The Week In Ink - 10/5/05

The ISB is back on track after a one-night absence caused by routine Blogger maintenance and the fact that I enjoy sleeping on occasion. So let's kick off this new era of greatness with a special post that I like to call The ISB: Decaffeinated.

Yes, for the first time in quite a while, I have not had a single beverage containing sweet, sweet caffeine today, which made tonight's drive home, listening to a college radio show that consisted of a ten-minute ambient remix of 1950s educational short films that slowly transitioned into an all-synthesizer version of "Born To Be Wild" followed up by a PSA that was a country song in support of breastfeeding.

It's been a weird night. Now let's talk comics.

Comics

DC Special: The Return of Donna Troy #4: Kevin referred to this series as being "continuity as story" rather than a story with continuity, and he pretty much hit the nail on the head. That said, I didn't end up disliking it--or at least I don't right now. I've been reading through the Perez run on Wonder Woman, and I haven't gotten around to bugging Scott about explaining exactly how Donna Troy works, but other than that, I just don't particularly care about her. Still, some of the stuff towards the end was interesting, and if nothing else, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez drew some very pretty pictures. I'm just having a hard time bringing myself to care.

Fell #2: If you're reading a comic that features cell phones and dead babies, chances are Warren Ellis wrote it. That said, I'm quickly growing to love this book. The nine-panel structure seemed a little more loose in this issue, but it still helps a lot with the pacing of a sixteen-page book, and Templesmith's art really works for it. Fell's interaction with Mayko's really enjoyable, and it doesn't hurt that the climax is reminiscent of my favorite Mike Carey Hellblazer story. And honestly, you can't beat the price. It's great.

Freshmen #3: Well that certainly took a turn for the violent.

The Golden Plates #3: I'll be honest. Aside from the fact that my high school drama teacher Mr. Melton and this girl Mary that I used to have a crush on are both part of it, I know next to nothing about the Mormon faith. But with Mike Allred doing a twelve-issue adaptation of the entire Book of Mormon, I'm certainly willing to learn. I'm behind on these--I still haven't finished #2--but the first one was awesome, and cripes, just look at that picture. I haven't been this excited about a religious comic since Al Hartley's adaptation of The Cross and the Switchblade.

Gotham Central #36: Dead Robin finishes up just in time for Gotham City to get showered in molten chunks of the Rock of Eternity, and man, it was good. The well-crafted murder-and-misdirection story aside, I'm starting to think that I'd rather take a summer vacation to Armaghetto than spend five minutes in the GCPD interrogation room. Kano does a great job with pencils in this issue, especially when Batman shows up and looks absolutely terrifying. Seriously, the panel where the guy is cowering in fear and Batman's in the shadows, almost enveloping him in the cape? That's the kind of thing I want to see.

JSA #78: Here's my impression of every issue of JSA: EVERYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT [Character] IS A LIE! But I kid. I wasn't a big fan of the Legion issues Keith Champagne wrote last year, but then again, those issues didn't have a gorilla in a turban, and this one does.

Marvel Monsters: Devil Dinosaur: The $3.99 price tag may seem a little hefty for a goofy Halloween event book that doesn't really matter, but to be fair? It does have a full-page shot of this guy getting punched in the face by this guy, and you can't put a price on the kind of happiness that that sort of thing will bring you. Plus, it was written and drawn by Eric Powell. And there's also an old Jack Kirby monster story in the back that has a big furry robot with the power of hypnosis building a rocket shaped like a turnip. You might want to buy two.

Marvel Team-Up #13: I was reading through some back issues of MTU earlier this week, and I'd forgotten just how good it actually is. This issue, while it doesn't feature Terror and Darkhawk just yet, does have a pretty massive throwdown and finally reveals the origin of Crazy Tony Stark Dr. Doom from from six issues ago. But still, I'd like to see more of that one teacher that was hot for Peter Parker. I'm not sure that guy has enough problems in his life.

New Thunderbolts #13

The Punisher #26: In the Marvel Knights Punisher series, there was a lot of dark humor underneath the overarching theme that Frank Castle really enjoys what he does, which was a nice take on the character. But with the MAX title, Ennis has shifted things a little. He writes about things that are so utterly horrible, so infuriating and wrong, that it makes the Punisher's actions seem like a reasonable response. Frank may be a monster, but in the world he's living in, he's doing the only sane thing he can. Which, in this case, involves shooting a lot of people. And we all know how much I like that.

Rann-Thanagar War #6

Wonder Woman #221

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Trades

The Goon: Fancy Pants Edition: $24.95 isn't too bad for a hardcover, even if it only has six issues. Then again, this is the Goon we're talking about, and six issues of this book are more entertaining than just about anything else. But even beyond that, it's just a really nice package. The great art deco design of the dust jacket, the silver lettering on the book itself, and the fact that it's signed are all nice touches that make it a nice addition to the Invincible Super Shelf. Of course, it's not as nice as...

Watchmen: The Absolute Edition: My God. This thing is gorgeous. I want to marry it. We all know that Watchmen's the best comic book ever made, so I won't get into that, but really: it's beautiful. A few people I know were worried about how the re-coloring would look, but when I cracked it open at work (mmm, smyth-sewn binding), I was amazed. The only real changes I could tell--and it's been about a year since the last time I read it, so I could be wrong--are that the flashbacks look a little more washed out, and the Black Freighter story is colored to simulate visible printing dots. Everything else just looks stunning. And big. Very big. Admittedly, it's still a great comic if you get the trade for eighteen bucks, but if you've got the scratch, I can't see any reason not to own this--especially considering that it's got Alan Moore's original proposal. And that's hot.

But then again, Absolute Danger Girl's only fifty...