boyajian@akov68.DEC (Jerry Boyajian) (11/02/84)
Ratings for the comics reviewed are as according to the Mad Armenian Scale, a shameless rip-off of the Moriarty Scale, stolen out from under the very nose of the Napolean of Crime. Nyah-ah-ah!! ******************************************************************************** |=>A+< A veritable Classic. One of the best of All Time. Example: THE SPIRIT | |==>A< One of the best of the year. Ex: TEEN TITANS #39: "Who Is Donna Troy?" | |==>B< A very good issue, one of the best of the month. Example: CEREBUS | |==>C< A well done, entertaining issue. Satisfying. Example: JON SABLE | |==>D< Rather boring, or a few good spots mixed with more bad ones. Ex: ROM | |==>F< Boring AND stupid or childish. Example: MARVEL SUPERHEROES SECRET WARS | |==>Z< Actually offensive. Example: DAZZLER --- THE MOVIE GRAPHIC NOVEL #12 | ******************************************************************************** BLUE DEVIL #9 C+ The usual great issue. But I wasn't really intending to review it, but to point out for anyone who might have missed it that its lettercol contains a letter from our very own Laurie Sefton. She even tried to give a brief explana- tion of Usenet and net.comics, the brave soul. JONNI THUNDER #1 D+ The art is some of the best I've seen from Giordano in a while, and the writing is competent, yet there is something about this comic I don't like. Somehow, the marriage of the traditional superhero with the traditional hard- boiled detective isn't working right. Oh, well. STAR TREK #11 C- I had been avoiding this comic since I read and disliked the first four issues. I've been picking up the latest issues, though, because "Mirror Mirror" is my favorite TREK episode. This issue (and the previous one) is, much to my surprise, rather nicely done. Mostly it had to do with little things, such as Kirk's reaction upon stepping into the para-Enterprise bridge, or para-Sulu's impulse to shoot anything that moved, thinking they carried weapons (which they might well have done in his own universe). I might have given this a slightly higher rating if I liked Sutton/Villagran's art better. SUPERMAN: THE SECRET YEARS #1 D- Absolutely forgettable. This isn't actively bad, but it is so... so... *ordinary* it almost hurts. It seems to me that this would have been better off as a back feature in SUPERMAN or ACTION COMICS. SWAMP THING #33 B+ A real treat, especially for fans of the old HOUSE OF MYSTERY/SECRETS comics, as well as Swamp Thing fans. First off, 8 pages are devoted to a reprint of the *original* Swamp Thing story by Len Wein & Berni Wrightson that appeared in HOUSE OF SECRETS #92. It should be noted that this is the first time this story has been reprinted --- it never appeared in the series of reprints of "The Original Swamp Thing Saga" from a few years back. The character and origin are slightly different, and it was the popularity of this story that lead to the first SwTh series. But Alan Moore does wonders with the framing sequence (which is actually half again as long as the reprint). He manages to not only establish a relation- ship between that original Swamp Thing and the one we know and love, but he does a nice job of giving a raison d'etre for the characters of Cain and Abel, the erstwhile "hosts" of the HOM/S comics. TALES OF THE TEEN TITANS #50 B Not a damn exciting, suspenseful, tense thing happens in this comic! Nothing but the preparations, ceremony, and aftermath of the wedding of Terry Long and Donna Troy. The unabashed romantic that I am, I loved it. A two-hankie comic. CRYSTAR #11 D- Blecchh! I only bought it for the guest appearance by Alpha Flight. I have two questions, though, for anyone who's been following this thing all along: (1) Puck was talking as if he'd been to Crystalium before; has he appear- ed in any previous issues? I know Dr. Strange and Nightcrawler have. Or is Puck making another one of his cryptic references to his pre-AF adventures? (2) Did anyone else notice that the three Flighters depicted on the cover (Shaman, Puck, and Aurora) do not match the three who are in the story (Shaman, Puck, and Northstar)? FANTASTIC FOUR #275 C+ Yet another nice guest inking job by Al Gordon. The story was reasonably good, but what I really liked were some of the little things: (1) Johnny and Alicia's relationship is certainly taking, ah... interesting turns. Wow! I can't imagine what Benjy's reaction is going to be when he gets back. (2) There are hints to the effect that there *is* something of a sort going on between Wyatt and Jenny. (3) Did it strike anyone else that the sleazo-mag publisher looks like he might be a caricature of Stan Lee? (4) The epilogue is a *nice* teaser for next issue! Byrne really has done wonders with this comic! Oh, and did anyone else notice the faux pas in the lettercol? In one of the answers, they say, and I quote: "...Reed, despite his haste, programmed the acceleration device to shit itself off..." MARVEL FANFARE #18 (left over from last time) C+ First of all, the Frank Miller covers and art on the Captain America story are really nice. Second of all, the CA story (by Roger Stern) is just as good. Somehow, no matter how corny Cap's "Rah! Rah! America-isn't-it-just-the- greatest-thing-since-sliced-bread?" get, somehow, they *work*. It's a testamon- ial to the character that such utterances sound believable coming from him. Maybe it's just the idealist in me. The real treat of this issue is the Kevin Nowlan portfolio of various female Marvel heroes. The only negative thing I can think of about the drawings is that they all (Dagger, Black Widow, Red Sonja, Phoenix, Nova, and She-Hulk) seem to have the same basic facial features --- the same high-cheekboned, thin face that he gives his elves in "Grimwood's Daughter". But no matter, every one of these drawings is *gorgeous*, especially Red Sonja and She-Hulk. In fact, the She-Hulk illo was the inspiration for the story in the latest FF. Oh, and to top it off, there's another portfolio in which we get to see the all-too-rare pencil artistry of Terry Austin. Of special note is the drawing of the "X-Women" (Rogue, Kitty, and Ororo). Jerry-Bob says check it out. MARVEL TEAM-UP #150 C I was having my doubts about Louise Simonson. I mean, despite the won- derfulness of POWER PACK, she's turned out some dreadful stuff, like this year's MARVEL TEAM-UP ANNUAL and STARRIORS. This issue restores my faith. She does a really nice job with the X-Men (probably the best job with them outside of their own comic), as well as doing a terrific job with the characterization of Black Tom and the Juggernaut. And to top it off, the artwork was pretty decent, too. And that isn't even counting the cover by Barry Windsor-Smith. The only question I have pertains to Rachel's thoughts regarding Black Tom's role in future events Did she clear those with Claremont, or are they completely her invention? THAT DOES IT FOR THE DC/MARVEL BOOKS. INDEPENDENTS (INCLUDING EPIC) TO FOLLOW IN ANOTHER MESSAGE. --- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Maynard, MA) UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian ARPA: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA
moriarty@fluke.UUCP (Jeff Meyer) (11/07/84)
>Ratings for the comics reviewed are as according to the Mad Armenian Scale, >a shameless rip-off of the Moriarty Scale, stolen out from under the very >nose of the Napolean of Crime. Nyah-ah-ah!! And a very large snozolla it is, too. But let's not get into a net.singles "what do they look like" argument... >BLUE DEVIL #9 C+ > > The usual great issue. But I wasn't really intending to review it, but >to point out for anyone who might have missed it that its lettercol contains a >letter from our very own Laurie Sefton. She even tried to give a brief explana- >tion of Usenet and net.comics, the brave soul. Oops, I missed that. Have to re-read it. That WAS industrious, tho' -- writing a REAL letter to a comics. For myself, I'm waiting until First, DC, Eclipse, Comico, AV or Marvel get a Unix machine on site... >Oh, and did anyone else notice the faux pas in the lettercol? In one of the >answers, they say, and I quote: "...Reed, despite his haste, programmed the >acceleration device to shit itself off..." Well, Reed *HAS* been developing some pretty interesting stand-alone equipment. These work, and are safe, but cleaning up after them is not a joy :-). PS I forgot to review the Marvel Team-Up #150 (forgot, nothing... it got lost in the pile...), and I'd like to agree. Simonson did a very nice job here, and you end up liking almost all of the parties involved. And even though it's been done before, you truly begin to understand the torture Rogue has to go through when using her power; she is perhaps the most powerful mortal on the face of the Earth, but using it causes the most intense agony... "But I guess I'm just stating the very obvious (shutup! shutup!...)" Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc. UUCP: {cornell,decvax,ihnp4,sdcsvax,tektronix,utcsrgv}!uw-beaver \ {allegra,gatech!sb1,hplabs!lbl-csam,decwrl!sun,ssc-vax} -- !fluke!moriarty ARPA: fluke!moriarty@uw-beaver.ARPA