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PIPELINE COMMENTARY AND REVIEW #16
21 September 1997
by Augie De Blieck Jr.
http://www.nic.com/~augie/pipeline
"Intermission"
I'm sorry to say the Top 20 list I said I'd deliver this week will be delayed
by a factor of a week. It's not that I don't have them figured out or
anything. It's just that there have been a couple of books which I'd
like to highly recommend which have come out in the past couple of weeks. I
don't want them to get lost in the crowd.
The first book is THE SAVAGE DRAGON #41, featuring the wedding of Ricochet
and Barbaric. And this is the type of thing you want to see happen at a
comic book wedding. I'm not giving anything away by saying there is a fight
at the wedding. (That's shown on the cover.) What's not shown on the cover,
however, is the list of guest stars in this issue who show up for the
wedding. The cast of BONE. DNAgents. Femme Force. Vampirella. Megaton
Man. StormWatch. WildC.A.T.s. Madman. Zot! The Flaming Carrot. Madman.
Monkeyman and O'Brien. Hellboy. And a whole heckuvalot more. These are not
gratuitous cameos. (Depending on your definition.) There's a reason they're
all there. And Erik Larsen morphs his style slightly for many of these
characters to make them look like the way their creators draw them. There's
also a couple of good parodies in there, as well as thought balloons. It's
worth reading, even if Bill Clinton is in it.
KABOOM #1 has some neat little pencil work in it from Jeff Matsuda. But I
still liked it better the first time when it was called NINJAK.
TRANSMETROPOLITAN #3 is not for the weak of heart, nor is it for the
immature. It's brutal, bloody, graphic, and lyrically harsh. It's also a
terrific issue. Warren Ellis continues to outdo himself, and if this isn't
enough for you, then go out and get a copy of
TALES OF THE WITCHBLADE #3, too. Warren writes it, setting it 100 years in
the future. I've never read WITCHBLADE before, but this makes perfect sense
without that backstory. Warren seems to be enjoying playing with futuristic
themes, as this story is much more a science-fiction story than a super-hero
story.
The KINGDOM COME trade paperback is out, and it's a keeper, folks. If you've
been like me and waited for the affordable collection, this is it. It's not
that it's great to have all four issues together under one cover. It's not
the sketchbook material in the back or the guide to the characters on the
cover. Nope. It's the newly added final 8 pages or so. Just Batman,
Superman, and Wonder Woman sitting around a table and talking. Beautiful
stuff by Mark Waid, and Alex Ross' detailed painting doesn't hurt, either.
If you're that opposed to paying for it, do yourself a favor and sneak a read
of it in the comic store, or borrow this off a friend.
Jeff Mariotte's DESPERADOES #1 came out at last, too. I reviewed a black and
white photocopy of the book here a couple of weeks ago. I'm happy to say
that it looks even better with the color and letters column added in. Go out
and get this one.
So where's the commentary portion of this column? Sheesh
Next week: Augie's 20 Favorite Comic Series of the Year So Far
-Augie
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