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The Savage Critic: June 1st, 2001 By Brian HibbsWelcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends... Kinda a small week this time out – but solid! Plenty of good stuff (especially in the TPB section) this holiday week – comics didn’t arrive in US stores until Thursday because of Memorial Day, which is why this column is "late" Anyway...shall we? Yes, we shall.... ACTION COMICS #779: Awful. Next week the "Big Summer Event" begins, and here we are marking time until that storyline begins. "No... it CAN’T be him" Yah, what-fucking-evah! WTF is up with dressing the "super-family" all in black armor? It's not explained, and it looks like crap. AVENGERS #42: Awful. I almost feel bad about the grade because, damn it, I LIKE Kurt’s writing and Alan Davis’ art, but this was just...foo. First off, I don’t buy time-travelling villains – ‘cuz if I had the power of Kang, I can assure you I’d simply zip back in time before the Avengers ever existed, and conquer the world then. 1920 or so should do it. But, sure, lets put that aside. This issue sucked anyway – page after page after page of "here’s what might happen", that just feels like it’s covering up for a deadline rather than laying seeds for the future. Avengers has also felt like its been suffering from "story inflation" lately – piling threat upon threat with no "downtime" in between. Blech. BART SIMPSONS COMICS #4: Eh. The first story was mildly diverting, but had a hugely lame conclusion, while the next two stories just seemed utterly pointless (and unfunny) to me. Nice to see Scott Shaw! drawing though. BATMAN BEYOND #21: Eh. Padded out. This whole issue could (and likely should) have been told in under 6 pages. Is "Aquagirl’s" name REALLY "Mareena"? Yoikes! BATMAN GOTHAM KNIGHTS #17: Good. I didn’t care at all for or about the villain, but at least it was original. Still, that alone wouldn’t get much of a rating from me. What was really very nice and well-handled was the interaction between Dick and Bruce. Just when you think it's all been mined out thoroughly, someone (Devin Grayson in this case) comes along and finds some new angle. The B&W story also had a cleverish hook. BROTHERHOOD #1: Awful. I don’t know who "X" is, and, actually, I don’t really care very much, but this really stank. Nothing really happened, I was neither informed nor intrigued by any of the characters, which is just death for the first issue of an on-going book. The art was extremely weak, as well – if you showed me pages without captions I doubt I could identify which one was "Orwell" and which "Fagin" and so on. Plus, those "code names" frankly suck ass. Sadly, this is the clear failure of the x-relaunch. CATWOMAN #94: Awful. Is Deathstroke the world’s WORST mercenary or what? Has he EVER succeeded? Anyway, thank god its over. Clear the deck for the Broob. CODENAME KNOCKOUT #1: Awful. The new inker helps the art...but its still all so posed and forced. I think "beating someone off as a torture device" was a bad move, and the whole thing is just....dunno...too much I guess. I think that was meant to be the POINT, but it doesn’t work for me AT ALL. Plus: Variant covers on a Vertigo book is just so wrong on SO many levels. DAREDEVIL #18: Good. It’s gorgeous, its well written, but this story is just going nowhere, and doing so sllllllooooowly. With any artist but David Mack, this’d get an "eh", but Mack sure as fuck can draw. Least it’s back on schedule. Heh. FLASH #174: Very good. When did Scott Kollins learn to draw? I remember his art through the mid-90’s and was constantly underwhelmed. So, what the hell happened? The art here is FAB, and its really enhanced by the muted color palette. The story is moving along just fine. If all superhero books were as solid as this one, the market would be in much better shape. GREEN ARROW #4: Excellent. I had a whole passel of problems with Kevin Smith’s first three issues, but I just ate this one up with a spoon. Its like...hrm, Super-FRIENDS (without the stupidity) are pretty damn cool – I just liked the hugging and kissing, and "Jesus! OLLIE!" stuff. That’s what the JLA should be like. I guess I’m a sap :) HELLBLAZER #162: Good. First Azarello issue I’ve liked...maybe because it was set in London? INCAL #1: OK. This is an expectations problem, I guess – I thought this was THE INCAL, not a prelude to same. Not bad, but nothing rang my bells. INCREDIBLE HULK #28: Eh. Time-marker. LOVE AND ROCKETS VOLUME II #2: Very Good. I thought the first two stories were excellent, but the next two merely OK... Averages out to a VG. I’m one of the rare people who never cared for v1 of L&R, but v2 is working very well for me. MERIDIAN #12: OK. First issue I’ve read since #1, and this worked for me quite well. It's nothing exceptional, but it's good clean fun "for young girls." SAM AND TWITCH #21: OK. Todd HAS improved as a writer...massively even. Still, I don’t care much about S&T. STAR WARS #30: Awful. Which character am I supposed to CARE about? ‘cuz if EVERYONE died, that would be fine with me. THUNDERBOLTS LIFE SENTENCES: Eh. Could have been a regular issue. Should have. ULTIMATE MARVEL TEAM-UP #4: OK. Little too "talking-head"y. Allred seemed rushed with this, too. And that was a pretty bad ending. UNIVERSE X #10: Eh. I just don’t care about this series. Pity, too, Earth X was so utterly kick ass. US AGENT #1: Crap. BLECH! This comic fails on just about every level. #1 rule: the protagonist is neither compelling, interesting or sympathetic – that’s first issue death in all but the most skillful of hands. America has rejected Judge Dredd again and again and again, folks. WOLVERINE #164: Awful. Fucking Wolvie doesn’t need no damn claws to win a fight, y’know. And, the Beast is an Avenger, for god’s sake! He wouldn’t fall to a shiv in jail. WONDER WOMAN #170: Excellent! Wow, I haven’t been this impressed with an issue of WW for quite some time. Very nice personality study of Lois and Diana both, and focusing on all of the NON Superhero stuff that WW does. Not a single punch thrown! Woo! 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!], and 5) Things that looked SO bad on the racks that I didn’t bother. BENZINE #7 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. 2000 AD #1240 |
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This Week’s TPB recommendation is: GREAT fucking week for TPBs! Astro City has the best cover and design (HELLA sweet)... but I have to give the nod to Age of Bronze V1: A Thousand Ships. Fail to buy this at your own peril! Average Rating for the Week: 3.63 (of 7.00) Pick of the Week: Wonder Woman #170. Green Arrow "loses" the top spot because of the fight scene :) Pick of the Weak: US Agent #1. I expect much more from Jerry Ordway.
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All Material on this page:
© 2001-2005 by Comix Experience (except the graphic, which was appropriated
from Tales of Suspense #21,
and is probably
© Marvel Comics). Reproduction without permission is expressly
forbidden.