At the Shop Today
Okay…. I’m going to try and get back to the regular posting and I figure I’ll jump back in with my review of the books at the comic shop.
THE CREEPER #1 – Best book of the week hands down. I really think this is the merging of the perfect creative team with the perfect character. The art is gorgeous, the writing is strong, even the lettering is nice. The last five pages alone are worth the cover price.
WORMWOOD: GENTLEMAN CORPSE #1 – Love this book. I will never understand how Templesmith can draw so fast… but I’m glad he can. This is the closest thing to Hellboy I’ve seen in a long time without it being a copy. Great stuff.
52 #13 – I’ve been riding this weekly train with glee so far and I’m not going to be hopping off any time soon. This definitely has some of the creepiest moments I’ve ever seen in a comic… and having just read the entire Showcase Presents: The Elongated Man, this one really hit home. The back up origin was nice but not sure where the contortionist angle came from prior to seeing the first Indian Rubber Man.
MOON KNIGHT #4 – Uhm… can we get somewhere here please? I’m done with the wallowing in self-pity routine. It’s taken him four issues to stand up! I’m bored already. I honestly think this is the problem with bringing in non-comic writers to write comics. There is a completely different pacing needed for a monthly comic. This is the pacing of a novel and it doesn’t work here. I wonder how much of it is the fact it was pitched as 6 issues and then made on going; was the original plot stretched too far out? I love Moon Knight but this is very close to the drop pile.
DETECTIVE COMICS #822 – I think what I like the most about Dini’s run here is that Batman is being a detective again. Which is what I think should always happen in this title. It should always focus on the ‘World’s Greatest Detective’ and not the Dark Knight. I really like these one-and-done adventures as well.
ATOM #2 – I think this one is close to the drop pile as well. I want to like it, but there really isn’t any charm to the character. The writing is kind of boring and I’m a huge fan of Byrne but the art isn’t bringing it home either. I think I’ll give it one more issue and see how I feel after that.
BOMB QUEEN VERSUS BLACKLIGHT #1 – I’ve never read Blacklight, but I have the Bomb Queen trade and really liked it. The reason I like the trade is that its just fun. There’s no social commentary, no moralistic fable… its just fun and sometimes that’s what you want from a comic. This one-shot tries very hard to be fun and succeeds at times. I think the problem is that the writer doesn’t have the feel for Bomb Queen like Jimmie Robinson. The book just feels restrained and BQ comes across more as a playful imp than the mass-murdering babe she is supposed to be.
That’s all for comics. The one trade I picked up was HELLBLAZER: ALL HIS ENGINES which I haven’t had a chance to read but it looks gorgeous.
