It was a tough week in comics. Not because of the books themselves, but because this was my first week away from my Sexy Comics Monger and his fabulous store. Starting all over with a new store and a new comics monger is tough. I didn’t realize how spoiled I had become, waltzing in, my comics waiting on the counter, a friendly snarl from SCM. Until I return, I’ll have to make the best of it with the new place. So maybe I was feeling melancholy, or maybe I was overcompensating, but I bought $60 worth of bloody, buggery comics this week and was determined to read them all. I got through all but a couple, so here’s a brief rundown of what I’ve been reading. Feel free to share your own thoughts and reading lists in the Comics Forum!
FBOTU Comic of the Week
The Outsiders #19: I know, you were expecting Captain America maybe? Well, we’ll get to Cap. This week’s featured comic is just too freaky and over-the-top to ignore. Crazy villains, horrific violence and the wackiest onomatopoeia I’ve seen in a while. We’re talking “whakoom,” “sklang” and “skrakk,” you know, with two k’s. This issue is dripping with blood, severed torsos and explosions, as the Outsiders take on Deathstroke in a bid to recover another piece of the magic, life-sustaining meteorite. But for some reason, the naked cabal who have been after the pieces for the past five issues suddenly decided to wear gray bodysuits for a trip to the office. Why? I have no idea! Everything about this title is weird and gritty and more than slightly disturbing. The only thing that could make this title weirder would be if Ra’s Al Ghul showed up on the last page wearing a polar bear skin. And…there he is.
Action Comics Annual #19: The cover promises “At last! The origin of Nightwing and Flamebird!” And that’s what it delivers, in all its depressing, tragic, freaky glory. Actually, I probably could have done without learning the sad tale of Thara’s dead parents and her descent into religious madness. And Christopher Kent was a lot hotter before I learned about his abusive parents and his stunted emotional growth. Clark was really the lucky one from that planet. A nice, normal childhood in Smallville doesn’t look so bad now, does it?
Angel #22: See, a vampire named Angel is actually a good guy, whereas the real angels are kind of a bunch of assholes. That’s just the kind of irony you get in this title. Completely unrelated, even in comic form, I can’t help seeing Connor as slimeball Pete Campbell in Mad Men.
Batman: Streets of Gotham #1: Despite what site member Allen thinks about Dick’s performance, I think he’s doing a great job as the Batman. In this promising series, we get a glimpse into the day-to-day doings of the Dynamic Duo. Child prostitution, hostage crises, people bursting into flame; it’s all in a day’s work. Meanwhile, Damien the Demon Child has been sneaking off to spend time with imprisoned Bruce Wayne lookalike Thomas Elliot. Hmmm. How long before Dick pays him a conjugal visit? I wonder.
Captain America #600: Okay, here’s what everyone else in the comics universe is talking about this week. A series of vignettes commemorating the life and death of Steve Rogers (aka Captain America). I would be more excited about this book, if the writing wasn’t so creaky. Clearly, they have a lot of backstory, history and exposition to convey, so they can bring casual readers up to date on the goings-on in Cap-land. I’m guessing that anytime a major comic book character is killed, they must build in a loophole, so they can bring him or her back at some point. So I’m wondering why the machinations in work now feel so labored and half-assed. It could just be due to the disjointed nature of this special issue, so I’m willing to stick around and see how things develop. Steve Rogers is a hottie, after all. That makes up for a lot.
Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers #2: Devil Dinosaur! The super pets meet Devil Dinosaur! This title continues to be a good mix of cuteness, heartfelt emotion and humor. Artist Ig Guara’s subtle and expressive work on Lockjaw makes this book worth every penny of its $2.99 price. Pet Avengers assemble!
Muppet Robin Hood #1: Riddle me this. The Muppet performers are able to evoke personality, expression and charm from felt and foam and rubber, so why can’t artists do the same in depicting them on the page? Gonzo and Piggy are way off model, and Sam the Eagle is practically unrecognizable. All that I could forgive, but this particular outing lacks the most important element in a Muppet adventure: humor. It’s pretty dull. Which sort of proves my long-standing theory of Muppet properties. The Muppets are best when they’re being themselves. When you thrust them into playing roles in pre-existing stories, you lose the personalities that made them successful in the first place. I will definitely stick with the Roger Langridge Muppet title, but may pass on future installments of Robin Hood.
Supergirl #30: “Lois, your sister was a megabitch, so I killed her. But you, of all people, should know that no one ever really stays dead around here. In fact, did you know your late father is pulling all the strings in this story?” If only Kara could say that. You can tell she wants to. Instead, we get Lois actually getting pissy about the news her sister died while attempting to kill Supergirl, Superman and all of New Krypton. Come on, Lois. You need to man up and grow a pair. Or go run off on your own and get captured, so Supergirl has to save you. Which will it be? Hey, where did she go?
The Trial of Thor #1: Okay, here’s the problem with a book like Thor. You can only really use the Loki tricking everyone into believing Thor is evil storyline so many times, before the residents of Asgard start to look pretty stupid. And they weren’t exactly Mensa candidates to begin with. In the current Thor series, Thor has just been exiled, because Loki managed to convince everyone he was evil. The Trial of Thor takes a look back into the past, at a simpler time, when the exact same thing happens, only this time, it’s the dwarfs. (But you know Loki gave them the idea.) All I’m saying is that Loki should really have to try harder to dupe these folks, otherwise it just gets boring. The art in this issue, by Cary Nord and Christina Strain, is gorgeous, though. The Frost Giants have never looked frostier!
Happy reading! I’ll be less grouchy next week, I promise!
FBOTU’s Weekly Comics Load: So Very Weird
By Chance
June 20, 2009 at 4:18AM EDT
It was a tough week in comics. Not because of the books themselves, but because this was my first week away from my Sexy Comics Monger and his fabulous store. Starting all over with a new store and a new comics monger is tough. I didn’t realize how spoiled I had become, waltzing in, my comics waiting on the counter, a friendly snarl from SCM. Until I return, I’ll have to make the best of it with the new place. So maybe I was feeling melancholy, or maybe I was overcompensating, but I bought $60 worth of bloody, buggery comics this week and was determined to read them all. I got through all but a couple, so here’s a brief rundown of what I’ve been reading. Feel free to share your own thoughts and reading lists in the Comics Forum!
The Outsiders #19: I know, you were expecting Captain America maybe? Well, we’ll get to Cap. This week’s featured comic is just too freaky and over-the-top to ignore. Crazy villains, horrific violence and the wackiest onomatopoeia I’ve seen in a while. We’re talking “whakoom,” “sklang” and “skrakk,” you know, with two k’s. This issue is dripping with blood, severed torsos and explosions, as the Outsiders take on Deathstroke in a bid to recover another piece of the magic, life-sustaining meteorite. But for some reason, the naked cabal who have been after the pieces for the past five issues suddenly decided to wear gray bodysuits for a trip to the office. Why? I have no idea! Everything about this title is weird and gritty and more than slightly disturbing. The only thing that could make this title weirder would be if Ra’s Al Ghul showed up on the last page wearing a polar bear skin. And…there he is.
(More of the Load after the jump!)
Action Comics Annual #19: The cover promises “At last! The origin of Nightwing and Flamebird!” And that’s what it delivers, in all its depressing, tragic, freaky glory. Actually, I probably could have done without learning the sad tale of Thara’s dead parents and her descent into religious madness. And Christopher Kent was a lot hotter before I learned about his abusive parents and his stunted emotional growth. Clark was really the lucky one from that planet. A nice, normal childhood in Smallville doesn’t look so bad now, does it?
Angel #22: See, a vampire named Angel is actually a good guy, whereas the real angels are kind of a bunch of assholes. That’s just the kind of irony you get in this title. Completely unrelated, even in comic form, I can’t help seeing Connor as slimeball Pete Campbell in Mad Men.
Batman: Streets of Gotham #1: Despite what site member Allen thinks about Dick’s performance, I think he’s doing a great job as the Batman. In this promising series, we get a glimpse into the day-to-day doings of the Dynamic Duo. Child prostitution, hostage crises, people bursting into flame; it’s all in a day’s work. Meanwhile, Damien the Demon Child has been sneaking off to spend time with imprisoned Bruce Wayne lookalike Thomas Elliot. Hmmm. How long before Dick pays him a conjugal visit? I wonder.
Captain America #600: Okay, here’s what everyone else in the comics universe is talking about this week. A series of vignettes commemorating the life and death of Steve Rogers (aka Captain America). I would be more excited about this book, if the writing wasn’t so creaky. Clearly, they have a lot of backstory, history and exposition to convey, so they can bring casual readers up to date on the goings-on in Cap-land. I’m guessing that anytime a major comic book character is killed, they must build in a loophole, so they can bring him or her back at some point. So I’m wondering why the machinations in work now feel so labored and half-assed. It could just be due to the disjointed nature of this special issue, so I’m willing to stick around and see how things develop. Steve Rogers is a hottie, after all. That makes up for a lot.
Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers #2: Devil Dinosaur! The super pets meet Devil Dinosaur! This title continues to be a good mix of cuteness, heartfelt emotion and humor. Artist Ig Guara’s subtle and expressive work on Lockjaw makes this book worth every penny of its $2.99 price. Pet Avengers assemble!
Muppet Robin Hood #1: Riddle me this. The Muppet performers are able to evoke personality, expression and charm from felt and foam and rubber, so why can’t artists do the same in depicting them on the page? Gonzo and Piggy are way off model, and Sam the Eagle is practically unrecognizable. All that I could forgive, but this particular outing lacks the most important element in a Muppet adventure: humor. It’s pretty dull. Which sort of proves my long-standing theory of Muppet properties. The Muppets are best when they’re being themselves. When you thrust them into playing roles in pre-existing stories, you lose the personalities that made them successful in the first place. I will definitely stick with the Roger Langridge Muppet title, but may pass on future installments of Robin Hood.
Supergirl #30: “Lois, your sister was a megabitch, so I killed her. But you, of all people, should know that no one ever really stays dead around here. In fact, did you know your late father is pulling all the strings in this story?” If only Kara could say that. You can tell she wants to. Instead, we get Lois actually getting pissy about the news her sister died while attempting to kill Supergirl, Superman and all of New Krypton. Come on, Lois. You need to man up and grow a pair. Or go run off on your own and get captured, so Supergirl has to save you. Which will it be? Hey, where did she go?
The Trial of Thor #1: Okay, here’s the problem with a book like Thor. You can only really use the Loki tricking everyone into believing Thor is evil storyline so many times, before the residents of Asgard start to look pretty stupid. And they weren’t exactly Mensa candidates to begin with. In the current Thor series, Thor has just been exiled, because Loki managed to convince everyone he was evil. The Trial of Thor takes a look back into the past, at a simpler time, when the exact same thing happens, only this time, it’s the dwarfs. (But you know Loki gave them the idea.) All I’m saying is that Loki should really have to try harder to dupe these folks, otherwise it just gets boring. The art in this issue, by Cary Nord and Christina Strain, is gorgeous, though. The Frost Giants have never looked frostier!
Happy reading! I’ll be less grouchy next week, I promise!
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