Snap Judgments: Reviews for Trinity #1, Ultimate Origins #1, Buffy #15 and More

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

Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 8 #15 gets an A from AHR
Oh noes! Here endeth the Buffy/Satsu storyline, aka the ship that launched a thousand fics. I'll certainly miss the lesbian jokes, but this issue wraps up with excellent action sequences, heartwarming and heartwrenching drama, and a satisfying resolution that still opens up a few doors. Also lots of lesbian jokes.

Detective Comics #845 gets an A from AHR
Too much fun. Batman and Detective Chimp sitting at their computers IMing each other may top out some people's tolerance for silliness, but i found it delightful.

Reviews for H.P. Lovecraft's Haunt of Horrors #1, Omega: The Unknown #9, Secret Invasion #3, Trinity #1, Ultimate Origins #1 and House of Mystery #2 after the jump...

H.P. Lovecraft's Haunt of Horrors #1 gets an A from Albo
Kind of a weird idea. Celebrated underground artist Richard Corben does graphic adaptations (and expansions) of H.P. Lovecraft short stories and poems, and includes the original source text after each story. This works really well when the source is a vague poem that he has built an interesting narrative around, but when the source is a short story with more evocative imagery than the adaptation, things become a little less satisfying. He did the same thing with Poe, but I haven't gotten the chance to read those. All told, a cool experiment and a welcome serving of Corben's unique art.

Omega: The Unknown #9 gets a B from Albo
This book is so consistently good that for some reason it hardly excites me anymore. That sounds cynical, right? But I'm sitting here flipping through it and thinking "that's great, that's great, that's good too" but I know that when I was reading it I was a little bored. What's the deal? Well, in my heart I know this is a classic story that I'll be re-reading for years to come. The end is near!

Secret Invasion #3 gets a B from Albo
Ho hum. Very skeletal storytelling. Feels like an outline for tie-in issues to elaborate on, a very Marvel storytelling method I strongly disapprove of. Yu's art is still amazing, though, and the confrontation between Skrullica Drew and Tony Stark is pretty exciting though I'm pretty sure it's just some Skrullian mind games.

Trinity #1 gets an A+F=C+ from AHR
Wow. The first half of this book, in which Bruce, Diana, and Clark meet up for lunch and talk about a spooky dream they had, is awesome. I love any time attention is drawn to how insane Batman's "Bruce Wayne" persona is, and here Wondy actually calls him on it. But the second part of this book is a droning mish-mash of expository detritus featuring characters and situations that I have zero interest in, and after spending a fun lunch with my oldest DC pals I have no desire to jump into a red and green space land full of proselytizing god/alien creatures. Perhaps the writers are trying to set up two bands of alien/god creatures, since that description extends to the titular trinity, with the intention of showing us how much more interesting the group who act like humans are. These two very segmented stories are perfect examples of what I love and hate about DC.

Ultimate Origins #1 gets a C from Albo
There's nothing outright bad about the first issue of this major Ultimate event, but it just doesn't make enough of a statement right off the bat to justify its existence. You can hardly blame Bendis, though. I mean, how many universes can he be expected to turn upside down at once?

House of Mystery #2 gets a C- from AHR
Bleh. Reads like second rate Neil Gaiman, with really self-conscious and over-stated fantastical dialogue. It's brightened up by some fun touches (lady pirate bouncer) and a few pages of Jill Thompson's moody cartoon art, but what a let down after such a gripping and disturbing first issue.

Panel Discussion: Scans from Secret Invasion #1, Detective Comics #843, Buffy #10 and More

Every week Geekanerd brings you the best, worst and weirdest panels from our week in comics. If you didn't read your books, there will be giant SPOILERS. Click the images for high res action!

Best Moves - Detective Comics #843

AHR: Zatanna kicks ass in this issue. So she's hanging out with Bruce at a party, and someone asks if they're an item, and he's all, "NO WAI!" And she's like, "O RLY?"
Man, how are you going to be that cavalier about asking out Batman? Do the words severe dissociative disorder mean anything to her? But seriously, Dini's run on Detective has featured a lot of great work on recovering relationship between these two, so I buy it. And there's a nice visual touch in the first panel - instead of asking Bruce to hand her a glass of water, she levitates it over to herself. Pretty cool customer.

More Zatanna, plus a racist vampire, an awesome comic cover and more after the jump!

Best Comeback - Zatanna, Detective Comics #843
AHR: This is just a good line any time someone tries to stick you with a label. I'm gonna remember it. Although it probably doesn't pack as much of a punch if one of the other things you are isn't a magician who can zap people's brains if she feels like it.

Coolest Development - Secret Invasion #1
Albo: The only interesting thing that really happened in the first issue of Marvel's newest big event was this panel--a Skrull ship crash lands on Earth, and when Luke Cage pries it open a bunch of throwback heroes flow out saying things like "At last we're back!" Are they Skrulls? Are they the real deal and their counterparts the Skrulls? Or are they time-displaced heroes destined to team up with their current time counterparts against a massive Skrullian menace? Who the heck knows, but I can't wait to find out. (Ooh, I hope they're the real deal)

Best Acting - Xander and Renee, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8: #10

AHR: When Xander and his slayer GF Renee go to visit Dracula, it quickly devolves into a melange of awkwardness. Dracula calls Renee a "moor", which is what they're reacting to in this first panel. Wonderful facial expressions here, also great nervous hand gesture from Xander.
Before long Xander is back under Dracula's ledgendary thrall, as Renee facepalms...This next panel is the height of comedy as far as I'm concerned...
Xander's blithe expression and Renee's goggle-eyed take are absolutely perfect.

And much later, as Dracula learns of some Japanese vamps stealing his powers...
Facepalm again! I love when artists use dot-eyes for really silly gags. Let's hear it for Georges Jeanty!

Sweetest Cover - Omega: The Unknown #7
Albo: Gary Panter really comes through in his artist guest spot, not only contributing a sweet ass comic within a comic but also the best cover of the series... Or any series in recent memory, for that matter.

Most Horrific Plot Development - The Walking Dead #48
AHR: For all the hemming and hawing over at Marvel about how Secret Invasion "CHANGES EVERYTHING", the developments of Walking Dead #48 make all the stuff at Marvel seem like small potatoes. For the last several years, The Walking Dead has been a story about a band of families, lovers and strangers, forced together by the need to survive. After this issue, in which about half of the cast dies including the hero's wife and new baby, I have to believe much of the rest of this book is going to be about grief.

Most Effective Small Talk Killer - American Splendor #1
Albo: Can't say the guy's off base. If anyone needs a little perspective it's Harvey Pekar.

Weekanerd Recession Edition: Free Booze, Ice Cream, Art and Anime

Friday, April 4

• The Star Street Screenings: Film, Free Beer
• $5, 8:30 @ Starr Street Space, 108 Starr Street, Brooklyn

Want to know what makes a good night out? Polish silent films from the 1920s with live brass band accompaniment. Want to know what makes a great night? Free Newcastle beer. Want to know what makes the greatest night of your life? FREE ICE CREAM. Holy shit.

More cheapanerd happenings after the jump...

Saturday, April 5

• Japanimated! Arts and Culture of Japan
  
• FREE! 5-11pm @ The Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn
  

There's a crapload of programming going on at this event that's all about celebrating that "Japanese culture" skinny white guys talk about loving so much. There's a cosplay photo contest, a screening of Miyazaki's fantastic Kiki's Delivery Service, art lessons, rock music, a dance party... There isn't much that isn't happening tonight at the Brooklyn Museum, and it's all free thanks to corporate sponsor Target.

Sunday, April 6

• Gary Panter Exhibition
  
• FREE! April 4-May 10 @ Clementine Gallery, 623 W. 27th St, Manhattan
  

Did you enjoy Panter's guest art duties on Omega: The Unknown as much as we did? Well show up to the man's solo show and see what else he's capable of. For instance, did you know he was the head set designer for the surreal Pee Wee's Playhouse? Actually, I bet if you show up at the opening Friday night he'll probably be wandering about (not to mention there'll probably be free booze). Just let me know how loud he chuckles when you ask him to sign your Marvel funny book at his art opening.

Snap Judgments: Quickie Comic Reviews for April 2, 2008

Short comic reviews based on initial, lizard-brain opinions. There are probably some spoilers herein. Arranged from BEST to WORST.

American Splendor #1: B
New home at Vertigo, same old book. This ish has eight stories, some better than others (the David Lapham-illustrated lead story about a visiting "fan" stands out) and featured without ads. Yay! - Albo

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #13: B
High on situational comedy, low on plot progression, lol racism. -AHR

Omega: The Unknown #7: B from Albo, B- from AHR
While perhaps not quite as tight as last issue, in general this book just keeps getting better. The intro comic "drawn" by the titular hero is extremely cool and I really wish I didn't have to wait for the last three issues because I'm really pumped to see what happens next. -Albo

Issue includes a beautiful comic-within-a-comic sequence by Gary Panter, a very funny scene about movie theater etiquette, and some unsatisfyingly rapid plot development in the last few pages. It lacks the hypnotically smooth story progression of past installments, and feels like an issue without a theme. -AHR

Reviews for The Walking Dead #48, Secret Invasion #1 and Kick-Ass #2 after the jump!

The Walking Dead #48: B-
We finally get to the action Kirkman has been promising for months, and though the events certainly shake up the long stabilized status quo, the extremity of what happens left me more stupefied than upset. Probably wouldn't be an issue if I was reading this in a trade, but as it is this issue feels like an story experiment and not a chapter of a larger whole. -AHR

Secret Invasion #1: C
Ho hum beginning to this year's Mega Marvel Event. There's a good twist near the end that I really hope turns out to be legit, because it would make the oncoming story much more interesting than the big fistfight I fear it's going to become. -Albo

Kick-Ass #2: D from AHR, D from Albo
I wish the main character actually had died in the first issue. That would have been some realistic (and nihilistic) shit. Instead, mere months after being stabbed, beaten and hit by a car, not only is this skinny nerd eating non-tube-based meals, he is trashing four gigantic gang members and winning over the criminally depraved inhabitants of the ghetto (lol racism). You can ultra-violent it up as much as you want, it's not hardcore unless there are consequences. -AHR

I told a lot of people about this book after thoroughly enjoying the first issue, and now I have egg on my face and it makes me angry. This issue was boring as all hell: the first half is all about our hero sitting in a hospital bed and the second half ditches the "realism" that I so enjoyed about the first issue and has our hero kicking the crap out of a group of beefy hoodlums. This is a skinny kid that's never had any fight training, mind you. But even without the realism problem, this book has already jumped the shark in terms of writing quality. There wasn't a single satisfying moment to be found within these pages. -Albo

Weekanerd NYC: Awesome Comics, Swag and Free Passes, and Dr. Zaius

Monday, March 31

Planet of the Apes
Various showtimes @ Ziegfeld Theatre, 141 West 54th Street, Manhattan

Sure, you could see the original movie, or you can just watch the video below, a screen adaptation of Stop The Planet of the Apes: I Want To Get Off...

The Ruins preview, Jonathan Lethem talks Omega, and crazy comic strip brilliance, after the jump...

Tuesday, April 1

• The Ruins Promotion
  
• 6pm @ Off the Wagon, 109 MacDougal St, Manhattan
  

The Ruins has a terrible poster. You'd think in this, the age of amputation pron, they could come up with a slightly creepier image than a person with leaves and twigs on their neck. Of course a bad ad campaign doesn't necessarily correlate to a bad film - April Fools! It almost always does. But seriously, from 6 - 8, there will be Ruins swag and free screening passes for a preview on April 3rd. Although the most worthwhile thing you will likely get out of the evening is the drink special; $2 Margaritas!

Wednesday, April 2

• An Omega the Unknown: Evening With Jonathan Lethem, Farel Dalrymple, Karl Rusnak, Gary Panter & Paul Hornschemeier
  
• 7pm @ Rocketship, 208 Smith Street, Brooklyn
  

If any comic on the stands deserves a Q&A it's this one; perhaps the creative team will help to decode a bit of the symbolism and straight-faced absurdity that characterizes this book. The talk starts at 7pm, with signing to follow, so bring yer books!

Thursday, April 3

• Ben Katchor: Reading With Projections
  
• 7pm @ Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House, 58 West 10th Street, Manhattan
  

I was really excited when I saw this. Ben Katchor writes comics that get published in a number of places, including a San Francisco free weekly paper that I used to read. I LOVED reading his comic, but looking at his website, I have no idea which of his many comics I was reading- they all seem to be about hotels in one form or another. That may not sound exciting, but trust me, they're absurd and hilarious and the artwork is stunning. If you need to be convinced, check out this episode of Hotel and Farm about sleeping on beds of lettuce.

Panel Discussion: Scans from Omega, Detective Comics, Ultimate Human and More

Every week we at Geekanerd rip panels from our comics and put them on display here, recognizing the best, worst, and weirdest moments of the week. Click the pics for high res goodness, and beware SPOILERS.

Superheroes Are Dicks - Omega: The Unknown #4
Yeah, that's a bald eagle. To be fair, he looks a little ashamed in panel three.

Indiana Batman, Wrestling Buddies and Gorgeous Art after the jump...

Movie Moment - Detective Comics #840"So do you, Detective!"

Fun With Archetypes - Countdown to Mystery #4
In this well drawn but supremely depressing story, the new Doctor Fate meets the kind of beautiful, charming, available comic book artist girl who are always showing up in comics. She has a lifesize standup of her most famous character, who is such an apt amalgamation of scary-tough-guy-in-overcoat characters, I had to pause to figure out if he was a real character.

Wrestling Buddy Alert - Ultimate Human #1Some of you born at such a time that you missed the brief window of time when little boys and tomboys could buy dolls to wrestle with may have been puzzled by the few panels in Ultimate Human where an unexplained mini Iron Man is passed between Banner and Stark. Those of you who once had such a Wrestling Buddy, however, totally knew what was going on and no doubt shed a tear as the memories came flooding back. On a side note, never do a Google image search for "wrestling buddy" with SafeSearch turned off.

Prettiest Panel - Teen Titans: Year One #1
Aquaman makes poor Aqualad feel pretty bad for spazzing out upon seeing this glorious beast. I think silent awe is more appropriate.

Everything You Wanted to Know About the Incredible Hulk But Were Afraid to Ask - Ultimate Human #1You heard the man. During transformation, the Hulk grows new internal organs. God bless the Ultimate Universe. Except Ultimates 3 which is some awful awful crap.

Beatdown of the Week - Gravel #0
Despite looking like some shit I drew in fifth grade, the knife through the face is a brutal move you just don't see too often.

Panel Discussion: The Week in Comic Book Scans

Every week Geekanerd brings you the best, worst and weirdest panels from the week's comics. There will be SPOILERS. Be sure to click these puppies for high res action!

Splashiest Super-Villain - Dr. T.O Morrow, Metal Men #3
After a relaxing vacation on Oolong Island, Dr. T.O Morrow is well rested and back in top mad scientist form, using the Metal Men to create monstrous new creatures. From the George Perez style oval belt to the twisty mustache, this splash panel does it up old school. This scene continues in this spirit, with Morrow's dialogue including lines like "You're no match for my death metal men!". Chocolate covered kudos to writer/artist Duncan Rouleau for reminding us jaded post-modern comic fans how much fun a good maniacal super villain can be.

Parental robots, burning gamblers and bodily fluids after the jump!

Worst Superpower Byproducts - Puke, Piss and Poop, The Vinyl Underground #1
This is Perv. Perv is a psychic. Unfortunately, his visions come along with an unfortunate side-effect: He pukes, pisses and shits himself while thrashing uncontrollably. Ggk.

Best Fake Old-Timey Comics - Welcome to Tranquility #11
Even if this intentionally bad copy is a little broad ("It's fun to stay alive!") and the the time-period is a bit hazy (The clothing says 30s, but the art looks closer to the 70s) these fake-vintage comics regularly featured in Welcome to Tranquility are fun and do their job of demonstrating what the Tranquility's over-the-hill heroes were like in their glory days. What really sold me on this one was the simulated coffee stain and water damage - be sure to click the image for higher res.

Shocking Teen Trauma - Alexander Discovers His Parents are Robots, Omega: The Unknown #1
As if having his mom decapitated in a car crash wasn't bad enough, poor Alexander now has to try to understand what it means that his parents were robots.

Best Visual Payoff - Parade (With Fireworks) #2
Hey, remember this panel, "Most Self-Satisfied Kid"? In the second and final part of Parade With Fireworks, we revisit that image and see the character after his life has been ruined by a personal betrayal and an increasingly fascistic government. Besides the overt symmetry of the panels, there are some subtle touches - the bright jug of water in the earlier image has been replaced by a sinister jug of liquor, a tombstone can now be seen in the window, and the comically grandiose cigar is now a simple cigarette. Great art, great storytelling.

Toughest House Rule- Burning at the Man-Thing's Touch, Howard the Duck #1Howard is dreaming about Monster Poker again, which has the hardcore house rule: "Whoever folds their hand... Burns at the Man-Thing's touch! WAAUGH!" Dem are some high stakes.

Snap Judgments: Omega: The Unknown #1, Metal Men #3, Howard The Duck #1, Detective #837

Geekanerd's Snap Judgments gives you Triple-S comic reviews: short, sweet, and spoiler-free.

Omega: The Unknown #1 (of 10)
Gets a A- from Albo
This ten issue miniseries is a retelling of a 70s series which was cut short due to slow sales. From the beginning of the plot synopsis I read on Wikipedia it appears writer Jonathan Lethem (novelist, MacArthur Fellowship recipient, first time comics writer) is sticking pretty tight to that original story. What we have is Omega, a traveler from another world who apparently has crash landed on earth and Alexander, a precocious young boy who learns something very shocking about his parents before lapsing into a coma. The two characters are clearly linked (though to go into how might violate our spoiler rule), but it isn't exactly explained how. Is Omega a dream of Alexander's? Is Alexander a dream of Omega's? The storytelling is deep and sometimes dips into Allred-esque absurdity, but the emotional core of the story is quite grounded. So far. Farel Dalrymple (Pop Gun War) produces art that's a little crude but fits the mood of the story so well it can't be considered a detriment. Anyway, it's a very fresh and original (it's a remake, I know I know) book and I'll definitely be sticking around to see where this goes.

Metal Men, two takes on Howard the Duck, and Detective after the jump...

Metal Men #3

Gets an A+ From AHR
Wow, this was great. The last two issues of this series certainly looked amazing, but the tech talk and ancient alchemy plot-lines seemed needlessly inaccessible, and very separate from the fun and engaging sequences featuring the present-day Metal Men and the flashback storyline concerning Dr. Magnus' early career. But it all comes together here, with a dynamite opening scene in which we find Dr. T.O Morrow having gone from his most recent incarnation in 52, as a cocktail sipping eccentric, back to a full blown mad scientist supervillian, complete with a Snidely Whiplash Mustache and army of "Death Metal Men". All of the elemental explanation about how these radioactive doppelgangers came into existence is easily understood and hugely satisfying; this is a rare book where instead of patiently waiting for the exposition to be over with, I couldn't wait to see what new piece of the puzzle the next page would reveal. Throw in some more sweet 'n' sad relationship drama, a great cliffhanger, and Metal Men has become my new most anticipated book of next month.

Howard the Duck #1 (of 4)
Gets a C+ from Albo
There's not really anything bad about this book. The writing by Ty Templeton (Bigg Time) isn't bad, the art team of Juan Bobillo, Marcelo Sosa and Nestor Pereyra puts some pretty pages together, but... Maybe it's just me, but when you pull a poor-selling third string character with a weak history out of the archives for their own series, you better have a reason. Not even really a good reason, just any reason. The first issue should be a mission statement as to what's different, why it's going to work this time. This book doesn't do that. It's just a straight-forward silly Howard the Duck tale. Fans will likely love it, but if you've never known why you should care about Howard, this isn't the book to convince you.

...but gets a SOLID A From AHR
I picked this up because I loved Ty Templeton's work on Batman Adventures, a series of one-shot stories set in the BTAS universe that shockingly managed to capture the same wit and heart of the series. I've never read a Howard the Duck comic, never saw the much maligned film, and really had no clue what Howard's role in the Marvel Universe is. I still don't, but one thing that comes across in this story is Howard's personality. This issue paints him as dryer-than-toast cynic, with few illusions about the superheroic world he lives in. I was hooked after a panel in which Howard switches off a political radio show with a yawn; "Yadda yadda, Stark is bad, Cap was good...next!" The ish is packed with plot-lines and various hapless human characters, but ends up being largely following Howard as he's chased around the city by quantum physicist duck hunters, who note "We're scientists. We don't know the first thing about ethics." Fun from start to finish.

Detective Comics #837
Gets a B+ From AHR
The featured detective in this story isn't Batman, but the other greatest detective in Gotham: The Riddler (sorry Renee). Now working on the right side of the law as a PI, Eddie is hired by a certain playboy industrialist to investigate some disappearing lab samples. The trail leads to the Athenian Women's Shelter, where Countdown readers know Harley Quinn currently resides. Much of the issue is just a framework for these two re-formed Akhamites to catch-up and drop some hints about what's going on in DCU continuity, Paul Dini being currently in charge of that kinda stuff. It's a good issue for Harley fans, who's character isn't diminished by being reformed since she was never particularly evil to begin with. But Riddler fans (do those exist?) may be disappointed by how little detecting he does. And dumb nerds like me will choke on the idea of Bruce outsourcing his detective work to the Riddler, but as I should have known, he's got his reasons. Sorry for the lapse in trust, Bats.