Sunday, September 07, 2008

Snap Judgments, "And We're Back!" Edition: Amazing Spider-Man, Buffy Season Eight, Secret Six and More

Short comic reviews based on initial, lizard-brain opinions. Arranged from BEST to WORST. Beware some potential spoilers.

HOO, that was one INTENSE labor day weekend! Also, we've been moving into a new Geekanerd HQ, and you know, these things take quite a bit out of you. And by you I mean us.

Amazing Spider-Man #570
gets an A from Albo
Good old fashioned comic-booking from Dan Slott and John Romita, Jr. Nothing's being reinvented here, no concepts of what a comic can be challenged... Just a great lookin' story about Spider dealing with two Venoms. Seeing Eddie Brock getting into action again sure is exciting, and hints about Menace's real "deal" and an imminent showdown with Bullseye guarantee I'll be hanging on until this story is up and Slott/JRJR get swapped out for a lesser team (no offense to the next team, I haven't actually looked up who it's going to be.)

Detective Comics #848 gets an A from AHR
I can't believe I'm so excited about a Hush "event" story, but Dini's made him such an engaging character. More pieces of his slightly Norman Batesy past come to light, and we finally get a chance to see him put that medical degree to some truly horrific use. Throw in a surprising link to one of Dini's rising star villians, and this is a serious page-turner with great art to boot.

Secret Six #1 gets a A- from AHR
I loved the last series of this title with a passion, and this issue promises to continue the fun. Great setup for a wacky roadtrip plotline, a new gross and awesome villian, and a Batman tie-in! All the pieces are here for a kickass run, though I personally was hoping for a few more hillarious scenes with between the six (or four, as the case may be.). Simone also nobly
tries to give some resolution to Knockout's clumsily handled death scene, though I wish more time could have been devoted to settling what was my favorite relationship in DC comics. Maybe more of that is coming. A girl can dream.

Buffy Season Eight #18 gets a B+ from AHR
Lesbian sex! Lesbian sex! All of these comics have lesbian sex! Not that I'm complaining. This is a really fun issue, and the future plotline gets more engaging as Buffy meets some sort of alternate version of herself. And of course we get a little more Dark Willow, and who doesn't love Dark Willow? Honestly. Next month's cover appears to be suitable for framing.

Sub-Mariner: The Depths #1 gets a B from Albo
Recasting Namor as mythological sea terror in an submarine horror story is a stroke of genius. The art from Esad Ribic is really something unique as well, giving a soft pastel cast to a dark tale. Could become a great series, we'll see about that second issue.

Fringe #1 gets a D from Albo
Bargh. What a schmuck I am. I see the word "Whedon" on the cover and I jump, thinking I'm snagging some underpublicized Joss Whedon-does-JJ Abrams brilliance. Instead it's not Joss but Zack that greets me with half of this dull rag. There are two stories here, both about mind-swapping. And... Well, yeah. It's a prequel for the show.

Marvel Apes #1 gets a D from Albo
Zombies these are not.

3 comments:

Lena said...

Glad you guys are back. I'm not sure how I feel about the Buffy arc though. Yeah, yeah, lesbians. Woo.

Spin the Moon said...

Zack Whedon. Errrr.
If only there was some way to tell those Whedon boys apart. Different colored shirts, maybe?

André Callot said...

I think they went a little overboard with the sweat on centaur Dawn's back during the chase scene.