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 SEPTEMBER 19, 2018

Mister Miracle #11 (DC Comics)

Jump from the Read Pile. There is a war between two worlds full of gods, New Genesis and Apokolips. To stop the truly epic bloodshed, the title character and his warrior wife have only to turn over their only begotten son to their worst enemy. In order to work through this, they decide to put on a show, and that makes for one entertaining comic. Everything you need to know is said very early in a way that you will likely not notice until the second or third read.

This Tom King script matches some of the heights he delivered in Omega Men, and the artwork by Mitch Gerads and Clayton Cowles work with the brilliant twists and delicious tension here flawlessly. RATING: BUY.

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Aphrodite V #3 is a symphony of spectacle, the distilled spirit of Bay and Cameron and Fuqua and Mann funneled through a green haired ghost of River Tam. The plot's a straight line but the road is significantly more scenic than you might expect. Thrilling but moving so fast it leaves character work behind. RATING: HONORABLE MENTION.

Captain America Annual #1 is a pitch perfect period piece, set in 1944 and ascribing all the values we truly need to the title character and his "don't call me a boy sidekick" partner. The action is solid and the production values are insane. If you're in the market for a World War 2 story, this is a doggoned good one. RATING: HONORABLE MENTION.

Batman #55 was a masterpiece of characterization, showing Dick Grayson at his greatest and the Dark Knight as a wonderful counterpoint, drawn beautifully with gigantic production values. The plot tied everything together neatly but in a manner perhaps too facile. Not bad, but not breaking down the doors either. RATING: HONORABLE MENTION.

Star Wars Lando Double Or Nothing #5 is a surprise in that its lead loses his agency and ends up a bit player in the story of lesser characters. Lando's humor and wit remain but he loses most of why he was running things, and even his mild denouement felt rushed. This issue didn't stick the landing, but it didn't poop the bed either. RATING: HONORABLE MENTION.

Robots Vs Princesses #2 had similar thematic approaches as Princess Ugg with alien influences clashing with a feudal and ritualistic society. Most of the characters could be better defined, but the underlying concept has some charm to it. RATING: HONORABLE MENTION.

The team's weakest link submarined the otherwise intriguing Teen Titans #22, which covered some team chemistry cliches in a training montage Stephen Amell would feel comfortable with. The production values are relentlessly high, Damion Wayne is a compelling and complex lead giving too much panel time to characters that aren't standing out as much. RATING: HONORABLE MENTION.

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Impossible Incorporated #1 is a laundry list of interesting, crazy new ideas dancing around stock characters. The lead is unremarkable, the supporting characters uninspired. While the art is engaging in a cartoony way, wild concepts can't carry the day. RATING: MEH.

Immortal Hulk #6 is a surprise in that it drifts around plot wise and has a hard time finding its way. The tense atmosphere from previous issues remains, but a host of guest stars turned out to be more detriment than benefit as the subplot with the reporter got slid way off to the side and the issue facing the titular character barely got a moment in the sun. Not bad, but not where it was. RATING: MEH.

Aquaman #40 was Aquaman in name only as the headliner did some punching with the ambiguous powers of Satanis but ultimately played a peripheral role in his own somewhat repetitive story. The actual power players here did the same old two step, and that didn't thrill. RATING: MEH.

A network of competing human traffickers is being hunted in G.I. Joe A Real American Hero Silent Option #1, a ruthless opening act long on action and short on characterization. It's closer to the messy real lives of special forces operators than the main series or even Special Missions, but it doesn't have enough yo draw the reader into these operatives and their fates. RATING: MEH.

Return Of Wolverine #1 could just as easily be labeled "Wolverine for Dummies" as it seeks to reintroduce as much Logan as you can handle, even to Logan himself, freshly set up with a fresh batch of exposition-friendly amnesia. Someone named Persephone is rich enough to clone stuff (including saber toothed tigers) and have armed camps full of semi-captive research scientists. Do you care? Should you? This book seems to think the newly alive Wolverine should, with flashes of the old him appearing like reflections or memories. It happened, but there's no real reason to care for any of the characters here based on what's on the pages. RATING: MEH.

WHAT'S THE PROGNOSIS?

Well, at least nothing stank. It wasn't too bad this week.

THE BUSINESS

This columnist started a two-day stint co-hosting a weekday podcast all about nerd interests on I Heart Radio. Listen to Nerd-O-Rama with MoKelly and Tawala, guest starring Hannibal Tabu, Wednesday and Thursday.

The writer of this column just completed the latest season of the weekly web superhero comic Project Wildfire: Street Justice -- you can read it all for free for just a little while longer. 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!