The Buy Pile: Brubaker & Phillips' Criminal is a Winner

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 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 MARCH 20, 2019

Criminal #3 (Image Comics)

Jump from the Read Pile. Just tangentially brushing against the Lawless family that have centered this series, this issue depicts the life of a an embittered, drunken comics vet ground down and spit out by the industry, honored for his body of work as the sun sets on him, still working to survive like Dick Dale. The arc of this largely self-contained issue is ruthless and efficient, and every panel moves the plot even when it seems subtle. This Ed Brubaker script is enthralling and the visuals from Sean Phillips and Jacob Phillips really made an impression, patiently and deliberately drawing the reader in until the poignant last page. This is a great surprise. RATING: BUY.

Batman #67 is, from one angle, a wickedly mean metaphor of a tale, positing cultural shorthand as a lens through which to examine a twisted, ugly relationship. From another angle, this issue long chase sequence could be called all sizzle and no steak, revealing nothing new about that relationship through its running and punching and property damage. It depends on where you're standing, and that interpretive element is intriguing, but possibly infuriating. Your call. RATING: HONORABLE MENTION.

James Bond 007 #5 has a fun reboot of a popular old character from the Sean Connery days and a new spin on an old antagonist, which is refreshing in a way, but the lead character is just a bullet fired by MI6, a cipher of obscure motivations and rationales. Looked darned good, though. RATING: HONORABLE MENTION.

Dungeons And Dragons A Darkened Wish #1 was an intriguing start, showing a party of adventurers coming together and struggling in a clearly fifth edition world (if you're well read, you might see the mending cantrip, maybe dimension door, maybe even thunderwave). The cast is too big for more than one or two to get enough character development to make the last page significant. This is still an interesting and gorgeous looking start, let's see how it develops. RATING: HONORABLE MENTION.

Grumble #5 had a lot of interesting elements as a family is forced on the run from political persecution of the supernatural persuasion, becoming grifters along the way. The emotional beats are solid but the antagonist is far too vague to connect the dots. Interesting, but missing some key elements that would make it work. RATING: HONORABLE MENTION.

Wild Storm #21 has so many fun ideas and dialogue and so little actual story. Oh, people talk sbout doing things and have monologues that would make Raymond Reddington smirk, but little actually happened and that's a shame. Another one for the trade. RATING: HONORABLE MENTION.

Lazarus Risen #1 has a murderously good back up prose story, a nail biting work of tension and suspense that's good to the last syllable. The main story is solid, cementing the partnership between two sisters and working a nearly unworkable situation. Unfortunately, instead of being a complete work, the lead story reaches too far, leaving an unsatisfying cliffhanger and a half-developed subplot. High caliber work that doesn’t fit in a periodical format, especially not for eight bucks. RATING: HONORABLE MENTION.

Double Jumpers Full Circle Jerks #4 had a really clever plot element based on the way RPGs work, but the rest of it moved too fast and gave the reader too little context. RATING: HONORABLE MENTION.

Miles Morales Spider-Man #4 was very close to making the mark with a succinct and smile-worthy homage to a John Hughes classic that, unfortunately, didn't have much time to expand on its romantic lead (who is an emcee) or its sidekick (who ... saw Braveheart or something). The humor was solid and the art is super engaging, very closely riffing off of the cinematic approach, but its fidelity lost something in translation. RATING: HONORABLE MENTION.

NEXT PAGE: Captain Marvel, Naomi, Immortal Hulk and Avengers Fail To Make The Cut!

Justice League #20 is dreadfully predictable in its third act, taking the idea of a sixth dimensional paradise and doing something that's typical instead of new. RATING: MEH.

Remember when Captain America got trapped in a dystopian futurescape where time went faster than it did for us, fighting a goofy totalitarian villain who leveled up? Captain Marvel #3 sure seems to remember, as it's pretty much the same story, but with a more powerful Captain and a weird capture fetish thrown in. Not bad, but a bottle universe instead of a bottle episode, and this likely won't affect the things you know. RATING: MEH.

Naomi #3 is a mountain of character work and a soupcon of plot as the title character almost learns something, but ... well, it's complicated in a way that falls short of satisfying. Heck of a good looking book, and boy, is it hooked into continuity, whatever is happening. RATING: MEH.

Oh. Oh, no, Immortal Hulk #15 suffers from the same problem as the end of Star Trek: Into Darkness as it spreads the gamma powered longevity around in a way that's creepy. Doc Samson tries to dig around the brain of the green jawed goliath and does not like what he finds (despite making a really good joke). There's some good stuff here, but it only gets there after it meanders a bit. A little more focus and this would have made it. RATING: MEH.

Avengers #17 was a befuddling and tired end to a storyline that went on way too long with much less "oomph" than it promised. The book looks amazing, no question, but the core ideas here are weaksauce, no matter how well executed. The more you think about it, the dumber it gets. RATING: NO. JUST ... NO.

WHAT'S THE PROGNOSIS?

One truly good book, one truly bad, let's call it even Stevens this week.

THE BUSINESS

Have you picked up a copy of Time Corps #12? The first part of a twelve issue run from the writer of this column with art by Neal Yamamoto and Josephine Roberts, it costs only $1.99 for 22 pages of story content -- the big boys won't take care of you like that!

The Buy Pile is syndicated six days after its web publication on the iHeartRadio podcast Nerd-O-Rama with Mo and Tawala.

Have you checked out season four of the free web comic Project Wildfire: The Once and Future King? Every week catch a page of the story for the best possible price: "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!