The Savage Critic: October
23rd, 2002
By Brian
Hibbs
Welcome back, my friends, to the show
that never ends.
Small week, but filled with lots of
good stuff. Of course, it’s also so small that most stores are going
to have a helluva time paying their bills this week. I really wish publishers
could properly sort out how to ship things with a certain amount of
eveness. Example: there are all of five Marvel comics this week – who
wants to bet that there will be 15+ next week?
Well, at least I’ll have Lester to
help me then!!
ANGRY YOUTH COMIX #4: That’s one sell
out of a cover. Thing is, I think the people who would like AYC wouldn’t
like that cover, and anyone who wasn’t interested would like it less.
Me, I fall in the latter camp – I don’t find Johnny Ryan to be particularly
funny. Eh
BATMAN #608: Jim Lee and Jeph Loeb’s
first issue, and it’s very solid stuff. I think someone should watch
this Lee kid, he’s not a bad artist, and in a few years he might be
a superstar... Very Good
BIRDS OF PREY #48: Despite the fact
that I think “Oracle walks again!” should be on the prohibited list
of stories (C’mon, it’s lazy!), I liked this quite a bit. I really like
Amanda Conner’s wonderfully cartoony art here. Why is it she doesn’t
have a regular book, and instead just gypsies her way from title to
title? Good
CATWOMAN #12: The main storyline was
fine, but what I really liked was the “Slam’s in loooooove!” pages.
Those were lots of fun. Good
CEREBUS #283: I think I shall rip my
eyes out soon – I desperately want this Woody Allen and the Bible arc
to end, now now now. 17 issues to go, and he wastes it like this? I
have a very hard time believing this was the original plan. On the other
hand, “Why Canada Slept” was a fairly interesting read. Still, gotta
give the “comics” portion a Crap.
CHARM SCHOOL #6: The story is kinda draggin’ (ha! I kill myself!),
but still, how many other lesbian vampire fiction stories do we have
in comics? OK
CRUSADES #20: It’s over, thank god.
Eh
FANTASTIC FOUR #62: I really hate the
lettering – doesn’t match the art at all. Other than that, it’s a perfectly
adequate FF story. OK
GLOBAL FREQUENCY #1: Nice art, fine
in-and-out story – it’s hard to say if this will continue to be compelling
throughout the run because one of the two reoccurring protagonists (at
least, I assume) is simply a contact point who doesn’t appear to do
anything else, while the other doesn’t yet have much of a personality.
Still, good solid read. Very Good.
GREEN ARROW SECRET FILES #1: I tend
to think these Secret Files are neither fish-nor-fowl. The “Who’s Who”
pages aren’t generally interesting to people who already read the book,
while the comics contents aren’t usually good introductions if you’re
not reading the book. Nothing bad in this one, but also nothing that
really says to me “that was worth $5”. Eh
GRENDEL RED WHITE & BLACK #2: Again,
I’m bored with Hunter Rose stories. Which, really, shocks me to my core.
Or maybe it doesn’t considering Matt created the character as a callow
youth. If they ever do a third one, it should probably not be Hunter-centric.
Nice ass art all the way through, but my enthusiasm for the material
seldom rose above an OK
HOOD #6: I’m tempted to say “Very Good”,
if the last ¼ of the book wasn’t all setup for a second mini-series
that I’d judge to be very unlikely to ever come out. I can also see,
in my head, pretty much exactly how the second arc falls (Tries to be
a hero, Something Happens to Screw It Up, Hijinx Ensue) So, let me downgrade
that to a Good
JLA #74: Ugly yucky characters doing
ugly yucky things. Y’know, what with the Cartoon on the air, and, presumably,
more children being interested in the JLA these days... well, this isn’t
the time I’d have all of the heroes killed, graphically, and hearts
being ripped out of bodies and held up to the camera and whatnot. Awful
KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE #72: Funny
as usual. And as usual, I wish they’d drop the gaming material, or just
publish it separately. Good.
LEGION #13: Lalala. It’s alright, I
guess, though, to me, Legion has been less about the horrific,
we-can’t-catch-our-breath crisis, and more about the characters. Only
scene that spoke to me at all was the Timber Wolf one. OK
LIBERTY MEADOWS #28: Nice art as usual
– does anyone have a clue as to when there won’t be any more reprints,
and it will be all new? The strip format is so limiting. OK
PVP #6: Again, more funny cartooning.
This probably shouldn’t be tagged as a “gaming comic” because most of
it’s really a relationship piece. Good
SHUTTERBUG FOLLIES GN: Jason Little’s
a talented cartoonist (I thought Jack’s Luck Runs Out was the
best thing the Xeric’s ever produced), with a wonderfully expressive
style. And it’s really nice to see major publicity for comics from a
major “real” publishing house. Thing is, the story turns too much on
coincidence and the characters acting like characters in a story. It
looks GREAT, but it reads like a really bad failed screenplay. Damn
shame, that. Eh
SMALLVILLE THE COMIC: I don’t care
for the show, and this comics seems to capture all of the reasons why.
The Kryptonite monster of the week is just a lame and lazy plot device.
If you like the show, I suppose you might like this. Eh
SOLDIER X #4: The Real Politics take
doesn’t work for me. I don’t really like comics where the best page
is the recap page... Eh
SPIDER-MAN PETER PARKER #49: Owch.
I sure don’t know my Indian folklore, but would the fakir REALLY launch
that whole store from just the question mark flag? It seemed pretty
unlikely, and since the whole plot flowed from that... Awful
SUPERGIRL #75: Kara Zor-El returns
– which will either prove to be the worst idea ever, or the most clever.
Not enough information in this issue to tell, either way. Mostly, it’s
just a lot of fighting. Nice art and cover, though. OK
TOMB RAIDER #25: Lara gets super-powers.
That’s all you need to know. *rolls eyes* Awful
VERTIGO POP TOKYO #4: The mini ends,
and I’m not sure what I think – it’s cute, but frequently incomprehensible,
which I guess is what I think about j-Pop too, so I guess it succeeds?
I liked the art, though. OK
WEAPON X #2: If you like amoral people
doing amoral things, then this is the book for you. I don’t, so it’s
not. Awful
WONDER WOMAN #185: This whole lost
world / time travel thing has been dragging on far too long, particularly
since Jimenez dropped the book shaking “Paradise Island is now
visible” bombshell before he started it. Which is now going to seem
late and lame since Thor did the story while we were waiting. The book
generally looks nice, but why can’t they seem to find anyone to do the
book who has any good ideas for the character? Eh
Y THE LAST MAN #4: See, now this is
what I was hoping for from the first issues – interesting extrapolation
on the situation. I’m not really THAT sure that there’d be a vigil around
the Washington
Monument, but
I have to admit it’s an interesting enough idea. I liked this issue
very much, and want more in this vein. Very 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.
BATTLE ANGEL ALITA LAST ORDERPART 1
#2
BETTY & VERONICA SPECTACULAR #57
CRUX #19
DEXTERS LABORATORY #32
ELEKTRA GLIMPSE AND ECHO #4
GI JOE #11
LAUGH DIGEST #179
ODDBALLZ #4
ONE PLUS ONE #2
REAR ENTRY #1 (A)
ROUTE 666 #5
SAVAGE DRAGON COMPANION
SCION #29
SUPER MANGA BLAST #25
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES #6
TRANSFORMERS GENERATION ONE #6
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.
2000 AD #1310
2000 AD #1311
ART OF DREW POSADA TP
BLOOD SONG A SILENT BALLAD GN
COMICS FORUM MAGAZINE #24
EVERYTHING CAN BE BEATEN
FANGORIA #218
G FAN #59
GI JOE VOL 4 TP
GO GIRL TP
HEAVY METAL FALL 2002 SPECIAL
JLA A LEAGUE OF ONE SC
JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE VOL 4 #16
MODEL (A)
NEW X-MEN HC
RISING STARS VOL 3 VISITATIONS TP
SOJOURN VOL 2 TP DRAGONS TALE
SUPERMAN FOR ALL SEASONS TP
TRANSMETROPOLITAN VOL 7 SPIDERS THRASH TP
WIZARD COMICS MAGAZINE #135
This Week’s TP recommendation is:
I’m going with Morrison’s New X-Men HC. It reads much
better in a long, sustained batch. I also strongly recommend Sojourn
V2, Transmet V7 and Superman for All Seasons. Really,
it was quite a week for TPs
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