Comics Roundup for 11/23/11

I, Vampire #3 - Even though I don't remember too much from the past two issues, this was a pretty accessible story, and I didn't find myself confused by what was going on.  Even more so, it was pretty compelling, and I still dig the artwork on it.  I'm going to have to re-read this series, but I think that I'll be sticking with it for at least a few more issues.

Superman #3 - You definitely get your money's worth in each issue of this series, as George Perez packs every page with as much content as humanly possible.  Anyway, this was some solid superhero stuff, but not too different from anything I've seen before.  I might stick it out until the end of Perez's run, but I really need to find something to cut back on, and this series just might be it.

The Flash #3 - The story is interesting, but the artwork is really where it's at.  Francis Manapul really puts a lot of thought into each page of this series, and he does such an excellent job of conveying motion - something which is really important when you have a character who runs really fast like The Flash.  The story is pretty interesting as well, as it's a throwback to all of the sciencey stuff you'd find in Silver Age adventures of the character, only it doesn't feel ridiculously retro.

Aquaman #3 - This was another fun issue, but I'm worried that the whole "Aquaman can't get no respect" shtick is going to get old.  That's a bit of a minor complaint though, as Geoff Johns has created some fairly interesting villains along with adding a new supporting character.  Also, I wonder if that little lesson on piranhas wasn't a jab at the Peter David story where piranhas ate Aquaman's hand.  Hmm...

Kick Ass 2 #5 - I think I might just wind up repeating what I always say when I read a comic written by Mark Millar - the man knows how to move a story forward.  Other than that, this was another solid installment in a comic that definitely works better as a comic than as a movie.  (I don't know how they'd pull off what happened in the last issue in a movie.)  Nice to see that Hitgirl is back in action, but that was pretty much a foregone conclusion.

Captain America & Bucky #624 - I was worried that this was just going to be a rehashing of stuff we already knew about Bucky's Winter Soldier days, but we definitely got to see some stuff that we didn't before - like the reason why the Soviets put him on ice every so often.  Next issue promises a "new creative team" but a little bit of web searching shows that Ed Brubaker is still going to co-write, so I'm definitely on board.

Batman:  The Dark Knight #3 - This was definitely a better read than the last issue, and I'm glad that the cliffhanger turned out to be a bit of a red herring.  I was thinking of dropping this particular book, but I'm glad that I stuck around for this issue.  I'll be around for the next one as well.

Donald Duck:  Lost in the Andes - I haven't read this rather hefty volume of classic Carl Barks stories yet, but I'm definitely looking forward to it.  I'm still in the middle of the complete collection of Bone right now, and I want to finish that before I start on anything new.  Still, I got a chance to flip through this a bit, and it's certainly a nice volume - which I've come to expect from Fantagraphics.