Just a quick rundown of a couple of today’s new comics, since I’ve got to run like the bunny to the theatre tonight for that Spider-Man movie.
- Star Wars Tale #20 was probably the single best-selling issue of this series ever at the store…we only had a couple left by the end of the day. The reason? This is the all-indie creators issue! If a James Kochalka Boba Fett story, Jar Jar Binks stories by Peter Bagge and Tony Millionaire, and “Young Lando Calrissian” by Gilbert Hernandez don’t convince you to buy this comic, then truly there is no love in your heart. (Bagge drawing Jar Jar…never has there been a greater match of a cartoonist to a character.)
- Batman: Harley and Ivy #3 is probably the strongest issue of the three-issue series…a big Hollywood movie is being made of our favorite felonious damsels, and H & I decide that there’s big money to be made by taking over production of the film and skimming off its overblown budget. You’ll see the ending coming a mile away, but it’s still a lot of fun.
- Doom Patrol #1 is really sort of all over the place…I am a fan of John Byrne’s art, so I think it at least looks nice. The story…well, it would have been nice if it didn’t feel like “Part 7” of the JLA story this series spun out of, and the new Doom Patrol members don’t really do anything for me. Hopefully once we’re done with the whole vampire thing, we can get on to more interesting storylines. I really do like the new visual interpretation of Negative Man, however.
Also of note is the arrival of three more Free Comic Book Day comics…Slave Labor Stories #2 (with all new Milk ‘n’ Cheese, Street Ninja, and Dr. Radium strips, among others, plus an excerpt from the forthcoming Bill ‘n’ Ted collections that will make more sense in context, I promise), that Avatar Press thing I didn’t even get a chance to look at, and, a special surprise comic, Dungeons & Dragons: Crisis in Raimiton which is…um, fairly dire. It’s supposed to give you the flavor of what a Dungeons and Dragons game is like, with kids gathering around a table, rolling up characters, and going on an “adventure,” which is of course dramatized with drawings of stock fantasy characters running around in stone corridors fighting zombies and whatnot. Also, all the lettering (captions and dialogue) are just printed in white letters against colored backgrounds…not a caption box or word balloon to be found. Hoo boy.
Ack! Look at the time…I gotta run. Tomorrow I’ll let you know how Spider-Man 2 is…assuming I’m not in jail for beating the daylights out of some idiot talking on his cell phone during the movie. (Not that any jury would convict me.)
