The Savage Critic: June 19th, 2002 By Brian Hibbs

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

Sorry I’m late, this week, but NeverWinter Nights came out. This is the game I’ve waited my entire life for. Multiplayer, but controllable by the players; available for solo play, or you can build your own adventures with the baddest ass toolset I’ve ever seen. My wife Tzipora summed it up best: "Oh no, I’m a Game Widow again"

http://nwn.bioware.com

Anyway, you want comics, right? I’m going to be curt (NWN calls!), but here ya’ go:

AVENGERS ICONS TIGRA #4: And another gibberish-filled "Icons" series ends. Thank the lord. The events of this comic will be forgotten in less than 3 months. Awful

AZRAEL AGENT OF THE BAT #91: Y’know, "Murderer?" was so good it makes me cry that they felt that a good way of ending this story was to bring the stupid fuckin’ "az-bat" back. Double foo. Just about the only way this could end interestingly is if HE turned out to be the murderer. Kinda doubt it, though – there’s still nine issues of this book yet to come. Awful

BATGIRL SECRET FILES #1: Secret Files tend to be decent, but mostly filler. This is no exception. Eh

BATMAN GOTHAM KNIGHTS #30: What I said about Azrael goes for here as well. Eh

BATTLE POPE WRATH OF GOD #1: Funny in extremely small doses. I’m quite glad it took six months off, or this might be a bad review. OK

BIRDS OF PREY #44: Connor Hawke and Eddie Fyres should be retired. Eh

CAPTAIN MARVEL #33: Not bad, not great. Nothing to say. Eh

DAREDEVIL #34: Reads like a middle. OK

DORK TOWER #18: "Understanding Gamers" makes some funny observations, but otherwise, a big Eh from me.

ESTABLISHMENT #10: Starting to find its stride – so, of course, it is cancelled. If this had had a different title and hadn’t been positioned as an Authority spin-off this mighta made it. Ah well. OK

FANTASTIC FOUR #57: Not bad for a fill in. OK

HARLEY QUINN #21: Shoot me now. Y’know, generally speaking it is a good idea to NAME CHARACTERS and explain their backstory – and not just assume that your audience knows just who they are. Awful

HOOD #2: Completely holding up after that first great issue. I’ll buy this in TP, I think. Good

JSA #37: All-denouement, and a lot of fun. Completely wonderful ending for JT. Big-time dug it. Excellent.

LOUIS RIEL #7: Great, but so infrequent that it’s a little hard to care. Good

LUCIFER #27: My favorite Vertigo book of the moment. Rich Johnston is reporting that Mike Carey here is going to write Firestorm? Really? Not the casting I woulda thought of – be interesting to see if he can do hero stuff. Very Good.

MICRONAUTS #1: Of all of the 80s revamps, this title’s original run was the only one I’d say was any good: Michael Golden, then Pat Broderick. I had the toys, sure, but I actually liked the comics (more or less) on its own merits. This, however, seems to be taking all the wrong cues and is focused in the wrong places – no one cares about the microverse, they want to see little dudes running around OUR world. Awful

MIDNIGHT MASS #3: Decent, but oddly paced. OK

MORLOCKS #3: Adequate, I guess – but seems a little pointless. Eh

NEW X-MEN #128: Very good.

POUNDED #3: I like the art, but the story was a bit pointless, wasn’t it? Might read better in a TP. Eh

QUEEN & COUNTRY #9: Great story, but the art is all over the map – zooming way to close to cartoony in a lot of places there. OK

ROBIN #103: Eh

SOJOURN #12: Saw that coming. A pretty by-the-numbers issue. OK

SPAWN #117: Heh. What if you threw a 10^th anniversary and no-one cared? Eh

SPIDER-MAN PETER PARKER #45: Issues like this make you wonder why Peter doesn’t just snap the Goblin’s neck and be done with it. OK

SPIDER-MAN QUALITY OF LIFE #2: Story/script much stronger this issue, but I still get the willies looking at the little marionettes of this kinda computer generated art. Eh

SPIDER-MAN SWEET CHARITY: Ron "Was that supposed to be funny?" Zimmerman strikes again. Y’know, if this had been 12 pages, it might have even been funny. But at 48 or 64 or whatever it is (it felt like a hundred!) it just drags on and on and on and on and on. Dude seriously needs to write a comic without Kraven too – this one man campaign to make him an important character is just sad to watch. Saved from "Crap" JUST for Robertson’s art. So, Awful it is.

SIMPSONS COMICS #71: Astute readers will notice this isn’t in alphabetical order – that’s because I wanted to make a point. Ian Boothby knows funny. Ian Boothby has an ear for voices and dialogue. Maybe, if Marvel wants "funny" they should get rid of Zimmerman and get Boothby in there? Very good.

SUPERGIRL #71: Marking time, it felt like. Eh

SUPERMAN THE MAN OF STEEL #127: And a quick wrap-up to a lousy idea. Awful

THUNDERBOLTS #66: "are they good, or aren’t they?" Yeah, fine, but stop whining for 22 pages about it! Eh

ULTIMATE X-MEN #19: 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; 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 #524
ATHENA INC #2
BALLAD OF UTOPIA #5
BANISHED KNIGHTS #4
BLUE EYES VOL 1 #5
BTVS ANGEL REUNION
CANNON GOD EXAXXION #8

CHASTITY REIMAGINED #1
DOUBLECROSS MORE OR LESS GN
HAUNTED GRAY MATTERS #1
HAVEN THE BROKEN CITY #7
IMAGE INTRODUCES DOG SOLDIERS
INFERNO HELLBOUND #0
INU YASHA PART 6 #14
LAUGH DIGEST #176
MIKE HOFFMANS SORCERESS SKETCHES #1
NEGATION #7
POWERPUFF GIRLS #28
PURGATORI REIMAGINED #1
REVOLVING HAMMER #1
RIPLEYS BELIEVE IT OR NOT INTO THIN AIR #1
SIGIL #25
SUGAR BUZZ #9
SUPER MANGA BLAST #22
TIGRESS TALES #3
VERONICA #128

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.

100 BULLETS VOL 4 FOREGONE TOMORROW TP
4EYES #2
4EYES #3
ALTER EGO #15
BIG BOOK OF BART SIMPSON TP
BLUE BEETLE ACTION FIGURE
BORIS VALLEJOS BODIES TP
DICKIE VOL 1 GN
EILAND #4
FIRST VOL 2 TP
GAUNTLET #23
GTO VOL 2 GN
LOVE HINA VOL 2 GN
MADMAN ADVENTURES TP
MARIONETTE GENERATION VOL 3 TP
MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM 0079 VOL 5TP
PHANTOM LADY ACTION FIGURE
PUNISHER HC
QUESTION ACTION FIGURE
ROAD TO PERDITION SC NEW ED
SON OF GUN VOL 4 SINNER AND SAINT HC
STAR TREK MAGAZINE #39
STEAM DETECTIVES VOL 5 TP
TWISTED TOYFARE THEATRE VOL 2TP
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN VOL 3 TP
UNCLE SAM ACTION FIGURE
WONDER WOMAN THE HIKETEIA HC

This Week’s TP recommendation is: driving me crazy. That Punisher hardcover is great, and Ultimate Spider-Man v 3 is a must own (my favorite arc, in fact); Twisted Toyfare Theatre V2 is bust-a-lung funny, but I have to give the nod to the finally-they-put-out-an-Original-HC-that’s-worth-the-coin Wonder Woman The Hiketeia HC. Fabulous work all around, and, oddly, for once knowing exactly how it HAD to end by page 3 added to my enjoyment rather than subtracted. Still, all FOUR of those books are worth your money, and should be added to your library.

Average Rating for the Week: 33 books "reviewed" for an average rating of I-don’t-feel-like-doing-the-math-this-week (out of a possible 7.00)

Pick of the Week: JSA was great, but I’m going to give it to the no-really-this-was-funny Simpsons #71

Pick of the Weak: C’mon, like you can’t predict. Spider-Man: Sweet Charity. Outstayed its welcome by at least 36 pages.