snap judgments

So, much like getting the special grilled onions at In-N-Out Burger by asking for your meal ‘animal style’, there’s a little something I learned by working at my comic shop. Some stores…. get preview books.

So, they’re not much, but here are just a few snap judgments on the books I got to in time, just some choice guys from the Marvel books. I’d rather like to make this a regular thing, but hey. I’m new. I’m learning. I got comic blog training wheels.

Black Panther #12- In this issue, Blade and Brother Voodoo team up to help some kids across a bayou, Black Panther talks chicks with Luke Cage in a fairly fancy looking plane and Monica Rambeau (soon to be seen in Nextwave doing something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT) is looking for family in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. All the black Marvel superheroes show up to help a famous basketball player help those left out in the cold by the hellacious storm and it’s explained that the survivors are being picked off by vampires. Yeah. I don’t know about this book anymore. I was rather excited about the first issue that came out because it showed Wakanda for the first time as the awesome martial paradise it is. I think that’s nifty, but hen against I like Atlantis and want more stories about it, so…. there ya go. I also can’t get into ‘written jive talk’ and there’s a few instances of that (as well as Evil Southern White Men(tm)) that just struck me as poor writing devices. not to mention Hudlin’s strike at current affairs being a little more than overshadowed by the incredible work Christopher Priest on the books years back. Eh. I get the feeling it’s flailing and Storm’s going to be a last ditch hope to keep the book fresh and interesting.

Books of Doom #3 - After getting horribly burned in America (and by America, ba-dumCHING!), a young Victor Von Doom goes to generic Europe and lives the life of a madman (but what is a madman but a ‘broken genius’, a clever turn of phrase from the book) only to be found by his lost love Valeria who nurses him back to health via TLC. There love is cut short by ambitious communists (I think they were Russian) and Doom’s pushed back towards his destiny by the mysterious monk who was living as a bum on his doorstep. I think the whole miniseries is rather redundant since Waid gave his take on the Victor Von Doom story in the prologue to his ‘Unthinkable‘ but it’s kind of cute. There’s a few devices used that make the story (Doom narrating by being this masked figure in the background of his own life like a shadow of the future, yadda yadda), but… nothing I’d shell out three bucks for when I could read a better written and drawn single issue with the same premise.

Daredevil #81 - Matt Murdock is at the start of his trail for his time spent as ‘kingpin’ in Hell’s Kitchen (or all of NYC, not particularly sure), he has a rather interesting ‘What if?’ daydream and then pleads ‘not guilty’ and get held at Ryker’s Island with his ‘rogue’s gallery’. Not a bad way to end it all, I have to admit. Bendis is best on Daredevil, he’s done wonderful work on the book through his run and has been excited enough to leave a bunch of plot for the guy who’s following him. Not an end, but a beginning and I respect that.

Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #2 - Damn my ovaries!! I have done nothing but get the biggest kick out of this book since it was ‘Mary Jane‘ and ‘Mary Jane: Homecoming‘. I have no idea how this guy gets so into the head of a high school girl’s life and puts SPIDER-MAN in the mix, but damn does he do good work. Flash deals with Peter Parker spending more time with Mary Jane (when his ill fated crush got… well, crushed last series) by doing the dumb jock thing of picking on the guy. Mary Jane defends her new friend and Flash rejects her. Ah, turnabout. =) Meanwhile, MJ has to juggle time between her new friends, the school drama crew (including one dangerous prima donna), and her best friend, Liz. I mean, this isn’t rocket science or Infinite Crisis, but just good fun.

Thing #3 - The ever lovin’ blue eyed-Thing is trapped on a new island Murderworld with a bunch of his new rich ‘friends’ as well as Nighthawk and villain, Constrictor. They battle their way through Arcade’s dastardly madcap plans and, in the end, we all learn a little something about ourselves. God, I love Dan Slott. I love him! LOVE! Seriously, the man his brought back a style of comics that I thought was long past in this Age of Grit and Angst. I wasn’t sure about another Thing solo series considering how things have gone in the past, but the man hits all the buttons you need in a single Ben Grimm adventure. He has action, in a big battle with robot version of the Hulk, adventure in the form of getting off Murderworld, humor galore, and just enough of the human element. Nighthawk (who was apparently a villain in the old days battling Daredevil if I remember correctly) and Constrictor have a moment to banter about choosing the life of a hero or villain, causing a change of heart (probably momentarily, but a cute little touch) and there another moment where the Thing, despite his money, is still a monster when the chips are down. Really, I’d just pay the 2.99 for a picture of a Pirate Thing fighting Clown Hulk. PIRATE THING! CLOWN HULK! All good.

Wolverine #38 - Hey, it’s Wolverine. And he’s knowin’ stuff. Lookit him go! Logan travels back to the lab which spawned him (no, really, the same place, complete with the decomposing bodies of the guys you keep catching glimpses of in the flashbacks), does some groovy noir-esque inner monologue-ing during his flashback sessions in both Canada and Japan and realizes someone’s been helping him out all along. (spoiler: It’s BUCKY, the ‘Winter Soldier’ from Brubaker’s run on Captain America. Man, no matter how I try, I can’t bring myself to really thrill to Wolverine knowing ‘everything’, especially with this new little twist that seems a bit of a grab for attention. I mean, I do want to know where they want to go with all of this, but at the same time… I know not to get my hopes up.

X-Men #181 - Let’s get some mileage out of this ‘crazy Lorna’ personality, shall we? Apparently finding the thing she saw while the X-Men were in space turns out to be Doop from X-Statix, or a Doop-like substance, causing not all that much understanding from the man who swore to trust her when he bailed on the X-Men to follow her into this mess. Characterizations are flung wildly about, proving Milligan works best with people he creates and therefore knows. There is a nice moment with the Leper Queen and a very dull moment with the people whose NAME is on the cover of the BOOK. Let’s hoe the X-Book shakeup does these people some good. And hey! Don’t forget: new Franklin Richards, Son of a Genius story in the back! WOO!

All-New Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe #1 - Awwww. I love the old ones that they’re reprinting in Essential format so these are just a sad sad card game that never took off. While it is nice to have a reference for newer characters and current events, the bios are weak and the powers descriptions are weaker (what on God’s green earth IS that little chart thing supposed to mean anyway? What are we comparing it to?) I mean, I want to KNOW how exactly Mockingbird’s staff works, in excruciating detail. This does not cut it. Oh, and just so you know, this issue covers A-Ba, not A-Z like it suggests on the cover.

Amazing Fantasy #17 - There’s been seventeen issues of this? Wow. You know, i wasn’t expecting anything from this book but it wasn’t half bad. A strangely poetic opening look into Simon Furman, cool guy. Almost Robocop-esque in a way with a psudo-cyberpunky background, complete with bodies in tubes, big guns and cyborgs. The typical ‘Who IS Death’s Head?’ style plot with murders to investigate and secret projects to uncover. All that stuff. Oh! And a Steve Niles ‘Morbius’ story I … didn’t get to read. Sorry, my lunch ended by that point.

And that’s all I got to. Happy Wednesday, everybody.