Monday, July 16, 2012

What I Bought 7/13/2012 - Part 1

Yes, I stopped by the comic store on Friday. It's only about 2 weeks worth of books, so this'll only be two parts. Let's get to it shall we, I'm kind of working against a deadline here.
Angel & Faith #11, by Christos Gage (script), Rebekah Isaacs (art), Dan Jackson (colors), Richard Starkings and Jimmy Betancourt (letters) - I didn't have time to find a picture of the Isaacs cover, but grumpy Angel is very amusing. Actually, he smiles quite a bit in this issue. It's disconcerting how much I enjoyed seeing him smile. Change of pace from brooding I suppose.

Willow thinks Angel's plan to resurrect Giles is stupid and self-serving. Angel thinks the same of Willow's plan to use Conner to reach Quor'toth and reintriduce magic to Earth. Naturally they agree to help each other in their stupid quests, Conner agrees to help, and Faith isn't forceful or certain enough to get anyone to listen to her. I think bludgeoning would help. At least my fears that Willow would be rude to Faith were unfounded, and Gunn showed up. I like Gunn.

Self-deluded fools must be endless entertainnment for higher beings. Us, in this case. Still, this will obviously end in disaster, as everything Willow attempts does. I really enjoyed the body language Isaacs gave Angel in his dorky hoody. Maybe that was just because of all the sun, but I prefer to think he was out of his fashion element, like me in a tux.

Rocketeer Adventures 2 #4 by, Louise Simonson (story), Walter Simonson (art), Bob Waicek (inks), Jordie Bellaire (colors), John Workman (letters) for "War Hero"; David Mandel (story), J Bone (art & colors), Shawn Lee (letters) for "Cliff Secord, Warlord of Blargon"; John Byrne (story & art), J Bone (colors), Neil Uyetake (letters) for "Fair Game" -  So what did we get this month? The Simonsons present Cliff with a dilemma of how to best serve his country while simultaneously helping a war bond drive and stopping a German bomber from attacking D.C.

Mandel and J Bone send Cliff to another world where he misunderstands everything and the people are glad to be rid of him. Considering they were planning to eat him, I don't feel too bad he blew up their hospital and public school by mistake. Remember kids, when you find an injured stranger, send them right back where they came from!

John Byrne has Cliff save the King and Queen of England from an irate Irishman. Very irate, judging by the amount of explosives he had. And in all three cases, Cliff gets Betty angry at him, though it was hardly his fault he got zapped to another world. As for the rest, I think he knows he outkicked his coverage with Betty, and the fear that she'll "wise up" one day makes him too pushy. That and he's just a hothead with a mouth that's much faster than his brain.

Defenders #8 by, Matt Fraction (writer), Jamie McKelvie w/Mike Norton (artists), Domma Aymara (colorist), Clayton Cowles (letters) - Remember during last week's Atomic Robo reviews, I said I'd been too hard on Fraction about John Aman? Forget it. He's veering into Red Hulk territory these days.

The Silver Surfer was the only thing that kept Aman from wiping the floor with the entire team. Decause Dr. Strange can't handle a guy who turns into mist, obviously. Oh, and T'Challa died last issue. I thought he just passed out from his injuries, but no, Aman/Fraction killed him off like a punk. Ted Kord got a better death. Also, can you call it going to war when there's exactly one person living in the country you're attacking, because apparently Aman killed everyone else. Then, when all the frogs are brought together, it's a Concordance Engine in disguise, and Aman sends the Defenders somewhere. Hopefully somewhere he isn't. Aman's absence would improve the book greatly.

Though Jamie McKelvie and Mike Norton's art don't hurt either. I don't know which of them to credit for what, but they do nice work. Very clean lines, the action's well represented, though there did seem to be a bit of a snafu with Felicia and the Satan's Claw. She's wearing it, then she's getting ready to put it on because she thinks she's about to be attacked (which she was). And that was a very neat boneyard, but I suppose Aman has to do something to pass the time. Hopefully, they get to draw something other than him in subsequent issues.

Tomorrow, nothing but DC books. I don't think things will end on any more of a positive note, but there'll be some happy comments in there.

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