Pym-Sized Pull List, 12-13

I think I'm going to drop making the spoiler text semi-invisible. Aside from the fact that something like that is pointless when my reviews have an audience of one (namely myself), it feels like an unnecessary hassle. I figure, if someone wants to read my comments -- God only knows why -- merely providing a spoiler warning should suffice, so... SPOILERS ahead. Bought three comics this week.

Fantastic Four: The End 3
--I'm not sure why I'm not liking this mini-series more. I loved Alan Davis's JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA: THE NAIL Elseworld, and this has all the ingredients of that. They're both out-of-continuity stories with a overarcing mystery, one whose direction I can't begin to guess but at the same time keeps moving forward. Yet at the same time, this mini-series is different enough not to feel unoriginal.

Maybe it's because the DC Universe was a lot fresher and newer to me when I read THE NAIL than the Marvel-verse is to me now, so the sense of discovery is dampened. Maybe it's because I built my expectations too high due to just how much I liked THE NAIL, to the point where *anything* was bound to disappoint. Maybe this type of mystery tale reads better in trade format, where you can see how everything's cohering into the big picture in one go. Heck, maybe it even has to do with the absence of Pat Prentice's lettering. Davis's work just doesn't look the same without it, darnitall, though I realize that has more to do with how used to it I am than any flaws in FANTASTIC FOUR: THE END's letterer, Dave Lanphear.

All that said, I did enjoy this issue, just as I did the previous two. Something doesn't have to be up to THE NAIL's quality to be good. Plus, the art, as ever, is *gorgeous*.

Ex Machina 25
Standalone
--A single-issue story devoted to flashbacks of a supporting character's life is something Vaughan's done a couple of times over in Y: The Last Man. I could never really get into that series, though, and eventually dropped it. When I saw that he was doing the same kind of one-shot here, I became excited to see what my reaction would be to the approach being used on characters I was actually interested in.

In the end, I have to say that yes, it was enjoyable, but it's not up to par with a regular issue of EX MACHINA. This kind of thing is a fine example of showing rather than telling, letting us see what's shaped Bradbury into who he is without spelling it out for us. It's a little drawn out, though; regardless of whether the information was shown or told, it didn't feel like there was enough information there to take up a whole issue. As a result, some parts of the flashbacks came off as filler, contributing to the portrait of Bradbury in too tiny a way to be worth the pages used. Maybe this kind of story isn't suited for the standard 22-pages but instead suits a shorter format? I don't know.

Gargoyles 2
Clan Building, Chapter 2: The Journey
--From what I can remember of the episode this issue (and the previous) was adapted from, Greg Weisman was very, very faithful. Understandable, since he wrote the original episode. Unfortunately, it's a plot that works better on the screen than in the comics medium. Goliath jumping around from rooftop to rooftop, evading the helicopter and its guns that are hot on his heels, that's something that works better when the audience can see movement. Here, it winds up being a tad monotonous. Then again, maybe that feeling had more to do with the fact that, having seen the original episode, I already knew where everything was headed.

I supposed this issue was as enjoyable as could be expected given that I'd already seen the (near) exact story. Next issue, when we move on to *new* stories, should be when thing really start firing up; I'm quite looking forward to it.