Van Dyne-Sized Pull List, 12-28 & 1-4

With both SUPERMAN and ALL-STAR SUPERMAN having come out, this must have been a happy week for the Supermaniacs out there.

BATMAN came out this week (or at least it did for me due to the West Coast shipment delay), the latest chapter in the Grotesk storyline, and while I do plan on buying it, I haven't done so yet. I was already purchasing four separate comics this week (again, West Coast delays), and I just couldn't bear to also pay for a fifth. Yeah, I know that since I'll be buying it later, it'll be the exact same amount of money in the long run. But somehow it *feels* like I'm spending less.
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All-Star Superman 6
Funeral in Smallville
-- In the past, I enjoyed the adjectiveless SUPERMAN more than the ALL-STAR SUPERMAN of the same month (when there was an ALL-STAR issue that month, that is), but this was the first time it was the other way around. This is not because the former was less good than usual but rather because the latter was just especially good this time around.

This issue feeds both the heart and the imagination, telling the touching tale of how Pa Kent shaped his son's life against a backdrop of chronal entity-beasts and Supermen (Supermen or Supermans?) of other centuries.

As a colorful team of time-travelling heroes inspired by the example of Superman that the Man of Tomorrow himself joins, the Superman Squad seems to fill the role that previously belonged to the Legion of Superheroes. I'd say they work that role better than the Legion actually. Or at least they do in stories about Superman. Obviously, between the two, the Legion better suited to star in their own series, since a superhero team in which everyone's a variation of one another would be problematic... though that could be kind of interesting in it's own way, too.

Fantastic Four: The End 4
For a THE END story, this really doesn't feel much like one. So far, it comes off as a normal Fantastic Four story, only with the setting slid decades forward into the future. There's nothing about it that makes it feel like a conclusion or ending to their saga.

That's not to say it's not enjoyable, which it is. I really like that I have honestly no idea where this is heading anymore. Just when you think you have a handle on the shape of the plot, Davis throws in another villain-shaped monkey wrench (e.g. the Mole Man -- Me: "What's he doing there?!", Annihilus -- Me: "And now *he* claims to be responsible??")

My only complaint is that we're halfway through and we still haven't seen much of the Fantastic Four interacting as a group. There's some Johnny and Ben stuff now that they've been together since last issue, but other than that... A lot of the power of the F4's concept and characterization comes from their group interaction, so its absence deprives the story of a certain something.

Jack of Fables 6
Jack Frost, Part 1
-- I got bored with the first arc fairly quickly, but I didn't care much for FABLES's first arc either, so I decided to keep buying in case there'd be a turnaround like there was for the parent title. Well, after reading this issue, I think I made the right decision. This was a quirky, enjoyable romp, reminding me of the Jack solo stories in FABLES.

The interruptions in the style of public service broadcasts -- hilarious.

Still, I have to say that I thought there was some truth in Revise's complaint that this story didn't need two full issues. I felt this chapter, at least, didn't warrant a full 22 pages. Jack's seduction of Lumi, apart from how he ousts Waldemar, is fairly by-the-numbers. Enjoyable? Yes. But also too much on the predictable side to support so much story focus in my opinion. How else does the tricky rogue wins the naive queen's heart than with proclamations of feigned love?

That last page transformation, on the other hand -- it doesn't look like *next issue* will have the problem of being predictable. I didn't see this coming at all, and I'm eager too see how Jack'll no doubt royally screw *this* up.

Each previous issue had a description of the plot by Jack under the issue title, as well as a next issue blurb narrated in his words. I'm glad those were dropped for this two-parter because they were becoming tedious. Hopefully, they'll appear only in moderation in the future. I have no problem with them whatsoever when they're done in third-person omniscient; however, when it's Jack of the Tales doing the talking, they're fun at first but after a while...

I'm still concerned that Jack's a personality that'll become tedious in the spotlight month in and month out, the way his next issue blurbs quickly became tedious. I wasn't fed up with him this issue though, and hopefully Willingham and Sturges will be able to make it stay that way.

On the visual front, I thought the art was too... shrill, given the fanciful setting of the story.

SUPERMAN 658
The Last Tomorrow
-- "This issue feeds both the heart and the imagination." I said that about this month's issue of ALL-STAR SUPERMAN, but it applies here, too. Perhaps nowhere is this more evident than the page where the Parasite dies. We have the tragedy of that, a man brought down by a love not even truly his, and Lois's multi-layered reaction, and then we transition to... protoplasmic golems and alien Automaton Bloodhounds. And more, it fits; they don't clash, one does not undermine the other. Busiek's ability to go from raw emotional realism to a sense of wonder, one flowing natural-like into the other, is as present here as in the best ASTRO CITY issues.

I wonder how many people thought what Arion was leading up to was an insistence that Superman needed to be willing to kill when the situation demands it? It certainly seemed that way at a couple of points, huh?

DETECTIVE COMICS 827
-- Ah, I'll get to it later. It's reached dinnertime now.