Comics: 21 Tweet reviews

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As practice for Twitter -- which apparently is going to take over the world -- I'm going to pretend I'm tweeting and do all of my reviews this week in 140 characters or less. While that necessarily means shallow content, it does have the benefit of blazing through a tremendous amount of reviews at one whack.

Can I do it? Is this a stupid idea not worth doing? Let's find out:

-- "Wednesday Comics" Nos. 9-12 (of 12, DC Comics, $3.99 each): Sunday funnies as they never were, but should have been. Support this experiment w/your dollars! (96 characters)

-- "Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan: The Jesse Marsh Years, Vol. 3" (Dark Horse, $49.95): Los Hernandez Bros. ("Love and Rockets") keep bragging in Forewords on artist Marsh from the '50s, but so far he's boring. Maybe Vol. 4? (137)

-- "Batman: Mad Love and Other Stories" (DC Comics, $19.99): Award-winning stories & creators (Dini & Timm from Batman animated series). Origin of Harley Quinn. Gorgeous, funny, sad. Buy it. (129)

-- "100%" (Vertigo, $39.99): Pros love writer/artist Paul Pope. I find his art ugly; stories pretentious. This SF story about 5 folks intersecting in 2038 no exception. (139)

-- "Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Young Allies Vol. 1" (Marvel Publishing, $59.99): First 4 issues of '40s Nazi-fighting kid gang with 2 super-sidekicks (Bucky, Toro). Kinda boring, really. Black character Whitewash painful. (140)

-- "The Sandman" (DC Comics, $39.99): Complete Joe Simon/Jack Kirby stories of costumed adventurer & sidekick from 1940s "Adventure." Buy for Kirby art; stories are generic. (136)

-- Is it cheating 2 do 2nd tweet on "Wednesday Comics"? 2 bad. Wide variety of material, top-flight creators, nostalgic format. Pls support! (137)

-- "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea: The Complete Series, Volume One" (Hermes Press, $49.99): First 6 issues of Dell adaptation of 1960s TV series. Bland but charming Silver Age silliness. Vol 2 will complete series. (123)

-- "Secret Six: Unhinged" (DC Comics, $14.99): "Secret Six" 1-7. Supervillains on road trip are funny, violent, evil, sexy, human. Writer Simone has us rooting for sociopaths. Brilliant! (139)

-- "Arlene's Heart" (NBM, $24.95): Gorgeous art. Pretentious story about mastectomy as metaphor for alienation. Unreadable. Juvenile self-absorption. Wife also disliked it. (138)

-- "Gotham Central Book Two: Jokers and Madmen" (DC Comics, $29.99): Life on Gotham City PD. Aren't U curious? "Law & Order" meets The Joker. Series canceled too soon, so see what you missed w/these reprints. (139)

-- "Air: Letters from Lost Countries" (Vertigo, $9.99): Imaginative, "magical realism" story mesmerizing; Arabian Nights meets Pan Am. But stiff, scratchy art is big hurdle to understanding. (134)

-- "Sleeper Season One" (WildStorm, $24.99): Backdrop: Spy v. Spy with superpowers. Hero: Moral guy doing immoral acts as double agent with scary bad guys. Where's the line? Riveting. (138)

-- "Tom Strong: The Deluxe Edition, Vol. 1" (WildStorm, $39.99): Alan Moore homage to pulp heroes. Doc Savage-type hero fights crime with science, family, robot, talking ape. Beautiful art, pure fun. (134)

-- "North 40" Nos. 1-2 (Vertigo, $2.99 each): New horror series. Small Texas town sent to, basically, Twilight Zone. People mutate. Evil magic works. Good guys scared. Great premise. Ready for more. (133)

-- "Preacher Book One" (Vertigo, $39.99): Series reprint. Preacher (and vampire) in search of God to answer for human suffering. V profane. (98)

-- "Red Prophet: Tales of Alvin Maker Vol. 1" (Marvel Publishing, $19.99): Alt history by master Orson Scott Card. "Mohicans" setting. Art plain, but competent. (86)

-- "Courtney Crumrin and the Prince of Nowhere" (Oni Press, $5.95): Vampires, warlocks, and sad little girl hiding behind sarcasm. Genuine heart. (77)

-- "The Nobody" (Vertigo, $19.99): Have reviewed before. Still good story; "Invisible Man" meets small-town Wisconsin. Believable teen protagonist. Sad, achy. (122)

-- "Classics Illustrated Deluxe: Tales from the Brothers Grimm" (Papercutz, $13.95): Fables adapted by top Euro artists. Beautiful, rewarding or kids, adults. (74)

-- Must praise "Wednesday Comics" again. Supergirl story is funny misadventure about pet-sitting Krypto, Streaky. I want more, so buy lots. (137)

Whew! I'm exhausted. But feel free to retweet any of these mini-reviews -- after all, isn't that what Twitter is for?

E-mail Andrew A. Smith at capncomics(at)aol.com or visit www.captaincomics.us.)

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