Rapid Reviews - 3 November 2004 - Part I

Tomb of Dracula #2: Um. Ug. Not completely horrible, but nothing really to excite the imagination. It's just... blah.

The Golden Plates #1: I must admit that I was hoping that this book would be excellent. I was raised on these stories. So it is with disappointment that I have to admit that this book did not meet my expectations. It was far from being bad, but the choices made by Allred in adapting the stories didn't really work for me. See, the Book of Mormon is written in a very beautiful, but very stilted by our standards, older English. This is due both to the time it was produced in and the education of Smith. The result was that I, who was raised on the BoM and the King James version of the Bible, never had any trouble understanding Shakespeare... but people who come to the book cold find it very hard to read. And I think that Allred, in an effort to stay true to the original, stayed a little too true to the language. Simply put, this is not an easy book to read. He's also limited by the story itself. The books of Nephi don't really lend themselves well to visuals due to the subject matter. And with Allred's determination to stay true to the book, that means it doesn't flow as well as I'd want it to. There are a lot of much more ... um... comic-y stories later on in the book, I hope that Allred continues with this project until he reaches those. But on this one, I'm afraid I can only offer a mild recommendation based mostly on the very cool art.

Dorothy of Oz II: Another interesting addition to this series. It's not following the book, obviously, but it's going on a different path in a lot of ways. There is going to be a quest, but it isn't your old "off to see the Wizard" stuff. I'm intrigued. The artwork is nicely done, obviously with great care. We'll stick with this series.

Concrete: Short Stories 1990-1995: Another good set of shorts, and it definitely makes me want to read more of this character. As I think I mentioned, Concrete works really well in the short story format. Chadwick likes exploring different concepts, and the format allows just enough time to really explore an idea without going overboard. These are excellent tales, but the real treasure for me was a timeline of Concrete's adventures in the back, including the first real coverage of his origin that I'd read. While there is nothing wrong with a lack of an origin, it is nice to have that background.

Vagabond Vol 7: Musashi has a rematch, and begins to learn what the way of the sword actually means. This volume was mostly two characters standing firm against each other, not moving, while flashbacks to unrelated characters explain to the reader (and to two other characters) what lesson Musashi has learned from his first defeat. I began to get antsy as the book continued on with no action, and it was what I feared most: a cliffhanger at the end. I really would like to collect this series. At the very least I wish the library had more of the volumes.

The Batman [1-05]: The Man Who Would Be Bat: This is definitely not on my short list of favorite versions of Batman. There are plenty of ok bits and it's certainly watchable, but it's not fantastic. On the plus side, Manbat was particularly scary looking in this version.

Still to review: Thieves & Kings, Ant, Rising Stars, Avengers, JLA: Classified, Fallen Angel, Firebirds, Captain America & The Falcon, Marvel Age Fantastic Four, and Justice League Unlimited.