Grotesque Anatomy
Wednesday, November 05, 2003
  Preordering Is Hell
Hey!  Previews Review is back again!  They're still behind on the big Previews Reviews (the most recent one covers stuff shipping in Nov. 2003 but the Previews for comics shipping in Jan. 2004 is already out), but the Shipping This Week column is up for today, 11/5/03.   There are a couple books listed that sound interesting but which will probably wait for my next round of bulk buying from Amazon (Palomar, Buddha).  The thing I really wanted to comment on was Christopher Butcher's focused mini-critique of Arrowsmith.  Basically, Butcher argues that Arrowsmith, a series about the horrors of war, fails to actually convey a sense of horror regarding any of the horrific things that happen in war.  I completely agree with this critique.  I thought Arrowsmith got off to a promising start but subsequent issues have seemed awfully dull.  Worse, the characters are painfully stiff and wooden.  It seems as though the characters talk about their reactions more than they actually react (which might be a general trend in Busiek's writing; I'll have to think more about this later).  There are still a couple issues to go before the story ends (and thanks to preordering I'm already getting all of 'em) so things might improve, but the issues I've read so far don't give me much hope.
 
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Iron Fist

by John Jakala

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