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The Savage Critic: October 10th, 2001 By Brian HibbsWelcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends. Nice small week this time, which suits me fine because I’m still slightly trying to get caught up from losing three days to the Diamond Las Vegas Retailer Summit. Vegas is a weird town. Everyone should see the excess of The Strip at least once in their lifetime, but if you don’t gamble, spending more than 2 days there will very likely drive you nuts. I spent three. I didn’t go to every buffet there, but, yah, I can fully recommend the one at the Bellagio. $14 for all-you-can-eat gourmet food, during lunch? Oh yah! But give the one at the Excalibur a big big big big pass. Even for the piddling $8 it is a waste – that wasn’t food, that was fud. Big problem with the trip and the hole it punched in my schedule was no writing on the novel this week. I suck. Next week, I swear to God, I’ll get 5k words written. I have to – I have another trip to Portland towards the end of the month! Oh, and hey, this was the last binary new comics day for at least a decade: 101001. Anyway, how about some comics? ADV IN THE RIFLE BRIGADE OPERATION BOLLOCK #2: Heh. OK, I got a laugh with the elephant. Decidedly lowbrow fun. Good. BART SIMPSONS TREEHOUSE OF HORROR #7: Garth Ennis goes two-for-two, showing he can write all-ages humor as well. "Garth Ennis" is not exactly the first name that pops into mind when you hear "The Simpsons", is it? Hey, anyone gets the great Season One DVD set? Good stuff, Maynard – commentary on EVERY episode, and lots of fun extras. Back to the comic... I also really liked the Troy Nixey (ha, also "not the first name..."), and Stan Sakai pieces (though, on the latter, where’d the black plate go?!), but I was less enthused with the Mark Hamill piece – it was funny enough, but it went on and on and on... Anyway, the whole package gets a Very Good. BATMAN GOTHAM KNIGHTS #22: One of two Super-Insect comics from DC this week – this one featuring roaches. I dunno, it almost seems like Devin thought "Hey, The Last Laugh is the dumbest idea ever, let me see if I can come up with something even more stupid." Actually, though, the interaction between Bats and Spoiler was a little amusing. OK BLACK PANTHER #37: 20 years in the future, and I didn’t care very much at all. Eh. BLUE MONDAY ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS #4: Archie comics on crack. Not my thing, but I can see how it might be yours. Eh. CASTLE WAITING VOL 2 #6: If Linda Medley is not the most underrated American cartoonist, I’m not sure who is. Very good. CEREBUS #271: Please untie him. Please. This sub-arc is killing me. Eh. CYCLOPS #3: Uh... what? Is this related to the first two issues at all? Why in god’s name was this published? Awful. DANGER GIRL KAMIKAZE #2: An extremely loud "So what?" from this reader. Eh. FELON #1: A little too much super-competence from an ex-con; and a little more violent and criminal behavior that I find possible given the first few pages. But I still was reasonably entertained. OK FOUR WOMEN #1: Hrm. Something Happens Off Camera. Too fragmented of a narrative to properly judge though. Eh FURY #2: And Garth breaks his streak for this week. Picking on cripples, a virtual replay of the bureaucracy scene in issue #1, and a smidge of ultra-violence. It’s Garth, but paint-by-numbers Garth. Eh. HUNTER THE AGE OF MAGIC #4: And all of my good will streams away. The same problem I had with Books of Magic – I simply don’t care to read about Tim in "fairyland" (whichever variant) – it just seems to me to miss the whole point of the original mini-series. Eh. IMAGE INTRODUCES PRIMATE #1: Wow, that sucked. And the preview for the next story looked even worse. Not a single chance (unless people are paying Image to print their stories) this can make it to issue #6. Crap. IMPULSE #79: Nearly a Red Sky crossover. Did anyone read the original outline for the JLL mini? (not that I did, but none of these seem to be but marginally connected to the main series). Awful. IRON MAN #47: I understand this is actually popular somewhere? I can’t figure out why, for the life of me. Awful. JOKER LAST LAUGH #2: I have nothing but bad things to say about this comic. Well, not exactly true – the art was kinda nice in places – Marco Martin, more towards the back, has a slight Steve Rude thing going on. Not sure if it is the pencils, or the inks, but it redeemed this from going all the way to Crap. So it is merely Awful JOKER LAST LAUGH SECRET FILES #1: How To Waste $4.95 Without Even Trying. Awful MARVEL KNIGHTS #15: Not with a bang, but with a whimper. Awful. NIGHTWING #62: More crossover badness. I could not turn the pages fast enough, so eager was I to make the hurting stop. Awful. NOBLE CAUSES FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Thank god: we break the bad streak. Super-hero soap opera, but amusingly done. I don’t know if I would ever spend cash money on this, but it was, at least, something to keep one eye on. OK. POWERS #14: I was not impressed with the ending of this story (it’s been too many months – is there a reason the coroner couldn’t figure that out in under an hour?). Still, despite that, it’s still a fine comic. OK. PUNISHER #5: Nuke ‘em from orbit, it’s the only way to be sure. Garth’s FOURTH comic this week, and, what can I say? It is a Garth comic. Jokes about the French are always good for me. That end was a little silly, though. OK PVP #3: I don’t really like manga, so a parody of manga is not my idea of a good time. It was moderately funny – but that’s two parody issues in a row, and I wonder if that leaves this series any where. Eh. RANDY ODONNELL IS THE MAN #3: No. He’s not. Awful. SCARY GODMOTHER #4: If Linda Medley isn’t the most underrated American cartoonist, then it has to be Jill. Well, no, Jill gets high profile gigs. Still, I’m glad she keeps coming back to her own creation like this. I like it lots. Very good. STAR WARS TALES #9: Maul Vs Vader. If that sounds appealing you’ll like this, if not, you won’t. I don’t. Eh. SUICIDE SQUAD #2: Your second Super-Insect story – ants this time – but thank god its not part of a crossover. This "new" Squad is amazingly unappealing to me. Cancelled by 16, is my vote. Crap. SUPERGIRL WINGS: Blah blah blah. No reason of ANY kind to put the word "Supergirl" on this book. For the price, a big waste of time. Awful. SUPERMAN #175: "The 100 issue anniversary of the Death of Superman!" And who thought THAT was a good idea? Fuck, DOS sucked the first time – anything that dredges up that painful memory is bad in my book. Especially when it is part of a x-over, and, again, apparently didn’t read the series bible. PLUS it is $3.50! Ow. Loeb does another "War time speech which really doesn’t have much to do with the narrative", but at least this time it is an ORIGINAL speech. It is now time to declare a PERMANENT ban on Doomsday. No one cares, folks. Awful. THB 6D MEK POWER #4: Paul Pope is an excellent cartoonist, and you can’t ask for a better deal than this thick (96 pages for $5!) issue... but, I gotta tell you, THB leaves me cold. It is good, I can TELL it is good, but it does jack+shit for me. So, I sadly give you an Eh. TRANSMETROPOLITAN #50: Spider kicks some ass. I’ve missed that, I have. Good. X-TREME X-MEN #6: The last issue I’m going to bother to read. And that’s because my life is too precious to submit it to this kind of dribbling drool. Awful.
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. AFTERLIFE IN GOTHLAND #5
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 #1256 MOVIE MANIACS SERIES 4 JAWS DLX BOXED SET This Week’s TPB recommendation is: difficult. There’s really not much I can recommend. Hrm, alright, let’s use a re-reprint. Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters. Smart to get that in to print, considering the heat Kevin Smith is bringing to the book. Though, I have to wonder just who they’ll get to follow up on Smith on GA. Unless it is someone really REALLY good, boom, watch the audience float away. |
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Average Rating for the Week: 33 books "reviewed" for an average rating of... yikes, 3.03 (out of a possible 7.00) – that’s the lowest Average rating (equivalent to an Eh) since I’ve started doing v 2.0 of the Savage Critic. Pick of the Week: Hrm, just for the sheer "I can’t believe it" factor, let’s go with Bart Simpson’s Treehouse of Horror #7. What a strange collection of people involved! Pick of the Weak: Image Introduces #1. I wonder just how much they’re charging people to be included? Too much, to judge by this first issue.
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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.