I Bought Comics: April's Fool 2009

[Not reviews. Not at all. Just thoughts. Not necessarily intelligent ones.]

Gravel #10

I didn't know this was coming out this week. Normally, my updated Diamond list comes via Midtown Comics's website and they didn't have it listed, so imagine my surprise when I was handed this along with the other books on my pull list. A pleasant surprise. This issue is a bit slower and gets away from the main point a bit. I do like how Ellis and Wolfer don't bother to deal with the "cliffhanger" from last issue, merely showing us that, yeah, Gravel survived and has solved the problem. Good stuff. Hopefully "Gravel finds and recuits a new Minor Seven" doesn't proceed as slowly as it looks like it will. Wolfer on art is still just what this old Strange Kiss fan enjoys.

Irredeemable #1

I read this last Monday via .pdf, so eat that. It's an enjoyable enough issue. David Uzumeri over at the Savage Critics makes a good point that, perhaps, Waid is trying too hard to break from his perceived "Silver Age character lovefest" persona that anyone who's been paying attention knows is bullshit. But, this is the first issue, so let Waid overdo it a little, I say. Let him pile the shit on at first, pretty much dare you not to keep reading and then show off his regular skills in a "See? Who's old fashioned now, assholes?" move. Also, thanks to Augie, I've listened to all of the "15 Minutes with Mark Waid" podcasts and it's good stuff. All of them can be found here aside from one, which wasn't labelled properly. Check them out. Thanks to my .pdf-aquiring abilities, I'll probably trade-wait this series, but, so far, yeah, I'm on board.

Scalped #27

Scalped good. Very good. Buy Scalped.

Strange Adventures #2

Hey, did you know that this book already has a running back-up feature? Jim Starlin: several steps ahead of the rest of DC. The main part of this book is interesting as the Weird is revealed officially to be the new vessel of Synnar, which I assumed Starlin would drag out more--thankfully, he just dives in. The back-up feature continues to be the best part of this book, as it was in the first issue. Starlin on art (albeit with the godawful inks of Rob Hunter) doing a Bizarro story where Bizarro doesn't talk. I love it. Throw in an insane final image of a woman with a little Lady Styx growing out of her head that has its own Lady Styx growing out of its head and, hey, Starlin is a bit insane.

That does it for this week.