I may have to skip answering comments until this is all over. I’m barely finding time to do the writing. Yeesh!
Review code format: writing (3-1, faboo to mediocre), art (3-1), suitability for jumping on as a new reader (3-1), suitability for giving to a non-comics reader to get them hooked (3-1), and ?Eagerly waiting the collected TBP? (Y/N).
Girl Genius #9 (Airship) [3/3/2/3/Y]
The biggest flaw in GG #9? It feels like it’s been six months since #8. Phil Foglio is notoriously late with stuff, and GG is (promises aside) no exception, but the joy of actually reading individual issues nearly makes up for it. Foglio is a comic genius, and this series of mad scientists, airships, derring-do, and crazy magic gone wild is a true delight. If I had a time machine, I’d use it to go ahead ten years, pick up the next fifteen issues, and bring them back to read in one sitting. Pick up the previous collection, or pick up the individual issues (if you can afford the wait — though there’s a good “what has gone before” summary at the beginning, there are still plot elements that come out of left field), but you will enjoy it regardless.
Dork Tower #23 (Dork Storm) [3/2/2/2/Y]
John Kovalic’s series poking fun at gamers (and gamers) and comics and the like is always tremendous fun, even if the individual installments read way too fast. This issue’s main story is a bit arc-heavy (tying into the ongoing Kayleigh/Matt relationship) so it’s not a good a gateway issue as some of the others, but there are plenty of collections that will make any geek, comic-reading or non-, doubled-up with laughter.
Liberty Meadows #32 (Image) [2/3/3/3/Y]
The ongoing collection of Frank Cho’s newspaper strip — many of the strips redrawn extensively, both from Cho’s own desire and in reaction to not having a syndicate editor looking over his shoulder — continues to be great fun. LM owes a lot to Berke Breathed’s work, while being both better-drawn and less surreal. There’s plenty of slapstick, a little drama, and enough fan service to keep all readers happy. This issue marks the return of the Cow; it’s a scosh weaker than other issues, but still enough to give me the giggles.
Supernatural Law #37 (Exhibit A) [2/1/2/3/N]
I keep running hot and cold on the adventures of Wolff & Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre. The idea of a law firm that gets involved in various horror and monster cases — in this case, a mad scientist who’s made contact with a beautiful princess in another dimension (drawn by Frank Cho) — is a solid one. But it’s still a one-trick pony, no matter how good that trick is, and efforts by Batton Lash (a very nice man) to liven things up with LA Law-style soap opera don’t work for me, either. So sometimes I buy it, sometimes I don’t. This time I did, and didn’t terribly regret it.
Blood & Water #5 of 5 (Vertigo) [2/1/1/1/Y]
Conclusion of Judd Winick’s attempt to do contemporary vampires. In the end, a marvelous setup in the first three issues grinds to a stereotypical halt in the last two, which is a bit of a surprise. The murky-not-spooky art of Tom Coker doesn’t help matters. I’m glad the series is over, and I might pick up the TPB — or I might not. But it’s a disappointment.
Fables #15 (Vertigo) [2/2/2/2/Y]
Bill Willingham, an old favorite of mine, won at least one Eisner at the SDCC for this book, and I can undersand why. The idea of a covert society of fairy tale characters living in the modern world (having fled their own dimension), and how their archetypes interact with each other and with the rest of the world is a fine one, and Willingham manages it with humor and imagination. This issue continues an arc of Bigby Wolf and Snow White battling a plot by Bluebeard to take control of the community is nicely done. Good stuff. The first two collections are out there — go find them.