The Truth About 2/13's Comics

Big Busiek week this time around...

Astro City Character Special: Beautie
Her Dark Plastic Roots
-- I loved this, as I loved every one of the character specials so far. (This one's the third; a lot of people online seem to be forgetting that the Supersonic one-shot was one of them.) For the most part, I prefer the Astro City issues that focus on the heroes because they tend to reveal more information about the history and details of the Astro City world. And that's a very precious commodity considering how slowly such information trickles out.
This issue puts the spotlight on Beautie, a robotic superhero built to look like a human-sized Beautie doll, which is basically the Astro City version of the Barbie doll. It's one half character study, portraying her constant feeling of being out-of-place, and one half quest story, as she tries to find out who built her and why. There are enough clues that the answer to her question wasn't very surprising, but the revelation leads to a very moving scene.
The issue does an amazing job of making us feel for Beautie, considering that her features are as stiff and emotionless as you'd expect a plastic doll's to be. Her mindset is at once both alien and relatable.
And on a nerdier note, it was really cool to see that this giant Barbie doll was such a powerhouse. Her electronic ears can hear people in Hawaii!

Superman 673
Insect Queen, Part 3
-- While Insect Queen might be Busiek's weakest arc on this title, this issue was the strongest of the three chapters, at the same general level as the previous arcs. I think this arc's main problem is the eponymous Queen herself. In terms of behavior and personality, she isn't much different from the dozens of other alien conquerors who've come before, and the alien insects concept isn't new, either. She certainly isn't on the level of the likes of Khyber, Subjekt-17, and Arion, all of whom provided something fresh to the title.
In this issue, Superman and Lana work both together and separately to defeat the Insect Queen, getting a chance to demonstrate their smarts. The object Superman uses to help him win pays off something set up in the beginning of the arc, in a way that, though predictable, was still highly entertaining. The final few pages provide a touching, characterization-focused coda.
It's kind of hard to get into a book you know the writer is leaving prematurely. It's like reading a novel knowing you won't get to see the final few chapters. Wherever Busiek was going with the Lana Lang: CEO subplot, for instance, he isn't going to reach there now. You read knowing some things won't get their proper pay-off.

ClanDestine 1
-- I was trepidatious going into this book; I absolutely loved Alan Davis's original ClanDestine run, one of my favorite superhero titles of all time, and I feared that might make my expectations too high. After reading this, though, I can say that I was definitely not disappointed. This issue is more about re-introducing the title's concept and its characters and their relations than it is with plot movement. That isn't a problem at all, though, because the primary means of re-introduction is the Destine family's interactions, and that's endlessly fascinating. (I've been re-reading the original Davis run, and the pervasiveness of the character work is just amazing. Every time the family interacts, no matter what they're discussing, even when they're providing exposition, we gain new insight into their personalities and/or relationships.)
And then there's the Davis art: always amazing.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight 11
A Beautiful Sunset
-- It's strange. Each time I finish an issue, I like it, but I quickly forget everything that happened in it except the very broad strokes. That's a little problematic in a series like this one, subplot heavy and always building on itself. I don't know... The characterization is strong, the stories are good and taking things in new direction... The issues just aren't impressing themselves into my mind for whatever reason. Maybe I'm just burned out on Buffy?
(I won't be forgetting that fake-out on Twilight revealing his face, though. So Whedon, and so funny.)

Man, this set of pseudo-reviews makes me come off as easy to please...