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 JUNE 19, 2019

NOTHING. 

Argh. Another week goes by with nothing being a regular purchase or being so good it had to be purchased. Too many flaws ruined this week, so either you can go binge the whole season of #wildfirewednesday or get Time Corps #13 from Wunderman Comics or ... go talk to your friends or family or something. Sounds terrible, but it's all we have ... RATING: ARGH.

There's an old George Michael lyric that says, "The fallen dream of heaven, but what the hell are you supposed to do when they come true?" Daredevil #7 explores that through the eyes of Matthew Murdock, somewhat free from his cowled compulsion, and his long time adversary Wilson Fisk, looking like Michael Jordan after the sixth championship. This moody, plaintive issue was logical if not entertaining, making sense for the characters but not doing much to engage. Not bad, but not connecting. RATING: HONORABLE MENTION.

Psi-Lords #1 is not bad as a start, giving the lead characters as much information as the reader has with a great display of visual flavor. Its dearth of information is a deficit too, and this atmosphere doesn't have enough meat on its story bones to satisfy. RATING: HONORABLE MENTION.

Battlestar Galactica Classic #5 was well plotted but pretty light on characterization as a host of non-human races had a lot to show the Cylons. Not bad, but needed fleshing out. RATING: HONORABLE MENTION.

Star Wars #67 was a featherfall landing instead of a triumphant conclusion for the long, weaving story of the Sho-Torun people. A key character in this drama doesn't even make an impact, and despite several wonderful moments ("Let's see if I can nail that nasal I-know-best diction ...") didn't connect as a story as it should have been a spectacle but was just wacky hijinks. Not bad, and of course gorgeous looking work, but a whimper instead of a bang. RATING: HONORABLE MENTION.

Fairlady #3 takes a medieval swing at a 1980s Saturday morning classic (and something more iconic, if you read between the lines) but has an inconclusive ending, very little room to explore the characters and more of a concept than an execution. Not bad at all, but not very filling. RATING: HONORABLE MENTION.

Re: Deadpool #14. Even the characters in the books are finding this event interminably long, level grinding through forgettable, anonymous cannon fodder. Is the fall here yet so we can have a few months of just straight stories? RATING: MEH.

Clue Candlestick #2 is less a comic book and more an activity puzzle suitable for Shawn Spencer and his focused father. You could spoil the next issue and determine the murderer(s?) by reading very closely and catching every clue. Conversely, you could remember that most people buy mystery books to have someone else figure this stuff out and leave this overstylized intellectual exercise for people looking to do a jigsaw of a snowy field. RATING: MEH.

Justice League #26 had the seeds of three good books -- a crossover spanning universes (Captain Carrot is here, seriously), a riveting detective story with Martian Manhunter and a "gather the troops" bit at the Hall of Justice. However, with this page count, you barely get a movie trailer's worth of content for each, and they expect you to pay for it. The god of death would get the same answer, so, "not today." RATING: MEH.

Star Wars Doctor Aphra #33 had a solid bit of characterization that made the morally ambiguous archaeologist seem kind of reasonable by comparison. Unfortunately, she lacked agency, listening and being dragged around instead of doing what she does best. Swing and a miss. RATING: MEH.

James Bond 007 #8 took Pavlovian conditioning to some rather intense extremes but in essence didn't "shock" or innovate anything along the way. RATING: MEH.

Superman: Year One #1 is too dreadfully dull and archaic ("Let me court you") to be worth deriding, a limp and uninspired remix of Superman Birthright or the first few seasons of Smallville. This'd have you screaming, "somebody saaaaave meeeeeee" for certain. RATING: NO. JUST ... NO.

Age Of X-Man Nextgen #5 and Age Of X-Man The Amazing Nightcrawler #5 are such a waste of time they may as well get reviewed together as they both had the same basic ending, the same basic flaws and the same basic elements. A story's ending should be inevitable and surprising. These two had neither of that as they got back on the hamster wheel in the least entertaining manner possible. Say what you want about that other crossover Marvel is running now, at least boring is better than awful. RATING: NO. JUST ... NO.

Re: Batman #73. No. This threatens to trivialize and undermine everything that Batman is, everything he has become, and everything worth doing that he accomplished. For what? Impossible to say, and this book offers nothing more than an insane comic shop conversation as a theory. No. This is wrong.  RATING: NO. JUST ... NO.

WHAT'S THE PROGNOSIS?

Super ugly. It got so super ugly out there. Let's try again next week. We deserved better for Juneteenth.

THE BUSINESS

This week, this columnist DJ'ed the launch party for the already successful launch of his already successful Kickstarter and you can hear some of that mix on KQBH-LP, Community Built Radio, 101.5 FM in Boyle Heights, California tonight at 1AM.

Have you checked out the now-complete 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," as long as it lasts.

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!