More puttin’-’em-in-the-longbox reviews
As the books go into the vaults, a couple notes:
- Moon Knight #9 (Huston, Suayan, D’Armata): Man do I want to like this. I was a fan of the Moench/Sienkiewicz Moon Knight, and I know that the character has great potential to explore non-powered vigilante stories that can’t be done with characters that, oh, sell books – you know Batman, Captain America, those guys. Huston seems not to realize that because this is almost certainly an impulse buy only book that you’ve got to grab readers amazingly quickly and tease them with enough continuity to keep them coming back. I do think that’s what he’s trying to do, but I think it works better with complete stories. The art’s a little muddy for me, and I’m having some trouble following who’s who as well. But I keep hoping it’ll grow on me.
- Love and Rockets #9 (Los Bros. Hernandez) I’ve read some magical realism since I’ve been reading Love and Rockets, and I understand a little better what Beto is up to in his “Julio’s Day” stories. I still don’t enjoy them much, but I understand them better. I find those stories offputting just by style. They’re not for me, but as far as I can tell, well executed and certainly nicely drawn. Xamie, on the other hand, is always enjoyable to me. I love his clean art, and even stories where little happens have their moments. I’ll admit that I enjoy getting a hold of a collection and taking big bites, but I can live with the nibbles that come out in the monthlies. These stories are catching up with friends.
- The Spirit #5 (Cooke, Bone, Stewart) No, I don’t know what happened to #4. I’m looking. (I do know, it sold out at Hi De Ho and wasn’t on my pull list; I’ve fixed half that problem and expect to fix the other shortly). These guys know how to do the episodic thing right to grab new readers. The Mortez subplot from #3 is still cooking in the background, but we spend this issue meeting the new Mr. Carrion and Julia and enjoying a Spirit-based advertisement parody (Manga-styled). All nice nods to Eisner’s Spirit, and Cooke, Bone and Stewart make it fun and engaging for new readers. And there’s another issue out that I haven’t read and should be able to lay hands on shortly. This comic is a must.