War Journal Entry number 191
MARVEL
All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #10 of 12 - Shadowoman (shouldn't there be two Ws?) through Tara (who?) Also includes Squidboy (bwah-hah-hah-ha!) and some folks you've actually heard of like Shatterstar, Speedball, Siryn, SHIELD, and others.
Civil War: Choosing Sides - Contains five stories (if you don't count the Guiding Light tie-in back-up that has nothing to do with the rest). Unfortunately 4 of the 5 are nothing but lead-ins to upcoming series. The Venom and Iron Fist tales are nothing but teasers, really, even if they are teasers with good art and good writing. I can't really call them stories because they don't have any arc to speak of. The US Agent and Ant-Man stories may be lead-ins to other series but they at least have an actual story and are very well executed. But of course I was must excited about the Howard the Duck story which leads into nothing but was advertised as Cleveland's view on the Hero Civil War. As a most-of-my-life Clevelander, it works for me. All in all, it was worth its price.
Daredevil #90 - I was beginning to wonder about Brubaker during this issue, but the revelation at the end made me realize that I should have had more faith in him. Continues to be fantastic.
Exiles #87 - I'm wondering what Claremont will do with this title when it takes over writing it in a few months, but I'll be very sad to see Bedard leave. Haven't heard yet what he's moving on to but I'm going to try to keep my eye out for it. This issue turned the idea of saving the world on its ear by having our heroes show up after the Earth has already been destroyed and then went further by totally re-imagining Galactus and the Silver Surfer.
Marvel Spotlight: Jack Kirby/Stan Lee - I hadn't bought any of these Marvel Spotlights artist and writer profile magazines before, though I had thumbed through a few. I may have to go back and pick up a few more if they are this well done. Admittedly, though, they were working with gold already on this one.
Marvel Spotlight: Heroes Reborn/Onslaught Reborn - The title of this one is a bit of a misnomer with the fact that it focuses more on profiling and interviewing Jeph Loeb and Rob Liefeld than it does dealing with a decade old event and it's upcoming anniversary special.
New Avengers #24 - Civil Wat tie-in. A decently good story but amongst all the major happenings in other CW it feels more like filler than anything else. And I find it interesting that Marvel.com never updated its listing on this comic, a listing which features glowing praise of the artist that had been scheduled to do this but evidently wasn't able to since it is entirely somebody else. Yeah, Marvel.com is not your source for up to date information.
New Excalibur #12 - A somewhat anti-climactic ending to the Fall of Camelot three-parter, but still very enjoyable.
Stan Lee Meets the Thing - Nothing stands out as spectacular in the third entry to the Stan Lee Meets... series but it was still an enjoyable read.
X-Men #192 - Oh, all right, I'll accept Sabretooth and Mystique on the team if you do it like that. Looking forward to some hardcore action next issue.
DC
Fables #1 Special Edition - The first issue of the well done series includes an introduction by the author as well as a preview of the new original graphic novel. All this for a steal at 25 cents. (Actually, though, my comic shop owner gave me three for free. Anybody want one?)
52 #25 - Just this side of halfway through and the action is heating up to unbearable levels.
Justice #8 - What should have been called "All-Star Justice League of America" continues to be truly awe inspiring. Damn, I wish this wasn't bi-monthly.
Sandman: Absolute Sandman Special Edition - This 50-cent nugget of joy gives you a re-colored version of the first issue of Neil Gaiman's Sandman along with an introduction by Neil, his original proposal for the series, and more. With art by Sam Kieth. I may not bee planning on slapping down the several hundred dollars that would be necessary for the full Absolute Sandman series of hardcovers (especially since I have them all in trade paperbacks) but this was more than worth the 50 cents for the few pages I hadn't seen before.
IDW
Transformers: The Animated Movie #1 fo 4 - Yes, they are doing an adaptation of a twenty year old movie. Yes, I already have the Marvel adaptation that came out twenty years ago. But the art is this is nothing short of fantastic. The writing is passable though the narration is wordy and starts with 'but' far too often. What bugs the hell out of me is that some of the dialog is mis-attributed to the point where some of the lines are given to the character that was being addressed so they end calling someone else by their own name! Aigh! That's what they get for having their stuff published overseas.
ONI PRESS
Strangetown #1 of ? - The latest series by Chynna Clugston looks to be just as, if not more, enjoyable than any of her previous works. The fact that the characters are beyond high school is a contributing factor of this feeling. At least as long as you don't pay any attention to the Scotland to Oregon boat trip thing.
WILDSTORM
Planetary #26 - The penultimate issue of the series finishes things off, leaving me wondering what could possibly be in the final issue. As much as Sandman is a story about stories, Planetary is a comic about comics. I was having a discussion the other day with someone who was shocked that I would want to keep and re-read comics. "Why reread them? It's not like they're novels," she said. Well, bec76 dragged me off before I could begin a lecture how some comics are infinitely more complex than most novels being published these days. Things like this series, and the oft-mentioned Sandman, are perfect examples of series that MUST be reread to be fully appreciated and I'm looking forward to sitting down with this one for a one-time stretch. Unfortunately the next issue hasn't even been solicited yet so it's at least four months away, probably more.
All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #10 of 12 - Shadowoman (shouldn't there be two Ws?) through Tara (who?) Also includes Squidboy (bwah-hah-hah-ha!) and some folks you've actually heard of like Shatterstar, Speedball, Siryn, SHIELD, and others.
Civil War: Choosing Sides - Contains five stories (if you don't count the Guiding Light tie-in back-up that has nothing to do with the rest). Unfortunately 4 of the 5 are nothing but lead-ins to upcoming series. The Venom and Iron Fist tales are nothing but teasers, really, even if they are teasers with good art and good writing. I can't really call them stories because they don't have any arc to speak of. The US Agent and Ant-Man stories may be lead-ins to other series but they at least have an actual story and are very well executed. But of course I was must excited about the Howard the Duck story which leads into nothing but was advertised as Cleveland's view on the Hero Civil War. As a most-of-my-life Clevelander, it works for me. All in all, it was worth its price.
Daredevil #90 - I was beginning to wonder about Brubaker during this issue, but the revelation at the end made me realize that I should have had more faith in him. Continues to be fantastic.
Exiles #87 - I'm wondering what Claremont will do with this title when it takes over writing it in a few months, but I'll be very sad to see Bedard leave. Haven't heard yet what he's moving on to but I'm going to try to keep my eye out for it. This issue turned the idea of saving the world on its ear by having our heroes show up after the Earth has already been destroyed and then went further by totally re-imagining Galactus and the Silver Surfer.
Marvel Spotlight: Jack Kirby/Stan Lee - I hadn't bought any of these Marvel Spotlights artist and writer profile magazines before, though I had thumbed through a few. I may have to go back and pick up a few more if they are this well done. Admittedly, though, they were working with gold already on this one.
Marvel Spotlight: Heroes Reborn/Onslaught Reborn - The title of this one is a bit of a misnomer with the fact that it focuses more on profiling and interviewing Jeph Loeb and Rob Liefeld than it does dealing with a decade old event and it's upcoming anniversary special.
New Avengers #24 - Civil Wat tie-in. A decently good story but amongst all the major happenings in other CW it feels more like filler than anything else. And I find it interesting that Marvel.com never updated its listing on this comic, a listing which features glowing praise of the artist that had been scheduled to do this but evidently wasn't able to since it is entirely somebody else. Yeah, Marvel.com is not your source for up to date information.
New Excalibur #12 - A somewhat anti-climactic ending to the Fall of Camelot three-parter, but still very enjoyable.
Stan Lee Meets the Thing - Nothing stands out as spectacular in the third entry to the Stan Lee Meets... series but it was still an enjoyable read.
X-Men #192 - Oh, all right, I'll accept Sabretooth and Mystique on the team if you do it like that. Looking forward to some hardcore action next issue.
DC
Fables #1 Special Edition - The first issue of the well done series includes an introduction by the author as well as a preview of the new original graphic novel. All this for a steal at 25 cents. (Actually, though, my comic shop owner gave me three for free. Anybody want one?)
52 #25 - Just this side of halfway through and the action is heating up to unbearable levels.
Justice #8 - What should have been called "All-Star Justice League of America" continues to be truly awe inspiring. Damn, I wish this wasn't bi-monthly.
Sandman: Absolute Sandman Special Edition - This 50-cent nugget of joy gives you a re-colored version of the first issue of Neil Gaiman's Sandman along with an introduction by Neil, his original proposal for the series, and more. With art by Sam Kieth. I may not bee planning on slapping down the several hundred dollars that would be necessary for the full Absolute Sandman series of hardcovers (especially since I have them all in trade paperbacks) but this was more than worth the 50 cents for the few pages I hadn't seen before.
IDW
Transformers: The Animated Movie #1 fo 4 - Yes, they are doing an adaptation of a twenty year old movie. Yes, I already have the Marvel adaptation that came out twenty years ago. But the art is this is nothing short of fantastic. The writing is passable though the narration is wordy and starts with 'but' far too often. What bugs the hell out of me is that some of the dialog is mis-attributed to the point where some of the lines are given to the character that was being addressed so they end calling someone else by their own name! Aigh! That's what they get for having their stuff published overseas.
ONI PRESS
Strangetown #1 of ? - The latest series by Chynna Clugston looks to be just as, if not more, enjoyable than any of her previous works. The fact that the characters are beyond high school is a contributing factor of this feeling. At least as long as you don't pay any attention to the Scotland to Oregon boat trip thing.
WILDSTORM
Planetary #26 - The penultimate issue of the series finishes things off, leaving me wondering what could possibly be in the final issue. As much as Sandman is a story about stories, Planetary is a comic about comics. I was having a discussion the other day with someone who was shocked that I would want to keep and re-read comics. "Why reread them? It's not like they're novels," she said. Well, bec76 dragged me off before I could begin a lecture how some comics are infinitely more complex than most novels being published these days. Things like this series, and the oft-mentioned Sandman, are perfect examples of series that MUST be reread to be fully appreciated and I'm looking forward to sitting down with this one for a one-time stretch. Unfortunately the next issue hasn't even been solicited yet so it's at least four months away, probably more.