WHAT IS THE BUY PILE?
Every week Hannibal Tabu (winner of the 2012 Top Cow Talent Hunt/2018-2019 City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs Cultural Trailblazer/blogger/novelist/poet/jackass on Twitter/head honcho of Komplicated) takes on between seven to thirteen reviews (or so) to share his opinions with you. Thursday afternoons you'll be able to get those thoughts (and they're just the opinions of one guy, so calm down) about all of that ... which goes something like this ...
THE BUY PILE FOR OCTOBER 16, 2019
Nothing (for real?)
Despite poring through stacks of comics submitted, no long standing favorites came out this week; nothing jumped out of the pack to stand, gleaming and true. It's weird because even some likely clunkers barely registered as memorable. Little good, little bad ... little memorable. RATING: WHAAAAAAAAAT?
Superman Smashes The Klan #1 is a beautiful looking book and definitely has its heart in the right place. It posits an Earth significantly better off than ours with a Black police inspector ten years before Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka even while it struggles with white supremacy. The pacing is a little slow, perhaps due to its source material but it earnestly believes in the American dream even when forced to confront the Amerikkkan reality. RATING: HONORABLE MENTION.
X-Men #1 is a bold new start ... to dinner. The plot here is razor thin as this script focuses on establishing details that might play out but today are inconsequential. Also, the idea that galactic war criminal Vulcan is just hanging out seems like a recipe for disaster. Overall? RATING: MEH.
Teen Titans #35 took some turns, thematically playing into what's happening in Justice League while Damian Wayne shows much more of his father's more problematic influences than anyone seems to like. This was less a story than an indictment of costumed vigilantism with a nebbishy face, sadly. RATING: MEH.
Black Panther And The Agents Of Wakanda #2 definitely made an impact but ramped up the stakes so high only to have an inconclusive ending with minor character struggles that didn't advance or illuminate. Decent ideas were saddled with merely adequate execution. RATING: MEH.
Transformers #13 moved faster than previous issues but a lot of things happening is not the same as a story. That Sideswipe transformation sequence was nice and Sentinel Prime seems like a terrible leader, but the name dropping expected the reader to have a stack of tech specs nearby, and that's a mistake. RATING: MEH.
WHAT'S THE PROGNOSIS?
This week's comics were a chore to endure. Unexpected and hopefully anomalous.
THE BUSINESS
This weekend see award-winning superstar artist Quinn McGowan at two conventions in two cities. Get ready Wilberforce, Ohio and Memphis, Tennessee!
Have you checked out season four of the free web comic Project Wildfire: The Once and Future King? While you can, read the whole thing for the best possible price: "free."
T-shirts, stickers and even a hoodie: find the finest in indie comics merchandise in the Operative Network Store on the site and on Etsy.
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 Scoundrel (historical fiction set in 1981 east Los Angeles), 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 to try and review the work, 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!