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.

Orbiter Hardcover:
The biggest failing, if you can call it that, of Warren Ellis and Colleen Doran's masterful Orbiter is it's length. It is simply too short to do justice to both the amazing technical deluge that writer and artist bring to the table (Doran's detail is remarkable) and the sheer grandeur of what Ellis is trying to convey. I am reminded of an early section of Grant Morrison's Marvel Boy, where a character exhorted another to believe, and sitting at my desk, reading it, I did. That's the power of fiction, and Ellis delivers it wholeheartedly in the final scenes.

This is not a book for one read -- it will require study and concentration, quiet and patience. The psychiatrist Dr. Bracken is, in particular, and interesting character to watch develop, as is wunderkind Terry Marx. As noted whenever she showed preview pages, Colleen Doran has simply taken her game to a whole new level, with both a mastery of the large scale (landings on Mars, the endlessness of space) and the intimate (conversations between characters that snap with tension). Let's ship them both several thousand dollars and demand enough pages for a Director's Cut Masterpiece Edition. Amazing work here.

G.I. Joe #17:
About ten pages in, I asked, "what the ...?" The very clever storyline that began last issue has vanished in less than thin air, its characters taken off the track of their investigation, and the whole matter tabled. In lieu of that, a consortium of international criminals have kidnapped both Flint (now a best-selling author) and the Baroness, demanding intel on Cobra Commander's whereabouts, presumably so they can massage his temples with hot lead. It brings Destro, Cobra and remnants of the Oktober Guard in, and forces them to play together. Interesting stuff, done well enough, but honestly I feel robbed after getting such a boost from figuring out what was happening last issue. A jarring transition for regular readers, but an easy enough access point for neophytes.

Namor #1:
I actually couldn't imagine buying a book with Bill Jemas listed as a creator, but it was only $.25. Even for that paltry sum, there's perhaps ten pages of literal story, with the rest padded out by Watson's script into something resembling a chapter in an ongoing serial periodical. I will say Larroca's art is superior, and the murky majesty of Atlantis and the deep ocean are clear enough, despite his online protests about getting yanked off X-Treme X-Men for this. Still, even after only paying two bits, I feel like Marvel owes me some story.

JLA #80:
A surprisingly complicated story for the World's Mightiest Proponents of the Status Quo. Supes and his merry gang of metahumans end up between the guns of the DEO and a "peaceful" collective of metahumans holed up in a Waco-esque standoff. You might almost miss Bruce Wayne and Princess Diana having a date (of sorts, Bruce is terrified, perhaps by Rouleau's bulky portrayal of Diana on the issue's title page). Manitou Raven plays his "fish out of water" role for laughs, Major Disaster makes himself seem more and more interesting with a pivotal clutch move, J'onn J'onnz hangs out with a leftover from the Emperor Joker storyline, and Faith continues to move in mysterious ways. I'm not very happy with what I can only call cartoonish art from Rouleau, who makes the leader of the Safe Haven Collective (the locale for our story, doncha know) look like a Nintendo game character, makes Princess Diana look like Chyna's big sister, and seems to believe virtually everyone stands with their back arched. Kelly, on the other hand, is becoming quite adept at balancing the numerous characters with fair amounts of panel time. I do believe he relies too much on his well-known gift for humor (see pre-Priest Deadpool for a show of Kelly's comic genius), when he's got the chops to play it straight and make it work. Still, an interesting issue which raised tons of riveting ideas (the trust of nations makes the JLA legit, that people who want to live in a way that is ungovernable may or may not have that right, and so on). A definite keeper, and one that has me looking for the next issue.

Black Panther #58:
This is another complicated issue in a week of heavy reads. To start, Ryan Bodenheim and Walden Wong do some amazing things with the art here, including a smart panel-fade to give an assassin a getaway, a really smart T'Challa-leaping panel that calls to mind Jim Lee's recent outing with Batman and Harley Quinn at the theatre, an Ed Benes-worthy cheescake shot and (last but not least) a poster-worthy panel of T'Challa running up a wall. The story, while good, is much murkier. True love becomes betrayal in some fairly disturbing (and partially surprising) ways, there are no fewer than four attempts at regicide, and in the end a sub-Saharan country remains in turmoil. There's not what you could call a happy ending here, but J. Torres penned an interesting tale that, oddly enough, fits well with many of the morally ambiguous and interesting tales from the House of Ideas these days (Thor, iron Man, Avengers, etc).

Mark of Charon #2:
Normally when I see a series will only go five issues, I wait for the trade. This one is simply too zany to let slide. The ever-watchiing god emperor of the Negation, Charon, has sent his third-generation experiments in "enhanced" operatives into the field, with the "do-no-harm" minded (and recently resurrected) Javi as a reluctant leader. Javi holds on to the insane idea he can craft four devotees of Charon into a rebel strike force, Charon amuses himself by indulging this delusion. It's a chess match and a balance beam routine all in one, and Tony Bedard is proving himself to be perhaps CrossGen's finest writer. Bennett's art is mostly clear, but his action sequences could use just a hair more polish. All around, one heck of a book.

Rex Mundi #3:
Yet another deeply complex read. Again love becomes betrayal (a common theme? Funny I see all this when I'm having trouble with my love life) and the shadow of corruption taints all the church and state would do. I don't know if this title is angling for Transmetropolitan territory, but it's a riveting long-term read that I'm very glad to be a part of. At first I thought the coloring was dark, but after a few issues I'm getting accustomed to the somber tones of a society held under the Shroud of Turin by force. Fine work.

Superman: Red Son #1:
This book snuck on the Buy Pile on the strength of Lex Luthor, who is becoming (especially with the help of Michael Rosenbaum on the WB's Smallville) a more interesting character with every spin of his truly ancient origins. Lex here has all his hair, is married to Lois Lane, and is determined to lead the cold war against Stalin's Superman, Kal-El, raised in the Ukraine. I'm reminded here of a line from Warren Ellis' run on Stormwatch: "Farmers are political people, too." Millar spins many of the conventions of the Superman mythos -- the Daily Planet, Bizarro, Lex's determination to take down the last son of Krypton, flirtation with Wonder Woman and the spark with Lois and Lana -- and remixes themm in a way that's fresh and entertaining. He pulls off the same magic act for Marvel on a regular basis, with the Ultimate line. Don't be surprised if a certain orphaned kid with a penchant for flying rodents shows up in the next issue (hints aplenty for him here) and with Lex close to his Silver-Age zaniness (with a shiny new quality that's hard to pin down), even at almost $6 I'm happy to get this one.

Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye #1:
Ooooh, I've been waiting for this one. This has the feel and snap of a completist, with the loving attention to detail that Transfans adore. I've been a Transformers fan most of my life, and these are all arguably G1 Transformers. I saw no fewer than ten characters I'd never heard of and was fascinated by (Banzai-Tron? Big Daddy? Blackjack? Blast Master?), which will of couse have me scouring eBay and ruining my financial future. Those bastards! Anyhoo, the art is (of course) superb, covering virtually every possible mode and presenting some (Blurr leaps to mind, as does Cindersaur, Alpha Trion and Camshaft) better than I've ever seen, including box art. This book is a must-have for any Transformer fan, and when they collect it, I'm sure to be early in line to get that as well.

Buy Pile Breakdown: Lots of heavy, detailed reading, but it was very entertaining (save that Namor snafu).

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

Legion #19:
This series is steadily trying to work its way back on to the Buy Pile. Brainy gets confronted with some hard facts, Karate Kid and Ferro Lad phone home from the edge of nowhere, Sensor freaks out and Dreamer sees something she doesn't want to. If you thought Ra's Al Ghul kicked the team's butt over the past months, the granddaddy of stomping Legionnaires into a fine paste is coming back to play. I liked a lot about this issue, especially the detail Abnett and Lanning have put into their thinking -- Titan would seem like a "silent" world because nobody speaks, they're all telepaths, things like that. This book is very well done, but the haunted, dark tint that it has still gives me some foreboding. I'll see if they can get me on board when my favorite man in short-shorts comes out to play.

Ultimate X-Men #32:
The Ultimate War is over, and it ended with a party. Tony Stark and Hank McCoy hobnob as Xavier Institute becomes a training ground for future Ultimates. A party is thrown, much banter is applied, some sharp comments and cutting glances get passed around. It's a talky issue that allows Millar time to "do what he must," dragging Kwannon into Ultimate continuity with some semblance of sense (not much, that's a hard sell). Still, it feels like ... well, shouldn't this have been the last issue of Ultimate War? Mmm.

Rising Stars: Bright #3:
Mmm. Yup, still boring. I'd have been much happier if this had run as 8-page backups in the real Rising Stars title. Blah.

Micronauts #7:
This is the issue I officially dropped this title. Jolley does not have the sense of balance to keep this cast interesting. The plot plods along. The art is still nice, but so what? Blah.

Marvel Universe: The End #4:
Thanos, Thanos, you zany demigod. You've done this stuff before! Bo-ring. This mini better have one hell of an ending, pun intended. Blah.

Rawhide Kid #5:
Finally, this mini made it all the way to mediocre. There may have been six or seven entertaining panels in this issue. If you take the whole series, you could get maybe six or seven whole pages of fairly entertaining stuff. It'd be a lot of work, though. What's the right word for this ... oh, I know: blah.

Batman #614:
This issue felt like one of those clip shows they run on sitcoms when they're too lazy to write a whole new episode, mixed in with one long fight scene. More of a beating, really. The last few pages, with Hush, served to only cloud matters more -- Usenet is buzzing with the rumor that Jason Todd has crawled out of a Lazarus Pit, desperate for vengeance. I don't know -- Loeb & Lee's Batman has been pretty and peppy, but I can't say I've retained any hard facts about it. Still, with it burning up the sales charts (to the tune of almost 200k issues/month, which were cancellation numbers back in the glory days), it's one to watch, even with just a touch of blah.

Brath #3:
This so-called barbarian book went 22 pages without killing a single person. What is this, Ruse? Then, with Brath losing his sigil (first, I barely remember what it does, since he rarely uses it, and second, I think I remember this scene from The First) I'm losing my interest in this title fast. I have Age of Bronze for historical fiction. I want Barbarian Smackdown, by Crom! Blah!

New X-Men #140:
Henry McCoy feverishly putting the murder victim back together. Bishop and Sage borrowing from virtually every episode of Law & Order ever shown. In my not-so-humble opinion, this title is overrated, this issue is ham-fisted and cliche, and it couldn't make it on the Buy Pile if there were a two-dolllar bill shoved in each copy. Blah, bub.

Power Company #15:
In the shadow of cancellation, Busiek turns in one of the best stories of this title's run. Again, it features Manhunter, being a bastard, this time playing The Bat like he was a dime store harmonica. I liked this issue a lot, and it worked primarily because it lacked the baggage of the unlikely cast, working together. Recast with just Josiah Power, Manhunter and maybe the "solid, like a radish" girl and this book might go somewhere -- Bork and Skyrocket just dragged this title down with morality. This issue pared things down to the core essentials, everybody went home happy, and I loved it. How is it that the cancelled book is blah-free?

The Path #14:
I was worried when I heard the art team was changing on this title, and the look is remarkably different, but I actually think it's better now. It's certainly more clear. The resurrected Todosi and his brother Obo-san go home, and while I feel this issue could have been done in fourteen pages (allowing time for a great confrontation instead of the teaser we have), it still felt fine. This chapter will work much better in the collected version. Blah light.

Read Pile Roundup: Whew, there's a whole lotta blah going on. That's pretty much it.

Very happy with what I brought home and very bored by what I left in the store -- it's a mixed bag week, but it went down just the way it should have. Except that Namor thing, blah.