[RANT] Dave's Capsules & Awards for Oct 15

                    Dave's Unspoilt Capsules and Awards
         The Week's Picks and Pans, plus Awards of Dubious Merit

Standard Disclaimers: Please set appropriate followups.  Recommendation does
not factor in price.  Not all books will have arrived in your area this week.
Made my final buy from the old shop.  Rants, Capsules can be found on my 
             homepage, http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/Rants 

Capsules:
     The regular Capsule reviews of books I actually buy.  If I get a book
late due to distributor foulups or whatever, I'll put it in the Missing
section.  

     Transformers vs GIJoe #2 (of 6): Dreamwave - Not quite as murked out as
#1, but the art still subtracts more than it adds, IMO.  Decent enough story,
though.  Mildly recommended.  $2.95
     Tom Strong's Terrific Tales #8: DC/ABC - The opening story with art by
Jason Pearson is an homage to Wacky Racers and general Hanna-Barbera badness.
Any nostalgia this may have triggered in me is overwhelmed by the general
suckitude of both the source material and this faithful homage.  The Jonni
Future story was a nice break from the softcore tease-porn that filled the
past several installments (although it's not without a few bits, at least it
stays at a reasonable level).  The Young Tom Strong story is a good, pivotal
tale.  Overall, mildly recommended.  $2.95/$4.50Cn
     JSA #53: DC - I am reminded of the Curse of Fatal Death, but this is not
a good thing, since the story here is supposed to be serious, not silly like
the Doctor Who "episode" it reminds me of.  And while the new Crimson Avenger
is supposed to come across as tragic, the backstoryfill doesn't really give
me that feeling.  She's still a one-dimensional gimmick.  Neutral.
$2.50/$3.85Cn 
     Green Arrow #31: DC - On the one hand, I don't really care for what's
done to Black Lightning in this story.  On the other hand, if you substituted
someone of Winick's creation for BL, this would be a great issue.  So it
cancels out a bit.  Recommended.  $2.50/$3.85Cn
     Batman Adventures #7: DC - Very good issue, although it overuses one gag
a little bit (once was good, twice was pushing it).  Strongly recommended.
$2.25/$3.50Cn 
     Teen Titans #4: DC - I guess the Teen Titans cartoon got me thinking
differently, because the big one-on-one showdown this issue felt wrong, like
it should have been a lot more even.  And while I'm sure there's going to be
some howls over the last page, I kinda liked it.  Not that I expect it'll
stick, unfortunately.  Recommended.  $2.50/$3.85Cn
     eXiles #36: Marvel - Penciler Sakakibara does an okay job, although he
totally muffs the Final Page Shocker (the colorist abets in the muffing).
Mind you, the FPS was pretty telegraphed last issue.  An okay issue, but not
as good as it could have been.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.75Cn
     Avengers v3 #71: Marvel - Ah, the infamous Adult Issue, which was held
back a week for reasons that don't seem to have panned out (at least, we
couldn't find any difference between what finally shipped and what was in the
First Looks pack).  Johns and Sadowski give us a really good story
spotlighting Hank and Janet's relationship, as well as the involvement of one
of Janet's perennial stalkers, who just never seems to get the hint that
Hank's not a loser, even after repeated beatings.  The issue is perhaps a bit
more sexual than it needs to be, and darker than it needs to be, but it works
overall.  Recommended.  And if you understand what's going on, you really
don't have any innocence to be threatened by this issue, eh?  $2.25/$3.75Cn 
     Captain Marvel v4 #15: Marvel - The penciler being erased by Sotomayor's
"colors" this issue is competent, if not much more than that.  Nice Neal
Adams cover, though.  Part one of another arc, and while there's some good
bits, it's hard to really evaluate the story as a whole based on just this.
Recommended (provisionally).  $2.99/$4.75Cn
     Girl Genius #10: Airship Entertainment - Woot!  Lots of revelations,
lots more questions, and a number of fates up in the air (pun kinda
intended).  Fun issue.  Strongly recommended.  $3.95 (and Pete "Sluggy"
Abrams really changes his style for the guest art...John "Dork Tower"
Kovalic, however, does not.  Heh.)
     Gold Digger Perfect Memory vol 3: Antarctic Press - This came out last
week, but it took me a while to get through its 73 pages (the inside back
cover has content).  My only real complaints would be A) the grayscaling of
some of the color work wasn't always clear, and B) given how long ago vol 2
came out, it might have been nice to devote a page or two to the cast of
characters introduced in previous volumes.  Otherwise, a very good "episode
guide" to the color series.  Recommended.  $5.95/$9.55Cn
     Transformers Genesis - The Art of Transformers: Image - Well, it's been
delayed, switched publishers, delayed some more...but it's finally out.  And
it's very well done.  Series, character and artists are listed on every one
of the *numbered* pages.  There's a great deal of art new for this volume, as
well as reproduction of posters, gatefold covers, etc (but not the
MegaLitho).  The coloring is generally more subdued than the usual Dreamwave
murk, even on the Dreamwave pieces, although the "metal reflections" computer
coloring trick is a little overused.  115 full pages of art on high quality
semi-glossy paper (page size 12" tall and 9.5" wide), well worth the price,
and the wait.  Strongly recommended.  $29.95  (Oh, and the cover under the
dustjacket has the full art as well.)

Gone Missing:
     Stuff that came out some places this week and that I wanted to buy, but
couldn't find for whatever reason, so people don't have to email me asking
"Why didn't you review X?"  (If it's neither here nor in the section above,
though, feel free to ask, I might have forgotten about it!)

     Still missing Grandmother's Hive and Laughter of the Damned #3.

Awards:

Best Book: Tie between Girl Genius #10 and Transformers Genesis (Batman
     Adventures just a bit behind them).

"Way To Put The Final Page On The Cover" Award to Transformers vs GIJoe #2
     (of 6)

"Moonshopping II" Award to Tom Strong's Terrific Tales #8

"Sure, Blame Her For Bad Writing" Award to JSA #53

"Catching Trouble" Award to Green Arrow #31

"We Used To Date." "Ah." Award to Batman Adventures #7

"The Face of War" Award to Teen Titans #4

"Morph, Spoilerspace!" Award to eXiles #36

"Come On, Don't Tell Me You've Never Thought Of It" Award to Avengers v3 #71

"Ah, The Benefits Of A Majestrix With Experience" Award to Captain Marvel 
     v4 #15

"Think Of How Scary She'd Be Without Her Legs Strapped Together" Award to
     Girl Genius #10

"http://www.protoformproject.com/dvd/kitbash/peebo7.JPG"; Award to Gold
     Digger Perfect Memory vol 3

"Now, If I Only Had A Coffee Table" Award to Transformers Genesis

     Dave Van Domelen, "I had to blow up the kitchen, dad."  "It's okay, boy,
I never liked that kitchen."  "I had to shoot Mia, too."  "*Her* I like.
That'll need some explaining." - Connor Hawke and Ollie Queen.

     P.S. I do actually have a coffee table, it just happens to be covered in
toys and DVDs already.  And a lamp.