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PIPELINE COMMENTARY AND REVIEW #12
22 August 1997
by Augie De Blieck Jr.
http://www.nic.com/~augie/pipeline
"Let's Be Frank, David"
Hello again, my faithful readers. I just wanted to thank both of you for
showing up this week. This column is being done rather quickly on Friday
night rather than Sunday, as I prepare to go on a week's vacation starting
tomorrow. Don't worry; I'm taking the computer with me. Feel free to
e-mail. =)
So what dare I cover this week?
I was just about to dump GEN13. I've been reading it and all its spinoffs
since the beginning now, but lately things just haven't been as interesting.
And with J. Scott Campbell going, what better time to say "Good-bye," right?
Well, then word leaks out that Brandon Choi is leaving. He's not a horrible
writer, but he does tend to overwrite and kill good ideas in a morass of
technical jargon that I suppose the kids love so much. As if that's not
enough, it then leaks out that Gary Frank will be the new artist. I just
re-upped my subscription. I hope Frank sticks with the book longer than he
did with SUPERGIRL, but who knows?
Speaking of which, the latest issue of SUPERGIRL is damned good, and
particularly funny. Yes, we get yet ANOTHER reference to "Show Me The Money"
- ARGH! - but this one is done with an air of intelligence (albeit one I've
heard before) and last longer than the usual punchline. Pretty funny stuff.
Peter David is working magic on this title.
THE INCREDIBLE HULK continues to pick up steam, too, although I really do
want things to just settle down at last. The best run of HULK that I've read
so far was during the Gary Frank days when Hulk was settled down with Betsy
and the Pantheon. The stories were interesting, as were the characters.
Ever since then, it seems like a different comic every month. With Adam
Kubert on-board, this has changed some, but yet I wait.
Getting back to the DC Universe - my goodness, is this GENESIS "event"
wretched enough for all of you? Or would you rather have hot poker sticks
driven through your eye sockets and out the back of your head? Yeah, me,
too. First it claimed IMPULSE, which turned into a non-linear, unfocused
issue this month. Second it tried to claim SUPERGIRL, but couldn't. PAD
didn't over-GENESIS his story. YOUNG HEROES IN LOVE, though, made the best
use of it so far. It seemed to meld in with the main storyline quite nicely,
much to Dan Raspler's credit. It seemed like part of his grand plan from the
beginning.
Now if only we could get PAD to write some UNCLE $CROOGE comics... At this
rate it seems like the only thing he hasn't written yet. Lessee: BABYLON 5
(both comics and television scripts), AQUAMAN, HULK, HEROES RETURN,
SOULSEARCHERS AND CO., SUPERGIRL, various Star Trek novels, and a weekly CBS
column. (And who knows what I'm forgetting or don't know about.) OK, so I
won't hold my breath.
-Augie
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