It was a decent week for me at Zimmie's Comics in Lewiston, Maine. Eight new comics appeared in my folder, plus one re-order. Here are a few quick thoughts on each book, along with the requisite letter grade.
ALL-NEW CAPTAIN AMERICA #3
Marvel Comics, $3.99
[MILDLY RECOMMENDED)
The main thrust of this issue is that it rectoned out of continuity the "Snap" Wilson retcon. So, the Falcon, or Captain American as we now know him, was never a drug-pushing pimp, and the original continuity, which we were once led to believe was a lie, is once again how things were. I suppose that's necessary, even if the Snap Wilson thing has been ignored for long enough that I think most fanboys had forgotten it. After all, even in this age, we need our Cap to be a heroic persona, not a reformed one. Still, this issue represents a lot of what's wrong with comics these days. What we have here is not so much a story, as a story that explains a past story (and one almost 40 years old, at that!). Spending absurd amounts of time obsessing over backstory is one reason I can't even look at Hawkman today, because I know what I'm going to get is new details explaining exactly which version of the character I'm reading about, rather than a new adventure of that character. Similarly, what should have been the main trust of this book — Cap's forced suicide to save his family amid Hydra's plot to sterilize everyone in the world not a member of its evil organization — is relegated to the back of the book. I'm hopeful that, now that we've established Sam Wilson was a hero from Day 1 (did anybody really doubt it), we can get back to the much more interesting adventure at hand. But, for my money, this issue really stalled things out.
I'll also say I was confused over the WWII battle scenes during the first half of the book. I thought at first, based on the text, that Cap had traveled into the past. Then I realized it was all an illusion projected by Sin (who could've looked more like a chick, frankly), but was distracted from the story wondering how she was doing it. By the time we finally got back to reality, I was fairly well exasperated and ready to move on to something else in my buy-pile.
(Read Time: 11:25, plus 0:45 for recap page)
GRADE: C+
ASTRO CITY #19
DC Comics (Vertigo imprint), $3.99
[RECOMMENDED]
Astro City is one of my favorite books, probably because it is the most "old school," in terms of storytelling, of everything on the stands today. Here we get, even amidst a continued story, a full plot with plenty of characterization. We also get lots of little bits, such as Crackajack's true origin, that let the reader fill in the details, helping to expend the universe at hand. I'll only say that while this tale was a wistful riposte on the topic of aging (done better than about a million JSA stories) it was a little too much tell, and not enough show. Quarrel narrated her history throughout and, more than once, I found myself thinking, "Who are you talking to, exactly?" So, in that sense, this story may have been a little too old school. Still, I'll remember it long after I've forgotten much of what else was in thy buy-pile this week. That may be because artist Brent Anderson (while I'd still like to give him an inker) gives us a layout that moves the story along and is not so decompressed that it takes 12 panels to show Quarrel leaping off a building and smacking snot out of some evil-doer.
(Read Time: 17:00, plus 3:50 for lettercol and promo pages)
GRADE: A-
BATGIRL #38
DC Comics, $2.99
[HIGHLY RECOMMENDED]
I am really, really grooving on the "new" Batgirl. What we get here is fairly standard, thematically. Babs has to come to grips with whether she's a hero, or a vigilante menace. Clearly, she thinks the former while her new police officer boyfriend thinks the former. But the way the story is told feels fresh and modern, using social media as a form of peer pressure in a way the now-canceled ABC-TV show Selfie (starring Karen Gillan, who should totes play Batgirl in the movie version of this book) only hoped it could do. And, while we're talking tv-shows, the dating scenes, mixed with a generous dose of internal conflict, are reminiscent of the best episodes of Sex and the City. Honestly, BATGIRL is the book to show your female friends who wonder why you still read comic books at your age. Best of all, while Babs Tarr's artwork is clear and compelling, the panel breakdowns of writer Cameron Stewart rely on a traditional panel grid. That makes the book much easier for a comics neophyte to read than the helter-skelter, all-over-the-page designs many artists churn out in emulation of Neal Adams, who may have done more than anyone else in history to drive casual readers away from comics. Luckily, BATGIRL is written and drawn in such a way that it is not the exclusive playground of aging fanboys. Anyone can get into this book, and should.
(Read Time: 15:15, plus 2:55 for promo pages)
GRADE: A
DAREDEVIL #12
Marvel Comics, $3.99
[MILDLY RECOMMENDED]
I'm torn on this book. On the one hand, I love what writer Mark Waid and artist Chris Samnee have done with ol' hornhead. And the move out to San Fran has breathed new life into the character. But much of this issue felt like it was recapping previous chapters in this story. I'm torn over that because I generally feel modern comics don't offer enough in the way of recap, such that a casual fan can't just pick up any random issue — say because they're inspired by a fantastic cover, such as this one — and feel like they know what's going on. Once upon a time, it was accepted that any comic could be someone's first, and a well-written series didn't need so-called "jumping-on points." That said, I spent most of this issue feeling like I was being told things about Stunt-Master, and the plot-to-date, that I already knew. I mean, why go over that all again at all when you have a recap page, for gosh's sake?
But maybe I was just annoyed at having my suspension of disbelief broken so thoroughly by this issue's main action scene. I can accept that Daredevil, though blind, can drive a vehicle at breakneck speeds. I can even accept, just because it's such a cool visual, that he'd choose to drive a convertible Dodge Charger while standing in the driver's seat, using his billy club(s) to operate the steering wheel, shifter, clutch, and pedals. What I cannot accept is that he could follow a motorcycle across a bridge jammed with traffic, or that by merely yanking on his club, he could get the Charger to go up on two wheels. Also, how he jams his billy club into the "spokes" of a speeding motorcycle tire without breaking both his arms is beyond me.
(Read Time: 8:00, plus 0:45 for recap page)
GRADE: B-
JUPITER'S LEGACY #5
Image Comics (Millarworld imprint), $4.99
[STRONGLY RECOMMENDED]
This issue was, quite frankly, super-cool. I'm not sure it was worth the interminable year-long wait between issues, nor do I think it was worth $5, but it was pretty neat nonetheless. The good news is that the story was handled well enough that I did not have to reference previous issues to understand what was happening, despite the long lag since the last outing. Fans of DC Comics' Legion of Super-Heroes, like me, will, of course, blanch at the villain using the name of The Molecule Master, but he was kind of awesome, with his evil mustache and the way he flushed the heroes out of hiding. What's most interesting about this book is that while we hear a lot of proselytizing on what it means to be a super-hero, we see characters doing some very un-heroic things. Sure, she's just defending her family, but Chloe clearly uses deadly force. And, I have to say, the image of Hutch using a train to plow down a column of government agents is one that will stay with me for a while. It will be interesting (say, in another year, when the next issue comes out) to see whether Chloe and Hutch end up paying for the death and destruction they've caused (as Jim Shooter might have demanded, a la Phoenix) or if, in the manner of the grim 'n' gritty '90s, this is all just par for the course and perfectly acceptable super-hero stuff.
(Read Time: 11:45, plus 2:45 for promo pages)
GRADE: A
DC Comics, $3.99
[NOT RECOMMENDED IN ANY TIMELINE]
This, friends was a terrible comic book. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible. If you happen to have read online interviews with writer Jeff Lemire, you might have seen him say it was not his intention to provide a Legion that fit any one continuity, but to present a sort of all-star cast. Well, that's all fine and good, but there needs to be some in-story explanation of that when you've got Legionnaires from different reboots appearing together in a line-up that could never have possibly happened. The shame is that, given a time-manipulating villain, the appearance of characters from at least three distinct versions of the Legion could have been easily explained in one throw-away line in one random panel. "Hey, Brainy, there are people wearing Legion flight rings I don't recognize!" "Yes, Infinitus' presence is pulling disparate timelines into one!" "Cool! Let's fight!!"
But, we don't get that, leaving us to wonder how and why we have Magno (depowered last we knew), Kinetix (terrorformeed last we saw), and Monstress (dead), fighting alongside the classic Legion team that, with Phantom Girl present and both Sun Boy and Star Boy not dead, seems to ignore completely the most recent New52 stories. Moreover, while the retroboot Legion that's appeared since Geoff John's rehabilitation of the team has implied the "five-year gap" stories of Tom and Mary Bierbaum never happened, we have characters from that era, in the form of Computo and Dragonmage, which implies they did.
What we have here, then, is sort of the opposite spin on my concern with ALL-NEW CAPTAIN AMERICAN #3, above. In that issue, I fretted that too much attention was paid to a 40-year-old story most people have since ignored. Here, there doesn't appear to be any concern for continuity at all. And while I could readily accept tossing out continuity for the sake of telling a great tale, there are enough flat-out errors in this book that it's hard to accept anything was done on purpose. It all feels less ignoring-of-continutity than plain old ignorance. I mean, we have characters appearing in the roll call who are nowhere to be seen in the story, and vica versa; we have characters who showed up last issue who are gone in this outing, we have misnamed characters ("Colossal Lad?"), and, while we don't have the same character showing up twice in the same group shot wearing different costumes, as we did in Issue #7, we do get one character who was never a member (Radion), appearing alongside the team as though he were. Worse, not even the internal continuity is consistent. As the Legion prepares to go back in time, Dream Girl says Shadow Lass is on medical stasis on Mars, then, four pages later, she pops out of the time vortex fighting alongside the team. It all feels like there's either a giant disconnect between the writer and artist, or an editor at the helm who is completely clueless, and probably both.
And, just as this issue is the flipside of my critique of ALL-NEW CAPTAIN AMERICA, it also swings the pendulum on what I said about DAREDEVIL #12. While I thought Mark Waid over-explained his plot this far in that book, here Lemire makes zero effort to bring his readers up to speed. You'd think that, with the Legion relegating the JLU to cameo status in their own book, by the time a few JLU members do show up, Lemire might have dropped some minor recap. But no, he plunges straight ahead with the plot, such as it is. And here it is: Last issue, the JLU was trying to prevent Ultra from entering a time vortex. This issue, he enters it. That's about it. Ultimately, not much going on. Literally, it took you longer to read this review than it would have taken to read the issue in question. And, at $4, that's the worst travesty of all. Besides having no plot to speak of, and errors galore, this comic is simply a piss-poor entertainment value.
(Read Time: 5:15, plus 2:55 for promo pages).
GRADE: F
S.H.E.I.L.D. #2
Marvel Comics, $3.99
[TEPIDLY RECOMMENDED]
Well, this issue was cute enough. Or at least it would be, as an 8-page back-up story. I have to say, Mark Waid has really been letting me down on this title, enough so that this is probably my last issue. The storytelling in this issue, as in the last, is so decompressed that there's really no plot to speak of. The tale reads less like a story than a vignette. I mean, S.H.I.E.L.D. tracking a surplus weapons ring to Ms Marvel's school is a nice hook, even if I could have used a little more of an explanation on how the kids came to be part of the black market in villain equipment trade in the first place, but then the kids are caught and that's that. The scene of students puking up poison pizza dough is a hoot, but I'm unclear on what connection it had to anything. Who sent it? Were the dough creatures supposed to steal the weapons back from the kids? All we know is that Ms Marvel impressed Coulson by catching the creatures.
Additionally, while I totally dig the new Ms Marvel, and Waid nails her character pretty well, Humbert Ramos' art is so stylized that it's sort of unclear, until she specifically says she's doing so, when she's using her powers. But then, I've always found Ramos' art hard to follow, even if it is fun to look at. I also wouldn't recognize the characters he draws as the actors from the tv show, without being told. Under a different artists I think this story could have been better, which isn't meant to be an insult to Ramos. His considerable talents are just mismatched to this title, I think.
(Read Time: 11:10, plus 0:20 for intro page).
GRADE: B
STAR WARS #1
Marvel Comics, $4.99
[RECOMMENDED, IF YOU CAN GET THE RIGHT COVER]
The best thing I can say about this issue is that John Cassaday nails, and I mean absolutely nails, the actor likenesses. The plot is a little thin — the rebels arrive on an Empire planet intent on blowing it up, and then Vadar shows up — but Jason Aaron's script is meaty enough to make up for that. We get some fun one-liners and all of the characters sound true to themselves. However, not being an active purveyor of Star Wars material outside of the films, I am a bit confused as to the placement of this story. It certainly seems to pick up soon after the original Star Wars movie (which I still refuse to call, STAR WARS IV: A NEW HOPE). Why this should be, I don't know. I would have thought that with Marvel and Lucasfilm now both owned by Disney, this new series would serve to fill in the gap between STAR WARS: RETRUN OF THE JEDI and the upcoming sequel, STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS. Why we're covering ground I'm sure other Star Wars comics have covered before, and which I'm certain must contradict Marvel's original Star Wars series, is beyond me.
Still, my only real problem with this book is that it's simply not worth $5. The first four pages are completely wasted imitating the film openings, while the final 10 are worldless previews of pages from the upcoming Darth Vader and Princess Leia series. Both look nice, but the art makes it appear the storytelling in them will be decompressed enough that they, too, will be poor values. In the end, this issue is cool enough as a Star Wars event, but I foresee me dropping the title from my pull list once the first story arc is complete, if not before. As far as collectibility goes, this issue reportedly shipped one million copies, so all of the value (if you're into that kind of thing) will depend on which cover you managed to get. I got the standard cover, which means, less-than-cover-price forever.
(Read Time: 11:05, including preview pages)
GRADE A-
ABIGAIL AND THE SNOWMAN #1 (of 4)
BOOM! Studios (Kaboom! imprint), $3.99
Originally released Dec. 31, 2014.
[BARELY RECOMMENDED]
Occasionally, I like to spice my usual super-hero diet with something from some other genre. For years, the standard go-to in that regard were the Disney comics published by Gladstone, and then Gemstone. So, I've a bit of a soft-spot for the kind of "kiddy comics" I would have skoffed at as a kid. I was many years an adult before I purchased my first Archie comic, and Harvey was long out of business before I began gobbling up their output. You may then understand my mindset when I saw the preview art for this issue and thought, oh, yeah, sure, I'll try that. Well, it was okay, just not okay enough for me to bother with subsequent issues. That's mainly because of the $4 price point. Just not enough here for that outlay. Sue me, but 50¢ per minute of read time is just too rich for my blood!
The story tries hard, and hits all the standard plot points one would expect if this was a Disney movie. Trouble is, it spends so much time establishing Abigail's loneliness and eccentricity that I was kind of bored with her by the time the snowman showed up. It might have been better to have started with the snowman and then establish Abigail's character through her efforts to keep him hidden. After all, how much fun would THE IRON GIANT have been if said giant had not shown up at all until the third act? I also found the art to be a little stiff, and suspect it was rendered on a computer. The "Zookeepers" strip on the back cover was actually nicer looking, with better line weight and spotting of blacks. For what it's worth, my local comics shop did not get the copy I ordered (I was the only customer to ask for it, apparently) when it first came out. The shop owner had to place a re-order, which I just got this week.
(Read Time: 8:05)
GRADE: C
That's it for this week, except to note a few stats on the nine comics I brought home:
TOTAL RETAIL COST: $36.91
MY COST (retail - 20% LCS discount + 5.5% ME sales tax): $31.14
COVER PRICE
High: $4.99 (Jupiter's Legacy #5, Star Wars #1)
Average: $4.10
Median: $3.99
Low: $2.99 (Batgirl #38)
PRODUCT PAGE COUNT
High: 48 (Star Wars #1)
Average: 32
Median: 32
Low: 28 (Abigail #1, All-New Cap #3, Daredevil #12, SHIELD #2)
STORY PAGE COUNT
High: 34 (Star Wars #1)
Average: 23.5
Median: 22
Low: 20 (All-New Cap #3, Batgirl #38, Daredevil #12)
STORY VALUE (price/story page count)
Best: 14.68¢/pg (Star Wars #1)
Average: 17.63¢/pg
Median: 18.13¢/pg
Worst: 19.95¢/pg (All New Cap #3, Daredevil #12)
STORY READ TIME
High: 17:00 (Astro City #19)
Average: 11:10
Median: 10:55
Low: 5:15 (JLU #8)
ENTERTAINMENT VALUE (price/story read time)
Best: 19.83¢/pg (Batgirl #38)
Average: 42.18¢/pg
Median: 42.47¢/pg
Worst: 76.0¢/pg (JLU #8)
PRODUCT READ TIME (inc. letter cols, promo/preview pages, etc.)
High: 20:50 (Astro City #19)
Average: 12:35
Median: 11:30
Low: 8:08 (Abigail #1)
TOTAL ENTERTAINMENT VALUE (price/total read time)
Best: 16.61¢/pg (Batgirl #38)
Average: 36.38¢/pg
Median: 34.70¢/pg
Worst: 49.38¢/pg (Abigail #1)
PANEL AVERAGE (panels/story pages)
High: 7.15/pg (Batgirl #38)
Average: 4.74/pg
Median: 4.58/pg
Low: 2.23/pg (JLU #8)
WORD AVERAGE (words/story pages)
High:
Average:
Median:
Low:
ADVERTISING PERCENTAGE (total pgs inc. covers/(ad pgs - house ad pgs))
High: 25% (Batgirl #38, JLU #8)
Average: 12.61%
Median: 9.38%
Low: 0% (Jupiter's Legacy #5)
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