Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Shit I Dig: Comics Review for late January 2010

Greetings comic fans. another two weeks of comics. I'm only gonna focus on my top ten though i picked up thirteen books last week. Sigler is inspiring me with is desires to keep his weekly purchases to twenty bucks a week. Inspiring me but I'm not yet following so......

First a Special Mention: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (DADOES) #8 based on the novel by PK Dick.
i picked up this book because the inside states,"This series the complete text of philip K. Dick's DADOES, presented in graphics form." For the sci fi ignorant this novel is the source material for Blade Runner, the dystopic cyberpunk film from the eighties. This and other films based on his material forced me in the late nineties o search out the author. he has become one of my favorite authors. Not to mention the liberal sourcing of his Valis trilogy in Grant Morrison's Invisibles (the greatest comic series ever written.) That said i've jumped into the story right in the middle and the art is okay. It looks like early Barry Kitson back when he first drew L.E.G.I.O.N. good figure work but sparse simple background and simple panel to panel story telling. i found when i read the novel it was a totally different environment than the film. The dedication of the book to that world opens up a whole experience left out of the film. One is the android hunter Decker's obsession with getting a real animal. Another is his wife being lost in a virtual reality internet where she becomes addicted to the experiences she has there. Interesting commentary on the internet before it existed and fascinating questions of what makes a soul. It took two readings and an acceptance and remembrance of the novel setting to get me into this story. I'm hoping Boom studios collects this into trade cause while it has a nice cardstock cover the content is not worth 3.99 a pop on its own. Still and interest distraction and reminder of a great author.

Didn't make it into the top ten:
Counting DADOES i picked up thirteen books last week. These two did not live up to expectations. Astro City Dark Age Book Four was just uninteresting. Too long since the last arc, i could not rediscover the strand of the story and the brothers featured in the book are so bulked up since accepting their "mission" it was confusing who was who. I got Avengers Initiative #32 on a recommendation from Sigler. though our tastes often vary I trust his oservations. On this one... not so much. i am an old school fan of Taskmaster. i remember the first Avengers book he appeared in( I remember because my mom used it to kill a fly and promptly threw it away as I looked in wide eyed and shocked) and loved the idea of his being able to mimic and physical action he saw. I loved how he rationalized the attack on Asgard as an opportunity but conflicts with the logic simple desires of taskmaster- get money get women. And I really don't see any of these mooks being the equals to anyone but children in Asgard (maybe Taskmaster but c'mon some of these cats don't stand a chance with warriors born and bred.) So it fell just outside of my top ten.

10. Detective Comics #861
i miss JH Williams. Rucka is a very sparse writer. The detail, fascinating compositions and visual imagery added layers to Rucka's uncomplicated writing style. Jock just loses me. Too stylized for what's past and any since of subtle emotion or scene is lost in the overwrought forms and faces of people i have come to know. saving grace is the Question co-feature. While i don't feel a strong "bottom" to the overall arc of the Question i feel the fun and the energy. i hope this co-feature continues somewhere it won't die with the principle story. and i hope Jh Williams III shows up somewhere else with Ruck and batwoman in tow,

9. Justice Society of America #35
SO I was gonna drop this joint, but i had to see how Mordru was gonna be screwed this time. I have to say that the position of this book on my list in know way takes away from the enjoyment i got from this issue. mostly i was sold on the framing device of Doc Fate recovering and narrating. Everything else was indicative of the way JSA stories were told in my youth: Enemy splits up group, group finds its way back together, enemy is defeated. I'm interested in the new Doc Fate but i think this may be my last journey to the JSA brand for awhile. i feel I'm leaving it on a much better note than last month.Oh and Judo master is pointless.

8. Batman and Robin #7
Love the art but grant what the hell is happening. i hated the art in the last run but i think the plots of each issue are so streamlined I'm not getting a sense of a character arc for Dick and young Wayne. the most interesting character throughout Morrison's whole run on this Batty experiment is Alfred. Something important is happening with him. i just don't know if i have the patience to wait until it comes to the fore. I'll get the miniseries Morrison is doing this summer on the batman traveling thru realities to get home. Why would Dick use the Lazarus pit??????

7. Captain America Reborn #6
Its like getting an old Authority or Ultimates fix. i do it for the art. I really don't even care much for how they are resolving steve Rogers return i just love the art.

6. Secret Warriors #12
Finally i find out who the big bald guy is related too. That alone place this book ahead, but the art is also striking and how they make monsters in Hydra is the coolest and the sickest. I'm just down for the ride Hickman has me on.

5. Blackest Night/The Power of Shazam #48
i enjoyed the Shazam family part of 52 and i thought this special issue was a nice coda for the Black Adam family. And the mythologist in me loved that osiris rose and was heroic in the end. Kramer's art continues to improve since his stint on JSA and i love how it looks in this issue.

4. Green Lantern #50
I really never liked Doug Mahnke's artwork prior to the work he did on Final Crisis: Superman Beyond, so his run on GL has been a treat during this Blackest Night(as long as i got my reis fix on the Blackest Night proper book) I liked what Johns did with Hawkman, loved his growth during JSA, and I'm sure he's doing big thangs with Flash Rebirth, but this book is the Blueprint. i told ya'll Hal Jordan green Lantern was the shit and now years later he'stopping the heights he reached with the Sinestro Corps event from the past. Recognize. i'm saying just recognize.

3. Dark Avengers #13
I enjoy payoffs. I've felt since his first appearance The Sentry was an interesting idea that couldn't fit in the Marvel U... could it. I've read a couple different explanations of where he came from but now we get what i hope will be the definitive origin of the Sentry. i can say i'm scared and impressed at the level of madness Osbourne will play with. You can see his fear and excitement. and i love that the origins of sentry comes from the lineage of the creators of the modern superhero: Schuster and Siegel creation of the greatest immigrant ever( Superman) and Lee and his crew's creation of the feet of sand hero template of the sixties. This dark Avengers series has been a journey into how bad it can get, And with the implications of this issue things go from bad to worse.

2. Blackest Night: The Atom and Hawkman #46
I am a baby of the silver age of comics. i was reading JLA when these cats were still incredible pertinent. I was amazed by Gil Kane's work on the Sword of the Atom mini back at the end of the eighties. I picked up this book with the Shazam book and was looking for the Question book to take a nostalgia ride. This was a triumphant story and a perfect character sketch of what makes the Atom cool. Geoff Johns again!! Ryan Sook knocks it out the book visually with the help of Fred Pasarin. and i know Ray Palmer is gonna do what he says.

1. New Avengers #61
Steve rogers is back and he's kickin it with his sidekick Captain America? Hood juices up the d-list villians and they go on an Avenger's hunt. my boy Immonen is aided by the talented Acuna in scenes involving a date/stakeout with Spiders man and woman. Clever conversation not just between Spiders but also stalking villains like Living Laser, Mandrill, gryphon, and the Corruptor make everyhtin worthwhile. plus the reappearance of my favorite Cap Shield. In this issue we have a chance to see why d-list villians are d-list. bendis rocks.