Rapid Reviews - 20 October 2004 - Part III

I want to point out that I'm very irritated with the mini-comics in the centerfolds of a number of DC books. The comic itself isn't really that bad, but the location of it and the placement of the regular story around it has made it extremely annoying.

Batman Strikes! #2: Huh. I don't like the cartoon overmuch, and the comic is about the same quality. I just don't like this take on the character. Add in the evidence that this one should have hit the stands after the first episode featuring Man-Bat, and this just isn't as good as it could have been.

H-E-R-O #21: Huh. Lots of fighting, lots of blood. Some nice explanation of what's been happening. I'm waiting to see how this one ends. It was a book with a lot of promise, and I could have enjoyed it going on just with different people getting the dial for a long time. I'm not as much into the fighting side of things. Oh well, it's going to go out on one heckuva bang.

Identity Crisis #5: I suppose if I knew a bit more about Robin's situation... and maybe had some idea of the personality of his father, this would be of more interest to me. Again, this series hasn't lived up to the pre-hype at all. It's just moderate. Nothing really extreme to the whole DC Universe. Perhaps I'm just a jaded reader, but I expected more from this.

Teen Titans #17: I got this book entirely for Aquawoman. Yup, it's Lorena. And she's got telepathy. As for the story, it seems like a fairly standard "go into the future and don't like what we see" story. I'll get the entire arc just to be sure, but I'm not hopeful. At least Lorena looks good.

JLA #107: Well hey, I was really excited about this because of one thing only. Yup, Aquaman is back in the League! It makes wonderful sense from the point of view of his regular book, now that he's not dealing with Atlantis. So I was hoping to see a little of him here. And that's what I got. A little. I hope to get more in the next issue. In the meantime, the story was a run-of-the-mill day-in-the-life one, clearly working on establishing a status quo to rip asunder in the next issue. I can hardly wait! Recommended.

Noble Causes #3: The plot thickens. This is really a great book, fun and yet soap opera-y enough to engage the interest. I really like Krennick, and I don't mind the focus on him in this story-arc. The sub plot is also cool, with Frost and Rusty. The artwork is also particularly nice, though the faces aren't always perfect. I like the layouts and design work, though. In short, an excellent book.

Comic Book Digest #1: There's more for me to read in this one. I didn't get through it completely. So let's cover what this book is. I ordered it sight unseen because it claimed to be 80 pages of previews for $2. It is considerably more than 80 pages long at 132 pages including the covers. It claimed to have 10 eight page previews. The content is a bit different (back to that in a moment). As expected, the pages are plain newsprint, and the previews are all B&W. In addition to the previews, there are some essays and infodumps. First up is an eight page preview of "the imaginaries" by Mike S Miller followed by an essay on the value of original art by same. While there is nothing wrong with "the imaginaries", and it is in fact a nice idea for a book, the essay just made me say, "huh?" A Curt Swan piece featuring the entire Justice League should be valued lower than an Alex Ross piece featuring Prime? Whatever. Next up is a 7-page interview with Erik Larsen followed by an eight page "Savage Dragon" preview. I should hope "Savage Dragon" is doing well enough that a preview isn't needed, but the inclusion might draw in some folks who otherwise wouldn't have bought this. Next up are a couple of "Transformers" previews that I found mostly unreadable. An essay on comic genres by Sean J Jordan is followed by an eight-page preview of "Deep Sleeper", then a seven page preview of "100 Girls" by Arcana. Two more essays, then a preview of "Point Pleasant" from Ape Entertainment. Next up is "Gun Fu", who gets eight pages. Then the Raymond E Feist short story "The Wood Boy" gets the comic treatment. Then "Quantum Mechanics". At this point you flip the book and get another preview, a much longer one called "Deal With The Devil". Overall, this is a really nice package. Where else are you going to find this many previews, along with a few decent interviews and essays, for only $2. The price point is the key on this one, though. If the price went up much, I wouldn't be able to justify it despite the value, because there are no complete stories in it that I want to read. Still, at this price and with the stuff it's got, I'd have to say this one is recommended.

Wow, on to this week's books: Usagi Yojimbo, Birds of Prey, Aquaman, Green Lantern: Rebirth, Outsiders, Solo, Amazing Spider-Man, Demo, Simpsons Classics, and Daisy Kutter.