| Dave's Capsules for August 2017 [message #351727] |
Thu, 31 August 2017 16:45 |
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Dave's Comicbook Capsules Et Cetera
Intermittent Picks and Pans of Comics and Related Media
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
Spent my summer teaching pay on a new fence and some tree pruning.
Items of Note (strongly recommended or otherwise worthy): Nothing this
month.
In this installment: Defenders (Netflix), Inhumans: Once and Future
Kings #1, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur #22, Deathstroke #22, Future Quest
Presents: Space Ghost #1, Astro City #46, American Way: Those Above and Those
Below #2 (of 6), Invader Zim #22, Kaijumax Season 3 #2 (of 6), My Little Pony
Friendship is Magic #57, My Little Pony the Movie Prequel #3 (of 4), Hasbro
Heroes Sourcebook #2 and #3 (of 3), Rom vs. Transformers: Shining Armor #2
(of 5), First Strike #1 and #2 (of 6), Optimus Prime #10, Transformers: Till
All Are One #12 (of 12).
Current Wait List (books either Diamond didn't ship or my store failed
to order): None, although it was a near thing on American Way.
"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.
Defenders Season 1: Marvel/Netflix - Only 8 episodes this time, the sort
of thing that can cause financial issues for series writers on standard
contracts, but at least it avoids some of the padded feeling of the 13
episodes of Daredevil S2 or Iron Fist S1. Despite the name, you're not going
to find Dr. Strange, the Hulk, or Namor in this show...rather, it's more of
an updating of the "non-team" days of the post-cosmic lineup. The only one
of the four putative members who isn't a loner to the point of pushing away
their friends is Iron Fist, who at least works in a duo with Colleen Wing
(Colleen isn't on the posters, isn't "officially" on the non-team, but she's
effectively the fifth member). To a large extent, this group is really just
"A bunch of superhumans who all know Claire Temple and are from New York for
various definitions of 'from.'" That normally would make this season a "how
they became a team" origin story, but it's not even that. It's more about
how circumstances force them to work together for a few days, and they come
out of it knowing each other better and maybe willing to try teaming up again
in the future but...meh. It's like a pick-up tabletop game running for a few
sessions to try out a new system.
In gaming terms, Iron Fist is not a even Player Character: he's an
escort mission Non-Player Character who keeps trying to run off and get in
trouble. A Fusionette, to use City of Heroes parlance, or a powered
Dependent NPC in Champions tabletop terms. Luke, Daredevil, and Jessica are
definitely PCs, Colleen is probably a PC, and Claire might also be a PC who
relies mostly on non-combat skills. (Only Daredevil's player really gets
into the superhero thing, the rest had to be bribed with pizza to try out a
superhero game.) And for all that the come from superhero comics, this
version of the Hand is really more of a modern horror enemy, along the lines
of the Orochi Group in the Secret World MMO.
To the credit of the showrunner, they don't force it. Sure, there's a
few bonding moments here and there, but the results tend to be "I guess you
don't totally suck" in nature rather than Buddy Film. This is a batch of
loners (I stand by my theory that the monks of K'un Lun deliberately selected
for "angry loner" in the Iron Fist process so that they'd get someone who
could easily be manipulated into throwing his life away at need) who have
little reason to want to be on a team, and Jessica is the constant voice of
snark at the very idea of being a superhero team.
As for the fight scenes, I admit to not paying a whole lot of
attention. There was some of the fluidity and martial arts virtuosity they
tried to get across in Iron Fist, but fights tended to be dominated by the
brute force of Jessica and Luke (who is either not as strong as Jessica, or
not as willing to use his full strength, which she does with contemptuous
ease at times), the boxing-influenced style of Daredevil, or weird stuff like
"wave your hands and stuff flies around the room" for some of the Hand
masters. So, if Danny's actor just can't pull off convincing stunt fighting,
at least he's not really the focus anymore.
Overall, it does a good job of tying together a lot of plot elements
from previous series (Luke's get short shrift, but they manage to give him a
plausible reason to get involved this time) and provides a Save The World
sort of threat for them to face. Danny's still a git, though. Mildly
recommended.
I don't have Amazon Prime, and haven't made any particular effort to get
copies of the new Tick season via other channels. I'll probably just wait
for it to be available on DVD. I hear the half-season released this month
just starts to hit its stride at the end, so waiting for the full season
might be a better idea anyway.
The Batman & Harley direct to video movie came out August 29, but I've
heard mostly bad things about it, so I'm not in a hurry to watch it. I'll
cover it next month.
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 iPhone if it's at all possible.
Nothing this month.
Trades:
Trade paperbacks, collections, graphic novels, pocket manga, whatever.
If it's bigger than a "floppy" it goes here.
Nothing this month.
Floppies:
No, I don't have any particular disdain for the monthlies, but they
*are* floppy, yes?
Ms. Marvel v2 #21: Marvel - Continuing to hold off until the end of the
arc.
Inhumans: Once and Future Kings #1: Marvel - Set in the past, with Black
Bolt, Maximus (pre-"the Mad"), and Medusa having to flee the Nameless One or
whatever he isn't called (that's a bit of recent Inhumans backstory I'm only
vaguely aware of, but Priest makes sure we know enough about the guy to
motivate the plot). It is somewhat disorienting to realize that "nearly a
generation ago" now includes a period when iPods and earbuds existed,
though. Fun with sliding timelines, yes? The subtitle is more than just an
Arthurian allusion, since all three of the main cast will at some point in
their future be the ruler of the Inhumans (I'm pretty sure Lockjaw never
occupied the throne, though), but at this point in the story the royal line
has been effectively usurped by the regency of the Living Terrigenesis. So,
once and future. Black Bolt has the potential to be a good king, but still
lacks the ability to think more than one step ahead, making him easy to
dupe...he honestly believes he will be expected to take the throne one day,
for instance. Medusa, on the other hand, has a much more pessimistic (dare I
say "emo") view of the whole thing, and has not bothered to cultivate any of
the ways or virtues of royalty. Maximus teeters uncertainly between these
two youthful extremes, simultaneously cynical and trusting, and if not
exactly aimless, he seems pretty aim-light. The issue ends with a Dramatic
Complication forcing the three together in an unfamiliar setting, but while
the story purpose of this issue is entirely set-up, it does have sufficient
moments of drama and development to stand on its own. (Oh, it ends on a
cliffhanger, but you don't feel like nothing happened prior to the
cliffhanger, as some first issues are guilty of doing.) Recommended. $3.99
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur #22: Marvel - This issue is split roughly
evenly between Moon Girl herself and one of her Moon-Bots. I suspect that
the marionette-ish appearance of the Moon-Bots is more for letting the reader
tell the difference, and (eye doctor visit gag aside) they do look pretty
convincingly human. Kinda how the "Ditto eyes" on Kamala's clones were
probably just a reader cue in Ms. Marvel. If #21 was the ethical climax in
which Luna realized she needed to change, this issue firmly puts her on the
path she's chosen. She's always been smart, but now she's making a conscious
effort to also be wise. And given what's happening in the Luna-Bot plot,
Luna's going to have a big challenge to that resolution awaiting her.
Recommended. $3.99
Deathstroke #22: DC - The Defiance team fights the overt fight, while
Deathstroke sneaks off and has a chat with the guy running the opposition.
As one does. While there's loads of ulterior motives and long games here,
Defiance is pretty clearly established as a more nuanced dark mirror to
Heroes for Hire than groups like Mercs for Money or Villainy Inc. They do
good, but "We are firefighters...garbage men. We do a JOB and GET OUT," as
Slade declares. And they are totally doomed, because not only is everyone
not on the same page, some of them aren't even in the same library.
Recommended. $3.99
Future Quest Presents: Space Ghost #1: DC - The "Hanna Barbera" bit is
no longer on the title banner. This is set after Future Quest, enough time
that Space Ghost has a post-Omikron reputation but not enough time that his
sidekicks have grown up. It hasn't yet (if it ever will) reach the point of
the original Cartoon, though, and the galaxy is coming apart at the seams in
the absence of the Space Patrol...one man isn't enough. To some extent, this
storyline is like one of the times the Green Lantern Corps ceased to exist
for whatever reason and a lone Green Lantern ended up having his
responsibilities increased 3600-fold. Contrast between the stark simplicity
of the original cartoon's world and the complexity of the comic's setting is
reflected in Olivetti's art, which is done in a "painted" style (but likely
done digitally) with loads of shading and realism...except for Space Ghost's
cowl. It's usually flat black, with rare bits of highlighting, and those
mostly in situations where it would blend into the background too badly
without them. Even the masks of his sidekicks (which are only on the cover
this time) have shading and nuance, so the flat black of SG's cowl is a
deliberate choice and meant to make a statement. This feels like one of
those stories where it might work better to wait for the trade and read it
all in one sitting, but mostly because I think it's trying to build up and
then break a particular mood, something that's harder to manage with a month
between chapters. Recommended. $3.99
Astro City #46: DC/Vertigo - At last the origin of the Broken Man.
Maybe. He denies it means what you think it means. At least there's finally
some justification for the whole fourth-wall-breaking framing sequence that
happens whenever he shows up, but some of the justification is "he's nuts,
doesn't know what he's doing, and is just trying stuff in the hopes it will
work and not doom us all." Mildly recommended. $3.99
The American Way Those Above and Those Below #2 (of 6): DC/Vertigo -
Using a fictionalized version of history (or the future) to comment on the
present is a time-honored tactic, but I'm not sure Ridley knew how keenly
things would line up for this issue hitting stands in August of 2017. The
store ordering goof that got this in my hands after the UVA protests instead
of before acts as a sort of complement to Marvel's scheduling goof putting
the Ms. Marvel election issue after the election...instead of being painfully
inappropriate, this comic becomes painfully appropriate. The three damaged
heroes who survived the decade since the first miniseries are each trying to
do the right thing and keep doing it the wrong way, to tragic consequences
that suggest there might not be a right way. One fights the system, one
tries to complement the system, and one embraces the system. It might be
that they're all trying to do different things...if they united under one
plan it would stand a chance. But they are disunited heroes for a disunited
time, unable to save the world, merely reflecting it. Wow, that's
depressing. But at least they're all trying to stay true to their
principles, rather than flipping sides for shock value. Recommended, but a
downer. $3.99
Invader Zim #22: Oni - "Zim has a plan, Gir messes it up," is one of the
stock plots for this property, but a slightly different spin is placed on it
this time. It's not Gir's stupidity that causes problems, it's his hodge-
podge origins and the fact that Irken tech must be amazingly self-arranging.
In a rare case of To Be Continued, after the resolution of the main plan
plot, Zim decides this isn't normal Gir stuff and decides to INVESTIGATE.
What could possibly go wrong? Mildly recommended. $3.99
Kaijumax Season 3 #2 (of 6): Oni - While the Creature from Devil's Creek
has some plot advancement this issue, the main characters are Whoofy and the
corrupted Dr. Zhang. Unfortunately, the Zhang plot thread is one of those
cases where realism is too stupid to be worth emulating too directly, so I
really hope that Zonn has some sort of mind-warping powers (which aren't that
implausible for kaiju of his zeitgeist). Yes, every few years there's a big
case in the news about someone falling in love with a prisoner and helping
them out in very illegal ways, but one would hope that they screen for
Ultraman power capsules a little better than they do for prison counselors in
our reality, yes? Whoofy's arc is more interesting this issue, even if it
helps keep CfDC's story from advancing. Mildly recommended. $3.99
My Little Pony Friendship is Magic #57: IDW - A followup to the Discord
episode, although not as I'd hoped the tale of what happened to his party
favors while they were traveling the world. Instead, Pinkie Pie ends up in
control of Discord's reality, and we see proof of the old adage, "Power
corrupts, absolute power is kinda fun." The meta-story here, however, is
commentary on the dangers of letting a chaotic, unpredictable character
settle into a set of cliches and set gags. Recommended. $3.99
My Little Pony the Movie Prequel #3 (of 4): IDW - The story shifts to
focus on the two Abyssinians from last issue, and appears to also be
introducing a set piece location from the movie. We're also back to the
theme of the first issue, that friendship and trust are weaknesses and
everyone is better off alone to rely on their own wits and abilities.
Artistically, I have to wonder if Price was under heavy deadline pressure,
because the backgrounds are pretty boring by his usual standards, with a lot
of "just a gradient" backgrounds. Mildly recommended. $3.99
Hasbro Heroes Sourcebook #2 (of 3): IDW - Eclipse (MASK) through Oziron
Rael (Micronauts), with a rather bad four page story again wasting space that
could have been used to profile four more characters (and another two pages
wasted on papercraft). It also has some schedule meshing problems again, but
instead of giving away spoiler information by accident like #1 did with
Centurion, it lags behind stuff that it should have contained, like the fact
Megatron is currently stuck in another reality. Mildly recommended. $4.99
Hasbro Heroes Sourcebook #3 (of 3): IDW - No lame four-page story at the
start, but we don't get more handbook content, they just tack the same
four-page preview of First Strike at the end that has been seen in just about
every other title. All in all, a fairly disappointing guidebook series, and
I'm generally easy to please when it comes to this sort of book. Mildly
recommended. $4.99
Rom vs. Transformers: Shining Armor #2 (of 5): IDW - While the first
issue covered several years or even decades with fast-forward jumps, this
issue focuses on a single fight scene. In some ways, this is a Standard G1
Cartoon Plot (specifically thinking of episodes like Atlantis Rising).
Decepticons make alliance with evil aliens, each plans to backstab the other,
innocents get caught in the crossfire, someone who hadn't considered
themselves a part of the Autobot/Decepticon war has to pick sides. Mind you,
the original cartoon wouldn't have had body horror, mass casualties, or
Autobots unconcerned with the fate of the squishies. (Some Autobots care,
but they're outranked.) There is a bit of awkwardness in terms of retconning
things in, particularly as relates to knowing about female Cybertronians, but
they seem to be working across many books to smooth that one over, implying
without stating it outright that the characters who expressed surprise at
seeing female Cybertronians were just not paying attention very well prior to
that. Plot-wise, it's okay, but depends way too much on characters with
advanced communications tech nonetheless not hearing what their allies say
and thereby having misunderstandings and accusations of side-switching.
Mildly recommended. $3.99
First Strike #1 (of 6): IDW - Not even a year since Revolution ended,
and it's time for another schedule-shuffling crossover event. And because
it's apparently all the rage now, the main antagonist is a long-standing
heroic character who has decided that the only way to save the world is to
become a supervillain. Okay, this time it's more of a recent continuity
implant character, but he stands in for someone who's been a pop culture good
guy longer than I've been alive. On the plus side, unlike Secret Empire,
we're seeing the struggle happen rather than being presented with "Hey, the
bad guys won for Reasons, now let's have a year of sad heroes in pointless
resistance," so I guess that's a slight improvement. The division of labor
between writers Scott and Rodriguez isn't made clear, and it's probably not
as cleanly divided as "Mairghread does all the Transformers scenes and David
does all the GIJoe and MASK scenes," but it did probably trend that way.
There's some good dialogue bits, so it's not a tedious slog, but neither is
it enough to endear the plot to me, as the preceeding sentences likely made
it clear. Mildly recommended. $3.99
First Strike #2 (of 6): IDW - Yes, it's a "more often than once a month
but don't count on it being exactly every other week" event comic! This
issue is about...um...continuing the fight scenes, mostly. Some backstory
and justification for how the sneak attack of #1 was pulled off, some "how do
we get in on this crossover" travel plans, but it doesn't really feel like it
has a beginning or end. It's just a chapter of the eventual trade paperback,
I guess. At least we get some characterization for the helicopter twins from
Team Victorion. Mildly recommended. $3.99
Note, there's a checklist of tie-in issues on the back cover of each
issue of First Strike (which is how I know this is actually a 6 issue series,
since only six issues are listed...kinda tired of having to look up online to
see how long a miniseries is). Till All Are One ended rather than tie in,
Lost Light is having nothing to do with any of this but I suppose might show
up in the Transformers: First Strike one-shot, Optimus Prime is having one
regular issue and a FS one-shot then leaves the list (presumably to deal with
its own plot threads again), and most of the other titles are cancelled as of
August, some get one-shots, and then a bunch of new team-up titles will
launch after the event is over, starting with Rom & The Micronauts and GIJoe:
Unmasked (which I guess is the MASK team losing their masks and joining?) in
December.
Optimus Prime #10: IDW - In the lull before First Strike #1 (which came
out nearly a month before this comic), Alpha Trion regales a trio of leaders
with a tale from ancient and nigh-forgotten Cybertronian history, a warning
that unification didn't always mean the story was over, or that things would
get better. The story fits poorly with other portrayals of the age of the
Primes, but that doesn't necessarily mean Alpha Trion is making up the story
on the spot to get his point across...in a race as long-lived as
Cybertronians, even participants in history don't always remember events the
same way as each other, and the official history can easily drift into
mythologized half-truths and exaggerations (a topic relevant in the My Little
Pony TV episode that linked to the Legends of Magic series). It's definitely
jarringly different, between the framing sequences using Zama's fake
zip-a-tone art style and the ancient tale drawn by an uncharacteristically
non-shadowed Raimondelli, plus the very mortal portrayals of the Primes.
Recommended as a curiosity, mostly. $3.99
Transformers Till All Are One #12 (of 12): IDW - Well, at least Scott
was able to tell her main story before First Strike rendered any other plans
moot. The Council of Worlds may not be shattered by First Strike, but
there's definitely going to be a few months where it's not possible to tell
stories about them without First Strike muddling matters. Most of this issue
takes place in Starscream's mind, which is appropriate since the final arc of
this series was really about him and not Windblade or the overall Council.
An "I suppose it should have been obvious in retrospect" fact about
Starscream comes to light and he has a personal epiphany which may or may not
result in long term changes, but hey, sometimes we need to learn the same
lessons over and over. Windblade has a far less dramatic epiphany, and she
seems more likely to learn from it, especially since she doesn't have to
worry about any Hasbro-mandated resets. :) Recommended. $3.99
Dave Van Domelen, "I'm going to die in space." "Very likely." - Matt
Trakker and Soundwave, First Strike #2
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