Sell me on Dr 13 TPB

[Kid Kyoto]

The Doctor Thriteen TPB is out which means those of us in Red China can finally enjoy it :D

I remember it getting good reviews when it came out, better than the lead feature the Spectre. But I don't remember much in the way of specifics, can anyone, without spoiling it tell me why, why not it's worth my $10?

[Sean Walsh]

$10?! Dang, that's cheaper than what we'd have to pay in Dubya's America! Pick it up just for that reason!

I ended up liking the main Spectre story a lot more (I was surprised by that), but I bought the miniseries for Dr. 13 and was still greatly entertained by it. It's rather cerebral (it's Azzarello) but it pretty much made sense, and was also fun, weird, did many great crazy things (Nazi gorillas IIRC, and that's the mere tip of the weirdness factor) and broke through a few walls with a bizarre but enjoyable cast of D-E-F-etc. listers.

I'm usually critical of Azzarello's stuff (LOVELESS is a mess of a story and SUPERMAN: FOR TOMORROW should be considered a hate crime) so this was easily the most enjoyable thing I've read of his.

And of course any art by Cliff Chiang is just terrific.

[Jack Zodiac]

If you don't like Architecture and Mortality, you hate good comics. It's that simple. So go ahead and save your ten bucks...

If you hate good comics!

[Babylon23]

Dr. 13 is an entertaining comic story with metatextual elements reflecting the current recreation of the DCU. It features some fun d-list characters, a generally interesting story, several laugh out loud moments and some wonderful character moments. Plus, it has amazing art by the criminally underrated Cliff Chiang.

At times, it's a little too self-indulgent, but those moments are few and far between.

Plus, it has talking Nazi gorillas. Talking vampire Nazi gorillas. What's not to love about that.

[Kid Kyoto]

$10?! Dang, that's cheaper than what we'd have to pay in Dubya's America! Pick it up just for that reason!



$10 is what we pay in Al Gore's America. Thx U Intarwebs!

Thanks also for the recommendations, I'll pick it up with my next Amazon order.

[GeorgeG]

I just finished reading it. I enjoyed it. The only bad thing was a good amount of the dialogue wasn't plain English. You had to decipher what was being said. That got to be a bit of a pain.

I enjoyed the book poking fun at DC & those involved with the direction it's at.

[CosmonautCowboy]

I appreciated it, but I wouldn't shell out for a TPB. It's clever enough, but you read it once, it makes it's point, and that's pretty much it. I don't think it's something you come back to.

[Jack Zodiac]

!@#$ that. It's something I could find a nice two-bedroom near and retire in.

[CosmonautCowboy]

!@#$ that. It's something I could find a nice two-bedroom near and retire in.

Really? Fair enough! :D IMO, it wasn't so much a good comic book as it was a good commentary on comic books. Which is also good, but I wouldn't want all comic books to suddenly become like that.

[Jack Zodiac]

Me neither, and they aren't, and won't, which is why it was such a great comic. Take everything awesome about the mediocre comics DC is publishing today and jam them into just one book and you have the most !@#$ing awesome comic in history.

Hyperbole? Wha's dat?

[Taskmaster]

Whoo hoo, the team makes a one pannel appearance in Booster Gold #3, so if you aren't buying this book already (and you should be) than you need to get it now

[Jack Zodiac]

Yeah, support mediocre comics for one panel of wacky goodness, or buy the Architecture and Mortality trade and get all the wacky goodness with none of the mediocrity!

[drwho]

I didn't like the story because it seemed all over the place. The whole thing I feel about DR. 13 now that I am reading the Phantom Stranger Showcase which he also appears in is he shouldn't be thrusted in as strange as the situations are in that story. It just doesn't seem right for him to behave and be forever in denial. I think the character works better in vague supernatural settings and not the in your face stuff in the story. To me it makes the character seem stupid.

[will_butler]

I might have to check this one out, as well, provided that the Dr. isn't as irritating as he was in the Phantom Stranger Showcase. Between him and those groovy teenagers, that book disappointed me so much. The Stranger is awesome, the Aparo art is phenomenal, and we're saddled with story after story that plays like:

Stranger: Whoa, it's the Devil! Better fistfight him.

Dr. 13: That's not the Devil! There's got to be a projector or something around here! You won't fool me, Stranger!

The Devil: No, I'm totally the Devil. See, I'll turn you into an ocelot and throw you into hell.

Ocelot 13: Man it's hot! The Stranger must have some sort of space heater set up around here to go with his projector! And they must have slipped me some drugs to make me think I'm an ocelot.

Retard Kids: Like, groovy, man! This is more far out than Joni Mitchell.

The Stranger: Now that I've punched out the Devil, you're back to normal, Dr. 13!

Dr. 13: You can't fool me Stranger... hey, where'd he go? Blast you, Stranger!

And so on. God, that book broke my heart.

Will

[Jack Zodiac]

Like others elsewhere have said, when Dr. 13 isn't being written like a Scooby-Doo mystery solvin' teenager, raving about make-up and projectors, his sense of disbelief in the face of stark unreality is refreshing in the landscape of personifications of gods, devils, abstract, surreal universes, magic, vampires, anthropomorphic animals, etc. In Architecture and Mortality, he isn't just making a spectacle of himself by not believing what he's seeing. He approaches it mostly rational, while he unravels more and more as the story goes on.

[will_butler]

Like others elsewhere have said, when Dr. 13 isn't being written like a Scooby-Doo mystery solvin' teenager, raving about make-up and projectors, his sense of disbelief in the face of stark unreality is refreshing in the landscape of personifications of gods, devils, abstract, surreal universes, magic, vampires, anthropomorphic animals, etc. In Architecture and Mortality, he isn't just making a spectacle of himself by not believing what he's seeing. He approaches it mostly rational, while he unravels more and more as the story goes on.

Cool, that sounds like the correct approach.

Will