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.

WildC.A.T.S. 3.0 #9:
This issue seemed to go by pretty quickly, as everybody's favorite grifter Cole Cash takes on the unenviable task of crafting the buttoned-down accountant Mister Dolby into a dangerous and serious operative. Not a lot happens here, but what does is funny. This feels more like a filler from a TPB, but with the great work that's been going on here, I'm willing to give Casey one slow month. Just one.

Transformers Generation 1 Part 2 #1:
A lot of people forget that, while Optimus Prime and Megatron were napping away for four million years, life went on back home on Cybertron. In this issue, the new administration of Cybertron -- one who doesn't believe in antiquated designations like "Autobot" or "Decepticon." They also believe that anybody still carrying on like the good ol' days is a war criminal, and they've come to set affairs in order. The new order is led by Shockwave (as one variant cover shows), but his closest pal will be something of a surprise to you. In the immortal words of Jay-Z, "It's ... about ... to go ... down!" No pesky humans clutter up this simple case of Giant Robot Smackdown, and I enjoyed this a great deal (not just because my two favorite Autobots Sunstreaker and Sideswipe showed up). Woo hoo!

Captain Marvel #8:
Asgardian Smackdown does more to spit on the legend of Odin (who was never that much of a sterling icon of character and integrity) and gets some jokes in. It ended a little quickly, and seemed a little pat for the normally intricate Peter David's work, plus the art by Hotz and Sotomayor seems a little exaggerated. It's not a bad issue, it's just nothing special.

Negation #17:
So much happened in this issue, concerning continuity, that I had to buy it. Gammid has made his way all the way over from Crux with a whole bungload of answers to a lot of common questions, and you can get a glimpse of the entire cosmology of CrossGen's continuity here. To say more would be overly spoilerish (and terribly involved), but this issue is an excellent refence for CrossGen while still managing to be fairly entertaining.

Negation: Baptism of Fire TPB:
Collecting issues #7-12 of the spacefaring adventures of Obregon Kaine and the very charismatic god emperor Charon, this is another one I was waiting on. The slow-moving CrossGen pace really shines in collected editions, and the adventure is at its finest here. Tony Bedard works the storyline and it's enjoyable, and as always the art is crisp and delightful.

Buy Pile Breakdown: It was a slow week on the Buy Pile, with JSA slipping off (details to follow) and both WildC.A.T.S. and Captain Marvel being less than compelling, but with strong showings from CrossGen, I ain't mad.

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

JSA #47:
There are more villains in this issue than you can shake a Cosmic Rod at, and it really feels like this book is trying too hard. JSA works best, in my mind, when it's intricate, not when it strains for grandeur. The fact that the villains -- all vanquished before, all old-hat -- had to be dug up and dusted off makes them kind of embarrasing by comparison. Likewise the JSA went out like beyotches last issue, with Jakeem clearly learning nothing about his powers and the Shazam types doing nothing to live up to their hype. They all just lied around, bleeding and whining this issue. I'm still reading, but this is too goofy for my money right now.

Thunderbolts #78:
The interior art looks rushed and lacks detail. The story of Daniel Axum lacks resonance and his struggles don't emotionally involve the reader. Oh, and just for fun, there's not a single character in this book that you'd know if you read comics four months ago. Blah.

H-E-R-O #3:
I don't see what the fuss is over this title. It's OK. It's nothing special. The protagonist's suicide hotline confessional is interesting but not compelling, the art solid but not remarkable, the story entertaining but not especially fun. It's not even high on my read pile. Maybe I'm missing something ...

Sojourn #22:
Beautiful and empty, as (again) a 10 page story got stretched into an entire issue. The quest for the third fragment of Ayden's arrow is not particularly interesting, compared to the action-packed rumble in Ankhara or the dragon-laden adventures before. Pick up the pace, here.

Thundercats The Return #3:
"Beautiful" and "dirty" are the words I first thought of, reading this issue. The premise (Mumm-ra rules the world, Thunderians are slaves) allows some really disturbing moments with the Thunderians formerly known as Wilykids (kits?), Cheetara hates Lion-o, the Mutants are only a step up and serve as slavedrivers (also not allowed to travel freely), and there is hell on the planet formerly known as Third Earth. Ed Benes mutes his normally lush lines in the harshness of this vision, and it's great. Still, I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop and we'll see if this book gets as involved and murky as those kids over in Battle of the Planets.

Flash #197:
Professor Zoom is back, and I'm not happy about it. His name is not Thawne. In retrospect, when the curent Professor Zoom was first introduced (they made 'im out of an existing character in the book) I suppose I could have seen it coming. There's something ... I just don't like Johns' work this month, he seems like he's off his game. Blah.

Beware the Creeper #1:
The big problem with virtually every Creeper book is the same. Not. Enough. Creeper. The Creeper proper doesn't show up until the last page, and prior to that there's tons of dialogue in 1930s Paris. Now, in its place that'd be great. Not what i want from a Creeper book.

Runaways #1:
Nothing to see here yet. The "evil" of the parents is ... well, okay, it's evil, but it's not terribly interesting. Let's see where it goes.

Green Lantern #162:
Okay, somebody at DC must have decreed that the tombs were gonna be opened and the world of the living would be flooded with undead names of the past. I'm halfway expecting Thomas and Martha Wayne to come through the door, doing the lindy hop. Plus, Ollie and Kyle's bickering is so Silver Age. I'm really disappointed in this storyline so far.

Read Pile Roundup: Rough week, not even counting the stuff I didn't deem worthy of a full mention (a clearly ineffectual "death" in New X-Men, JLA: Age of Wonder is corny but possibly OK, Sigil read like an inventory story, Savage Dragon was kind of goofy, Kore, Tech Jacket -- both not worth noting). I gotta look at next week's releases and see if it's more appetizing.

I'm giving the week as a whole a thumbs down for vacuous storytelling in most of everything I read.