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From: dvandom@eyrie.org (Dave Van Domelen)
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Subject: Dave's Comics and Manga Capsules for September 2024
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2024 03:16:26 -0000 (UTC)
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                    Dave's Comicbook Capsules Et Cetera
          Generally Monthly Picks and Pans of Comics and Related Media

Standard Disclaimers: Please set appropriate followups.  Recommendation does
not factor in price.  Not all books will have arrived in your area this month.
An archive can be found on my homepage, http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/Rants
     Now to apply for tenure, which doesn't mean much in Texas anymore.

     Items of Note (strongly recommended or otherwise worthy): The Glass
Scientists vol 1-2

     In this installment: Watchmen Chapter 1, Moon Girl's Lab, Easygoing
Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord: Production Magic Turns a Nameless
Village into the STRONGEST FORTIFIED CITY vol 3, Go Go Loser Ranger vol 11,
The Great Cleric vol 11, Tank Chair vol 1, Chainsaw Man vol 16, Delicious in
Dungeon vol 11-14, Delicious in Dungeon Adventurer's Bible, The Glass
Scientists vol 1-2, Failure To Launch: a Tour of Ill-Fated Futures, Fantastic
Four #23-25, Vengeance of the Moon Knight #8-9, Ultraman x Avengers #1 (of
4), My Adventures With Superman #3-4 (of 6), Gatchaman #2-3, Vampirella #671,
Power Rangers Infinity One-Shot. 

     A bit of a side note since I'm noticing a pattern in some of this
month's reviews: sometimes thinking more deeply about a piece of
entertainment makes me like it less.  The "Spirit of the Staircase" is that
situation where, on the stairs outside a theater, thinking about what you
just saw results in finding flaws.  It was enjoyable at the time, but once
you're out of the immediate moment, it's hard to remember why you thought it
was so good.  And that's going to happen sometimes, definitely more often
when you deliberately go back to the metaphorical staircase to think about
something a few hours or days later.  There's several things below that were
perfectly good entertainment at the time, but upon writing the reviews, I
find myself lukewarm at best. 

     And that's okay.  There's other times when looking more deeply reveals
even more to like, even if I'm risking that I might like the fanfic I'm
creating in my head about the work and the themes and stuff I'm seeing
weren't put there by the creator. 

     This is, admittedly, kind of a bad month for fault-finding, but don't
worry, I'm not turning into a grump or anything along those lines. 


"Other Media" Capsules:

     Things that are comics-related but not necessarily comics (i.e.
comics-based movies like Iron Man or Hulk), or that aren't going to be
available via comic shops (like comic pack-ins with DVDs) will go in this
section when I have any to mention.  They may not be as timely as comic
reviews, especially if I decide to review novels that take me a week or two
(or ten) to get around to.

     Watchmen Chapter 1: DC/WB - Okay, a two-movie adaptation of the original
comic, leaning HARD on Dave Gibbons being involved to give it legitimacy.  If
you can put aside the "not enough legitimacy" issue, it's a pretty good
adaptation on a technical level.  It uses things that animation can do that
comics can't do in order to compensate for some of the things comics can do
but animation can't (or doesn't do well).  There isn't quite the density of
background information the comics provided, but they do a very good job of
getting the worldbuilding done.  While CG, they did a decent job of making it
look like 2D cel animation in the style of Gibbons (they couldn't resist
making Rorschach's mask blatantly CG so it looked more "impressive" though).
The voice work was generally competent, although I do wonder at the choice to
have Jeffrey Combs in it voicing someone other than Rorschach (the Rorschach
voice acting was pretty pedestrian).  If you're wondering about the pacing,
the cliffhanger point is Rorschach's capture by the police, although they did
admit to shuffling the order of a few things in the Making Of featurettes.
On a craft level, recommended.  But it's not so good that I'd suggest anyone
set aside any ethical stance against giving DC money for a non-Moore Watchmen
project.  Price varies by store and format.  

     Moon Girl's Lab: Marvel/Disney+ - While we wait for the third season,
Disney+ dropped (which I wasn't really paying attention, so not necessarily
this month) a batch of 3-5 minute shorts built around Schoolhouse-Rock-style
edutainment songs and not really telling much in the way of stories.  If you
skip the repeated end credits, you can get through all of them in half an
hour.  The animation is up to the show's standards, but the songs are...well,
they're no Schoolhouse Rock, and some of the situations are painfully
contrived to make the lesson work.  The science varies from questionable to
simplistic but essentially correct, so it doesn't really do a great job on
the education side either.  Neutral. 


Digital Content:

     Unless I find a really compelling reason to do so (such as a lack of
regular comics), I won't be turning this into a webcomic review column.
Rather, stuff in this section will generally be full books available for
reading online or for download, usually for pay.  I will also occasionally
include things I read on Library Pass (check to see if your public library
gives access to it), although the interface can be laggy and freeze
sometimes. 

     Nothing this month.


Manga Collections:

     With manga collections coming to dominate my reading habits, I decided
to formally split them off from Trades (informally they'd already been split
for a while). 

     A LOT of stuff in this category arrived right at the end of the month,
making it a bit of a rush to get them read in time for a September column. 

     Easygoing Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord: Production Magic
Turns a Nameless Village into the STRONGEST FORTIFIED CITY vol 3: Seven Seas
Entertainment - And now we take a turn into strangely innocent yet still
creepy harem manga as Lord Van (10 years old in body, 30-something in mind)
acquires a couple of potential brides who are suitable for his apparent age
while he keeps mooning over his hot nanny (and knowing it's Inappropriate).
The cliffhanger of last volume is resolved with a speed and ease that most of
the defenders find unsettling...and the other regional powers find downright
CONCERNING.  And that's where most of the actual challenges of this volume
come from, dealing with their neighbors who were pretty sure there was just a
tiny hamlet with nothing of value, not the STRONGEST FORTIFIED CITY.  Van has
to at least be present for diplomacy with both demihumans and a
representative of the guy who used to nominally control his new territory,
and alliance by marriage is glaring at him from multiple angles.  I suspect
one of my concerns with the series (that Van isn't really changing production
magic's status in general, just being massively OP himself) might dovetail
with one of the bridal prospects, although that may just be hopeful thinking
(it'd solve not just my objection, but also give Van a way to relate to one
of the girls other than potential marriage).  Anyway, this is more or less a
taking stock pause, with Van's preparations and earlier work paying off and
going more to the background as he has to focus more on his (considerable)
people skills instead of his bottomless font of mana.  Recommended.
$13.99/$17.99 rated Teen 13+ (mostly fantasy violence and some implausibly
large breasts) 

     Go Go Loser Ranger vol 11: Kodansha - Bits and pieces of the origin of
the Dragon Keepers come out in flashbacks that motivate the monster-lovers,
founded in part by a Keeper who resigned in disgust.  A bit of an Omelas
situation is at the root of things, so while the corruptness of the Keepers
has been apparent from volume 1, it's clearly not a thing that developed over
time, they were rotten from the word go.  A devil's bargain to defeat
invaders, sure enough, but a house of lies nonetheless.  Otherwise, lots of
fight scenes with characters either introduced last volume or otherwise kinda
background...definitely something that would've been easier to follow in
color.  Recommended.  $10.99/$14.99Cn rated Older Teen 16+ (violence and
dismemberment, a bit of body horror) 

     The Great Cleric vol 11: Kodansha - Luciel should start a support group
with Lord Van and Yuna (Bear Girl), for isekai protagonists who just want to
have a nice comfortable life and instead keep finding the reward for a job
well done is another job.  This arc continues Luciel's growth from the Best
Salaryman to an actual leader who has to trust in his subordinates and think
beyond the job he's given.  (And know how far he can trust certain
subordinates...those dwarves need a very very short leash.)  The plot also
advances a little more quickly in terms of the labyrinth near Yenice than I'd
expected, but the reason for rushing it worked pretty cleanly.  I do wonder
if Broccoli Lion decided to accelerate the story, or at least wrap up a chunk
of character development arc that they'd been getting tired of.  Recommended.
$12.99/$17.99Cn rated Older Teen 16+ (violence, but I think they're just
staying consistent with other volumes that have more innuendo) 

     Tank Chair vol 1: Kodansha - Okay, this is very bloody and gruesome and
not particularly serious.  Think Marshal Law's setting, full of criminals and
gangs who functionally have superpowers via genetic splicing and cybernetics
and stuff, with everything looking very uncomfortable for the user.  The
protagonists are escapees from an assassin school who have gone freelance in
a particularly nasty slumtown, with the older brother being the talented one
until he takes a bullet for his sister and goes into a coma.  The only thing
that can awaken him is when he senses "murderous intent" (this is later shown
to be more of a psi ability, using parts of his brain not affected by the
bullet, and it is apparently a common enough talent that there's known, if
usually fatal, ways to make yourself undetectable by such a sense).  So his
loving sister does what any sibling would do...hook him up to an armored
wheelchair with a costume that's a clear Kamen Rider riff and remote-control
him into dangerous situations as physical therapy, convinced that if he
encounters a sufficiently strong Murderous Intent it might snap him out of
the coma permanently instead of just for a little while.  If you can't find
humor in a guy in a wheelchair spinning around rapidly enough to slice a
monkey-guy into many horizontal chunks, you should probably avoid this.
Like, avoid it a LOT.  I cannot stress that enough.  While only done in black
and white, there's as much gore and ultraviolence as in the most indulgent
Marshal Law stories.  And even more body horror.  If you're not bothered by
that sort of thing in your fiction, this is worth checking out.
$13.99/$18.99Cn rated Older Teen 16+ but I think they may be lowballing it. 

     Chainsaw Man vol 16: Viz Media/Shonen Jump - More of the past friends
and foes of Chainsaw Man, whom Denji doesn't know from Adam ("Why do
strangers keep talking to me?") are coming out of the woodwork.  Denji also
gets a new...handler...and is recruited by the Church of Chainsaw Man, but
not to be, you know, Chainsaw Man.  It's a very confusing time for Denji,
loads of mixed signals and teasing.  Plotwise, it's kinda like that for the
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