Sketch Reviews (September 8 2011)

Big week. One of the biggest in recent memory with all of the various #1s coming out. It helps that, for the first proper week of DC's relaunch, half of the comics I'm buying from said relaunch came out. Gives it that bigger feel than it might have had if things skewed towards the third or fourth week of the month. Random chance, I suppose. Let's get to it...

Action Comics #1: An entertaining comic. Pretty basic, actually (and, by that, I mean simple/straight forward). Still not the biggest Rags Morales fan, but some pages were really nice (others not so much). Definitely an interpretation of Superman that suits me just fine. I'm glad this is one of the first week books and second Brian Hibbs in thinking this would have been the right book to kick off the relaunch. [****]

Animal Man #1: The art is a bit hit or miss at times; the writing is spot-on. Normally, I don't really like dream sequences. Something about them seems cheap and lazy. I liked this one; it added to the horror of the book. That Lemire shifts so effortlessly between domestic bickering, slightly comedic superhero bullshit, gravely serious, loving, and horror is pretty amazing. This issue cycles through a lot of different tones without any ever feeling 'wrong' or inconsistent. This was a comic I decided to pick up more as a hunch, a guess that it would suit my tastes, and, so far, it does. [****]

Casanova: Avaritia #1: It has returned. Is it everything I hoped for? No. Is it a disappointment? No. It falls somewhere between all of that. It's been a long time since the end of the second volume (the exact time is in the issue) and it's hard to see this book completely clearly. It feels like Casanova and looks like Casanova... but, it's not the Casanova I remember. Then again, I'm not the guy who read it originally. Hard to account for how both of us changed since then. I liked a lot of it. But: the montage of alternate realities is a better idea than it plays out; that bit at the end with 'Ott' was a little too corny; and... actually, that's it. Yeah. Yeah, I liked it. [***1/2]

New Avengers annual #1: Okay, that ending is bullshit. The follow-up hasn't even been solicited, so why release this now? So it can sit in people's boxes until the second half of the story eventually comes out whenever? This was nothing pressing about this comic that it couldn't have waited for the Avengers annual to be ready. Beyond that, it left me a little cold. I just didn't believe it. Wonder Man gets together a group of losers and rejects and they take down Luke Cage's band of Avengers? Maybe if they seemed helped more by the surprise element... It was a fair fight and, somehow, those idiots won? I don't buy it. Hell, I don't even buy Wonder Man's rationale completely. Seeing Dell'otto's art coloured by someone else is interesting, though. [**1/2]

O.M.A.C. #1: Tim talking this up made me give it a look. I like Giffen's art, just not enough to get past this script that was so fucking obvious and didn't really have any meat on it. [**]

Swamp Thing #1: Was a little on the fence over this one, too. It's an interesting set up that didn't quite grab me completely. Part of the problem is the obvious horror feel this book is going for and that doesn't really play to Paquette's strengths as an artist. His line work is too clean and smooth to really convey the horror that's happening. There's a disconnect there, at least for me. Otherwise, the art is gorgeous (just not horrific) If anything, this issue felt only partially done. It ends on a good cliffhanger, but left me wanting more. Not in the 'I want to see what happens next month' way, in the 'Is that all?' way. [***]

Wolverine: Debt of Death #1: Goddamn, David Aja puts on a show here with Bettie Breitweiser (who is quickly becoming one of my favourite colourists). David Lapham's writing services the art more than anything and that's pretty much what you want from an Aja-drawn one shot, right? Lots of action, lots of mood, lots of crazy page layouts... it's a great-looking comic. [***3/4]

Later