Saturday, September 6, 2008

Comic Book Day (observed)

I have a bit of a backlog right now of things I have read and need to give some lip service to. I will continue working through them, but as you can see, it is Saturday and I am getting to Thursday.

Here is what I picked up in brief. I will either tone down the volume of my purchases, or I think I will be blogging on comics from a box in an alley(after I blog about my Wife dumping me for my inability to stop spending money I don't have)

Savage Dragon #137, Erik Larson ($2.99, Image)
I have never gotten into Savage Dragon. That is not to say that I wouldn't like it if I read it, but it happens to be one of the things I just haven't really read enough to have much of an opinion on. I picked this one up because both Madman AND The Amazing Joy Buzzards are featured on the cover and promised to be inside! and they are! I haven't been reading this title, so I don't know how this issue compares to any others, but the whole thing seemed... blurry to me. Other than it being blurry, and my not caring too much for the coloring of all things, I enjoyed the book. It has guest stars I love, it has a lot of humor and a quick pace, and Savage Dragon Explicitly endorses Barack Obama in it.  I am not suggesting that every comic needs to have a presidential endorsement in it, but it makes sense that some would. If characters exist in the world, they can be affected by events and have opinions.

Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #1 (& #2), Terry Moore and Craig Rousseau ($2.99, Marvel)
I like this so far. It is sort of sweet. It has a nice young teen/tween vibe to it. The characters come across as fairly realistic while still being nice and sweet. Moore's writing on this is decent. I really like Rousseau's art. I am a big Perhapanaut's fan, and I think his style works great for a book like this. His teens are teen looking and I like all of them except for Peter. I am not a fan of the manga haired Peter Parker. Other than that, good stuff, we'll keep getting this. (this is also a title that my daughters read).

Kick-Ass #4, Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. ($2.99, Icon)
I liked this a little bit at the beginning, and I don't really like it at all now. I don't think I will get anymore issues. JRJR's art is good, and I really like the style of it, but I don't like anything else about it. I have started souring to Millar, and I can't fully pin it down. I will certainly expand upon that when I figure it out, but for now I will be happier without the rest of this movie ad.

Fringe #1 of 6, Zach Whedon, Julia Cho and Tom Mandrake ($2.99, WildStorm)
Speaking of ads... I bought this pretty much solely because I am excited about the show that will be coming on soon. I have no idea how this may or may not relate to the show, but they at least got me to buy one issue. The art is decent. The story is a bit of a twilight zone affair, and reads fine. I am interested enough to want to see the next issue at least.

Marvel Apes #1, Karl Kesel and Ramon Bachs ($3.99, Marvel)
This is not really my cup of tea. It's not badly done, but it isn't something I had even wanted to buy until I was faced with it. I read it, the art was fine, I thought the writing was better than expected, but the 'heroes as apes' thing does little for me. 

Secret Six #1, Gail Simone and Nicola Scott ($2.99, DC)
"She's gonna kill us all..." "Not me, I brought the ice cream" That is a bit of dialog between CatMan and DeadShot. I really liked parts of this. Other parts got my interest, but there are a few things in here that I am not sure I will love.  I am prepared to get another few issues and see how it develops. The entire storyline with Catman and DeadShot is a fun read. If it can keep that feel throughout, then I will enjoy reading it.

Amazing Spider-Man #570, Dan Slott and John Romita Jr.
Still enjoying this. I like the way things are going, and really liked how the two Venoms only stopped beating each other up when Spider-Man was nearby, and then they would break long enough to fling him out of the area so they could keep going. It was pretty funny.

Patrick The Wolf Boy - Giant Size Collection Volumes 1&2 and 3&4, Baltazar and Aureliana ($15, BlindWolf)
Tiny Titans started me on my current Art Baltazar kick. The recent Ninjatown comic intensified that, and I have finally picked up Patrick the Wolf Boy. It's awesome. When he isn't trying to eat Squirrels and hamsters, he is conspiring with them, or giving inappropriate gifts to his teacher, building snowmen, taking bites out of things, or generally being adorable. I loved these start to finish. They were fun and cute, and there is nothing wrong with either of those things.

Love & Rockets: New Stories No. 1, Hernandez Brothers ($14.99, Fantagraphics)
Ok, I haven't read this yet. I will need a bit of extra time to read all of the stories, and once I have done that I will post it's own review.

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