The Savage Critic: August 29th, 2001 By Brian Hibbs

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

A reminder, first: Next week comics aren’t until Thursday (stupid Labor Day... y’know those of us who labor in comic shops almost never get holidays off...) So, the Savage Critic won’t be up (probably) until Saturday morning.

Nice small week, which is good, because, once again, I’m short on time if I want these up before night falls.

AVENGERS #45: Talky talky talky. And not all that good, really. Triathalon really caved on the Triune thing a lot faster than the previous forty-whatever issues would have made plausible. Eh.

BART SIMPSON COMICS #5: Not as funny as the show... which is kinda the only point, right? Eh.

CODENAME KNOCKOUT #4: A "Fleshback" (*shudder*)... which was actually a lot more fun than the previous issues. I still don’t think this book can sustain itself – Comix Experience is the "original" Vertigo store, and our sales on this are just sad and pathetic. And the framing device was paced poorly – I felt no suspense or surprise at Angela’s decision. Eh.

CROSSGEN CHRONICLES #4: I’m not even sure which of the parent books this was a spin-off of. Which is not a wholly bad thing, I guess. Perez can draw, Waid is a competent story-teller, and this was a stand alone sci-fi story. All good things. But there’s no "spark" on the CG books, and I can’t muster better than OK.

DEADMAN DEAD AGAIN #5: Yeesh. Time-travel? Milo the dwarf SUGGESTING that as the solution? (Where did THAT come from?!?) And, am I high, or is the implication that Rama Kusha is the Spectre? This series just didn’t work, and augurs very poorly for the upcoming monthly (?). I want my time back, people! Awful.

FANTASTIC FOUR 1234 #2: Heh. Some nice FF moments from Morrison, but I have a feeling this story won’t linger or have any real impact anywhere. Still, for what it is, Good.

FLASH #177: Chunk was always a dumb character. And I didn’t understand how Wally helped him in the end. Still, it’s a nice looking book, and feels very different than most of the DC line, so that should count for something. OK.

GREEN ARROW #7: Nice cover, that. This was a solid issue, but was mostly just underlining what we learned last issue. Good.

GUNWITCH OUTSKIRTS OF DOOM #2: My eyes glazed over while reading this. Bad sign. Eh.

HELLBLAZER #165: Hey, plot movement! But JC isn’t the character I would pick to handle hate crimes and racial tension. OK.

JLA #57: After the set up, everyone is a little too competent, don’t you think? Especially making J’onn SUCH a bad-ass. I don’t really buy it. OK.

KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE #58: Still consistently one of my favor comics... even if there’s way too much gaming stuff filing out the issue (if I want to play a hack ‘n slash game of second edition D&D, then I’ll just play that). Still, the comics portion was dense, compelling, human and fun. Which is way more than most comics can say, right? Very good.

OUT THERE #4: Wouldn’t be out of place on the WB. You decide what that means. OK.

PRIVATE BEACH #3: Heh. Yah, I smiled a few times. Not going to set the world on fire, but a solid little comic. OK.

SCARY GODMOTHER #3: Jill really is talented, isn’t she? Good.

STARTLING STORIES BANNER #2: Hulk kill! Hibbs not care! Eh.

SUPERGIRL #61: Wow, she’s a vindictive little minx, isn’t she? OK

TOMB RAIDER #16: A more solid read than the previous ones... but Dan Jurgens once again shows there’s not a pop culture reference he can’t make even more bland. Eh.

TOMORROW STORIES #11: Wow, Joyce Chin is really better suited for Cobweb, then Gebbie. First Cobweb story I’ve actually liked. Same with the "Being John Malkovich" parody in First American. IN fact, the only story I didn’t care for was the Greyshirt... which is weird since that’s usually the only feature I DO like. Good.

TOP TEN #12: Not as dense of an issue as the previous 11, but I’ll still very much miss this as a regular title. I do hope that "season 2" actually happens. Very good.

UNCANNY X-MEN #397: It’s X-Men. Eh.

WAITING PLACE VOL 2 #10: It’s really good stuff... but a soap opera like this needs to come out faster to hold an audience’s attention. Will read GREAT in a TPB, but as a single issue, I JUST can’t recommend it. OK.

WORLDS FINEST OUR WORLDS AT WAR #1: Fuck! ANOTHER speech as the framing device? Cheap bastards. Thank god it is over, though. Awful.

X-FORCE #119: A book without a status quo, which, on one level, is good, but on another makes it hard to care for any character. Still, its subversive fun. 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!], and 5) Things that looked SO bad on the racks that I didn’t bother.

AMELIA RULES #2
BATMAN BEYOND #24
BETTY & VERONICA SPECTACULAR #50
BTVS #36
CERES CELESTIAL LEGEND #3
EAGLE VOL 19 FIRES IN THE PLAIN
GUNDAM WING EPISODE ZERO #5
INDEPENDENT VOICES #3
LADY DEATH BAD KITTY #1
LAUGH DIGEST #169
LITTLE WHITE MOUSE ENTROPY DREAMING SP ED #1
MERIDIAN #15
NEON GENESIS BOOK 6 #2
PURGATORI DARKEST HOUR #1
SHIDIMA #4
TICK COLOR #4
VAMPIRELLA MODEL SEARCH SPECIAL
WATCH #1

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.

2024 GN SC ED
ALIENS VS PREDATOR WITCHBLADE DARKNESS MINDHUNTER TP
ANGEL HUNTING GROUND TP
ANIME ART GALLERY ART OF RANMA 1/2
ANIMERICA VOL 9 #8
BATMAN OFFICER DOWN TP
BORIS VALLEJO & JULIE BELLS 2002 WALL CALENDAR
BOSOM ENEMIES BEARING OUR LOSSES
CINEFANTASTIQUE VOLUME 33 #4
CLERKS THE COMIC BOOKS TP
COMICS COMIX & GRAPHIC NOVELSTPB
DRAWN AND QUARTERLY V4
LANDORS TOWER HC
LEO ROA VOL 2 ODYSSEY BACK INTIME HC
LONE WOLF & CUB VOL 12 TP
OLIVIA 2002 WALL CALENDAR
PREVIEWS VOL XI #9
SANDMAN SANDGLOBE (nice looking!)
SANJULIAN MASTER VISIONARY TPB
SIZZLE #11
STORMWATCH VOL 5 FINAL ORBIT TP
SWAMP THING VOL 4 A MURDER OFCROWS TP
THREE GEEKS VOL 3 TP
VAMPIRE PRINCESS YUI VOL 1 TP
WILL EISNERS MOBY DICK HC
WIZARD THE COMICS MAGAZINE #121

This Week’s TPB recommendation is: It’s really very cool that Stormwatch v5 came out (it looked unlikely for a while there because of the Aliens thing), but even better is SwampThing V4: A Murder of Crows. Go buy both of ‘em, though!

Average Rating for the Week: 3.92 (of 7.00)

Pick of the Week: Top Ten #12. Ah, how I’ll miss you. Special mention for Knights of the Dinner Table #58. Everyone should check it out.

Pick of the Weak: Deadman: Dead Again #5. Fucking time travel in a Deadman story? Yeesh.