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 26, 2017
Go Go Power Rangers #1 (Boom! Studios)
Jump from the Read Pile. Let's pretend you're not dipped in nostalgia and don't actually know anything about this wildly popular property. If you could come fresh into it, you could start from scratch and make stuff work as you go along. This issue did that by providing perfect and succinct introductions of its leads, establishing a clear threat from its antagonist, giving supporting characters time to shine and taking nothing for granted. Writer Ryan Parrott delivered a script that is virtually perfectly balanced while the visuals presented by Dan Mora, Raul Angulo and Ed Dukeshire perfectly capture every moment from fight scenes to personal interactions. This is a very pleasant surprise.
Occupy Avengers #9 (Marvel Comics)
Despite being forced to tell part of the larger Secret Empire story, this issue manages to squeeze enough entertainment out of its characters to be worth purchasing. A number of First American individuals take up arms against Nazi oppression and engage in cover to cover gun-fu. Writer David Walker again makes Tilda Johnson one of the most engaging presences on the page while man-lost-to-time Red Wolf remains a quote machine. The artwork from Gabriel Hernandez Walta, Jordie Bellaire and Clayton Cowles does a great job of capturing the sparse landscape and the sudden nature of the violence in question. Even stuck in the muck of a tedious crossover, this is worth seeing.
Transformers Lost Light #8 (IDW Publishing)
If you've never read this series, this issue is very deep in the weeds and may not be accessible enough for you. If you have read this series (and its predecessor, More Than Meets The Eye), the science fiction is slathered on heavily and with great panache as a quartet of crewmembers from the Cybertronian space ark head down to a "gray market" to find a map to a place called "cyberutopia," where progenitors of their mechanical kind went to escape war and insanity. Of course, every brand of shenanigans happened along the way, from petty larceny to breaking and entering to attempted murder. Writer James Roberts weaves an intricate, labyrinthine tale while the visuals from Priscilla Tramontano, Joana LaFuente and Tom B. Long are bright and energetic and fun. Maybe this one is just for the longtime fans, but if you're one, there's plenty to enjoy.
WHAT'S THE PROGNOSIS?
That's a super pleasant surprise on top of regular candidates from David Walker and James Roberts.
NEXT PAGE: What About Captain Americas Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson?
THIS WEEK'S READ PILE
Honorable Mentions: Stuff worth noting, even if it's not good enough to buy
Black Panther #16 achieves a high feat -- a memorable moment that drives the story along, a huge accomplishment for a series that has struggled since its first page. T'challa (with some help) invades a locale run by Fenris, literal scions of Nazis, and shuts down their racism quickly. Then, with a conversation reminiscent of "An agreement between us, speak of it to no one," T'challa breaks down Dr. Elliot Franklin and uses a super power he rarely shows -- a commonality with someone similarly underestimated. The rest of the plot skidded all over the road, but for one, shining moment, it was Wakanda.
On one side, Batgirl #13, has some amazing character work as a young girl named Esme skates into the panels and into your heart. On the other hand, the antagonist is an empty shirt with limp motivations that made the adorable part of the plot empty.
Nancy Drew And The Hardy Boys The Big Lie #5 sagged a bit in the middle of its plot but the character work was outstanding and the tension for the characters was palatable. Close, but no cigar.
No, just ... no ... These comics? Not so much ...
Some years ago, an issue had Captain America crying into a flag and wishing there was something he could punch. Captain America Steve Rogers #19 isn't quite as weepy, but Stevil is struggling with his decision to be a Nazi and that's ... well, not entertaining. The best part of the issue was Sharon Carter insulting Stevil, There isn't much story aside from navel gazing beyond that.
Shirtless Bear-Fighter #2 is bad. Scarily bad. Ed Wood bad. Hell Comes To Frogtown bad. Between the disturbing visuals of te Mountain Mage (the less said the better), the telegraphed plot and a Black guy saying "War of Northern Aggression," this issue appalls on the majority of its pages. Ironically, the artwork is top notch. A weird, weird thing to even exist, really.
Captain America Sam Wilson #24, like its goose-stepping Aryan sister title (brother title? How does that work) was a tone deaf self-absorbed exploration of putting on clothes and shaking self-doubt.It was very much the same ... well, "story" isn't accurate, let's go with "sequence of events" done on a lower budget. This is not the respect any flag deserves.
SO, HOW BAD WAS IT?
Man, there were some stinkers this week.
WINNERS AND LOSERS
Three bad books, three good and three somewhere in between, plus all the unsaid "meh" ... that's a tie game, no matter how you slice it.
THE BUSINESS
Wow. San Diego, huh? In addition to the new four dollar, fifty-two page book Irrational Numbers: Addition coming out, the writer of this column announced a second mini-series from Wunderman Comics coming out December 15th called Scoundrel. That means ten straight comics in nine straight months from your faithful scribe.
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 Irrational Numbers: Addition (a supernatural historical fiction saga with vampires), 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!