Every week I go to the comic book store (Comics Ink in Culver City, CA, hey Steve and Jason!) and grab a lot of comics. I sort these into two piles -- the "buy" pile (things I intend to spend money on, most often a small pile) and the "read" pile (often huge, including lots of stuff I don't actually like but wanna stay well informed about). In no particular order, here's some thoughts about all that.

Oh, and no, you'll get no war talk here. I've done enough of that already, I believe.

Lucifer #36:
Norse myth provides the backdrop as the Morningstar hand-picks a motley crew of unusual supernatural suspects, loads them up on a ship made of dead men's fingernails, and sends them off in search of one of the few beings in creation he could feel some debt to: his "niece" Elaine Belloc, bastard daughter of the archangel Michael. The issue is a great showcase for Loki's other brother, a horny trickster himself, and Mazikeen, daughter of Adam's first wife Lilith. Don't worry if you're a little shaky on your knowledge of myth, writer Mike Carey thoughtfully encapsulates everything on page one. On pages 17 and 18 you get a brief flash of why Lucifer is such a riveting and powerful character, one of the brief displays of his real menace. As the first part of a new storyline and a zippy pace, this is one hell of an issue, and well worth the money.

Captain Marvel #7:
Mar-vell vs. Asgard. Things don't go well, for anyone. Marv makes short work of most of the divine company, and only hits a roadblock when he incurs the wrath of the Mighty (and currently Odin-powered) Thor, and a couple of blasts from the past which nobody saw coming. Literally. Month after month I keep coming back to this book -- which took the framework of its last volume and turned everything on its ear -- because I never know what's going to happen next. Going insane was the best thing to ever happen to the title character, freeing him from the trappings of being a "hero" and becoming really dangerously interesting. Great stuff here, so clearly somebody's gonna cancel it (even though it stomped it's U-Decide competitors -- more on that in a bit).

Supergirl #80:
Peter David closes down this DC title with two Supergirls saying "goodbye," each in a way you couldn't predict if you tried. SPOILER WARNING: Yes, that means Kara Zor-El goes back to her Silver Age life and inevitable Crisis-On-Infinite-Earths-slated death. The issue makes some wild leaps, as it's a big tapestry to fold up here, but it ends fairly poignantly and is surely open ended enough to let DC pull the character off the bench at will. Benes' art (also quite solid on this week's Thundercats book, the way he draws the female form is borderline softcore) is of course crisp and his visual storytelling is admirable. A good close to a good-length run. Funny side note I see: that Impulse title, also heavy on laughs, also went down at #80, didn't it? Mmm.

Robotech #4:
Tommy Yune and Jay Faerber are still taking the scenic route to get this prequel where it's going, doing some interesting pre-development on future new age guru Jan Morris (here a Britney Spears-esque pop diva) and then Lieutenant Colonel T.R. Edwards, whose name will live on in infamy. You'll see humanity's fumbling attempts at harnessing Robotechnology (if you speak German you'll have a leg up, there's a whole panel I could only guess at, but that makes sense, as the R&D team on the SDF project was largely from Deutschland). The art is largely expressionless, and the storyline is less than compelling unless you're already a huge fan of what's going to happen (as I am), so this is a lukewarm reception to this issue. Partially because I want the fight scenes to mean more (and of course, more giant robot smackdown, since Yune's at his best with technology, not people ... I miss The War Within already ...).

Y The Last Man #9
The long-awaited Shakespeare joke finally shows up, but it's possibly the only thing that you could expect in this issue. Yorick and Hero finally have a bit of a tete-a-tete, threats are made, and loyalties reinforced by blood. Vaughn is able to keep walking on the knife's edge with this book, balanced by the compelling characterization of Yorick and the natural tension of the premise. This book keeps it coming.

Rex Mundi #2:
This one took a looooooong time to get here, but it's very good. The textured world of Rex Mundi is complicated by the first on-panel appearance of The Inquisition (oooh, say it again, "The Inquisition" Ooooh, sends shivers down your spine) outside of the web-serial "Brother Matthew." Dr. Sauniere stumbles in his investigation and loses a good friend in a way that is very visually shown in a devastated two page spread. I like the use of black around the pages instead of white, as it gives each page an automatic sense of gravity. Until he's almost pushed to drink, Dr. Sauniere seems to have similar expressions each time his face is shown, almost always from the same angle, and this self-described "slow burn" (from the letters page, also says the whole story takes 35 issues, and they are on #2) makes a deliberate and engaging issue work. I love this book, and I don't really know why. Here's hoping they can get it out faster.

Star Wars #51:
Flying under the subhead "Republic" (they tell "Empire" stories from the between-the-trilogies period over in a differently numbered title), Obi-Won and Anakin fight a front of the Clone Wars (says it's "A Clone Wars Comic" in big letters across the cover) on a moon of Naboo, and of course Anakin's hormone-driven affection keeps him distracted. Best of all, the Arc Trooper (an individually minded clone of Jango Fett) is back from the previous issue, and he's a badass with a bad attitude. Two Jedi get killed (they're starting to run a little thin, aren't they?) and a dangerous new threat pops up that makes me believe the Jedi couldn't have been that impressive, as everybody and their mom claims to have smoked at least one. Haden Blackman still manages to craft a tense and delicious story with action and pathos (partially aided by the shorthand of the characters already being familiar to virtually everyody with a passing knowledge of pop culture) and art by Tomas Giorello and Curtis Arnold is clear and serviceable. This, at last, is another compelling issue of the flagship Star Wars title.

Devil's Due 2003 Mix Tape:
I bought this because it was only a dollar. However, it has no actual comics content, just interviews about upcoming projects, which (truth be told) I'm not terribly interested in paying for, since I visit Newsarama and Comicon's Pulse everyday already, for free. I wanted to see some Voltron panels, maybe a little something from Kore. Nope. Ah well. I'm only a dollar's worth of mad.

Buy Pile Breakdown: Despite a lackluster Twisted Toyfare Theatre (KISS jokes? Yawn) it was still a pretty entertaining week on the Buy Pile overall.

Then there's the stuff on the "read pile" that I don't bring home ...

Crossovers #3:
This book is *this* close to getting on the Buy Pile, but it still seems to be holding its punches. It's very funny, and still pretty entertaining -- there's a great comics in-joke when Prototype shows up that I can't properly translate, and the son of the family has Seth Green's Scott Evil snarkiness, which is great. It feels like it'll be a trade in five minutes, so I'm still holding on this title.

Scion #34:
Lotsa talk here, this whole issue could have been done in ten pages. Still, even treading water, the art looks good. Wedding, next issue. Ehhh.

Power Company #14:
Firestorm indignant. Dr. Polaris predictably gets beaten up, but in an unpredictable fashion (Alas, poor Black Mass ...), and at the end of the day everybody ends up a little bit battered. I know Busiek really believes in this book and he's a great guy, but somehow this never seems to hook me enough to make it on to the Buy Pile, even Crossovers os more of a thrill for me. At least I buy Astro City religiously ...

Truth #5:
The last page of this issue had Steve, owner of my comics store, proclaiming that it was the worst issue of the week. I read it, and while it was nothing special, a far worse book came out this week that spit on fans and professionals alike (we'll get there). Bad things happen, and Steve Rogers has tea. Nazis get beaten up and killed, and a heavy-handed metaphorical comparison of the Nazis and the US government is made. Nothin' to see here, folks.

Marville #6:
Now, this is the worst book of the week. Or month. It's in the running for worst single issue of the year, its competition primarily composed of its predecessors. The whole series is recapped in a pitch meeting that is characterized as a comic that couldn't sell (kind of like the truth about this series). It ends with a letter from Mistah J (I forget who started that term for Jemas, but it's flawless), admitting that he wrote the book in defiance of financial considerations for his own vanity and will write Marville #7 as a Marvel Project Greenlight to show people how to get books accepted by the new Epic imprint. I can only assume this will happen through outlines of his script with signs saying "DEAR GOD NO." Marville is an abomination and a black eye to the entire comics industry. Oh, and by the way, it came in dead last in the U-Decide contest, even behind a book with only one issue, Ultimate Adventures.

Punisher #23:
This is a classically funny, but ultimately forgettable, Garth Ennis Punisher story. The reason why his starting arc was so amazing was that everything you could possibly do with Punisher, Ennis ran with it, throwing caution to the wind. Nowadays ... Frank shoots people. Yes, it's sometimes funny (as it is here, wow there's a funny surprise), but it doesn't do anything special. One of my favorite in-store reads, but a long way from the Buy Pile.

Thunderbolts #77:
Bo. Ring. Stupid revamp. Let's move on.

Thundercats Return #2:
Lion-o lays the smackdown. Panthro is mad. I believe Wilykit is in a thong. Benes' art, as noted, is really nice -- you'll fondly remember the cartoon, and his action scenes with the lord of Thundera, really rock. The grimmer tone is really working, and getting to see some Thunderians go feral is a good touch. I'm enjoying this, but it doesn't wholly have my attention. I'll probably go back for it like I did with BOTP, another book of dark undertones and deliciously mean spirit.

Read Pile Roundup: A little more entertaining than one normally expects from the read pile, even with the Marville and Truth things. Didn't wanna get all the way into it, but the Smallville comic read like a boring episode of the show, and I'll admit the Venom ending of Ultimate Spider-Man was pretty entertaining. I can tell some stuff is headed for the Buy Pile in coming months, my limited budget be damned. Oh well.

A solid week of comics with some fairly normal ups and downs. No more Mixtape comics in the Buy Pile, though.