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) grabs a whole lotta comics. These periodicals are quickly sorted (how) into two piles -- the "buy" pile (a small pile most weeks, comprised of planned purchases) and the "read" pile (often huge, often including comics that are really crappy but have some value to stay abreast of). Thursday afternoons you'll be able to get his thoughts (and they're just the opinions of one guy, so calm down, and here's some common definitions used in the column) about all of that ... which goes something like this ...

THE BUY PILE FOR NOVEMBER 15, 2017

Amazing Spider-Man #791 (Marvel Comics)

Jump from the Read Pile. The "Parker Luck" -- a big part of the Spider-Man mythos -- means that it's hard for Peter Parker to ever get ahead. This issue found the perfect way to balance that by introducing a new, flexible job for the title character and a relationship that actually makes sense for him. This done-in-one Dan Slott script is brilliantly crafted and the visuals from Stuart Immonen, Wade von Grawbadger, Rain Beredo and Joe Caramagna are executed perfectly. Funny, action packed and a perfect fit in a deeper fictional universe.

WHAT'S THE PROGNOSIS?

Super entertaining start.

Page 2: [valnet-url-page page=2 paginated=0 text='Star%20Wars%20Doctor%20Aphra%2C%20Batman%20%26%20The%20Rest']



THIS WEEK'S READ PILE

Honorable Mentions: Stuff worth noting, even if it's not good enough to buy

If Future Quest Presents #4 didn't tell an origin story twice like OnStar Jor-El in Batman v. Superman and took that time to expand the characters, this might have made it work as Space Ghost takes on unfinished business from the fall of his transgalactic peacekeeping force. Great art, some fun moments but it veered all over the place too much to stick the landing.

If you like the web comic Check Please, the more serious Fence #1 might be up your alley as a lost scion of a legacy seeks to forge his own legend, all while trying to take down a Billy Zabka-level antagonist. The characters may not be very distinctive but they hit all the right marks, all with crisp, refreshing artwork.

Star Wars Doctor Aphra #14 had some great character moments for its titular heroine but it takes a long time to hit you with its ending. Not bad, but it's a little slower than it needed to be.

Maestros #2 had great art, some interesting ideas and a nice plot twist. It also had cliched antagonists who had less to distinguish them from each other than Nemoidians. Maybe this could become Green Valley or maybe it will fall from grace, let's wait and see.

Ninja-K #1 had some interesting moments as it established a world weary Colin King, more freelancer James Bond than costumed operative. Great character work and an interesting approach on the idea of a mantle, but the plot fell short of satisfying.

Batman #35 was a sterlingly crafted, if wholly twisted, tale of Bruce Wayne growing up (a little) reflected in the women who love him. If this had a chance of permanence, it might be a memorable footnote somewhere, but in the continuity-sweeping big company comics world, this is a cute intellectual exercise we may glance back at, wistfully, six crossovers from now.

Wicked + The Divine #33 has a couple of really big surprises. If, however, you haven't read every issue, those revelations will mean nothing to the reader. As always, McKelvie's art is sublime but the story feels like it was a snippet of a novel and not an individual comic book.

No, just ... no ... These comics? Not so much ...

Sweet, nothing was awful!

SO, HOW BAD WAS IT?

Yeah ... that's cool.

WINNERS AND LOSERS

No truly bad books, a fun time with Mockingbird and her feminist agenda ... that's a week that wins.

THE BUSINESS

The writer of this column writes two weekly web superhero comics: Menthu: The Anger of Angels and 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 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 the work will get reviewed, 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!