« To Buy or Not to Buy | Main | Subway Comic Reader Sighting »
May 24, 2005
To Buy or Not to Buy, plus some Star Wars comments
Before I get into this week's comics, I'm going to break from tradition and indulge in some movie stuff. I have a few brief thoughts to share about Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. One, it was better than I expected. Two, I have no faculty for objectively criticizing it. The depth of my love for the first three and my hatred of the last two prevents me from establishing any kind of consistent perspective. Three, Darth Vader shouting "NOOOOOO!" at the end was possibly the lamest, corniest moment ever recorded on film. Up until then, I had never heard the sound of two hundred pairs of eyes rolling at once. Finally, I have a reminder for all the folks who have suggested that this film was better than Return of the Jedi: the first 45 minutes of Jedi, featuring the rescue of Han Solo from Jabba The Hutt. Say what you will about the Ewoks, but if you can show me one sequence in the new movie that is worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as the Han Solo rescue, I will eat my hat.
With that off my chest, it's on to the comics...
It's not necessarily a slow week, but I wouldn't say that it's all that great either. There are a lot of books that I sort of want, but few that I am all that excited about.
Batman Broken City TP - I'm a huge fan of Azzarello and Risso's 100 Bullets, and hey, Batman is Batman. But was this run any good? Can anybody help me out here (and no, that doesn't mean that I want to hear from the Suckytarian about Killer Croc's unexplained change from a monster into a pimp)?
Catwoman #43 - Speaking of Killer Croc, he is featured in this fill-in issue that I assume bridges the gap between Ed Brubaker's and Will Pfeifer's runs. I will probably wait until Pfeifer starts before getting back into this title, but the cover of this issue is so well-designed that I will definitely give it a look.
City Of Tomorrow #2 - I bought #1 of this series, Howard Chaykin's 9,649th tale of a dystopian future. While Chaykin's art has never quite appealed to me, I enjoyed the story enough to give #2 a chance. The premise and the various plotlines were set up deftly and efficiently, which is more than I can say for...
Otherworld #3 - I read the first two issues of this book but I don't think that I am going to hang around for #3. The story is a little too stock (somebody somewhere accurately compared it to the 1980's Dungeons & Dragons cartoon) and slow to develop. The visuals are unappealing, not so much because of Phil Jimenez' heavily-detailed art, but because the coloring is so distractingly overdone that it obscures everything.
Gotham Central Vol 2 Half A Life TP - This story arc actually won an Eisner award in 2004. Glad to see DC capitalizing on that success by releasing a trade 10 months later. When this series gets the inevitable axe, it will be blamed on the market's resistance to halfway-intelligent comics. The absurdly slow releases of trade collections and the pathetic under-marketing, of course, will have had nothing to do with it.
Green Lantern #1 - Carlos Pacheco's art is consistently impressive, but I just don't think that I can get on board for this series. I anticipate that it will be full of the unexplained DCU references that drove me away from Adam Strange.
Losers #24 - It's like a 21st-century A-Team. I mean that in a good way.
Sleeper Season 2 #12 - A moment of silence, please, for the end of one of the best modern superhero titles. Much like Gotham Central, it's a superhero book for semi-adults, but without the sophomoric, melodramatic shock-value that usually passes for "mature." Instead, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips gave us moral ambiguity, richly textured characters, pathos, and intrigue and mystery that has been impossible to predict. I'm going to miss it.
Deep Sleeper TP - I read this series in monthly format and loved it. The art and the writing work together to create some impressively palpable tone and atmosphere. Check it out if you missed it the first time; you won't be disappointed.
Captain America Vol 5 #6 - This arc may have dragged a bit in the middle, but in issue #5 the story and the action got back on track in a big way. I am looking forward to this conclusion of Brubaker's first storyline.
Incredible Hulk #81 - Where is Peter David going with this story? I have no idea. There seem to have been clues dropped here and there, which I appreciate, but I'm still in the dark. It's a fun ride, though. I think I'm still on a high from Hulk vs. Fin Fang Foom three issues ago, but, hey, I'll take it. Also, I believe that this issue is finally the one with that awesome Frazetta tribute cover.
Machine Teen #1 - Know what I hate? Teenagers. Loud, hormonal, and eager to impress each other, teenagers can ruin a subway ride as fully as any bum coated in his own filth. So unless this is a book about a robot that infiltrates a high school just to deal out some sweet, sweet justice to the little twerps, I'm not interested. Bah. Where's my prunes, dammit? Nurse? Nuuuurse!
Runaways Vol 2 #4 - Yes, of course I'm enjoying this series. Why not? What? Who are you calling a hypocrite?
Stormbreaker Saga Of Beta Ray Bill #5 - This series showed some promise, and I suppose it has delivered exactly what it advertised... but really, it could have been 4 issues. The 20-page fight scenes shouldn't be as boring as they were in the last 2 issues.
Ultimates 2 #6 - The best Mark Millar books I've read. Take that for what it's worth.
The Hunger #1 - This Speakeasy book was brought to my attention by a positive review from Randy Lander on The Fourth Rail. I'll give it the old flip-through test at the store, but the main reason I bring it up is to belatedly further my point about the ever-increasing amount of zombie comics on the racks. Take that, Nevin! Heh heh...
Posted by jdonelson_nyc at May 24, 2005 02:30 PM
Comments
You have to admit, if you're looking for faults, turning Killer Croc from a monster into a pimp is up there. Right up there with Franken-Vader's moan.
Posted by: Suckytarian at May 24, 2005 02:38 PM
Thanks for giving the book a shot. I myself was taken aback by the love 4th rail gave us. Let me know what you think.
Take care,
JLT
Posted by: Jose L. Torres at May 27, 2005 12:32 PM
Ok, I give up! I just started looking through the new Previews, and it's saturated with new zombie comics. Dark Horse has a "Zombieworld" trade (it may have been as influential as they claim, but I'm unfamiliar with it), and then I find two new series listed in the Small Press "Featured Items" pages (Zombie Tales: Oblivion #1 and a Land of the Dead adaptation). That's as far as I've made it so far, but I have no reason to believe that I won't keep running into more zombie comics as I go. I will agree with you that there are too many zombie comics out there.
(The idea of oversaturating a genre is still a difficult one, as there isn't a single genre out there that couldn't be improved if someone weeded out the sub-par titles. And I don't necessarily think that the zombie genre is incapable of supporting the number of titles that are out there now. But it's becoming more obvious than ever that people are just trying to cash in on the alleged zombie craze and throwing new stories out there, and that isn't healthy for anyone.)
That said, The Hunger #1 was pretty cool. So far, it's the only Speakeasy series that I'm optimistic about. (It's also one of the few zombie comics that I know of to actually try a new approach. Maybe it's one of those rare comics that would have been created even if zombies weren't the new pirates?)
Posted by: Nevin at May 31, 2005 12:47 PM