187: Quite a solid stand-alone issue by Daniel Way (I now have hope
for Venom) and John McCrea. In fact, I liked this better than
the excerpt from the new #1 that ran in last Wizard. I still
think that the “sophistication” of the content is probably over the
audience (and potential, 11-year old boy audience), but this gets an
easy Good.
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 [this can
include being shorted by Diamond as well]; 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
AMELIA
RULES #9
COLLECTED PRISON FUNNIES #1
CONTENT #1
FINDER #30
GI JOE #15
GI JOE FRONTLINE #5
GRENDEL GOD & THE DEVIL #2
HARLEY QUINN #30
JUGHEAD WITH ARCHIE DIGEST #182
KILLBOX #3
KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE ILLUSTRATED #20
KODT EVERKNIGHTS #5
LAUGHTER OF THE DAMNED #1
MAGE KNIGHT STOLEN DESTINY #5
MEKANIX #6
MICRONAUTS #6
MUTANT EARTH BISLEY CVR #4
NEGATION #16
OCTAVIA #1
PALS N GALS DOUBLE DIGEST #74
SCARLET FOX ONE SHOT
SCOOBY DOO #70
SIGIL #34
TRANSFORMERS WAR WITHIN #6
VICTORIAN #18
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.
ALTER
EGO #22
ANIMATION MAGAZINE APR 2003
ANIMERICA APRIL 2003 VOL 11 #4
ANIMERICA EXTRA APRIL 2003 VOL 6 #4
BATMAN DEATHBLOW AFTER THE FIRE TP
CINESCAPE APR 2003
COMIC BOOK MARKETPLACE #99
COMICS JOURNAL #250
GREEN LANTERN EMERALD DAWN IITP
HIGH ROADS TP
INCAL VOL 2 TP JOHN DIFOOL CLASS R DETECTIVE
LEES TOY REVIEW MAR 2003
NOBLE CAUSES VOL 1 IN SICKNESS & IN HEALTH TP
PHOENIX VOL 2 TP DAWN
POTLATCH #2
SNAKES & LADDERS ALAN MOORE IMPORT CD
SPIDER-MAN TANGLED WEB VOL 4 TP
STORM RIDERS GN #11
STRAY BULLETS VOL 7 TP
SUPERMAN ACTION FIGURE
SUPERMAN BIZARRO ACTION FIGURE
SUPERMAN BRAINIAC 13 ACTION FIGURE
T & A & REAL ESTATE GN
TOTAL SELL OUT TP
ULTIMATE X-MEN VOL 2 HC
WAY OF THE RAT VOL 1 TP WALLSOF ZHUMAR
WOLVERINE LEGENDS VOL 2 MELTDOWN TP
This
Week’s TP recommendation is:
An oldie, but a goodie is finally back in print: “Wolverine Legends
V2:” Meltdown. Scrummy yummy artwork by John J. Muth and Kent
Williams. Of course, too damn bad that their names appear nowhere on
the cover or the spine of the book at all. This is an incessant problem
at Marvel, and one that I see, every week, has limited their sales as
people don’t know where to go next on their own for more work from the
talent they enjoy.
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