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) takes on an 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 JULY 4, 2018

Immortal Hulk #2 (Marvel Comics)

Jump from the Read Pile. Wow. Remember how good that first issue was? The follow up is just as good, maybe even a little better. Robert Bruce Banner is on a mission, and he's more passenger than driver as problems only the Hulk can solve are sought on the open road.

Al Ewing's ruthless script evokes the wanderlust of the Bill Bixby series while showing some serious horror chops, melding the scientific and the terrifying with deft skill. Please don't hold your applause for the visuals team of Joe Bennett, Ruy Jose, Paul Mounts and Cory Petit, all of whom bring the intimate yet creepy reality of this into your headspace. In a word? Wow. RATING: BUY.

Brother Nash #2
There’s so much to love in Brother Nash #2.

Brother Nash #2 (Titan Comics)

Jump from the Read Pile. The debut issue of this indie series was a deep mix of mystery and Americana, and its follow up delves even deeper into astronomy (really) as a criminal organization with supernatural ties is executing a plot that's presidential in its depravity and the title character is learning more about it, closing in on stopping this.

The alteration of a damsel in distress into her own heroine is a great way to turn the tables, there are some facsinating concepts and the story told by supporting characters like the loquacious shaman really fleshes out this work. This singular effort from Bridget Connell is really worth seeing. RATING: BUY.

Deathstroke #33 (DC Comics)

<i>Deathstroke</i> #33
The assassin play date in Deathstroke #33 is truly worth seeing.

Two blade-happy trained assassins on a road trip together with paternity issues hanging in the air -- no it's not the plot for Deadpool 3 (or is it?), it's the latest episode in the very complex life of Slade Wilson. His cold war with Batman continues as Damian Wayne, the current Robin and grandson of immortal supervillian Ra's al Ghul, delivers himself to the titular mercenary to bend the knee. This leads to a perhaps ill-considered mission together, a surprise attack from a super villain and lots of rounds of high caliber gunfire.

The chess game played here with feints within feints, misdirections behind false flags and a final surprise to set up the storyline's conclusion entertain withot fail. Kudos to the creative team of Christopher J. Priest, Ed Benes, Richard Friend, Dinei Ribeiro and Willie Schubert for another comic that delivers on every front. RATING: BUY.

Transformers Lost Light #19 (IDW Publishing)

<i>Transformers Lost Light</i> #19
A word about Transformers Lost Light #19? That word is “whoa.”

First, an apology. If this is your first issue of this series ... yikes. Admittedly, there are some of the best exposition dump recaps in the history of genre literature happening here, but sweet Kwanzaa is there a lot going on. The quest for Cyberutopia is finished and stupid. The rogue Decepticon crew clled The Scavengers have teamed up with Rodimus' contingent from the questing starship The Lost Light to fight off a cosmic murder hospital and an increasingly intense series of death traps devised by the mechanoid who stole his ship, Getaway (who makes Andrew Scott look like Colonel Klink).

This plot is complex and you might need a scorecard to keep up with all the characters (although one moment between Misfire and Swerve is worth all the marbles), but they all get moments to reveal who they are through characterization that advances the plot. This is truly literary science fiction here, well worth every cent of your money. Hats off to James Roberts, E.J. Su, Joana LaFuente and Tom B. Long on another wildly enjoyable, deeply quotable, imminently re-readable romp. RATING: BUY.

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Dungeons And Dragons Evil At Baldur's Gate #2 was a solid if somewhat underpowered fantasy adventure with two adventurers addressing old business. Only one of them got the panel time and development that was needed, but this will delight fans of the property as well as sword and sorcery enthusiasts. RATING: HONORABLE MENTION.

Captain America #1 is, in its thematic conception, perfect. Steve Rogers is a man who wants to do right in a world that's built not to trust him, an antiquated weapon in an asymmetrical war. The struggle framed here, between the modern cynicism and idealistic concept of patriotism, is wonderful in its atmospheric and emotional connection, even having a superb action sequence. The only place this issue falls short is in execution, as storytelling is hard to do with voiceover captions. There are some great moments and some solid dialogue, but it relies too much on narration and not enough on showing then how and why of characters in action. This is a promising start if this can pick up some of the fundamentals and not just hit from the perimeter. RATING: HONORABLE MENTION.

Underneath some imagery invoking areas where Google searches fear to tread, Unnatural #1 invokes some George Orwell byvway of Adam Hughes to bring some clever commentary on the current repressive societal climate towards race and sexual orientation. If the plot tightens up and picks up the pace in future issues, this could be a thing. RATING: HONORABLE MENTION.

Cosmic Ghost Rider #1 is either the stupidest idea to ever hit Frank Castle or the boldest new direction for some old characters. At this point, it's too baffling to tell, but this issue didn't get enough story told to reveal that truth yet. RATING: HONORABLE MENTION.

Avengers #4 had some of the same execution issues that Captain America and Man of Steel exhibited, trying to make legends of montages while dancing around its actual plot points. Ed McGuinness' stunning artwork did a lot of the heavy lifting to elevate this material from its challenges, but even his powers have limits and the droll Asgardian interlude connected as effectively as Loki yelling at Captain America (swing, miss). RATING: EITHER A LOW HONORABLE MENTION OR A HIGH "MEH."

Death Of The Inhumans #1 goes all full Drowning Pool on a big but ultimately ineffective issue that again casts the Midnight King in the role of ineffective onlooker. It works about as well as it did on the failed ABC series, which is "not well." RATING: MEH.

Star Wars #50 took far too long to get where it was going, doing all the speeches and pomp and circumstance. If you saw the tail end of Rebels season 3, this is a less satisfying version of that (which the leader of Gamma group shuold have seen coming). Not bad, but sure as heck not worth six bucks. RATING: MEH.

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Man Of Steel #6 was a huge build up for a very, very empty conclusion, an anti-climax on a truly global scale with a solution so simple that even a character in the book states its necessity. As wonderfully drawn as this issue is, it runs two concurrent storylines that are each as empty and dull as dishwater. RATING: NO. JUST ... NO.

Batman #50 has an ending that is unmistakably, unimpeachably stupid. For that ending to happen requires such a massive disconnect between the state of the modern world and the basics of communication that it boggles the mind. The murderer's row of top notch artists who brought something to this affair didn't do much more than give the reader farther to fall, like missing the Fortnite missile launch. No. RATING: NO. JUST ... NO.

WHAT'S THE PROGNOSIS?

Despite high prodile failures from DC, four purchases makes for an enjoyable week of comics.

THE BUSINESS

The writer of this column writes a weekly web superhero comic -- 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 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!