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From: moriarty@fluke.UUCP (The Napoleon of Crime)
Newsgroups: net.comics
Subject: Old! Unimproved! MORIARTY REVIEWS (2 of 5)
Message-ID: <2554@vax4.fluke.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 20-Aug-85 03:01:23 EDT
Article-I.D.: vax4.2554
Posted: Tue Aug 20 03:01:23 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 24-Aug-85 00:37:50 EDT
Distribution: net
Organization: The Institute for Criminal Masterminds
Lines: 114

REVIEWED:

SAVAGE TALES		TIMESPIRITS	WHISPER		MECHANICS
NEIL THE HORSE		MS. TREE 3-D		CODENAME: DANGER
CROSSFIRE

------------------------------------------------
"There *are* standards.  If you can't see one, you *make* one and stick to
 it come Hell or high water -- until you see a BETTER one."
						-John Gaunt

        "Well, if you can't believe what you read in a comic book, what *can*
          you believe?!" 
                                -Bullwinkle J. Moose
****************************************************************************
|==>A< One of the best of the year. Example: ZOT #8                        |
|==>B< A very good issue, one of the best of the month (usually 6/month)   |
|==>C< A well done, entertaining issue.  Satisfying.  Example: Jon Sable   |
|==>D< Boring, but with a few good points.  Example: SQUADRON SUPREME      |
|==>F< Boring AND stupid or childish.  Example: Secret Wars.               |
|==>Z< Actually offensive.  Example: Several of Haney's UNKNOWN SOLDIERs   |
****************************************************************************
SAVAGE TALES #1 [D+]:

Technically, I can't complain: there's some good-to-excellent
dialogue and plot in this book.  However, the majority seems to be
spent on plots which I found either boring or stupid, or pointless. 
Just a lot of, well, violence.  On the other hand, that's what they
advertised it as, so I guess I don't have any beef.  The only story I
enjoyed was "Blood & Gutz: A Pizza", which had some black (not an
ethnic slur) humor in it.  The rest tended to be either tough-guy
fighting or post-apocalypse stuff.  Still, technically very good.



TIMESPIRTS #6 [B+]:

A fine mesh of good writing and GREAT artwork.  The drawings of
Hendrix and the various robed politcos (the expression on George
Bush's face was worth the cover price alone, and it appears Jerry
still has some problems with stairs) were amazing -- better than
Gulacy, who loves to put Bogart and others in a picture; however,
Yeates portraits are less slick and contain more shadow and
texture.

And, on the writing side, how many books can introduce such great
supporting characters, all in a single issue?  The political
statements are not harsh, and certainly are striking (I suspect
Steve Perry of having gone to see "El Norte"), and the whole
disparate plot becomes precise and accurate in its course.  Kudos to
Perry, Yeates and Goodwin; this comic alone justifies the Epic line,
and is a title which I look foward to with anticipation at every
reading.

WHISPER SPECIAL #1 [C-]:

Entertaining, though still having the rather cold characters that Grant
seems to specialize in.  The art is very sketchy, and there is a heck of a
lot of blood being spilled by everybody in this book.

MECHANICS #2 [C+]:

Just out of curiousity, does Jaime have something about all those  Stan
Lee/Larry Leiber/Jack Kirby monster comics?  I noticed at least three spoofs
of them in here (though how you could do a NON-spoof of "Watoomb, the
Aqueduct that Walked like a Man!" is beyond me...).

NEIL THE HORSE #12 [F]:



I have HAD IT with Saba turning every other issue into a collection
of reprint material!  Yes, when the stuff is original, it is VERY good,
but I already HAVE 70% of the material printed in this comic in
OTHER comics -- so this is a rip-off for me!  I can understand this
happening once in a while -- but this kind of frequency indicates
sloppy scheduling to me.  If he can't meet a quarterly deadline,
publish NEAL three times a year.  Just don't yank me around like a
nim-no!



MS TREE 3-D #1 [D+]:

Standard Spillaine.  From the preview of Ms.  Tree #21, it looks like the
assumption that Ms. Tree is heading for a nervous breakdown is on target....

CODENAME: DANGER #1 [D+]:

OK, I'll admit that, after reading David Singer's little speech in the
back of the book, that he sures sounds like one of those demented
geeks who should be removed from the gene pool as quickly as
possible.  And I will admit that this comic seems to be little other
than a bunch of nasty spies and rotten people killing one another. 
However, the premise of super-heroes for hire and such, and a
certain amount of the humor, will keep me reading it for at least
one more issue -- I want to get more of an idea of what this thing
is like before I drop it.

CROSSFIRE #13 [C]:

Good...

					"REVERT!"
					"REVERT!"
					"REVERT!"
					"REVERT!"
					"Hi HO! Hi HO!"
					"SHUT UP!"

                                        Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
ARPA: fluke!moriarty@uw-beaver.ARPA
UUCP: {uw-beaver, sun, allegra, sb1, lbl-csam}!fluke!moriarty
<*> DISCLAIMER: Do what you want to me, but leave my employers alone! <*>