On the Shelves: 5/9/07
Posted by: Guy LeCharles Gonzalez on May 8, 2007 at 10:32 pm
Reading is fundamental. Read what you like; don’t waste your time reading bad comics out of habit!
My weekly look at select comic books being released Wednesday, 5/9/07. The full shipping list, as always, is available at ComicList.
[NOTE: Not all of these titles will actually arrive in all stores. If your LCBS offers a pre-ordering service, be sure to take advantage of it. If not, find another one; or try Khepri.com or MidtownComics.com]
Okko: The Cycle of Water #3 (Archaia Studios Press)
ARCHAIA STUDIOS PRESS
Killer #4 (of 10), $3.95
Okko Cycle of Water #3 (of 4), $3.95
Secret History Book Two, $5.95
Do yourself a favor and tell your friendly local retailer to pull anything Archaia publishes for you. Mark Smylie and company have an eye for great comics, and a blind pull of their stuff is almost always a better guarantee of good reading than anything else on your pull list. Okko: The Cycle of Water is particularly good.
BOOM! STUDIOS
Cover Girl #1, $3.99
Two Guns Cvr A #2 (of 4), $3.99
ADVANCE REVIEW: Cover Girl is another of Boom!’s Hollywood pitch comics, the first issue of which limply translates to the opening 15-20 minutes of the intended movie. It’s promoted as “A Lethal Weapon and Rush Hour-style action comedy!” but lacks the energy of either of those films, opting instead for lame Hollywood cliches, bland characters, and humor that’s not nearly as clever as it thinks it is, as comics neophytes Andrew Cosby and Kevin Church’s co-scripting reads like a phoned-in Giffen/DeMatteis effort. R.M. Yankovicz’ art is serviceable, but light on details and personality, making the whole thing feel like a low-budget direct-to-video movie produced by a video store clerk who hit the lottery the week before. *** While Two Guns #1 offered another Hollywood-friendly premise — a clever spin on an undercover bank heist gone wrong — it did so with a meatier story as comics vet Steven Grant knows how to spin an entertaining yarn, developing character while building suspense and delivering a cliffhanger that demands you return for the next issue. If you like Criminal, but aren’t generally a big fan of noirish atmosphere, check Two Guns out.
DARK HORSE COMICS
Star Wars Legacy #11, $2.99
If you’re not reading this, you’re missing out on the best Star Wars story since the orginal trilogy.
DC COMICS
Countdown #51, $2.99
I used to think it was sad whenever there was a week where no DC or Marvel comics piqued my interest, but nowadays I’m surprised when there’s more than one or two that actually do. Somehow, seemingly when I wasn’t looking, I stopped being their target demographic. I feel sorry for anyone who’s a slave to continuity or a stubborn completist. It’s just not worth it.
DEVILS DUE PUBLISHING
GI Joe Dreadnoks Declassified Sauve Cover A #3 (of 3), $5.50
$5.50 for a spinoff featuring characters I know nothing about, and I’m buying it anyway. That DC comment above makes me a bit of a hypocrite, I guess!
HARPER COLLINS PUBLISHERS
Miki Falls Vol. 1 Spring GN, $7.99
I had no idea Harper Collins was publishing manga. Good for them!
MARVEL COMICS
Criminal Vol 1 Coward TPB, $14.99
Hulk And Power Pack #3 (of 4), $2.99
Immortal Iron Fist #5, $2.99
Seeing how they’re turning the first Criminal TPB around so fast, guess what ongoing series just got cut from my pull list and switched to trade-waiting status? *** Between the Hulk and Power Pack mini being so much fun, and World War Hulk getting off to a solid start, I guess I’m officially a Hulk fan for the first time ever! *** Immortal Iron Fist has been a fun read so far, but I’m having difficulty considering it essential reading and it may be headed to trade-waiting status, too. With Daredevil and Criminal already there, I’m thinking Brubaker’s knack for telling mutli-layered stories isn’t necessarily a strength when it comes to serial fiction. Imagine him on bi-monthly, 48-pages/issue series? That’d be killer!
TWOMORROWS PUBLISHING
Write Now #15, $6.95
Having no interest in 52 nor Abadazad, this is one of the weaker issues of one of my favorite comics-related magazines, but John Ostrander and Steven Grant offer up a couple of interesting columns that are worth reading.
VIPER COMICS
Lost Books of Eve #2, $3.25
I vaguely recall being pleasantly surprised by the first issue of this series, but it feels like it’s been a while and #2 is going to have to pique my interest all over again to get me to pick it up. More likely, I’ll check out the inevitable digest collection.
4 Responses to "On the Shelves: 5/9/07"
1 | Stuart
Two Guns was going along quite well until the final reveal that seemed weirdly unconvincing. For that sort of thing to pay off I really need to believe in it and the characters earlier actions sort of contradict who he turns out to be, I’m not sure if you know what I’m talking about but I don’t want to give away spoilers.
Although, I agree with you that Grant makes me want to come back to see what happens next. Hell, I’d be on for at least another issue just because it is actually Steven Grant.
I didn’t read Criminal first time round so i guess i’ll pick up the trade, but Immortal Iron Fist stays on my pull list until its canceled ’cause it’s ten kinds of awesome.
It’s interesting to see Okko get some love from the comic community. I thought the artwork was stunning, but the plot and characters were derivative. (Cross Berserk with anything from the Kazuo Koike canon and presto! you have Okko.) I strongly preferred Robotika, which I thought was more interesting and, frankly, original.
I do agree, however, that ASP puts out some smart-looking books. Mouse Guard, Robotika, and The Killer are all favorites of mine.
@Stuart: The reveal was a bit left field, but it’ll be the follow-up that convinces me whether it worked or not. Criminal is a good read, but it’s not quite as great as the hype might lead you to believe. It’s solid Brubaker, though, so if you’re a fan of his, it’s worth picking up. And yeah, Iron Fist has been good so far, but I kind of doubt it can sustain its initial level of goodness past the first arc or two.
@Katherine: Okko may have some derivative elements — and honestly, what comic doesn’t these days? — but its execution has been solid so far, and the art, as you noted, is amazing. I loved Robotika, too, and almost made a reference to it but thought the connection was more in my own head than would be obvious to others. I’ll have to look into Berserk and Koike, though, as I’m unfamiliar with both. Thanks!
PS: Plok has a great review of ASP’s Artesia where he talks about the derivative elements of the work, and explains why it works for him because of, not in spite of them. Good reading.
4 | plok
Thanks, Guy…I also loved Okko! In fact I preferred it to Artesia. But, yeah, the same thing applies…I wasn’t hoping that Okko would have a completely original setting, completely novel character-types, etc., rather I was hoping it would be an intelligent, engaging, well-written Japanese ghost story/fantasy archipelago quest. And, it is!
Full disclosure: I didn’t like Robotika so much. Its derivative nature aggravated me a little more than Okko’s, or even (and I know this sounds insane, I really do) Artesia.
