The Savage Critic: June 26th, 2002 By Brian Hibbs

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

We’re up late this week... and it’s not my fault! The server had to be brought down. Well, OK, I’m turning this in late, too, but let a man have his illusions.

Lots of comics this week. Nearly too many. So, let me just get to it, OK?

100 BULLETS #36: The end of this arc. The arc I feel like I’ve been reading for a year and a half. Enough time had passed I didn’t really see the point of any of this, nor how it tied into the main story, nor if there was some meaning behind the reveal of the guys face. *shrug* Maybe it’ll be better in TP. Sure as hell LOOKS nice, though. Eh.

ACTION COMICS #792: Maybe it is me, but seems like Clark gave away his secret identity at least once this issue. Here’s the other thing: why does it take Clark getting "fired" from the Planet to see a story of investigation? Y’know? Nothing special, nothing poor, Eh

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #42: I think it was this week’s CBG where there is an interview with Bendis. In discussing Spider-Man, Brian says something like "I think Spidey should ONLY be in New York, ONLY fighting his own villains; when you take him out of his own environment, he just doesn’t work". And I think JMS just proved that observation with this issue of ASM. Astral hoo-ha, a dull villain (geez, this took 3 issues what should have been done in 12 pages!), references to unwritten Dr. Strange stories (that was tacky), and a few more hints to the "cosmic Spider connection" Blech. This didn’t work for me at all – it could have been ANY character as the protagonist, really. Awful.

BATMAN #604: And a mere four issues later "No, I really AM Bruce". Yikies. Was this planned from the start? If so, it waters down any drama from #600, and shows an amazing lack of balls. Or, was this editorial fiat? You decide. OK

BATMAN GOTHAM ADVENTURES #51: I like the animated version of Mr. Freeze – he’s a properly tragic character who, when handled right, isn’t really a "bad guy". They handled him well here. Good

BERLIN #9: I wish this came out more than one or two times a year. Damn Jason Lutes is good. Fabulous, fabulous stuff. Excellent.

BLACK PANTHER #46: Heh. It smacks a little of "plot out of control", but I liked Panther in the 1800s. Here’s hoping they tie this in a smidge to the OTHER "lost in the 1800s" stories – little fanboyish, but I love it when other time travel stories link and loop together. Good

CAPTAIN AMERICA #3: I’ll give it one more arc to see where this book is going, but I thought these first three to be pretty empty and pointless. If it wasn’t for Casaday’s art (god it looks great – he makes the chainmail look like chain), this would have... well, sucked. But the art IS fab, so OK

CASTAWAYS TP: Don’t judge a book by its cover. Dunno if it was printing problems, or that the artist just doesn’t have a good color sense, but this cover was extremely amateur looking. I almost left it on the shelf until I thought "wait, why did I order 5 copies of this?" Very glad I made that cognitive leap. The insides were wonderful. A very sensitive and touching story of a boy who leaves home to become a hobo in the 1920s. I’ll give away the end of the column right here: this was the best book I read all week. I absolutely and with no hesitation urge you to run back to your LCS and ask them for this book. Excellent.

CATWOMAN #8: Perfectly fine, but all middle. OK

CHARM SCHOOL #5: I find this charming, and there’s just not enough lesbian romance fiction on the shelves. Good

CODENAME KNOCKOUT #14: One wonders how this is still being published. It doesn’t suck, exactly, but it meanders so far all over the place that it would have worked as well, if not better as a series of minis. Eh

FLASH #187: Most of this issue simply expands on the last line or two of dialogue in the last issue. Shame, I was expecting more pyrotechnics and coolness from what is usually the best spandex book on the shelf. Art seemed spotty, too – not the usual hyper-detailed stuff. Is this because this team is producing THE THING: FREAKSHOW at the same time? OK

GIRL GENIUS #6: I really hate those guys vit der cherman accents. And I almost threw down the book in disgust with the first half-dozen pages with all of their dialogue. But then they left, and we got back to whimsy and fun. Hurrah for whimsy. OK

GREEN ARROW #14: Are we really meant to believe that some schmuck with a gun can take out three members of the JLA that easily? I don’t buy it, myself. OK

INCREDIBLE HULK #42: Personally, I’m waiting for it to get to the point. Eh

INCREDIBLE HULK THE END: I didn’t really feel Peter’s heart was in it. And for $6 I expect more. Eh

INFINITY ABYSS #2: I hate getting a string of books in a row where I don’t have much to say other than "Nah, not very good." Do you have ANY idea how hard it is to come up with new ways to say "Nah, not very good" when something doesn’t SUCK? Suckage is easy to discuss. Mediocrity isn’t. Eh

JIST WITH WALTER SIMONSON CREATING SANDMAN: The first few pages kicked some righteous ass. Unca Walt sure knows how to layout a page, don’t he? I want to read 48 pages of Astronaut comics from Simonson! Once the hero stuff kicks in, my attention waned a bit – Stan is, as we all know, all over the damn map these days ("I’ll turn your sand to glass!" Then Sandman turns to sand anyway and the baddie DOESN’T turn him to glass; "Hey, dream hottie, let’s have sex"), but this owes a lot more to Kirby’s 70s Sandman than it does to Gaiman’s. Still, all things considered, I think this actually gets a Good. Walt knows how to draw!

JLA #67: "fighting gods" is a cliché that can be never used again, thank you very much. I hope Rick Vietch can do something fun with Aquaman after they bring him back – but this "bringing him back" story is, so far, about as much fun as watching paint dry. Awful

LEGION #9: Stephan DeStephano is certainly an aquired taste. As is slapstick humor in the Legion. I think the entire issue became like chocolate covered clams – tastes that taste awful together. Awful

LONE WOLF 2100 #2: Maybe I hadn’t read the first issue closely enough – I hadn’t caught the whole Cyborg thing, really. But that means that not only is this cashing in on LWC, but it’s doing it by way of Grendel: War Child. Double yikes. Awful

PARADISE X #3: No, I’m done with this. They shoulda stopped after Earth X, honest to god. Eh

PRIVATE BEACH #5: I liked it, but I’m not clear on what this had to do with earlier issues. OK

PROMETHEA #21: I really hope the walk through magic theory is done soon. It’s interesting enough stuff, but it’s dragging on far too long. Didn’t I say that last issue, too? Astonishingly well crafted, but I’m losing interest in the periodical. Good

ROUTE 666 #1: Not sure what to make of this: a workmanlike setup, but I don’t see how this can have legs past a half dozen issues or so. Eh

SHOT CALLERZ #2: Not doing a thing for me. Not really into pimps an’ hos. Awful

SPIDER-MAN BLACK CAT THE EVILTHAT MEN DO #1: Reads like two different stories grafted together. I don’t like Smith’s ear for Spidey dialogue – I personally don’t think he’s THAT pop-culture catch-phrase spouting. Doesn’t fill me with hope for him doing Spidey monthly, actually. And could that ending have been any more contrived? Awful

SPIDER-MAN TANGLED WEB #15 THE COLLABORATOR: Paul Pope’s Spider-Man is just about what you’d expect from Paul Pope’s Spider-Man. Good.

SPYBOY SPECIAL ONE SHOT: I tried to read this, honest to god I did, but by page 12 I wanted to kill myself, and they STILL hadn’t gotten the plot moving. Crap.

TEENAGERS FROM MARS #2: This issue worked very well for me – I particularly liked the romance in the back half of the book. Good

TITANS #42: Peyer takes over. I dunno if he can turn the book around; can’t tell from this, because he’s just wrapping up the last plotlines. Adequate, if uninspired. Eh

UNIVERSE #8: I personally don’t see how Top Cow is popular in the greater market. I don’t think we can sell more than 3 rack copies of any of their books these days. I thought flashing the angels was clever, but other than that I wouldn’t mind if this series ends with every character here being retroactively killed. Awful.

USAGI YOJIMBO #58: Always good, no exception this time. Another hard book to review: "Oh, surprise, it’s still good". Did I mention it was Good?

WOLVERINE #178: In the "why does this sell so well?!?!?" category this HAS to be exhibit A. I’m starting to think they could randomly pull people from the street to do Wolverine and it would still be a Top 20 book. Stuns me that something so amazingly heinous can sell at all. Crap

WONDER WOMAN #182: One more to go in this storyline? *sigh* So so bored. Eh

X-FORCE #129: And, hurrah, the best for last! Well, no, I already said CASTAWAYS was the best... but it’s nice to end with a good comic. Excellent.

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.

AMELIA RULES #6
ARCHIE AND FRIENDS #59
ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #135
ARCHIES WEIRD MYSTERIES #22
ARTBABE PRESENTS LA PERDIDA #2 (CORRECTED COPIES)
BABY DEMONICA #1
BETTY #114
BTVS #46 WITHDRAWAL
BTVS #46 WITHDRAWAL PHOTO CVR
CROSSGEN CHRONICLES #8
CRUX #15
DEADPOOL #68:
DEXTERS LABORATORY #30
EVERQUEST TRANFORMATION
FELIX THE CATS TV EXTRAVAGANZA #1
FORLORN FUNNIES #1
FUTABAKUN CHANGE VOL 8 #5
LITTLE WHITE MOUSE RETRO MIX #1
ODDBALLZ #2
OUT THERE #12
PATRICK THE WOLF BOYS SUPERHERO SP
SCION #25
SCOOBY DOO SUPER SCAREFEST #1
STEAMPUNK #12
TERRY MOORES PARADISE TOO #8
VAMPIRE YUI VOL 4 #5
WALKIE TALKIE #4
X-MEN EVOLUTION #8

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.

ASTRO BOY VOL 4 TP
CLIVE BARKERS HELLRAISER PX LEATHER BOUND ED
COMICS JOURNAL #244
CONCEPTIONS BY LUIS ROYO HC
DEATH & LIFE OF GROO LTD HC
EDGE #3
ELECTRIC GIRL VOL 2 TP
FILMFAX #91
GREEN LANTERN ARCHIVES VOL 4 HC
GREETINGS FROM HELLVILLE HC
ILLUSTRATION MAGAZINE #3
JIST CREATING THE DC UNIVERSEBOOK ONE TP
KODT BUNDLE OF TROUBLE VOL 9
LONE WOLF & CUB VOL 22 HEAVEN& EARTH TP
LORD OF THE RINGS CANDY BOX
LOVE & ROCKETS VOL 5 HOUSE OFRAGING WOMEN SC NEW PRTG
PHANTOM VOL 2 GN SINGH WEB
PREVIEWS VOL XII #7
RUSE VOL 1 TP ENTER THE DETECTIVE
SHORT CUTS VOL 1 TP
SIDEKICKS TP
STRACZYNSKIS RISING STARS BOOK 1 BORN IN FIRE MMPB
STRAY MOONBEAMS
SUMMER OF LOVE HC
TWENTY FIVE YEARS OF HEAVY METAL COVERS HC
WIZARD THE COMICS MAGAZINE #131
WONDER WOMAN ARCHIVES VOL 3 HC
WONDERS BY MAROTO SC

This Week’s TP recommendation is: It’s a hard call between the Knights of the Dinner Table Vol 9 and Summer of Love... but the highbrow critic in me tilts it just over to Summer of Love. It’s a great looking book, and it reads astonishingly well.

Average Rating for the Week: 36 books "reviewed" for an average rating of 3.69 (out of a possible 7.00)

Pick of the Week: I’ll say it again: Castaways GN. Deep and warm, lovingly crafted and utterly engaging.

Pick of the Weak: I’ll go with the Spyboy Special because I threw it across the room less than half-way through. That’s a good enough criteria, I think.