Just get to the screwing: Hibbs on 7/7

I hate airports. I’m off for a day trip for an Important Business Meeting in Burbank, and there’s all of this time to kill. SuperShuttle wanted to pick me up at 4:30 for a 7 AM flight. I told them 5 AM would be more than fine, even allowing for, say, an earthquake. I still got here more than an hour before I really needed to.

Anyway, time to kill, so I type to you, my friends, and I write some reviews (though I’m not certain I’ll POST this until later tonight….) [Which of course you now know I didn’t]– but because I’m in an airport, I don’t have actual access to the comics, so this is from memory.

AVENGERS: CHILDREN’S CRUSADE #1: Here’s what I don’t get: they had a perfectly working franchise going on here a bunch of years ago when this was called “Young Avengers”. There were a bunch of fans for that, and this is the actual continuation of that series, by the same creative team – this is, in effect YA #13. So where’s the sense in ditching the name? Meh, well doesn’t matter – if you liked that, you’ll like this. Drawn well, competently written, and a set of reasonably compelling characters new characters (well, new then, not so much new now, but you know what I mean) – if I didn’t read another issue ever, I wouldn’t die, but I’d rather read this then, say, get a poke in the eye, so that’s like competently GOOD.

BATMAN & ROBIN #13: Words fail me of just how awesome this issue was. But I’m with Gotham’s cops – I like Dick better as Batman, too. EXCELLENT

BATMAN ODYSSEY #1: Uhm… What? Over-rendered finishes, hard to decipher page layouts, oddly out-of-character pieces, and clunky, chunky, crunky exposition. Yeah, didn’t care for this even one tiny bit. AWFUL.

BRIGHTEST DAY THE ATOM SPECIAL: Writing super-hero comics is its own special little trick. Not everyone can do it, and I think that, with a couple of pretty rare examples, that most people who excel at doing “Alternative” comics just don’t have the right muscles or tone to do it. I wish I could tell you this was one of those exceptions, but it really isn’t – too much time and space is devoted to things that don’t matter in a superhero comic, the threat was flaccid, and it doesn’t resolve in anything even slightly approaching an exciting To Be Continued manner that would want me to read the upcoming backups in ADVENTURE. In fact, after reading this, I felt pretty ripped off for my time – I didn’t read to read a retconned origin, there wasn’t a moment’s sympathy for Ryan Choi, and the comic didn’t end, it stopped. Sadly: AWFUL

SCARLET #1: No, no, not THIS one

(though, really, with all the vampire shit going on these days, that might have a chance at selling…)

The way I’d describe the 2010 version is Seattle G20 Protest: The Comic, and while that’s not strictly right, it’s pretty close in tone and spirit. It looks dead-fabulous, and while I’m not really sure I care for the protagonist, there’s definitely a huh-what-happens-next? Thing going on here. I thought it was very nearly VERY GOOD, though #2 will probably more tell the actual tale.

SHADOWLAND #1: There’s a pretty cool Reversal in this, though I’m not really all that sure that the ground had been properly set for THAT in the regular DD issues leading into this. I also wonder how the heck Frank Castle is in this comic, given the events in his own book. Still, it is nice to have a “street level” event, after all of the Everything Changes Forever! comics that event books tend to be…. GOOD.

THOR MIGHTY AVENGER #1: I sold out before I had a chance to read this (more copies on their way this week), but I do have to say that on the flip test it looked GREAT. I strongly don’t think, however, movie or not, that the market can support all of the Thor comics (or Iron Man, for that matter) that Marvel keeps trying to cram out.  INCOMPLETE

VENGEANCE OF MOON KNIGHT #10: WTF? Ryp? Drawing Marvel comics? Wow, that’s a big poach from Avatar…! This isn’t much what I want to see him drawing (it is kind of the opposite of subversive), but MK hasn’t looked THIS distinct since the Sienkiewicz days. VERY GOOD for the art; EH for the story… average it out to a high OK?

X-MEN #1: Oh, vampires! How we love you! Well, no, not really, and I really don’t think the market needs Yet Another Ongoing x-title, especially one launching into Yet Another Event (when the previous one hasn’t even quite ended yet); my customers have sort of rejected this – I only had 4 preorders for this new title (even lowly X-Force has like 17), and the rack sales weren’t even close to what I wanted them to be for week #1. Thank god for FOC! I thought this was no more than OK, and that not what the market needs right now…

X-WOMEN #1: I love how every woman that Milo Manara draws looks constantly like they’re orgasming, all the time. No, I actually do. But, honestly, he’s wasted on softcore like this – everytime I turned the page I wanted to see Kitty jam her tongue down Storm’s throat while Psylocke stuffed something up her own ass. What? Stop looking at me like that! It’s not that I want to see that, but when it’s Manara, what else can you expect? This is probably going to fuck up a whole lot of kids who stumble across it… and maybe even a few adults. EXCELLENT art, AWFUL story… but it looks so good, I have to call it GOOD.

Well, that’s what I thought at least; what did YOU think?

-B