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dantastic's reviews
3880 reviews
Popeye Volume 3: The Sea Hag and Alice the Goon by E. C. Segar
4.0
In this volume of Sunday Thimble Theater comics from 1934 and 1935, Popeye goes up against Sea Hag and Alice the Goon for the first time, as the title indicates, but the character who gets the most space is J. Wellington Wimpy. Wimpy spends a lot of his time screwing the local restaurateurs out of hamburgers but also has time to go gold prospecting with Popeye and opening his own restaurant.
Early Popeye is great stuff. The art really pops and Segar really knows how to make use of the space Sunday comics allowed back in the day. Each strip is a page in the book but has between nine and twenty panels. The Sea Hag strips are pretty moody at the beginning and Segar draws a decent variety of animals. Popeye goes from one predicament to another, beating the shit out of people and inevitably giving his money away to the orphinks.
Great stuff. When the hell does Bluto/Brutus get introduced?
Early Popeye is great stuff. The art really pops and Segar really knows how to make use of the space Sunday comics allowed back in the day. Each strip is a page in the book but has between nine and twenty panels. The Sea Hag strips are pretty moody at the beginning and Segar draws a decent variety of animals. Popeye goes from one predicament to another, beating the shit out of people and inevitably giving his money away to the orphinks.
Great stuff. When the hell does Bluto/Brutus get introduced?
The Bitter End and Other Stories by Al Feldstein
4.0
This is a collection of EC tales drawn by Reed Crandall and a few by George Roussos. Crandall's art is the cream of the crop and Roussos was no slouch either. My beef with this book is that a lot of the material is from the New Direction line, when EC had to water down the line to appease the douchebags at the comics code authority so the writing isn't as punchy as previous volumes. Still, you've got one of the masters and a better than average artist putting in some great work. Four out of five stars.
Captain America by Waid & Samnee: Home of the Brave by Mark Waid
adventurous
inspiring
fast-paced
5.0
Captain America: Home of the Brave collects Captain America #695-700 by Mark Waid and Chris Samnee.
I was a tremendous fan of Waid and Samnee on Daredevil so I had to pick this up. In the aftermath of Secret Empire, Captain America is driving around America on a motorcycle and encounters white supremacist organization Rampart, The Swordsman, Kraven the Hunter, and gets frozen in ice once again.
This is really good stuff and not just because I think Chris Samnee is the bee's knees. The first three issues are linked but largely done in one stories. The three remaining issues see Captain America thawed in a future America torn by war and ruled by a dictator.
Waid has a great handle on Captain America's personality and resists the temptation to go quip-a-minute Marvel movie style with the dialogue. While Captain America doesn't fight any of his iconic foes, he acts like Captain America should and goes a long way toward making me forget about all that dumbass Captain America being a Nazi stunt crap in Secret Empire. Five out of five stars.
I was a tremendous fan of Waid and Samnee on Daredevil so I had to pick this up. In the aftermath of Secret Empire, Captain America is driving around America on a motorcycle and encounters white supremacist organization Rampart, The Swordsman, Kraven the Hunter, and gets frozen in ice once again.
This is really good stuff and not just because I think Chris Samnee is the bee's knees. The first three issues are linked but largely done in one stories. The three remaining issues see Captain America thawed in a future America torn by war and ruled by a dictator.
Waid has a great handle on Captain America's personality and resists the temptation to go quip-a-minute Marvel movie style with the dialogue. While Captain America doesn't fight any of his iconic foes, he acts like Captain America should and goes a long way toward making me forget about all that dumbass Captain America being a Nazi stunt crap in Secret Empire. Five out of five stars.
Leave It to Psmith by P.G. Wodehouse
5.0
Leave it to Psmith is probably the best of the best as far as P.G. Wodehouse goes. If only he'd written more than four Psmith books.
Galahad at Blandings by P.G. Wodehouse
4.0
I'd say 90% of the people that visit Blandings Castle are imposters.
City of Saints and Madmen by Jeff VanderMeer
4.0
I was in a New Weird mood about a month ago and this is one of the books I read. I liked most of the stories in it and enjoyed the use of framed narration. I'd rank it somewhere between Perdido Street Station and The Scar.
Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser
3.0
Another book Neil Gaiman mentioned in his blog. I liked it and thought parts were really funny. Some parts made me uncomfortable, though.
The Girl in Blue by P.G. Wodehouse
4.0
Reading this one at the moment. It uses several of the Wodehouse plot devices: someone engaged to the wrong person, someone hard up for money, and something that is going to be stolen. Still, Wodehouse weaves a plot like no one else.
Viriconium by M. John Harrison
3.0
I was on a dark fantasy kick for a few weeks. I like the first story in this one a lot.