WHAT IS THE BUY PILE?

Every week Hannibal Tabu (winner of the 2012 Top Cow Talent Hunt/blogger/novelist/poet/jackass on Twitter/head honcho of Komplicated) grabs a whole lotta comics. These periodicals are quickly sorted (how) into two piles -- the "buy" pile (a small pile most weeks, comprised of planned purchases) and the "read" pile (often huge, often including comics that are really crappy but have some value to stay abreast of). Thursday afternoons you'll be able to get his thoughts (and they're just the opinions of one guy, so calm down, and here's some common definitions used in the column) about all of that ... which goes something like this ...

THE BUY PILE FOR AUGUST 10, 2016

Vision #10

(Marvel Comics)

There is a moment here where two robots kneel down to pray. It is, in fact, one of the heaviest and most complex moments in comics this year, easily. It serves, without any spoilers, as the emotional spine on which this quiet, suspenseful issue rests, as the titular Avenger and his wholly synthetic family struggle with the loss of one of their own, each in drastically different ways. There are no punches here, no grandiose set pieces or kinetic action sequences. Regardless, this creative team (writer Tom King with the able support and teamwork of Gabriel Hernandez Walta, Jordie Bellaire and Clayton Cowles) sets this pot to simmer, and the delicacy that results is remarkable. This issue encapsulates cybernetic grief, and for such audacity and inventiveness alone it is worth noting, but to do so in such an effective way? Astonishing.

All-Star Batman #1

(DC Comics)

Jump from the Read Pile.

From a brilliant set up to the wonderfully plotted setting to Two-Face and Batman squaring off in an intellectual gamble, almost every element of this wonderful, outstanding issue is off the freaking chain. Fulfilling the promise of big company comics, this accomplishes from conception (nuanced, complex) to execution (a single story is told here, while providing a perfect set up for future ones). When you read the credits, it all starts to add up -- these aren't tyro talents but all-stars themselves, firing on every cylinder: Scott Snyder, John Romita Jr., Danny Miki, Dean White, Steve Wands ... titans of industry all. This issue twists tropes you may have seen in "Running Man" and other "run the gauntlet"style stories, and gives them a deeper, psycho-thriller resonance. Dazzling work.

WHAT'S THE PROGNOSIS?

Not to get all Keanu with it, but, "whoa."

THIS WEEK'S READ PILE

Honorable Mentions: Stuff worth noting, even if it's not good enough to buy

"Symmetry" #6 continued its sci-fi world tour with some sociopolitics and exposition, plus another solid fight scene with this series' wonderful visual design at play. Again, the characters are largely blank slates, which is infuriating due to how fascinating the plot itself is. Great think piece, great ideas, stumbled a little on the landing.

"Deathstroke: Rebirth" #1 is kind of beautiful in its unflinching intensity, showcasing Slade Wilson as a hurricane of violence blowing through the lives of friends, family and enemies alike. The set up was amazing, the art is spectacular in moments action-related and intimate, with numerous excellent elements therein (the contract, the bear). The solitary complaint is that this stops somewhere in the second act of the story instead of finishing the thought, which is slightly more frustrating than enticing. Worth checking back for the monthly series, though.

"All-New All-Different Avengers Annual" #1 goes so far through bad that it gets to arm's reach from being good as Ms. Marvel discovers she has become the topic of fan fiction and tries to shut down a poster who wrote a love triangle between her, Nova and Ultimate Spider-Man. Along the way she reads all the fan fiction, which is scary and weird and sometimes creepy (yes, you, Kenneth) until the ending, which is both hilarious and the scariest thing of all when you look at the time involved. Extremely odd, meta stuff that won't work for everybody, but will engage the fan-fic community pretty well.

"Detective Comics" #938 brings the struggle of a father to get his daughter to listen to a penultimate point, with Batman being almost a bystander. It wasn't bad and everybody got a moment to shine, but it "middled" without beginning and ending. Good ideas, tolerable execution.

"Darth Vader" #24 was mostly taken up by an infuriating dream sequence that is supposed to be Vader's "Dagobah cave" moment, but ends up as needless fan fiction. It delivered one Vader-worthy moment but the rest of the book didn't connect.

"Kings Quest" #4 had a gang of plot twists, Prince Valiant and Flash Gordon being chummy while whacking redshirt bad guys and some charming visual design. The plot dragged and the big bad popped up far too quickly -- deus ex villain-a? Close to the mark, but not exactly ready to rock just yet.

"Wonder Woman" #4 was a really good origin story. You could get just this issue and have a great understanding of everything you need to know about the title character. If you have never seen this, you should run out and get this. If you have seen it before, it's a nice visit to a familiar neighborhood that's been very nicely renovated without gentrifying the community.

"All-New All-Different Avengers" #13 was a clumsy yet earnest attempt at telling a time travel story as the Vision hunts Kang across centuries with an unexpected element playing a role. If it had ten more pages or a bit more clarity along the road, maybe this could have gotten it done, but what's here is a swing and a miss.

Jonathan Hickman is back in a big way with "Black Monday Murders" #1, a fable of money and magic across eras, of conspiracies and conflicts between ideologies and man. Make no mistake, big ideas are examined in this big (more than twice the size of a normal comic) book. What is lacking is clarity -- there's apparently a voodoo-influenced police detective, there's a cult of impossibly rich people willing to cut and kill, safeguarded by women (a woman?) who looks like the sister of the twins from the second "Matrix" movie. All these ideas are interesting, but like a highbrow version of the current "X-Files" comic, they aren't connecting. Will it all play out in a collected version? Impossible to say at this point, but Hickman's indie track record implies that at the very least it should be up for discussion in an issue or two.

"Sherlock A Study In Pink" #3 has a very abrupt cut in the middle of a fun scene, but is an enjoyable and fast moving adaptation of a segment of the live action drama. Definitely trade bait, though.

"Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D." #8 had a very interesting (if possibly insane) development at its end, and captured some of the gasp-inducing freshness of the show, but spent too much time on the tedious argument between Stark and Danvers to really get anywhere.

"Suicide Squad Most Wanted El Diablo And Boomerang" #1 showed the Latino anti-hero making the best of a bad situation, but the second story showing an Australian loose in South America was less compelling.

The "Meh" Pile Not good enough to praise, not bad enough to insult

"Deadpool And The Mercs For Money" #2, "Earth 2 Society" #15, "Doctor Who The Ninth Doctor" #4, "Superwoman" #1, "Empress" #5, "Lumberjanes Gotham Academy" #3, "Ninjak" #1, "Elephantmen" #72, "Old Man Logan" #10, "Hal Jordan And The Green Lantern Corps" #2, "Blue Hour" #1, "Ringside" #6, "Scarlet Witch" #9, "Jim Henson's Labyrinth 30th Anniversary Special" #1, "All-New X-Men" #12, "Prometheus Life And Death" #3, "Spider-Man 2099" #13, "Doctor Who The Tenth Doctor Year Two" #13, "New Super-Man" #2, "Vampirella Volume 3" #6, "A&A The Adventures Of Archer And Armstrong" #6, "Six Million Dollar Man Fall Of Man" #2, "Action Comics" #961, "Lone Ranger Green Hornet" #2, "Daredevil" #10, "Sons Of Anarchy Redwood Original" #1, "Flintstones" #2, "Spider-Man Deadpool" #8, "Army Of Darkness Furious Road" #6, "Birthright" #18, "Amazing Spider-Man" #16, "Red Hood And The Outlaws" #1, "Doctor Who The Twelfth Doctor Year Two" #8, "Flash" #4, "Accused" #1.

No, just ... no ... These comics? Not so much ...

"Black Panther" #5 continues the "Wakanda in name only" story as T'challa dangerously misunderstands the nature of social media (note: he's supposed to be one of the eight smartest people in the world), has an ancestral name of Africa uttered on one page while asking for advice from the least helpful people in the world on another, monologues someone into compliance and -- again -- doesn't tell a complete story. The opening scene, shown in previews, is needlessly melodramatic and has a moment of enormous disrespect which even an average monarch would flip out over, much less one as beleaguered as this alleged T'challa. From a plot standpoint it's a mess, from a political standpoint it's an atrocity, from a character standpoint it's illogical and from a comics standpoint it's a disappointment.

SO, HOW BAD WAS IT?

Some really ambitious attempts that have to be recognized, even falling short.

WINNERS AND LOSERS

Books as good as the buys this week beat a whole lot, and that makes this week a winner.

THE BUSINESS

The writer of this column isn't just a jerk who spews his opinions -- he writes stuff too. A lot. Like what? You can get "The Crown: Ascension" and "Faraway," five bucks a piece, or spend a few more dollars and get "New Money" #1 from Canon Comics, the rambunctious tale of four multimillionaires running wild in Los Angeles, a story in "Watson and Holmes Volume 2" co-plotted by "2 Guns" creator Steven Grant, two books from Stranger Comics -- "Waso: Will To Power" and the sequel "Waso: Gathering Wind" (the tale of a young man who had leadership thrust upon him after a tragedy), or "Fathom Sourcebook" #1, "Soulfire Sourcebook" #1 and "Executive Assistant Iris Sourcebook" #1, the official guides to those Aspen Comics franchises. Love these reviews? It'd be great if you picked up a copy. Hate these reviews? Find out what this guy thinks is so freakin' great. There's free sample chapters too, and all proceeds to towards the care and maintenance of his kids ... oh, and to buy comic books, of course. There's also a bunch of great stuff -- fantasy, superhero stuff, magical realism and more -- available from this writer on Amazon. What are you waiting for? Go buy a freakin' book already!

Got a comic you think should be reviewed in The Buy Pile? If we get a PDF of a fairly normal length comic (i.e. "less than 64 pages") by no later than 24 hours before the actual issue arrives in stores (and sorry, we can only review comics people can go to stores and buy), we guarantee the work will get reviewed, if remembered. Physical comics? Geddouttahere. Too much drama to store with diminishing resources. If you send it in more than two days before comics come out, the possibility of it being forgotten increases exponentially. Oh, you should use the contact form as the CBR email address hasn't been regularly checked since George W. Bush was in office. Sorry!