COMICS: Thurs. 7/7/05

It's time to play, can Tom remember the comics he bought this week without looking?

Daredevil vs. Punisher: David Lapham's work, especially Stray Bullets, is always one of those things I think I should like, and actually have liked in small samplings, but which ultimately doesn't hold much appeal for me. This is the first work of his I've bought in probably five years, and it's okay, but again, it didn't convert me into a fanboy. I mean, first of all, the Daredevil vs. Punisher thing has been done to death, and it's been done much better. Punisher won't shoot Daredevil because he's a good guy; Daredevil won't let Punisher shoot any bad guys, even though they're really, really bad. Okay, got it. But there are some nice bits. I like the idea that the Punisher is going to confront the Jackal (or whatever he's called now), who is the guy who was pulling his strings way way back in those early Amazing Spider-Man comics which first introduced the Punisher. I liked the scene in the diner, with the waitress who reminded Frank of his dead wife. But then there's Hammerhead. Frickin' Hammerhead?? He has got to be the lamest villain of all time (yes, even lamer than Turner D. Century). His frickin' head is made of frickin' steel. That's his superpower. A steel head. LAME!!

The Incredible Hulk: A House of M tie-in. God damn it! We finally get Peter David back on the Hulk, and he's almost instantly saddled with having to play into this stupid-ass crossover. Still, it's a decent enough issue. The Hulk as an aboriginal champion? I like it.

Battle Pope: Dorian helpfully warned me that this was a reprint, but since I'd never read the original, I got it anyway. It's Robert Kirkman with Tony Moore's artwork, and I dig that team. I think this was the first comic work ever for both of them, and you can see Moore's art is fairly rough, but the comic holds up pretty well. Good blasphemous fun.

Marvel Team-Up: I keep buying this comic! What is up with that? I don't know, it's not horrible, but I'm sure I could find something better to spend my three bucks on. I did enjoy the final page appearance of Sleepwalker, arriving too late to be of any assistance whatsoever. I've been warned that I would not care for any other Sleepwalker comics, but Kirkman's portrayal of him in this storyline cracked me up. All in all, this was a truly pointless arc, with a few bits of humor to redeem it. In fact, the point was probably to be pointless -- just to be a fairly brief, funny, goofy interlude. It wasn't funny enough to be worth multiple issues, but it had its moments.

Batman: Dark Detective: I'm enjoying this series less as it goes along. I like the retro feel, I like the Joker's portrayal, I liked Batman's flipping Two-Face's coin over to the good side (has no writer ever thought of that before?). But there's a lot of modern-day bloat to this retro series -- six issues is pushing it, and the feet-dragging really shows in this fifth issue. And while it's nice to see a more humanized Batman, he doesn't seem very impressive, either as a superhero or as a detective, does he?

Y: The Last Man: Haven't read it yet.

I think that's it. If I've forgotten anything -- well, too bad, I guess.