What I Bought 2/14/08

Well, here we are at last. It seems like it's been forever since I did reviews. I actually have a decent number of books to review this week too, which is nice, including Booster Gold. That's right, all you DC fans yelling about it finally got me to buy it! Now go back to your shanties! You must realize that we're being manipulated into this by an overused Kirby creation, an idiotic pink guy, and their chess board! How distressing.

Amazing Spider-Girl #17 - I like the covers Frenz has been giving us lately. Not earth-shattering, but more than just the characters standing around, trying to look cool. A lot happens, so let's recap: A fellow named Crimelord has Kingpin's disc, and is planning an auction. Chesbro learns of this, and informs Spider-Girl. Since she gave that disc to Drasco (the crooked cop), she confronts him about it, plants a spider-tracer on him, then follows a thief Drasco was observing. The thief appears to be the boyfriend of Mona Carlo, who had the disc before Spider-Girl relieved her of it. Hobgoblin learns of the auction. May decides to learn where Drasco lives, and by following the tracer winds up where the auction is being held, right as Hobby shows up. Hobgoblin is having Mindworm take mental control of Black Tarantula's underbosses. Deadspot has received a request for another termination. Little Ben is set to have a procedure that might restore his hearing. May is found to be the best potential blood donor between her and her parents, should the need arise. Gene Thompson wants to know if May has given any thought to getting back together.

Damn, that's a lot of stuff. Can't say I didn't get my money's worth. The primary focus is on the disc, and this Crimelord fellow (and the two possible people under the mask), but there's still movement by Hobgoblin on other fronts, the stuff with May's little brother and Gene, plus a brief Spider-Girl/Hobgoblin battle. That's pretty impressive, I gotta say. Also, Ron Frenz did one of my favorite artistic touches, the after-image shot. You know, where there's one Spider-Girl in full color, but then several others in faded, outline form to indicate the character's earlier movements in the panel. I always enjoy that. 4 out of 5.

Booster Gold #0 - I have to tell you, after three days in the '90s looking at trading cards, it's nice to get back to the present and read some comics. So in this issue, Booster and the Beetles are traveling the Time Stream when they stumble across Parallax and Extant. What?! Zero Hour?! My god, I didn't make it back from the '90s, I just jumped into a different universe's 1990s! Nooooooooo! Anyway, ParaHal is not happy to see our stalwart heroes, and says Booster and Ted disgraced the League's name. Actually, you trying to wipe out the universe and working with Extant did that Hal. Right, right, Yellow Fear Bug, not his fault, he feels bad about it, blah, blah, blah. Still a tool. The good guys escape to the 25th century. Booster thinks about the mistakes he made, and whether to fix them. He settles on a plan, but OMACs have a plan of their own.

Hey, this reminds me that I like Geoff Johns' writing sometimes! Having to drop Teen Titans in '06 made me forget that. Cool. The Future Beetle's discussion of how moved he is by Ted and Michael's friendship was a little barf-inducing. In fact, he made it sound so special I expected Mephisto to appear and offer to trade something for it. I like Dan Jurgens' art. It's easy to follow, doesn't hurt the story, there's not too much inking, though the fight scene felt flat. It's nothing flashy, but it works well for a title that feels somewhat old-fashioned in a way. 4 out of 5.

Nova Annual #1 - Is the cover supposed to be a throwback to pulp novels? Everything looks too stiff for my tastes. I suppose I'm a sucker because I bought the Annual that's really just a continuation of the current storyline, but for an extra buck. But Nova's sales need to stay up, so I'll do my part. Rich is still trying to make it Kvch, but he seems to be hallucinating, seeing who he was around the time he became Nova, and who he might be in forty years or so. It's interesting to see Richard in high school, because he suffers as an outcast like Peter Parker did, but without the benefit of being a science genius. Rich was just sort of there, and this is relevant to his becoming Nova. It's certainly different from the Green Lanterns. That's kind of nifty. The future is interesting, if terribly depressing. Eventually we learn what's actually going on, Rich makes a temporary stand, and we're done.

Hmm. I'm ready for this transmode infection to be dealt with permanently. I liked the flashback, and the future scene worked in some ways, though not as well on the whole. I think it revealed some interesting things about Rich though, what he's like, what he wants. There were different art teams for each time period. Mahmud A. Asrar handled the flashback, which was bright and colorful, and felt more old-school for it. Wellinton Alves handled the future, which felt harsh and kind of cold (and he remembered to draw the scar Rich got from Annihilus. Thank you, Wellinton Alves!). Klebs drew the scene at the end, which is the present day. It feels like Michael Lark, or maybe Alex Maleev, one of the Daredevil artists. Very grimy, gritty, which I'm not sure works for a book like Nova, but it did all right for the scene. I would probably give this a 3 under normal circumstances, but because of the extra dollar cost, 2 out of 5.

Suicide Squad #6 - I came back because the Squad finally went on a mission. They plan to attack this company that has a nasty virus, and destroy them (and probably take the virus for themselves, 'cause you know, why not?) Former General Eiling has offered to help the stuffed suits, but they aren't interested. Until things start to go bad, then they become more receptive. The Squad could really be in it this time. Or not. I'm sure they've dealt with worse. I really like Waller remotely controlling Chemo (or is it a faux-Chemo?). It's the only way to get involved in a serious assault on a heavily fortified island lab! *thumbs up*

First major plus, less focus on Rick Flag. I just don't really care about him, unless Ostrander plans on having Batman beat him up again. I'd like to see that (Bats didn't appear in this issue, I'm just throwing it out there). Second major plus, that odd conversation between Windfall and Twister. Crazy, and probably terrifying if you were an Average Joe within earshot, but hilarious to read. Third, I'm curious about Plastique not remembering her previous service in the Squad. Is that par for the course? I really want to see how Waller and her boys turn this around, and I think I'll actually enjoy watching Flag confront his past, as long as there's punching involved. 3 out of 5.

X-Factor #28 - Does Rahne seem to have an unusually large backside on that cover? And why does the background look like non-objective charcoal drawings? Inside, Rahne leaves X-Factor to destroy her life, I mean join X-Force! Who came up with that idea? PAD tries to give an explanation, and it works, but I still can't figure why that's what she thinks is the best path. Actually, I just figured out why she might think that, it's depressing. Siryn and Monet talk about babies. Rictor tries to be a stand-up guy and gets beat up. Guido has more success at being a stand-up guy (I mean, standing up for what's right, not stand-up comedian). Jamie gets a little fed up, but not as much as I initially thought. The issue ends on a sad note, not that it was a barrel of laughs before that.

I liked it better than the Messiah CompleX issues. I guess I just need to resign myself to Rahne not being on the book. There's a lot set up for the future that sounds good, but not much within the issue itself, though the Monet/Rahne scene was hilarious. The pregnancy issue, Jamie's understandable instability, the issue of the "Pans" and the "Rems", and there's still that other duplicate. There's no inker listed for this issue, but there were two for #24, the last issue Raimondi drew. That might explain why the art looks a little different. I can't place the difference, but it feels like there are more shadows here than there were in the Isolationist story, so is that Raimondi inking himself, or Raimondi, or maybe colorist Jeromy Cox, compensating for the lack of inkers. Maybe it's nothing. I don't have #24 around to compare. 3 out of 5.

Elsewhere. . .

Overused Kirby Creation: You have been cornered, Idiotic Pink Guy. . . diagonally.
Idiotic Pink Guy: What? You told me we were playing chess!
Overused Kirby Creation: To confuse the rules of the game is a strategy in itself.
Idiotic Pink Guy: Curses!
OKC: You speak so poorly.
IPG: I know, I'm not sure where it comes from.
CalvinPitt: *door flies open* You have to aaaask?
OKC & IPG: What?!
CalvinPitt: That's right, while you diptwits were busy thinking you controlled me with your little board game, I was making you jump like coked up monkeys, for I have. . . trading cards! *draws Thanos card* Now. . . kick yourself in the butt!
OKC: Those cards control a different realm. You have no power here. Only I have power here.
CalvinPitt: Damn.

ZAP!