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RANT: Dave's Capsules for February 2012 [message #96475] Sat, 25 February 2012 13:39 Go to next message
Dave Van Domelen is currently offline  Dave Van Domelen
Messages: 38
Registered: January 2011
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Dave's Unspoilt Capsules and Awards
Intermittent Picks and Pans, plus Awards of Dubious Merit

Standard Disclaimers: Please set appropriate followups. Recommendation does
not factor in price. Not all books will have arrived in your area this week.
An archive can be found on my homepage, http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/Rants
Ah, the awkward doldrums period in hiring for physics positions.

Items of Note (strongly recommended or otherwise worthy): None


"Other Media" Capsules:

Things that are comics-related but not necessarily comics (i.e.
comics-based movies like Iron Man or Hulk), or that aren't going to be
available via comic shops (like comic pack-ins with DVDs) will go in this
section when I have any to mention. They may not be as timely as comic
reviews, especially if I decide to review novels that take me a week or two
(or ten) to get around to.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance: Marvel/Lions Gate - Or, as I think of
it, "Spirit of Raimi". Sure, the Raimi brothers don't have their names
anywhere in the credits, but this movie is essentially a big budget homage to
their body of works (and those like them, such as Full Moon). I watched Army
of Darkness on DVD a few days before seeing GR:SoV, and Nic Cage's new movie
is very much in the spirit of that Bruce Campbell movie. Just with a lot
more money. It's even shot mostly in Romania, it uses the "Wilhelm" scream,
it has Christopher Lambert's character try to behead someone with a sword,
and there's a sequence that has to be a direct homage to a similar one in
Army of Darkness. If you go into this movie with the Raimi homage aspect in
mind, it's pretty enjoyable. Oh, not everything worked. The flash-
animation-ish sequences that crop up every so often for flashbacks are pretty
weak, and every so often the director shies away from selling a gag fully
which leaves the movie hanging between camp and serious...always an awkward
place to be. But then you'll be watching the villain whose touch rots all
organic matter successfully eat a Twinkie without rotting it, and it's back
in the zone. Recommended with the caveat that it is good "badfilm" and not
actually a good movie per se. Oh, and I saw it in 2D, although 3D horror has
its own fromage to homage, I presume.


Digital Content:

Unless I find a really compelling reason to do so, I won't be turning
this into a webcomic review column. Rather, stuff in this section will be
full books available for reading online or for download, usually for pay. I
will often be reading these things on my iPod if it's at all possible.

Turns out my problems with the Comixology app were due to my the iTunes
store being progressively more wonky as I tried to change the email
associated with the account and was not told in the system that this was
impossible (my attempts spawned a second account without TELLING me it was a
second account). And then, because doing things without telling me seems to
be par for the iCourse, the iTunes store started rejecting my credit card in
general without saying why. It was because my card was stolen via the
Transformers Collectors' Club, and it took a few days for me to figure it out
(since the card somehow failed to contact me and I got a letter in the
snailmail a few days after I figured it out).
Anyway, now it's all sorted out, the card I switched to isn't having any
trouble buying via Comixology.

Transformers: Autocracy #2 (of 12): IDW - In a series where it's pretty
clear everyone is a dick, Zeta Prime comes on screen to demonstrate that his
techspec reads "DCK 10+". Most of this 8 page installment focuses on Zeta
Prime talking to the Autobot council (with Starscream around for reasons that
are poorly explained...he doesn't seem to actually be ON the council right
now, but neither is he openly a Decepticon yet, so this is probably yet
another thing I'm expected to know from the comics I didn't read). There's a
few bits with Orion Pax demonstrating a DCK 10 score and otherwise showing
how horrible the Autobots were back then.
Way back when, before I was online to do reviews, I once criticized
Robinson's "Golden Age" DC series on the grounds that it was one thing to
give heroes feet of clay, but Robinson was giving them entire bodies of
clay. That's what IDW seems determined to do in their historicals, not just
give the Decepticons a plausible reason for rebelling, but make them look
like idiots for not doing so sooner.
Still witholding judgement on the overall recommendation until I've read
#3, since that's really the end of the first issue. 99 cents at Comixology.

Transformers: Autocracy #3 (of 12): IDW - Okay, I got #3. The title of
this chapter is "The Hunt for Soundwave," but it could just as well have been
called "The Toy Ad for Soundwave" given the pacing of the chase scene and
resulting short fights. Some of the designs are a bit odd, in that they look
like Earth modes rather than Cybertronian, but since we don't get a clear
shot of any of the Recordicons' storage modes at least the artist doesn't
have to worry about making them look like cassette tapes.
So, how do the first three chapters hang together as a single issue?
Reasonably well. Orion Pax's unpleasant situation is established, along with
his penchant for solving problems via violence. We see he serves a corrupt
system, and then he runs into a problem that may be too big to punch into
submission. Decent opening, although I get the feeling that 9 more chapters
won't be enough to resolve much...at best, all 12 together will form a decent
"part 1" to a story, rather than being a story in and of themselves. Mildly
recommended. 99 cents at Comixology.
In any case, I'm not going to be buying more issues of this.

Justice League Beyond #1-2: DC - While the day-and-date digital cost of
99 cents demonstrates that this series is digital-first, it's not
digital-only, with a collected edition print version coming out later on.
According to Comixology, each issue is 22 pages, although it's hard to be
sure when reading on the iPod/iPhone app panel-by-panel. The cover is
definitely designed for digital presentation in landscape mode, and I
wouldn't be surprised if the hardcopy version stacks the covers of the
included installments for either its cover or title page.
Regardless of whether each digital issue is meant to contain the content
of a regular $2.99 physical issue, though, is suffers pretty badly from
decompression. #1 is a fight scene, starting out between two of Gotham's
gangs (clowns and splicers) and then bringing in the JLU. Unfortunately, for
all the information we get about the characters, an old-fashioned one-page
team shot with captions would have gotten as much across. And worse, while
the solicitation material I could find states that Batman joins the JLU in
this issue, he actually joined off-screen before the story started (perhaps
in one of the other Beyond-verse comics I haven't read).
#2 isn't a big improvement. The fight wraps up, some supporting cast
are brought in, and then it's finally time to finish the opening credits
sequence (that's essentially what the story so far has been) and move on to
the actual plot of the arc. There's no hint that the issue-and-a-bit fight
scene just concluded will have anything to do with the main story, a serious
case of writing for the trade paperback. (A good comparison would be how a
lot of James Bond movies start with a vignette in whcih Bond faces some
threat totally unrelated to the main movie, wraps it up, roll opening
credits. But in movies you pay your money up front for the whole thing.)
The scripting by Dustin Ngyuen is decent enough I'll give it a few more
installments, but you could probably skip #1 entirely without affecting
understanding or appreciation of the main story. Even if it's revealed to
tie in to the main plot, the bit of the opening fight that wraps up in #2 is
enough to establish what needs establishing.
Mildly recommended, 99 cents an issue at Comixology.

Love and Capes Valentine's Day: IDW/The Mary Sue - A free six-page sotry
(plus cover and co-sell ads) at http://www.themarysue.com/valentinesandcapes
for free, at least for now. It's a nice little vignette putting the romantic
shoe on the other foot, now that the title's Batman-analogue and Wonder
Woman-analogue are dating...when you and your partner are both fabulously
wealthy and very self-actualized, what do you get each other for Valentine's
Day? Recommended. Free.


Trades:

Trade paperbacks, collections, graphic novels, pocket manga, whatever.
If it's bigger than a "floppy" it goes here.

Bone Quest for the Spark Book 2: Scholastic - This book is very much a
middle-of-the-story piece. Roughly the first half is devoted to escaping
from pursuers, then the second half involves seeking another piece of the
Shikon...er, the Spark. And there are giant bees involved. It's a decent
read, but not as compelling as Book 1. Recommended. $10.99


Floppies:

If I actually pick up some monthly issues, they'll go here. Given my
reluctance to put money in Diamond's hands, though, these would likely only
be review copies or stuff found in oddball places. And no, I don't have any
particular disdain for the monthlies, but they *are* floppy, yes? And like
floppy disks they may be a doomed format.

Transformers Collectors' Club Magazine #43: FanPro - Not a comic per se,
or even readily accessible unless you pony up forty bucks for membership
(buying individual issues as a non-member is more expensive than just
joining). But there's a short comic in each issue, as well as some strips.
Given how online news sources outpace print these days, the magazine is
definitely better served by focusing on original fiction, since it's easier
to gate access to that and demonstrate harm caused by violation of
copyright.
The first several pages of the issue are dominated by interviews, one
with a Hasbro employee (I didn't read that one, I generally don't like
reading interviews) and the other with LeVar Burton, voice of Doc Greene in
the new Transformers: Rescue Bots show.
The main comic tells the story of the invasion of Autobot City in 2005
from the perspective of the new Generations timeline, in which Devastator got
driven off by Ultra Magnus and a bunch of Autobots who weren't present in the
original movie at the time. It turns out to be a tale told by an idiot,
well, TWO idiots (Runabout...er, Overrun and Runamuck) to the Jetstorm-redeco
Jhiaxus, explaining why they were notably absent from Decepticon dealings in
recent years. Two sets of creators worked on this (one for the 2005
sequence, one for the 2012 pages), and it's...okay. All it really succeeds
in doing is making the retold events of the 2005 attack seem insignificant
and mundane.
There's G1-style and AllSpark Almanac-style bio entries next (G1 style
for Ultra Magnus and Runamuck, AA style for a trio of redeco femmes), a fake
ad for a TFA Rosanna concert, and then strips and trivia on the back page.
David Willis's Recordicons demonstrates that while Shattered Glass Ravage may
be pretty easygoing, even he has a line you better not cross.

This month's Marvel Adventures Super-Heroes didn't interest me, and I
haven't seen a hardcopy of Young Justice #13 (I might get the digital if I
can't find the hardcopy after a few more weeks).

Dave Van Domelen, "Am I going to regret bringing you along?"
"Probably." - Nadya and Johnny Blaze, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
Re: RANT: Dave's Capsules for February 2012 [message #96479 is a reply to message #96475] Wed, 29 February 2012 03:25 Go to previous message
Robert Carnegie is currently offline  Robert Carnegie
Messages: 4
Registered: December 2011
Karma: 0
Junior Member
On Feb 25, 6:39 pm, Dave Van Domelen <dvan...@eyrie.org> wrote:
>      Transformers: Autocracy #2 (of 12): IDW - In a series where it's pretty

> clear everyone is a dick, Zeta Prime comes on screen to demonstrate that his

> techspec reads "DCK 10+".  Most of this 8 page installment focuses on Zeta

> Prime talking to the Autobot council (with Starscream around for reasons that

> are poorly explained...he doesn't seem to actually be ON the council right

> now, but neither is he openly a Decepticon yet, so this is probably yet

> another thing I'm expected to know from the comics I didn't read).  There's a

> few bits with Orion Pax demonstrating a DCK 10 score and otherwise showing

> how horrible the Autobots were back then.

>      Way back when, before I was online to do reviews, I once criticized

> Robinson's "Golden Age" DC series on the grounds that it was one thing to

> give heroes feet of clay, but Robinson was giving them entire bodies of

> clay.  That's what IDW seems determined to do in their historicals, not just

> give the Decepticons a plausible reason for rebelling, but make them look

> like idiots for not doing so sooner.

>      Still witholding judgement on the overall recommendation until I've read

> #3, since that's really the end of the first issue.  99 cents at Comixology.

>

>      Transformers: Autocracy #3 (of 12): IDW - Okay, I got #3.  The title of

> this chapter is "The Hunt for Soundwave," but it could just as well have been

> called "The Toy Ad for Soundwave" given the pacing of the chase scene and

> resulting short fights.  Some of the designs are a bit odd, in that they look

> like Earth modes rather than Cybertronian, but since we don't get a clear

> shot of any of the Recordicons' storage modes at least the artist doesn't

> have to worry about making them look like cassette tapes.

>      So, how do the first three chapters hang together as a single issue?

> Reasonably well.  Orion Pax's unpleasant situation is established, along with

> his penchant for solving problems via violence.  We see he serves a corrupt

> system, and then he runs into a problem that may be too big to punch into

> submission.  Decent opening, although I get the feeling that 9 more chapters

> won't be enough to resolve much...at best, all 12 together will form a decent

> "part 1" to a story, rather than being a story in and of themselves.  Mildly

> recommended.  99 cents at Comixology.

>      In any case, I'm not going to be buying more issues of this.


Not to disagree, but does it make any sense as the version of history
that Decepticons tell to their chil... well, to their allies on Earth,
and so forth?

Or does the live-action movie story require something like this?

And, is there an excuse for the Decepticons mostly having scary names?

Ultimate X-Men's Professor X had the X-Men use new names (their
superhero names) because they, uh, had joined his cult. As far as I
could see. But they kind of kept using their human names informally,
and it didn't really stick after the first story arc. And... I
suppose that means that his mutant-name was "Professor X". And maybe
that only means that he isn't really a professor, he just calls
himself that.
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