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Snapshots for 6/25
There's no way that Don and I can cover all of the material we have for review in full reviews, so these capsule reviews will offer some brief comments on other recent releases.
ASTRO CITY: LOCAL HEROES #3
by Kurt Busiek & Brent Anderson (DC Comics/Homage imprint)
 In this issue, Busiek and Anderson tackle a few of the old saws of life: city life vs. country life, teenagers learning that they might not know everything and of course the joy of super-heroes that infuses each issue of Astro City. The story has a familiarity to it, as we've all seen the "city girl stuck in the country" bit as a starting point, and Busiek touches on all the cliches, from the big fair to work on the farm to everyone knowing one another. However, while it may not be shocking and new, Busiek crafts an interesting protagonist in his believably self-centered teenage girl, an interesting town in Caplinville that really does read like the country cousin of Astro City and an overall nice metaphor for the joy to be found in trying new things. And, as always, Brent Anderson delivers on the visuals, with a great "Duke Brothers meets Superman" visual for Roustabout and a design for the settings of Caplinville that lets you practically feel the dusty air or hear the sounds of the fair. 8/10
CRIMINAL MACABRE: A CAL MCDONALD MYSTERY #2
by Steve Niles & Ben Templesmith (Dark Horse Comics)
 I am deeply, deeply lost. Niles and Templesmith have a fun concept here with Cal's blase attitude about the weird and supernatural, and the book is at its most fun when it is exploring things from this slightly humorous, skewed point-of-view. The ghouls with cellphones, the use of a stuffed whale as a weapon or Cal's "Brueger. Cal. I'm here at records. I didn't do it." are really fun moments that make me like the lead character. But the notion that the monsters are organizing isn't quite as shocking for me since the norm for the world hasn't really been established, and Templesmith's moody artwork is confusing and hard-to-read as often as it is effective and evocative. In particular, the action sequences that feature a confrontation between Cal and monsters in the museum are often very difficult to make heads or tails out of. 5/10
INHUMANS V.6 #2
by Sean McKeever, Matthew Clark & Nelson (Marvel Comics/Tsunami imprint)
 I've never been a big Inhumans fan, but McKeever has managed to bring me in on the ground floor with his new characters, and he promises to hold my interest with the twist on the premise introduced this issue, taking a batch of newly-created Inhumans characters and sending them to America as exchange students. It's something that hasn't been done with the property before, and McKeever has both an interesting cast and his usual facility with believable relationships that leads me to believe it's going to head off in very interesting directions. He's aided by Matthew Clark and Nelson's artwork, which features strong designs for the new characters and beautifully tweaked designs for familiar faces like Medusa and Gorgon, not to mention exceptional storytelling skills for the emotions and character interactions that are at the heart of the script. McKeever's less alien take on these characters may not be what everyone is looking for in the Inhumans, but it certainly is what I was looking for. 8/10
THE LEGION #21
by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Chris Batista & Mark Farmer (DC Comics)
 I love a good fake-out, and Abnett, Lanning and the rest are running a great one in the current "Dream Crime" story. Last issue pulled off a shocker, revealing Universo, not Darkseid, to be the big villain of the arc. The question remaining then, was: Is Universo the only bad guy, or is Darkseid involved as well? This issue provides that answer, and it's cleverly done, shining the spotlight on another pair of Legionnaires as well as presenting both master villains in an exceptionally frightening light. Batista is to be commended for his depiction of both villains, and for the haunting, monster movie pacing and feel of the story, as well as for the great new design on Projectra, who we see in full light and in action for the first time since her change. This creative team is pulling off what the Legion should ideally be: a mixture of science-fiction and epic-scale super-heroics. 9/10
MYTHSTALKERS #3
by Douglass Barre & Jiro (Image Comics)
 Though this issue is in service to the main quest of finding the Labyrinth of Crete, there are three mythological stories explored here. While this means there's a lot of story for one issue, it almost seems like too much story, especially when the story of the ghost pirate ship comes with a mind-boggling amount of text that stops the story dead in the middle. Fortunately, the first part of the story, as the heroes outwit the Cyclops, is a clever bit of writing that is reminiscent of the Greek myths from which it is derived, and the last part of the story is a brief but welcome action sequence. Jiro appears to be coloring directly on his pencils here, which sometimes makes the artwork look a little vague and blurry but generally works, and while his monsters aren't stunning in design, they are interesting enough, and the storytelling here is very strong. 6/10
RUNAWAYS #3
by Brian K. Vaughan, Adrian Alphona & David Newbold (Marvel Comics/Tsunami imprint)
 Runaways uses the same slow-build pacing that is a defining aspect of the Tsunami imprint, but Vaughan blends with it some storytelling fundamentals that makes each issue stand alone as a fun read as well. While the creators are being slow with revealing the information (there are a couple key things this issue, including the revelation of powers or special abilities for two members of the erstwhile "team"), they are not being at all slow in making the readers fall in love with these characters. It's easy to relate to these kids and their confusion and attempts to just keep moving, as the circumstances they've fallen into are quite shocking and life-changing. The kids aren't sure what to do, the readers aren't sure what they're going to do, but it's pretty much impossible not to be desperate to find out. Especially when Vaughan pulls another patented cliffhanger on the final pages, showing off the influence of "The Pride" and putting some time pressure on the kids as well. Alphona and Newbold continue the tradition of solid artwork, and Runaways is looking like the runaway hit of the Tsunami line. 10/10
STARTLING STORIES: THE THING - NIGHT FALLS ON YANCY STREET #2
by Evan Dorkin & Dean Haspiel (Marvel Comics)
 If anything makes me feel at least a little bit better about the nonsense surrounding Fantastic Four in the last week, it's this mini-series, because it shows that there's at least someone else out there who can write the Fantastic Four. Or at least, the Thing, because this is one of the most entertaining Thing stories I've ever read, combining traditional elements like celebrity super-heroing, the Yancy Street Gang and a super-villain (or four) and less traditional elements like the structure, which is basically a romance. Dorkin may be writing about a guy covered in orange rock, but he gets the real guy persona that has made the Thing so popular, and Ben Grimm's affection for Hazel and guilt over Alicia makes for stirring personal conflict that's easy enough for anyone to relate to. The sense of fun and somewhat skewed perspective is carried over in Haspiel's artwork, which has the energy for the super-hero sequences and the pathos for the relationship stuff. This is one of those occasional mini-series that redeems the often mediocre format, and one of the most fun stories you're likely to read all year. 10/10
UNDERCOVER GENIE TP
by Kyle Baker (DC Comics/Vertigo imprint)
 More Kyle Baker work is always a treat (unless it's being presented as part of The Truth), and even though this is mostly reprint stuff, I've never seen most of it before. Baker alternates in this volume between dead-on caricatures of famous folks, sketches and doodles and full-blown cartoons, and it's a glimpse into the mind of someone whose work in comics is all too infrequent, for reasons explained in his somewhat harsh but nonetheless entertaining introduction. Personal highlights for me were some of Baker's slice-of-life observational humor, such as the "Girlfriend Shirt" or the Why I Hate Saturn style restaurant conversation that covers such topics as making faces at babies and saying hi to celebrities. Baker also has a couple of other nuggets of wisdom from outrageous and hilarious Cowboy Wally, and bizarre but hilarious genre goofs like the EC-Horror style romance story or "Ghost Chimp, M.D." At any rate, this is a must for Kyle Baker completists and a good buy for anyone looking for a few good laughs and a lot of great art. 9/10
VOLTRON: DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE #2
by Dan Jolley, Mike Norton, Clint Kilinski & Clayton Brown (Image Comics)
 This is an unusual take on a nostalgia property, as the creators are waiting several issues before really even showing us the big face that fans are waiting for. However, the build-up has been interesting, and the entrance of one part of Voltron in this issue has a big impact as a result. There's a certain repetitive element to the plotting here, as the team finds one part of Voltron with the "help" of the aliens and then follows them as they find more of them, but it's kept fast-paced and action-oriented, and doesn't descend into the "form Blazing Sword!" cliche that often defined the TV series. I'll be honest, Voltron making a re-appearance seemed to me to be scraping the bottom of the nostalgia barrel, but these creators are doing a nice job of making it a fairly straightforward science-fiction/action series. 6/10
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