Farewell, sweet prince: Hibbs on 8/27

Back again!  Under the Jump! Go!

ALL-NEW X-MEN #31:  "Joe Quesada was asked if the Ultimate Universe and the Main Marvel Universe would ever cross over and he replied no. Quesada said he'd rather close down one universe than have them cross over because it meant they were officially out of ideas." And ANX started off so strong, too.  Now? I don't even know what's going on with it or if there's any point to anything that's happening at all in the X books.  EH for me.

BATMAN ETERNAL #21: The weird thing with this series is the constant changes in artist, and, worse, artistic style from issue to issue.  It makes it hard to "keep the comic in my head" if you know what I mean? One issue will be all artistic, the next will be very DC house-style -- it is jarring, week-by-week, and I think it's going to make a pretty messy TP.  Also, the first TP is solicited as #1-20, and, frankly, I think this issue is the culmination of the Act, not the previous issue. This one was fairly GOOD.

BODIES #2: The first issue was barely comprehensible, and nothing is improved here in #2.  The high concept (A body is found in four different time periods -- and it is the SAME body) doesn't come across at all in the comic, and while there is some lovely drawing on display here (I especially like Tula Lotay's section), Si Spencer's story just doesn't gel together. Overall pretty EH.

OUTCAST #3: It is attractive, it is well-written, and yet here we are more than 80 pages in, and I still don't really have any real interest in the protagonist, or anyone orbiting around him. OK.

POP #1: Interesting first issue here -- the premise is what if Pop Idols were literally manufactured, like from cloning vats; and then one escapes prematurely. Yeah, that's a high concept, alright.  I'll be super-curious if they can sustain this over the course of four issues, but the first one was a fun and buzzy (yet nicely dense) little read.  VERY GOOD.

SAGA #22: This is still the best comic on the stands every month, but damn if the current conflict between Alana and Marko doesn't feel a bit forced to me. VERY GOOD.

SILVER SURFER #5: How refreshing to read a cosmic level book where the problem is resolved by cleverness and peace, and not explosions. You also got to love a semi-Defenders issue that's not actually the team getting together. I thought this was the strongest issue yet of what's been a fun series.  EXCELLENT.

SUPERMAN #34: I can't say that I'm caring too much for this storyline because the last thing Superman needs is Yet Another Doppleganger, but I really do enjoy just how genuinely good of a person that Johns' Superman is. For someone known to pile on the gore and cynicism, he really does write sweet and charming so very well. And for that this earns a low GOOD.

WAYWARD #1: Now, that's some fine and pretty art from Steve Cummings, but, oy, I thought the story was pretty hackneyed and pretty been-there, done-that. OK, but only for the art.

WOLVERINE #12: I've only been really giving this book half an eye (I didn't especially like the first six issues of the previous arc), but I thought I should check back in with this before the "death" of Wolverine (No, not that one!), but, ugh, bleach in my eyes!  That was really AWFUL, and makes me understand why we've only been selling single digits of this book.  Man, and $5.99, too, what a rip off.

That's about all I have for comics this week, but I didn't want another week to go by without expressing my sadness at the death of Robin Williams.  I was eleven years old when "Mork & Mindy" debuted on TV, which was pretty much the perfect age to love Mork -- and I had a pair of rainbow suspenders that I wore down to shreds. So it really made me happy when, in my later years, Robin ended up being a pretty regular customer of the store for a number of years (I haven't seen him in five year or so[?], as he moved out of San Francisco).  He had a really good and diverse taste in comics, and I can't think of a single time that he came in that anyone approached or bothered him while he was shopping.  Once I made some silly comment as I was checking him out about something, and I actually got a laugh out of him, and his eyes crinkled up, and he switched on his riff machine for 30 seconds or so,  that was pretty insanely awesome. I'm very sad that he chose to end his life, because he brought a lot of laughter to a lot of people.  If you are depressed, or suicidal, I urge you to seek help.

Peace.

-B