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 July 5, 2017

Deathstroke #21 (DC Comics)

The titular assassin has gone legit. Ish. Legit adjacent. He can definitely see "legit" from where he is. As part of his newfound moral direction, he's co-opted his ex-wife's black ops budget to make a training program for super powered misfits, including the less popular Kid Flash, the second generation Power Girl, the son who believes his father killed his fiancee (after having an affair with her), the illegitimate daughter he turned into a killer, and a surprise troubled teen. This motley assemblage of broken toys gets aimed at a global crisis and it's like watching a time bomb ticking. This is fun stuff from Christopher Priest, Diogenes Neves, Jason Paz, Jeromy Cox and Willie Schubert.

Unstoppable Wasp #7 (Marvel Comics)

Amazing. Nadia Pym is a fantastic, quirky character who lights up almost every panel she graces. This issue, her namesake shows why it's a legacy of greatness as Janet Van Dyne shows up like the Wolf from Pulp Fiction and handles business with her martial abilities as well as her cell phone. Writer Jeremy Whitley again presents a virtually perfect script that had great action, solid pacing and fantastic character work and the visuals from Veronica Fish, Megan Wilson and Joe Caramagna are a delight. Virtually every issue of this series has been absolutely wonderful, and this is no exception.

WHAT'S THE PROGNOSIS?

None too shabby.

THIS WEEK'S READ PILE

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

If you're looking for a heartwarming, patriotic piece of character work, Bloodshot's Day Off #1 will do it for you as two previous iterations of the nanite-powered character take time to visit (literally) old haunts in New York. Not bad, but ultimately a forgettable plot.

G.I. JOE #7 has one of the most "oh snap!" moments in the history of the franchise and features a fight scene knocking around a forty foot tall robot getting knocked around. Unfortunately, it lacked punch, ironically, at the end and sagged with subplots.

Batman #26 had riveting character moments as the Joker and Riddler played playground kickball, choosing from the rogue's gallery of killers in and around the title character, to create a killing field in Gotham. The overall plot swung and missed with a weak ending, but the style shone where the substance sunk.

Skybourne #4 was action packed and gorgeously rendered but notoriously short on story and character development.

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

Welp ... at least nothing was awful.

SO, HOW BAD WAS IT?

Kind of a slog getting through some forgettable books, but there's nothing to be actually mad about.

WINNERS AND LOSERS

Two solid buys beat all the forgotten "meh" in the world, so this week's a winner.

THE BUSINESS

The writer of this column writes two weekly web superhero comics: Menthu: The Anger of Angels and Project Wildfire: Street Justice -- free every week. Can't beat "free."

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 Project Wildfire: Enter Project Torrent (a collected superhero web comic), 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, Executive Assistant Iris Sourcebook #1 and Aspen Universe Sourcebook, 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!