Stuff I bought (8-30-06)

Light week this week, only 4 books, and we'll be talking about 52 in the Friday 5, so let's make the jump and get down to business.


1. Exiles #85: Tony Bedard's extended run on Exiles continues (you may recall that Claremont's run had been postponed due to health issues), and it's another fun, creative story. Honestly, I don't know if this is what Winnick had in mind for the Exiles (and the Timebroker) when he started the title, but Bedard's done a fine job of making the book his own. To say that this is another fun issue sounds like I'm damning it with faint praise, but it really is a solid, enjoyable book every month. Bedard is continuing his entertaining Earth-designations from previous issues, and there are a couple of in-jokes for longtime Marvel Zombies therein. The idea of an entire team of Wolverines is so good, I'm sort of surprised that no one's thought of it before now. Paul Pelletier's art is well up to the usual standards. As I was reading through this issue the first time, I was stewing about the fact that all of his faces were looking the same, but then I realized, "Duh! They're all Wolverine! Of COURSE they're all going to look the same!" Anyway, another B.

2. The Boys #2: This is definitely a Mature Readers title. I saw a preview of this at SDCC while I was waiting in line for a Darrick Robertson sketch (Starman One Million, if you must know), and the entire book is great. Which isn't to say there's no reason for that Mature Readers sticker. This is definitely not a book for the kiddies. It's Garth Ennis doing what he does best: write utter bastards who engage in much mayhem and monkeyshines. In this issue, we meet the rest of "the boys" and Hughie, our pov character, is faced with whether or not to travel to DC to scope out the sitch. I'm torn here. I'm enjoying it so far, but I think this'll work better in trade. Or that may just be my inner accountant looking at my balance sheet and wondering how we're going to accommodate another ongoing series. Maybe that's it. Anyway, if you're a fan of Ennis, Robertson, or "getting-the-band-back-together" stories, then this one's a B.

3. Teen Titans #38: Johns gives us the first part of a new storyline here, and while I like Red Star, and loved the "coming attractions" via the photo collage, this just didn't have the same spark that past issues have had. Also, while I'm glad to see Mas y Menos making the transition from the cartoon to the comics, I'd rather see them looking more similar to their cartoon appearance than just the typical comic-book-teenager look they're given here. Visually distinct character designs are one of the things that made the cartoon so enjoyable. I don't think they need to be overly "toony", but something different would have been nice. I'd like to graded this one a little higher, I really can't justify giving it anything higher than a C. I'll give it another month or so, because, like The Boys, this one has a "getting-the-band-back-together" feel to it and I like those types of stories. But Johns really needs to step it up.

That's going to wrap it up for today. Hopefully before the next week rolls around I'll have figured out how to make pictures do what I want them to do in these posts.

Peace