QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 09-17-08

QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 09-17-08
By John Judy

ACTION COMICS #869 by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. “He’s a Brainiac, Brainiac on the floooorrr….!” I’m sorry.

ALL-STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN #10 (the amended version) by Frank Miller and Jim Lee. This isn’t actually on the invoice but I’m hoping DC is able to ship all the replacement copies for the ones they had to destroy or put on E-Bay last week thanks to Frank Miller’s insistence that all his potty-mouth dialogue be printed before being “blacked-out” afterwards. Oops. Frank is at that point in his career in which he appears comfortable with every word except “No.” Hopefully this will pass after “The Spirit” wins a few Razzies.

ALL-STAR SUPERMAN #12 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely. Well, it’s taken three years but we’ve finally made it to issue twelve! In this climactic issue we find out how a dying Superman deals with Lex, Lois and all sorts of other stuff! All without a single crude reference to female anatomy!

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #572 by Dan Slott and John Romita Jr. The amazing Norman Osborn continues dancing his sociopathic jig on the corpse of decency. Fun stuff! Oh, and Spider-Man appears too. Recommended.

ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN #8 by Robert Kirkman and Jason Howard. Now monthly The Astounding W.M. goes out looking for the Were-Creep who cast his life into a furry Hell. (Note: “Furry Hell” is also where you go when you die while misbehaving at Sci-Fi conventions.)

BILLY BATSON AND THE MAGIC OF SHAZAM #2 written and drawn by Mike Kunkel. Setting up the Captain Marvel/Black Adam rivalry. Gotta admit the art on this series doesn’t grab me the way Jeff Smith’s did but the spirit remains the same and my kid seems to enjoy it. And shouldn’t there always be a Captain Marvel comic on the racks?

CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI13 #5 by Paul Cornell and Pat Olliffe. Well the cover kind of gives everything away. Be advised: Spitfire is NOT naked in this issue, but she does appear to have gone swimming.

DC UNIVERSE: DECISIONS #1 of 4 by Judd Winick, Bill Willingham and Rick Leonardi. The superheroes of the DCU start off just protecting their presidential candidates and end up endorsing them. Gotta look, but I’m afraid this is one of those cases of Reality out-weirding the comic books….

GHOST RIDER #27 by Jason Aaron and Tan Eng Hut. Okay, the art here could be better but Jason Aaron is clearly having a ball making Ghost Rider terrorize his way through Biker Country. Like a seventies grindhouse movie where the budget ran out early on. Recommended.

GRAVEL #5 by Warren Ellis, Mike Wolfer and Oscar Jimenez. Combat Magician William Gravel continues killing magicians who have what he wants. If only he’d go after the Avatar Press webmaster next! This is kind of like Marvel’s “Infinity Gauntlet” only with more smoking and swearing.

GREATEST HITS #1 of 6 by David Tischman and Glenn Fabry. Imagine if the Beatles had been superheroes instead of musicians. Now meet The Mates, the four supermen from England. Absolutely must-look, but it’s Vertigo so probably not for kids.

HELLBLAZER #247 by Andy Diggle and Leonardo Manco. Diggle’s final story-arc as Constantine faces down a War-Magus who eats people for power. Like Venom only with less tongue.

MARVEL APES #2 of 4 by Karl Kesel and Ramon Bachs. It’s the adventures of Marvel superheroes on Earth-Ape! Twisted fun. “Paging Doctor Zaius!”

MIGHTY AVENGERS #18 by Brian Michael Bendis and Khoi Pham. Needs apes.

PUNISHER #62 by Gregg Hurwitz and Laurence Campbell. Thus far a worthy successor to the Garth Ennis run. No small hurdle. Recommended.

SCALPED #21 by Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera. That’s not a peace pipe Dashiell Bad Horse is smoking. If you ever wondered how the darkest noir comic on the stands today could get darker, here’s your answer: Have your hero start smoking rock. Why is it the higher I recommend this thing the lower the orders go? Fine. It’s horrible! With mutants! Check it out before some jerk at DC/Vertigo cancels my favorite book!

SQUADRON SUPREME #3 by Howard Chaykin and Marco Turini. Quite possibly the all-around worst comic series I have read this year. And I’ve read WOLVERINE: ORIGINS.

UNCANNY X-MEN #502 by Matt Fraction, Ed Brubaker and Greg Land. Hard to say what’s more disturbing in this issue: Greg Land’s photo swipes or Cyclops’ newfound pleasure in using torture to extract information from prisoners when he’s got super-powered mind-readers on his team. I’m honestly sickened by this post Abu Ghraib idea that heroes (as opposed to anti-heroes) can do this stuff. Maybe it’s the way Greg Land draws everybody grinning ear-to-ear while they go all X-Gestapo. When did the X-Men become Bush-McCain Republicans?

WALKING DEAD #52 by Robert Kirkman and Charles Adlard. And speaking of John McCain… Recommended as always. The comic, not the Senator. Oy.

X-FACTOR #35 by Peter David and Larry Stroman. Longshot’s back! Plus lumpy artwork!

Also this week, many bundles of “Halloween” Mini-Comics arrive including ARCHIE, BONE, COWA!, DONALD DUCK, and PEANUTS. Excellent treats, appropriate for all ages and guaranteed to rot only your mind, never your teeth. Get some!

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I'll be giving out the Halloween comics - Mike