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 AUGUST 1, 2018

Immortal Hulk #4 (Marvel Comics)

With a possible touch of a retcon to Bruce Banner's college transcripts, this is a trip down memory lane with Dr. Walter Lagkowski, who's some Canadian bootleg mash up of Ben Grimm and Reed Richards in his retelling of a history with an almost Von Doom-ish turn. As the furry doctor follows a journalist with a green-tinted history exposing the new state of the Hulk, things go awry and that leads to a challenged place.

RELATED: It’s Official: An Alpha Flight Member Dies in Immortal Hulk #4 (But It’s Complicated)

This issue is the first of its run that's not a complete story, but the set up for one, which isn't bad at all but isn't up to previous standards. Still, Al Ewing is a heck of a writer and the visuals from Joe Bennett, Ruy Jose, Paul Mounts and Cory Petit are gripping and effective. This series just secured its place on the Buy Pile, let's hope it returns to form next month. RATING: BUY ... STILL.

Deathstroke #34 (DC Comics)

A showdown between Batman and the titular assassin, happening in the Batcave -- that set up alone is well worth checking for. As they pummel and blast and slice at each other, each criticizes the weaknesses of the other's relative moral position, providing psychoanalysis by way of pugilism.

The creative team of Christopher Priest, Carlo Pagulayan, Jason Paz, Trevor Scott, Jeromy Cox and Willie Schubert deliver with a book that balances violence with value, digging deep to make this duel work given the supporting casts and extenuating circumstances. Worth re-reading and very enjoyable. RATING: BUY.

G.I. Joe A Real American Hero #254 (IDW Publishing)

Jump from the Read Pile. Destro. The Scottish weapons developer puts it all on the table as he tries to convince a middle eastern head of state why he should call Destro and not trust some off brand solution. This issue has everything in a delightfully done-in-one story by the master of craft Larry Hama with top notch visuals from Netho Diaz, Allison Rodrigues, Jagdish Kumar, James Brown and Neil Uyetake. This has the breezy fun of Danger Girl mixed with the political grittiness of Queen & Country. RATING: BUY.

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The world is dying and there's a zone where no tech is allowed ... hiding visitors from another world, profiting from our demise. Seeds #1 is the third book this week with a deep and intriguing premise that falls down when it comes go execution, letting its plot meander, making its characters vague and unimpressive. Its ambition is to be lauded, but not with actual, like, dollars. RATING: HONORABLE MENTION.

Robots Vs Princesses #1 has a very intriguing premise -- a mechanoid civil war happening juuuuust on the other side of a "forbidden" barrier, which has a peaceful (if boring, by their accounts) magical feudal kingdom on the other side. Neither side knows the other is there and the robots (apparently) don't know they have alt-modes. This issue is a great set up but doesn't have enough story or characterization to merit its asking price. Not bad by a long shot, but it may shine more in retrospect than it does now. RATING: HONORABLE MENTION.

Green Arrow #43 was much better when it was the Black Mirror episode "Hated In The Nation." RATING: MEH.

Leviathan #1 has an intriguing idea -- the end of the world summoned with a stupid party game -- but doesn't give enough character to get engaged or enough plot to really deliver a satisfying narrative. Gorgeous looking book, a couple of great lines, amazingly detailed visuals, but it feels like half a thought, not a full one. RATING: HONORABLE MENTION.

Ant-Man And The Wasp #4 engages in science adventures in alternate universes and there are two truly effective moments of emotional truth. The plot kind of meanders and ultimately is an adaptation of a holodeck malfunction episode. Seeds of greatness are visible through the detritus of cliche, but it's not quite enough to make it home. RATING: HONORABLE MENTION.

Brother Nash #3 swung and missed as it stumbled in its conclusion, a predominantly action oriented book that tried to do too much at the same time. Ambition is to be applauded, but this needed maybe another 15 pages to wrap this up, despite the wonderful and emotional denouement. Not bad, but not the stunning performance of the previous two issues. RATING: HONORABLE MENTION.

Riding high on the "good concept, less-than-optimal execution" train, Captain America #2 hearkens back to the days of Steve Rogers crying into a flag and asking if he could just punch something. That's not so good. There's fantastic art and a critical examination of the identity of America (down to the possibly illegal ending), but it's not exactly a story, per se. Strip out the pictures and do this as a prose novel and this might work out. RATING: MEH.

In Batman #52, Bruce Wayne has jury duty and spends a few hours trying to convince a room full of Gotham residents that the Batman is, in essence, bad. It's one of the most damning indictments of the Caped Crusader's war on crime ever put into comics and if it led to a very different means of operations for the Dark Knight Detective, sure, that might be a thing. As it is, this is heroic nonsense, standing on principle but falling down on believability. RATING: MEH.

Combine an empty, almost Koch Brothers-minded philosophy of Robotech Masters-styled power with every petty, vengeful motivation behind true terror and you'd have something like Justice League #5, a story told mostly through voiceover captions. While comics are a medium told through a set of snapshots, explaining the significance of those snapshots steals some of their significance (see also Captain America). Solid concepts hamstrung by tepid execution. RATING: MEH.

Star Wars #52 delivers a strong connection between the original trilogy and the best of the anthology movies but doesn't do much storywise, seeming like it took place in seven minutes of what would be screen time. RATING: MEH.

In a way, one would suppose the dimly colored Infinity Wars #1 was inevitable, given the heritage of the antagonist Requiem, putting the Worf Effect on a gigantic threat of yore. On the other hand, given the tedious maneuvering with Turk Barrett (who, let's be honest, is a poor fit for this kind of story, dragging common minds like Tombstone and Bullseye into this) and the relentless problem of heroes creating their own problems, this storytelling is needlessly dour, deconstructionist and downbeat. RATING: NO. JUST ... NO.

WHAT'S THE PROGNOSIS?

Three buys easily beat one bad book when there's so many ambitious attempts in the Honorable Mentions.

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!