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 JANUARY 16, 2019
Ironheart #2 (Marvel Comics)
Jump from the Read Pile. With another sterling show of characterization, this issue digs deep into Riri Williams' struggle to balance her home life in Chicago with her lab at M.I.T. (maybe she'd be better off setting up with Nadia Pym's G.I.R.L. team). She wrestles with some of the trauma she's experienced, handles some great action scenes, protects the innocent and wrangles with dim witted power structures. Writer Eve Ewing has this voice down pat, perfectly depicting the character's strength and struggles. The art by Luciano Vecchio, Geoffo, Matt Milla and Clayton Cowles delivers on every level. RATING: BUY.
Star Wars Age Of Republic Special #1 has a really good Mace Windu story at the start which goes exactly as it should. Unfortunately, a limp Asaaj Ventress snippet and another failure to end the Tragedy of Jar Jar Binks fail to satisfy. RATING: HONORABLE MENTION.
Black Widow #1 encapsulates the fear and frustration many feel with the endless events as Natasha is back from the dead with a chip on her shoulder. She finds her way to a place where everybody pretty much has it coming, but the plot comes to an abrupt stop instead of giving readers some kind of conclusion. Not bad, but not sterling work. RATING: HONORABLE MENTION.
Catwoman #7 has spectacular visuals, but a plot that does next to nothing but cause mayhem for people looking to have a good time. Shocking, sudden, wonderfully threatening, but not very clear in its intent. RATING: MEH.
Fantastic Four #6 will be manna for the nostalgic fan's soul as it plays things very close to the classical playbook. If you've ever read Marvel's first family, this might seem too familiar. Nothing wrong, but no new ideas either. RATING: MEH.
Remember on the show when Barry was pretty stupid most of the time and everybody else saved his butt? Flash #62 is like that, but without Joe West's cool composure or Cisco Ramon's pop culture awesomeness. Well drawn, action packed, but you start to feel bad for the poor sap. RATING: MEH.
Re: Invaders #1. Nothing good will come of this. Seriously, nothing good comes from Namor mobilizing against the surface world (which works so well for Mole Man) as his friends reminisce about fighting Nazis the first time. It's not working. RATING: MEH.
NEXT PAGE: The buy Pile: It's Rough Going with Scooby Apocalypse and The Batman Who Laughs
Scooby Apocalypse #33 makes a really disappointing, super derivative decision at the end that patches on a wholly different franchise in a terrible way. This was bad. Very bad. Even after drifting around plot wise and doing something very gross, this was ill considered. RATING: NO. JUST ... NO.
Batman Who Laughs #2 is a messy, dimly colored game of Xanatos Speed Chess with a baker's dozen Bruce Waynes, a lot of bloodshed and a sad sense of inevitablility as it criticizes the core of the Bat mythos. This is less like entertainment and more like a chore. RATING: NO. JUST ... NO.
WHAT'S THE PROGNOSIS?
Two bad, one good ... that doesn't look like what you want, does it? Oy.
THE BUSINESS
Come see the writer of this column signing at The Comic Bug in Manhattan Beach with exclusive copies of the historical fiction graphic novel, Scoundrel alongside the rest of the creative team, next Wednesday from 5-7PM.
Get ready for some web comics news next week. It's gonna be a thing.
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!