Rapid Reviews - 13 Nov 2002 - Part I

Spectre #23: You know, I really don't like this book much. It is pretentious, and it tries far too hard to make itself more than it is. Despite the very interesting subplot with Helen, this book is almost of no interest to me. 1 1/2 starfish.

JSA #42: Ok, I like the cliffhanger. The whole Terrific team-up went by a little too fast, but I know if it had been spread out over another issue I would be complaining about how slow it was, so it deserves a re-read. 3 starfish.

Gotham Central #1 Preview: Five pages and the cover, at reduced size to make it hard on your eyes... but it's a very interesting concept. If I'd been able to fit this into our budget, we would have ordered it. As it is, I may want to try it anyway once it comes out. 4 starfish.

Green Lantern #156: Ya know, I quite like John as Green Lantern, and I would like to see more of him in the role. This wasn't a great issue for storyline, but it was a nice catch-yer-breath issue. 3 starfish.

Green Lantern: Evil's Might #3 (of 3): I'm definitely going to have to read the whole thing again now that it's all out, but this wasn't the ending I expected. There's been some criticism among GL fans because Alan is the bad guy in this tale, but it's an Elseworld, things like that happen. If there's a fault in the story, it is the attempt to juggle too many characters, making it hard for the reader to remember who is who, especially after the long wait for this issue to finally arrive. 2 1/2 starfish.

As for SpongeBob, apparently there was some sort of U-Pick show going on at 5 pm, and I missed the first part of it, but I managed to catch three Spongy shorts so I'll just review those:

SpongeBob Squarepants: Dumped: SpongeBob's cat-like snail pet was terribly cute, in a slimy sort of way. I can understand the whole thing with losing a pet (I used to have pets when I was a kid) so this one actually was touching. I sort of wonder what happened to SpongeBob's replacement snail, though. 3 starfish.

SpongeBob Squarepants: Arrgh!: Um, playing at pirates is fun. Finding actual treasure could be even more fun. Not a bad episode. Very odd, yes, but not bad. 2 1/2 starfish.

SpongeBob Squarepants: Rock Bottom: Getting lost in a strange place is scary, and when the buses seem to be avoiding you, even scarier. You can't help feeling a bit sorry for SpongeBob as he waits for the bus, hungry and lonely. 2 1/2 starfish.

And there was one more episode at 8pm with two Spongy shorts:

SpongeBob Squarepants: Texas: I got to meet SpongeBob's, er, girlfriend. Sandy the Squirrel. The Texan Squirrel. Who lives in an air dome and walks around in a diving suit sort of thing that she has to flush if she cries. Which she did a bit in this episode, as she'd gotten homesick. What really got to me was the stills of an actual squirrel doing various Texan activities during her homesick song. 3 starfish.

SpongeBob Squarepants: Walking Small: In this one, I get to meet the evil Plankton, who wants to empty a beach to put his restaurant there. Very odd. 2 starfish.

Still have the Alex Ross JLA book and the Birds of Prey TV show to review, but those will have to wait until tomorrow.