{"id":38259,"date":"2013-07-15T20:45:51","date_gmt":"2013-07-16T02:45:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/07\/15\/dave-does-the-comics-july-interim-edition-1.html"},"modified":"2013-07-16T09:27:34","modified_gmt":"2013-07-16T15:27:34","slug":"dave-does-the-comics-july-interim-edition-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/07\/15\/dave-does-the-comics-july-interim-edition-1.html","title":{"rendered":"Dave Does the Comics – July Interim Edition #1"},"content":{"rendered":"
Since I'm not doing my monthly podcast at the beginning of August (comic book stores and podcasting facilities both being difficult to find in the Botswanan bush), I'm filling in with a few written reviews of comics read to date in July, so that I don't have to talk about two<\/i> full months the next time around.<\/p>\n

Star ratings are from 1 (Do Not Like) to 5 (Faboo).<\/p>\n

BATGIRL #22<\/b> (DC – Gail Simone w \/ Fernando Pasarin p) \u00a0"A Day in a Life of Endless Velocity" — One of the few positive lights in the DC New 52, this in-between issue features both a date for Babs as well as a singularly unpleasant conversation between Jim Gordon and Batman. \u00a0Batgirl can be both dramatic and also light-hearted, as this issue shows. I'm not quite sure why it's been unrelentingly darky-dark-dark of late, but this ish strikes a good balance. **<\/b><\/p>\n

JUSTICE LEAGUE #22<\/b> (DC – Geoff Johns w \/ Ivan Reis p) "Trinity War, Part 1: The Death Card" – Super-hero teams fighting each other is massively cliche. \u00a0But I will say this: the long JL\/JLA setup in the New 52 has actually provided a plausible basis for it to happen, esp. when Captain Marvel is thrown into the mix (and the "well, are they really heroes" aspect for both teams is considered). I won't say I was agog at the first installment of the Trinity War, but the eyerolling was kept to a pleasing minimum. *<\/b><\/p>\n

SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #13<\/b> (Marvel – Dan Slott, Christos Gage w \/ Giuseppe Camuncoli p) "No Escape, Part 3: The Slayers & the Slain" — I continue to be surprisingly pleased by the whole "Spider-Man's body is now occupied by Doc Ock's mind" loooooong story arc going on, and this battle between Spidey\/Ock and the Spider-Slayer — with side conflicts with some other classic Spidey villains and J Jonah Jameson playing wild cards — is really quite a lot of fun. It can't go on forever (Marvel doesn't carry the Comic Code any more, but "heroes don't kill" is still true for most of their line, except for the Punisher), but I'm really liking where they are taking the character. **<\/b><\/p>\n

WOLVERINE #6<\/b> (Marvel – Paul Cornell w \/ Mirco Pierfederici p) "Drowning Logan, Part 2" — The world really doesn't need another Wolverine title, and the story here (infectious group mind from the Microverse has taken over SHIELD and is bent on taking over the world) is damned silly on the face of it …, but I'm enjoying Cornell's take on Wolverine — something other than "Bub" this and "snikt" that, and a bit more interior and human. Good stuff. *<\/b>\u00a0<\/p>\n

INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK<\/b> (Marvel – Mark Waid w \/ Matteo Scalera a) "Blind Rage, Part 2" — The storyline here (DD and Hulk tangle with Baron Zemo, Hydra, and a lot of bad weapons) is no great shakes, but what's remarkable is how easily, almost effortlessly, Waid appears as he writes both the protagonists and their relationship. \u00a0The dialog is smooth, the personal interactions are solid, and it's just a joy to watch. **<\/b><\/p>\n

UNCANNY X-MEN<\/b> #8 (Marvel – Brian Bendis w \/ Chris Bachalo p) — I usually enjoy Bendis' dialog, at least, and this issue neither disappoints nor excels. \u00a0Cyclops and Magneto have a war of wills over trust and leadership and how broken they all are post-Phoenix-Force-yada-yada, while one of their students quits and goes home, but not without repercussions. \u00a0The repartee is sharp, as always, and Bachalo's art is both approachable and rough enough to match the emotional turmoil of the whole really-truly-rogue X-Men (though the blond women in the book are beginning to look awfully similar). There's enough here to make me want to read next month, even if Magneto looks ridiculous and Cyclops hasn't been acting believably\u00a0for the last decade. *<\/b><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n


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Since I'm not doing my monthly podcast at the beginning of August (comic book stores and podcasting facilities both being difficult to find in the Botswanan bush), I'm filling in with a few written reviews of comics read to date in July, so that I don't have to talk about two full months the next … Continue reading “Dave Does the Comics – July Interim Edition #1”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[104,106,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dave-does-the-comics","category-plusposts","category-media-comics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":43465,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/07\/10\/huh-another-dc-comic-i-might-have-to-pick-up.html","url_meta":{"origin":38259,"position":0},"title":"Huh. Another DC Comic I might have to pick up","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 10-Jul-14 12:11pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I've often enjoyed bits and bobs of the Batman Family comics over the years, but since the DC \"New 52\" they've been unrelentingly dark, grim, gritty, and unpleasant.I picked up Grayson #1 this week, one of my first new DC titles in a while, and it was clean, interesting, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31655,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/09\/gail-simone-gets-fired-from-batgirl-by-e-mail.html","url_meta":{"origin":38259,"position":1},"title":"Gail Simone gets fired from "Batgirl" … by e-mail","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 9-Dec-12 8:48pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Which is really strange (given that it's been a successfully-selling book) and distressing (as Simone is one of the top female writers in comics today). \u00a0Given DC's dubious relationships with its female readers \/ creators \/ characters, it's also more than a bit worrisome.\"Batgirl\" hasn't been my favorite comic in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31104,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/11\/01\/now-dc-is-just-being-jerks.html","url_meta":{"origin":38259,"position":2},"title":"Now DC is just being jerks","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 1-Nov-12 1:48pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Okay, I liked Stephanie Brown as Batgirl, and the meta-saga of how the character has been treated over the years is a pretty obnoxious one, but I'm not going to make a federal case over her. \u00a0Except ... well, there's \"DC Editorial Deciding She Will Not Be Appearing Again, Despite\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23085,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/15\/dave-does-the-comics-issue-14-15-oct-2011.html","url_meta":{"origin":38259,"position":3},"title":"***Dave Does the Comics – Issue 14 (15 Oct 2011)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 15-Oct-11 12:36pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Another week, another comic book review podcast. \u00a0This outing we get some good and some bad, as usual, plus some Questionable Content. In post-podcast reading, I discover that JLA: Age of Wonder was originally published as a two-part comic in 2003. Which explains why it's showing up in a DC\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "***Dave Does the Comics"","block_context":{"text":"***Dave Does the Comics","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics\/dave-does-the-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/questionable-content_vol2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/questionable-content_vol2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/questionable-content_vol2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":45608,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/01\/really-dc-really.html","url_meta":{"origin":38259,"position":4},"title":"Really, DC? Really?","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 1-Oct-14 6:04am","format":false,"excerpt":"The \"Training to be Batman's Wife\" is kind of goofy and maybe a bit subtle in its unpleasant message. The Onesies in the linked article (boys: \"Future Man of Steel\"; girls: \"I Only Date Heroes\") is pretty awful.But the Superman \"Score\" shirt? Really? Not only is it an awful edit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3837,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/03\/23\/hey_kids_comics.html","url_meta":{"origin":38259,"position":5},"title":"Hey, kids! Comics!","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 23-Mar-03 12:55pm","format":false,"excerpt":"A few trade paperbacks to have gone through the mill recently:...","rel":"","context":"In "Comics & Comic Books"","block_context":{"text":"Comics & Comic Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38259"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38279,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38259\/revisions\/38279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}