What I Bought 9/6/07

The world is conspiring to make me wait. Labor Day pushed New Comics' Day back. The U.S. Open pushed back new episodes of Burn Notice two weeks (stupid, grunting tennis players). And UPS was lazy enough that Ken didn't get the weekly comic shipment until about 11:30 this morning (the store opens at 11:00 on Wednesday). Tom is convinced UPS is doing a poor job on their deliveries in an attempt to gouge Ken by making him pay for the more expensive shipping formats. Being a fairly cynical fellow myself, I'm sure Tom is right. But the comics did show up eventually, I got what I was looking for, and hopefully the torrential downpour we were getting keep people away from the store until Ken had a little time to get things laid out. So, reviews now, spoilers likely, all that hokum.

Annihilation: Conquest - Wraith #3 - So let's see. Wraith appears to have given up, surrendered to despair if you will, only to experience a vision of his father, which causes him to rise up and casually throw off the power inhibitor and 'Phalanx consciousness enabler' that had been attached to him. Then he pwns Ronan. In one panel. Frees some allies, makes his escape, meets other allies, makes a decision about his involvement in this conflict, while Ronan does the same.

There's some interesting ideas moving around in this comic, between Ronan and Wraith's respective responses to their situations, and one of the Phalanx made a comment that seemed remarkably, theological? philosophical? One of the two. I was surprised. The thing that offsets all that is I can't shake the feeling Wraith is a bit of a Pygmalion character. He appears from nowhere, can strike fear into the Phalanx, is resistant to torture, can deck the former Supreme Accuser of the Kree in one panel, it just seems a bit much, you know? Ah well, it's still not a bad issue, and there's certainly some forward movement. That's always nice. I liked it quite a bit more than #2 (which I probably graded too high). 3.3 out of 5.

Faith the Vampire Slayer #6 - Two reasons I would buy this: One, I like Faith. You may recall I placed her on my League of Extraordinary Gentlemen team. Two, Brian K. Vaughn. I liked Dr. Strange: The Oath, so that at least gives me somewhat of a hopeful feeling about all this.

As to the actual execution, well I'd say it works pretty well. Faith's doing her "lone warrior needs no one" routine, and given her opinion of herself, I'm not surprised she has no issue with taking Giles up on the offer he presents. I can't help thinking though, Giles could have done a lot of good if he told Faith about his own questionable adolescence back when her troubles first began, rather than waiting until now. But that's off-topic, and just liable to get me riled, so moving on.

The book is slightly marred by three pages with Buffy in them, but I won't complain too much about that. Georges Jeanty's art is, odd somehow. It feels, best word I can use, "Impressionistic", in the sense that facial expressions look awkward or poorly drawn at times, but I think it's being done to convey the feeling of the moment, at the cost of something (realism? consistency?). It works well enough, though I'm withholding final judgment until I see an extended fight sequence. 3.8 out of 5.

Warbird #18 - So Carol's on her way to investigate odd doings in Chile and she's. . . playing BeJeweled? Sigh. And we know why Puppet Master, sorry, Phillip Masters is in Chile. And we found out what Rick Sheridan was doing during Civil War, and why he's here now. And Carol's right; compared to what people (me, for example, though I think I was rather nice) said about her during Civil War, saying she lead 'goon squads' is being polite. Oh, and there's a cat fight. That was, mildly interesting. I have to disagree with Carol's definition of 'fighting dirty' though. Kicking someone in the face (as she did)? Not dirty. Pulling hair (like Tigra did)? Dirty.

But really? All that is secondary to the sheer joy that is Aaron Stack walking around in a fake handlebar mustache. I'm looking at it now, and it's hilarious. I think he and Rick Sheridan are going to be great fun. Sleepwalker too, if only because I think he'll wind up in a "one-upping" competition with Machine Man (well, I can warp matter! Well, I can download all information in a country! and so on). So on the strength of their confrontation with one of Masters' minions in the bar alone (well, maybe that and the cat-fighting, just a little, because I'm weak) 3.5 out of 5.

New Excalibur #23 - You know the problem with this? Things are happening without any real explanation of how they relate to what happened previously. For example: two issues ago we saw Captain Britain and Evil Jean Grey stop Lionheart and some of Albion's flunkies from capturing the Queen. The next issue, Albion says that was an important mission, but we see no update on the situation. This issue, Lionheart is fighting alongside Captain Britain (which I understand, he asked her a question the last time we saw them, this is the answer), but they've rejoined the remaining Dark X-Men and Excalibur, and are embarking on some plan they apparently cooked up. When the hell did all this happen? I don't know, we never saw - or were told about - any of it. It's a tad frustrating you see.

I'm quite happy this arc ends next issue, because while it had some promise, the execution is just lacking horribly. Plus, this "different artist every month" thing isn't working. Pat Olliffie last month was fine, Jeremy Haun this issue, not as much. Character's movements look odd, unnatural, even for something like throwing a punch or just moving. And if you're going to mention a person's ability to fly, why show them doing some sort of back-somersault?

So yeah, not all that good. Disappointing, really. 1.3 out of 5.

That's it, I'm finished. Enjoy your dinners.