Sketch Reviews (January 12 2011)

I bought seven comics this week (six that I would be getting anyway and one just for reviewing) and all but one were $2.99... I can't remember the last time that happened. But, that's also the way the week worked out. Only two of the books used to be $3.99 and they were ones that were worth the extra dollar. Doc Savage had the fantastic "Justice, Inc." back-up feature and T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents was closer to 30 pages of comic. And the lone $3.99 comic? 32 pages of comic plus six pages of text. So, if DC hadn't gone to 20 pages for $2.99, it would have been a week of three $3.99 comics that I was more than happy to pay the price for and four $2.99 comics. Though, I did notice something: The Unwritten #21 is 22 pages... But, as I was saying to Tim (my retrailer, not Callahan) at my shop, most of DC's books were $2.99 already and I wasn't buying them already. The change meant little to me. And, as I've said, the two titles that were $3.99 and have been affected by the change suffered a little to me. Well done. Let's run through these quick like usual...

Casanova: Gula #1: I haven't read the text stuff yet -- for this version of the comic or rereading the original text stuff from the original issues. Otherwise, this is just nice to reexperience. The blue doesn't seem as striking here as it originally was, which is a little disappointing. It seems to incorporate the green of "Luxuria" a little, too. A line that I missed previously by Cornelius Quinn made me laugh quite a bit this time. And Moon's art... he's my favourite Twin. The way he draws Ruby Seychelle looking down at Kato... goddamn, man. [****1/2]

Halcyon #3: This series is growing on me more and more. As it eases into the idea of a world without aggression and the investigation into how that could happen, it's drawing me in. The best issue of the series so far and I do love me some Ryan Bodenheim art. [***3/4]

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #3: Hey, it's Howard Chaykin! FUCK YEAH! Not sure if the Dr. Manhattan parallels are purposeful or if my mind is just connecting two emotionally distant blue superguys, but... not sure how I feel about that. I did enjoy this issue quite a bit. The main plot progresses slowly, but is very engaging here nonetheless. Definitely one of my new favourite comics. [****1/4]

The Unwritten #21: In this comic book Age of Awesome, Mike Carey wins the literary geek subaward by having Frankenstein appear in Moby-Dick. Everyone tremble in fear. [***1/2]

Later