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August 30, 2005
To Buy or Not To Buy?
Hopefully I will win tonight's $111 million Mega-Millions jackpot. If that doesn't happen, tomorrow's trip to the comic store is going to be an epic comics-budget battle. I should have realized that the last few weeks of nothing to buy were leading up to a week like this...
BPRD The Black Flame #1 (of 6) - Bow before Guy Davis! Mike Mignola and John Arcudi's Hollywood-ish scripting don't have quite the same verve as Mignola's solo work in Hellboy, but Sweet Jesus, Guy Davis draws the living holy hell out of these books. If you need proof, check out this preview on Dark Horse's web site.
Revelations #1 - I'm a bit intrigued by this 6-issue mini-series. It's a murder mystery set in the Vatican, written by Paul Jenkins with art by Humberto Ramos. The story itself doesn't entirely grab me, but the ambitious coloring job on this book is going to make or break it. Check out yet another preview from the Dark Horse web site and judge for yourself.
Usagi Yojimbo #86 - A while ago I praised Stan Sakai for delivering awesome stand-alone stories, so what did he do? He started an epic multi-issue story arc, of course. I'm starting to realize that he has characters and plot threads that appear and re-appear over the course of the title's run, but as a new reader I can attest to the fact that it's all very organic and well-explained. Sakai's beautiful cartooning is all the more impressive because of how loose and easy he makes it look. Buy this book, you won't regret it.
Astro City The Dark Age #3 - The first issue left me a little cold, but the characters became more rounded and the story started to build up steam in the second. Looks like we're in for another memorable Astro City tale.
Catwoman #46 - My enthusiasm is starting to wane for this title after the inorganic plot developments that have marked Wil Pfeifer's run so far. I do enjoy the way Pete Woods draws, though. A game-time decision.
Ex Machina #14 - There's some hostility out there on the internets towards this book, but I still think its strengths outweigh its flaws by a wide margin. Photo-reference haters should take a look at Tony Harris' art before they completely dismiss the technique.
JLA Classified #11 - Warren Ellis. Jackson Guice. Rock and friggin' roll.
Losers #27 - The recent news that this series would be ending is bittersweet news - on the one hand, this title regularly delivers the action-movie thrills with stunning art, and I'll miss it. Knowing the series is building towards a conclusion, however, adds a sense of urgency that may have been lacking.
Seven Soldiers Shining Knight #4 - Like most of the Seven Soldiers books, this series started out good and got better and better. This is the first one to conclude, which means we are that much closer to the Pascal Ferry-drawn Mister Miracle series!
Solo #6 - Spanish comic book artist Jordi Bernet has the honors this month. The cover shows off an art style that appeals to me, but in a crowded week like this, I don't think I'm going to take the $4.99 plunge on an artist I've never heard of. I'm just closed-minded like that. Deal with it.
NYC Mech Beta Love #3 - I met Andy McDonald, the artist for this series, at the MOCCA festival and he was a pretty nice guy. He was also in the middle of drawing a wicked Usagi Yojimbo sketch in his idiosyncratic sensitive-line style. Sometimes the stories in this title are a little higher on style than substance, but the New York City setting always feels true to life. Even though it's populated entirely by robots.
Astonishing X-Men #12 - They're putting this book on hiatus for a while after this issue, right? Call me crazy, but I'm anticipating a major cliff-hanger. One whose resolution I may not read.
Captain America #9 - I like the way that this story is finally coalescing. It seems like there is a somewhat clearer focus now. Steve Epting's art has been drop-dead incredible.
Powers #12 - The fiftieth issue of this series brings us a back-up story written by Oeming and drawn by Bendis, along with a variant cover and an extra long letter-column, all for the bargain price of an extra dollar. Is it just me or does this sound like a perfect jumping-off point?
Runaways #7 - I enjoyed the previous story arc but something about it felt kind of slight. As much as I like Brian K. Vaughan, I'm on the fence about continuing with this title.
Young Avengers #6 - IT NEVER ENDS. Why must they release all the comics that I want in the same week?
Smoke & Guns GN - The preview in that AiT/Planet Lar Black Diamond book gave the impression that this would be a high-action story, maybe thin on substance but high on flash. Fabio Moon's sleek and stylish art looks like the perfect match for this tale of a gang war between hyper-violent cigarette girls. The only thing that might keep me from picking it up this week is the monstrously expensive stack that I will already have in my hands. Of course, if I save $4 by passing on Powers, and $3 by passing on Runaways... boy, the inner workings of my comics budget makes for exciting reading doesn't it?
Or Else #3 - Kevin Huizenga's work has been praised to the rafters by many critics whose opinions I respect. Nonetheless, I have yet to check it out. Every time I come close to buying issue #2, I compare the size of the book to its price tag, then I flip through it and I come upon a 6-page sequence of narrated landscape panels. Every time it goes back on the shelf. Of course, I felt the same way about $7 for Super F*ckers, but then I bought it and came away with the best superhero book of the year. So I don't know.
So what did I miss? And how in God's name do you expect me to afford anything else?
Posted by jdonelson_nyc at August 30, 2005 12:11 PM
Comments
No New Avengers? You're going to pass up on how they make The Sentry and Paul Jenkins make sense? You're a stronger man than I am.
Dark Age is my first exposure to Astro City and I like the feeling that while there's clearly a dense continuity to the series, Busiek is able to tell the story without it being an obstacle.
Beta Love is artsy without being pretentious, and the artwork in #2 was absolutely gorgeous.
I decided to drop Runaways after #6 as it's one of the more overrated comics on the racks, IMO. Vaughan's schtick feels overly forced there, whereas it works for me in Ex Machina.
Young Avengers and Captain America are the two biggest surprises from Marvel for me recently, as I didn't expect to like either of them. But I do. A lot!
Recommendation: Silent Dragon #2. I love Andy Diggle's writing and the first issue showed a lot of potential.
Posted by: Guy LeCharles Gonzalez at August 30, 2005 12:56 PM
You missed a lot...
Jim Mafood on "Wha... Huh?";
Supreme Power #18 (Great book);
Freshmen #2 (What? You didn't read #1??? Fool!);
Wonder Woman #220 (follow up to another great book you probably didn't buy, the OMAC-tied-in #119 -- one of the best DC books I've read in years);
Hero Squared #2 (Yet ANOTHER excellent book you probably aren't reading).
You best pack a lunch tomorrow. Its going to be expensive.
Posted by: Captain Underpants at August 30, 2005 01:12 PM
Astonishing X-Men: Yes, Marvel announced that they were going on a temporary hiatus. Of course, Marvel announced this MONTHS ago...I'm not clear on if the "hiatus" meant "We won't solicit any more issues until we've caught up", or if they really are taking a break now that #12 is out. Since #12 was supposed to come out in June (I think), and the current Previews doesn't have a new one, it could be re-solicited as early as next month (for December), and that would still amount to a half-year break. I've seen them restart titles at #1 with less of a "hiatus" than that.
Runaways: I've also been disappointed with the current arc, especially in the way that it tied the characters more tightly into the Marvel U without getting any obvious gain from it. It's no longer a comic that I can proudly show to my non-superhero-reading friends. However, I remember that I was kind of disappointed in the second story arc of the first series, and they rebounded in a big way for arc #3. Maybe Runaways has a pattern where every other arc is great?
Anyway, the new story will only take 2 issues, and I think that it will be pretty significant for the characters (if you don't want to know what I mean, don't compare the solicits for #7-8 with the foreshadowing in issue 1!). Unless you've completely given up hope, I think everyone should stick with it at least that long.
Posted by: Nevin at August 30, 2005 06:32 PM