Rapid Reviews - 31 August 2005 - Part I

You might notice a bit of a theme with some of these capsules. Yeah, I'm linking to the Wiki whenever a comic book series has an entry. I'll probably keep doing that in future capsules too.

The Flash #225: "Rogue War: Conclusion": I missed something in there. This is the point where I wish the Wiki was complete, because while I "get" the page where Ashley is updating some files, I'm not sure who Ashley is, or who Meloni Thawne is. There have been too many characters in the last few issues, and I just can't sort them all out. As for the other events... wow. That's a little change in Wally's life.

Wonder Woman #220: "Affirmative Defense": Good final two pages, even if the cover does give it away. This one ties the last issue into the events of the issues before it, which makes it a bit better than the last issue. Unfortunately, it's still forced to be the set up to a crossover, which makes it more confusing than it needs to be. Again, I wish the Wiki for this title was up-to-date, because I still don't really know who Ferdinand is except for what WW says about him. Not horrible... about average for a superhero book.

Amelia Rules #14: "Chapter Four: My Novel's Gonna Need an Evil Villain": It's been so long since the last issue that I've completely forgotten what was happening in this book. The last (non-FCBD) issue came out last October. I need to go hunt it up from my collection so I can update the Wiki of this title and get myself on track as to what's happening. This issue has a remarkably sad ending. I want to see more.

Wha... Huh?: I seriously never expected this one to ever come out, so I was pleasantly surprised to see it show up on the shipping list, and amused to see it hit the stands. It was... well, I can't say "worth the wait" because I wasn't really waiting for it. It's pretty funny, though. I particularly like the "What If... The Internet Existed In..." pages. I think my second favorite would be "What if Galactus got food poisoning?" Ewwwww. Funny and light-hearted. It delivers exactly what was promised.

Powers v2 #12: Deena and Christian use some detective skills and a nice flashback to figure out who stole Blackguard's crystal. I liked this one. Everything hung together and the story moved at a solid pace. Plus the development of Deena is continuing. The words of the perp have much more resonance with her now, I'm thinking. This is another book that has a Wiki in need of updating. At some point I need to snag my back issues and start writing, I guess.

Amazing Spider-Man #82/523: "Extreme Measures": In the middle of Hydra's headquarters, Spider-Man faces off against the faux Avengers. This one is mostly fighting, but manages to be a pretty good issue despite that. I'll try to update the Wiki for this title, but I'm going to stop buying it during the upcoming crossover, and I may not bother to add it to my pull list again after that.

Supreme Power #18: "Exhibit R: The Statement of Mark Milton": Mark is peeved, and he's decided to let his former masters know exactly how he feels. This was a nicely put together issue explaining what is happening with the folks who have powers in this universe. I've been mostly enjoying this series, so I'm disappointed that Marvel thinks I should buy twice as much each month to keep up with the story, in the form of two minis. No thank you. I've dropped the book. I guess someone else will have to keep the Wiki up to date.

Hero Camp #4: Nice final issue to this remarkably silly mini-series. The concept is still done much better by PS238, but it wasn't too bad overall. I kind of wished I hadn't bothered with it, but it wasn't terrible.

A few more books are left in my pile to review when I need some more escapism. Those are Beowulf, Usagi Yojimbo, Green Lantern, JLA: Classified, Seven Soldiers: Shining Knight, Solo, Astro City: The Dark Age, and Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere.