Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Sketch Reviews (March 9 2011)

Second (and last) week of my vacation from CBR. Work schedule changes next week from Tuesday/Thursday to Wednesday/Friday so comic-buying will probably get pushed to Thursday. Ah well.

Batman, Inc. #3: I honestly don't have a lot to say about this. The art is good. The writing seems to like going off in obscure directions for the sake of it. I used to find writers who used other languages in comics clever... now I just find it dull. Especially when most of the dialogue takes place in that language... translated into English. It reminds me of those people in university who tried too hard to look smart. Just get to it. [***1/2]

Captain Swing and the Electrical Pirates of Cindery Island #3: I was afraid that this would be an issue of me vaguely remembering what came before, but it turned out to be very accessible and entertaining. I really dug it -- though the art looked a lot less polished than the first two issues. [***1/4]

Doc Savage #12: I reread the previous six issues before reading this and it all holds together fairly well. Lots of misdirection and tangents that are never explained explicitly. Like Brandon's work with Nemesis, you need to actually try here. Nic Klein... wow. I know this team wasn't remaining on the book, but I would love to see them do more Doc Savage. [***3/4]

Jennifer Blood #2: The writing was better... the art was not. [**3/4]

New Avengers #10: Wow, you mean there were 'Avengers' before the superteam we all know about and was named by the Wasp when she just blurted something out? I hate shit like that. The team that Fury assembles is an interesting one, but what that has to do with the present stuff is beyond me. The stuff in the present was only really entertaining when Superia started ranting about how it's not fair, the Avengers cheat, and she's better than everyone. I really liked the beginning of this edition of "The Oral History of the Avengers" where Bendis had a few characters discuss why there's such a high turnover in the Avengers, how demanding being on the team is, and how quickly burnout can set in. Also, am I the only one who laughs at seeing Deodato draw the 1959 Avengers when Chaykin does them in the comic? (And better...) [***]

Punishermax #11: And speaking of things I hate... Bullseye's reveal that's printed so tiny you can't see it (and I wouldn't be surprised turns out to be gibberish when you enlarge it). Just fucking say it. Teasing it out like this is just a shit play. Not even an attempt to cut away or have it drowned out by some sound... the print is just smaller. Fuck. Otherwise, I really loved this issue. The glee of Bullseye, Steve Dillon owning every page, the Kingpin's "Fuck you. Just fucking do it." It all worked for me. Just that fucking speech balloon... cheap fucking cheat. [****1/2]

X-Men Legacy #246: Really liked this issue. This story gets more interesting with each issue. The final few pages were very surprising. More thoughts when talking with Kelly. [****]

Later