Sunday, September 25, 2005

New comics 9/21

The Middle Man #2 (Javier Grillo-Marxuach/Les McClaine, Viper)
This was out a few weeks ago but I just now got my hands on it. Grillo-Marxuach's story is a fun and light action-adventure, complemented well by McClaine's clean, impressive cartoony art. It combines elements of stuff like Men in Black, Danger Girl and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but it does so in a fast-paced, entertaining way with clever dialogue, so I'm happy. It's only a mini-series, but this issue feels like a set-up for ongoing adventures, and I'd be happy to see it keep going beyond four issues.

Runaways #8 (Brian K. Vaughan/Takeshi Miyazawa, Marvel)
I know I complained that the first arc was dragged out too long, and I was happy last issue to see that this was just a two-parter, but this issue wraps things up way too quickly. The conflict goes through several different stages that feel rushed, and the ending makes it seem like Vaughan's in a hurry to get Karolina out of the book, which I think is a mistake anyway. The ideas behind this story are interesting, but the hurried execution (especially when half of the previous issue was devoted to an unrelated matter) is disappointing. I trust that Vaughan is preparing for potential future stories, so we'll see Karolina again, but this was still a weak issue.

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