Friday, June 19, 2009

Weekly Comic Reviews for June 17th, 2009

I'm continuing to see my monthly comic purchases decline. Although I had three books this week one of them is ending and another I'm dropping after this issue. This may mean I'll be going to the comic shop less frequently and possibly posting less (if that's even possible) or trying to find other stuff to post about (like starting to review more webcomics and TPBs I'm reading). But we'll have to see. As for this week...

Elephantmen #20 -- This issue continues the focus on the women of the Elephantmen universe and this time it's Vanity Case in the spotlight. Marian Churchland's art has fit these issues well and there's been no trouble following the story visually. And the stories have had a range to them and were all well written. But I should probably focus on this issue instead of reviewing them all at once. It's just that this was another solid issue for this series and it's getting a bit difficult to come up with new ways of saying that for this series. If you aren't reading this series I highly recommend you do, maybe not starting with this issue necessarily but check it out soon.

Mysterius the Unfathomable #6 (of 6)-- At times I've felt this series jumped around a bit more than I would have liked and had a little too much going on but this issue really wrapped it all up nicely. Tom Fowler's artwork has been solid throughout the series and I thought it told the story nicely in this issue. The series may be worth checking out if you're into an odd supernatural sorta thing that's a little hard to describe to others... At least for me.

Angel #22 --I had been enjoying these last few issues a little more than the first 18 or so but I have to say I think it's gone down in quality as the issues went on. The storytelling seemed to get more and more choppy. Things were just bouncing from one setting/situation to another with no real flow. I'm either missing things or it's just not being fully flushed out. I almost started laughing in this issue when Angel literally run into a guy who conveniently points him in the direction he needs to go. When Angel gets there the same guy is there (at least it looks like him) but I thought he was running away? Why was he running to? To be honest, I'm lost by a lot of stuff going on. Maybe it's just me but the story just isn't working. So yeah, this will be my last issue of the series. Which also means I won't be recommending it.

On another Elephantmen note, I noticed that the cover to an upcoming TPB collecting these last few issues advertises a new story by Marian Churchland. I've made a quick comment on the Elephantmen blog asking about it but I have to admit, I don't like the idea of putting new content in the TPBs. Character sketches, pencils, scripts, stuff like that I don't mind. But if new content is going to be put in the TPBs it seems like a slap in the face to those of us picking up the single issues. And if that's the way they're going to go I'll be dropping the monthly subscription and going with the TPBs but I'd like to know up front.

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