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From: moriarty@fluke.UUCP (The Napoleon of Crime)
Newsgroups: net.comics
Subject: Re: Reviews #1 of 3 (TTitans, POWER PLAYS, VORTEX)
Message-ID: <586@vax2.fluke.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 5-May-85 15:00:25 EDT
Article-I.D.: vax2.586
Posted: Sun May  5 15:00:25 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 16-May-85 05:07:28 EDT
References: <1820@decwrl.UUCP>
Reply-To: moriarty@fluke.UUCP (The Napoleon of Crime)
Organization: Somewhere In Soho
Lines: 85

A few more addenums to Jerry's Reviews:

>THE NEW TEEN TITANS #10		[DC, $1.25]	Story: D+  Art: C+
>
>	This is another one of those (for me) dreaded "tweener" issues, in
>which, after a big multi-issue battle, things quiet down and nothing of great
>consequence happens. Sometimes, this type of issue works out well, but I find
>that they're usually just a little too trivial.

Actually, the "tweener" (good term) issues are some of my favorites, though
I think these books (as a whole) have gone downhill since Perez left (and I
don't mean just art).  I think this one was a LOT better than the "war of
the gods" bit.

>	I think what got me about this issue was the gratuitous sex thrown in.
>No, nothing graphic, but it just seemed like overkill. On one page, Dick and
>Kory are wrestling around (obviously in prelude to something else); two pages
>later, Terry is hopping into the shower with Donna; and two pages after *that*
>Kole is propositioning Joe.

Agreed, that *was* annoying; I wish they'd just stuck with Joe and Kole.
Joe is getting to be an interesting character (I like having an "observer"
character around), but the cartoonist in The Buyer's Guide is right, he DOES
look like a Mutant Cabbage Patch Doll...

>POWER PLAYS #1		[Americomics, b&w, $1.75]	Story: C  Art: C

"Story: C"?  Grrrrrr (Quick, Marlin, the tranquilizer Gun!  He's on a pet
peeve!).

>It's
>good news because it gives the comic another chance in the marketplace, and
>with better distribution. It's bad news, too, though, because I'm not sure
>how reliable or stable Americomics will be as a publisher. 

Agreed.  It's rather like having Larry Flynt publishing new SPIRIT stories.

>And as a scripter, Kelly is no Moore, Wolfman, or
>Chaykin, but he is a competent writer, with both wit and charm. I can't say
>that the book is *different* from other superhero books, but there's a sort of
>refreshing, well, innocence to it. Above all, it's fun. Not funny fun, like
>BLUE DEVIL, but entertaining fun, like ZOT! I suspect that if you like ZOT!,
>you'll like this as well. And you'll be supporting an artist/writer who really
>deserves the support.

Agreed that the humor is somewhat ZOT-like.  But, folks, while he may not be
a Moore, he has a lot of the elements of a Chaykin (author-wise), and he is
already to the point where I find him on a par with Wolfman.  Actually, it's
an issue of apples & oranges & Romulan cloaking devices; the writing here is
*different* and *good*, either one enough to COAX YOU LITTLE BUGGERS OUT OF
YOUR CHAIRS TO BUY IT!  I WANT TO READ THE COMPLETE 16 BOOK SERIES, AND
*YOUR* GOING TO HELP ME, BY EACH BUYING A COPY!  OR ELSE! (pant, pant).

Sorry, I have these seizures when it comes to POWER PLAYS... Nurse, the
pills, please... no, the red ones...

>VORTEX #11	[Vortex, b&w, $1.75]	Story: D+  Art: C
>
>	This issue has a few things going for it, mainly a beautiful cover by
>Jaime Hernandez. Jaime also writes and draws a story, "The He That Walks". It's
>got the usual good Jaime Hernandez art (though not as good as some of his other
>work), but the story just doesn't click with me. It's not *bad*, but I didn't
>find anything particularly *good* about it, either.

I DID enjoy the story, though; a combination satire and tribute to Japanese
animated characters, methinks.

Speaking of alternative comics, what happened to RAW, anyway?  I don't even
see THE COMICS JOURNAL review it anymore, and they have a clause in their
contract stating that they must laud at least one incomprehensible comic a
month (and it can't be G.I. JOE).

More later on these CBS stations...

	"Well, we've come full circle, Lord; I'd like to think there's
	 some higher meaning to all this.  It would certainly reflect
	 well on you."

					Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
					John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc.
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