Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Comics Out March 28, 2007

Jodi Picoult and Drew Johnson's Wonder Woman #6. I picked this up because I was reading the (now aborted) Heinberg-Dodson Wonder Woman, and, after Metzler was such a surprise hit for me on JLA, I was curious about a female novelist taking over the book. I read the first few pages and got hit so hard on the head with the exposition stick I blacked out. Check this out for dialogue: Wonder Woman is in disguise as Agent Diana Prince, and her partner says

"I can't believe this is my job! I can't believe we have to baby sit some loser who won a reality TV show to become the new Maxi-Man! I can't believe you are my partner! I can't believe cotton candy costs four dollars now!"

Actual unedited dialogue. Only people in comics trying to get new readers talk like this, summarizing everything about their day to people who already know what their day is like. Maxi-Man, I can only assume, is some kind of feminine product superhero tie in. I did not read the rest of the issue to find out.

Action Comics came out today, but for some reason I cannot understand it does not follow where the last issue, written by Geoff Johns and Richard Donner, left off -- it features an unrelated story by a new writing team. I don't care enough to figure out what is going on.

Grant Morrison's new Batman issue is also out today but my comic book store experienced a problem with their shipment and are missing a bunch of books including this one, so I will have to get it later. I will get it this week, but after last issue I am not in any kind of hurry.

Quentin Tarantino will be at Jim Hanley's Universe in New York City for an hour on Saturday, but I am not going to wait in the crowd for that, even though I am practically counting the days down till Grindhouse.

Review, recommend, and discuss this weeks comics and comics news.

12 comments:

James said...

Aw crap, I was eagerly awaiting a Batman review for advice on whether I should get it. I didn't get last issue because I wasn't interested in the illustrated prose premise, and I offloaded the whole of Batman and Son because it was bad. I still believe in a Morisson Batman though, and I like Andy Kubert, so I wanted to hear that the new arc got off to a fantastic start.

Anyone out there read it and want to make my day/make me cry?

Marc Caputo said...

This is my problem with novelists who write comic books; they may write well but there's a difference between being someone who writes comics well and someone who writes great comics. Johns, Bendis, Millar, Busiek, Morrison, Waid all write great comics. Meltzer writes comics well, but that doesn't mean they're great comics. This is why I'm not even going near Picoult's Wonder Woman. Also, Charlie Huston's Moon Knight really didn't stand up on a straight-through reading after the singles were out.

Was that Midtown that had the screw-up? Good thing I bought in Queens this week - can't not have my GL fix.

Geoff Klock said...

Marc: it was not midtown -- it was the tiny comic book store at my subway stop in Queens.

Anonymous said...

Haven't bought anything yet... but I'm looking forward to picking up some old stuff- "The Five Fists of Science" by Matt Fraction, and is the Cassanova trade out yet? Also, all my friends have recommended Magnitude by Ape Entertainment.

James said...

Either my store had the same problem with Batman or I missed it on the shelves, either way I'll check it out saturday and decide whether I'm still/back onboard or not.

Ultimate Spider-Man: Not as good as it once was (but not as bad as the "Deadpool" arc), I'm sticking with this in the hope that it'll get a boost when Immomen starts his run. If nothing else, it'll look incredible.

Daredevil: Again, not as good as when Brubaker first took over from Bendis (the last two issues have been worrying: a very weak rushed conclusion, and an issue-long "previously on Daredevil..."), but decent enough.

Superman Confidential: No All-Star, but pretty good. Surprise ending that wasn't in the least.

Wow! What a homogenously adequate week of comics. Maybe I'm just tired.

Patrick Sanders said...

I picked up Fables #59 and it is still an endless wellspring of imagination and fun. Best comic to be found anywhere.

Also DMZ #17, and until this issue I kinda felt Brian Wood had not quite found his grove on this comic. Then I got to the last couple of pages, and he ripped my frigging guts out.

Matt Jacobson said...

OK, for real now - what the hell is going on with Morrison and his Batman run? This issue was possibly the worst single issue I've ever read by Morrison - it felt like a filler issue by a hack writer. It felt & looked like the sort of pointless, middling stuff comic companys spewed out endlessly through the nineties. What the hell is Morrison doing?

Geoff Klock said...

Mitch: Matt Fraction is my fucking hero, but let me warn you: Five Fists is no Casanova. Get it if, like me, you like Fraction so much you care about his development. Casanova trade is not out.

James: I have weeks like that all the time. Like this week and last weeek. Ah the life of comic book people...

UMatt: Well I think Morrison's previous issue of Batman (the prose issue) was the worst thing he has ever done, but yeah, this was not good either. I sort of liked the first half. I do not have the time to look at it more closely right now, but something has gone off the rails. I will keep thinking on it. You are right to compare it to middling 90s stuff.

What I think Morrison is doing is getting crushed by the weight of Frank Miller -- did you notice one of the whores looked like and had a name similar to one of the whores in Sin City (I think).

Scott Cederlund said...

Mitch: If you're looking for more Fraction, check out The Last of the Independents. For me, that still remains a much more satisfying read than Five Fists is. For Fraction, it's actually a rather simple story but, combined with Kieron Dwyer's artwork, that book works where Five Fists is full of ideas but never completely meshes enough for my tastes.

Mitch said...

Thanks Geoff and Scott. I'll be sure to be careful my Fractions.

Unknown said...

I'm late getting to this thread, but I'll throw in a few comments: I agree about Batman; my least favorite issue of Morrison's run yet. I'm considering dropping it, but I'll stick around at least through the #666 issue and the one with J.H. Williams that follows. After that, we'll see.

As for Five Fists of Science, I disagree with Geoff; I though it was great. Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla versus black magician J.P. Morgan, Thomas Edison, and Marconi! Awesome! I need to check out Last of the Independents sometime, and I also have The Annotated Mantooth at home, but haven't read it yet.

Unknown said...

Oh, and unless you really wanted your Kill Bill DVD autographed or something, I would agree with your decision to skip meeting Tarantino. While I love him as a filmmaker, as a person he is obnoxious and kind of an ass. I hate to watch interviews with him; he's very annoying. I actually have a good story about meeting him that I'll have to relate on my blog sometime.