The Crew #5:
With great delicacy (and a lot more speed and deftness than the entire Truth mini), Josiah X is made current and relevant to readers in this issue of the soon-to-be-cancelled The Crew. News is that issue #7 is the last one and Priest has something new up his sleeve (after almost retiring), but that's a discussion for another day. In this issue, the juxtaposition of a shadow government working in lies and back alley assassinations is carefully molded on to "real life" events in the Marvel Universe, whose 1960s Black militants took the concept of a Black Captain America as a banner and rallying cry (which, of course, has never been seen in Marvel books because who would have looked -- how long did the US' problem with militias fester before John Walker faced the Watchdogs?). The story weaves intelligent dialogue and plotting with crisp action (brief action, admittedly), some genuine laughs and fine artwork by Joe Bennet and Crime Lab Studios. I'm gonna miss this title ...

Puffed #3:
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Oh ... oh I needed this issue. Less packed with laughs than earlier issues (but still worth it for the extended street corner fight scene), all's well that ends well in this truly twisted, funny story. Layman's story is sometimes helped and sometimes hindered by Crosland's artwork (as funny as the fight is, it's a little unclear in spots), and I can't wait for the upcoming Stay Puffed, which Layman promises is even sicker than this. Somehow, I even got over the use of some questionable racial images, because, in the end, they were really funny. Maybe I'm mellowing in my old age ...

Captain Marvel #14:
Every month something happens in this series that I could not expect. When Genis gets playing with tachyons and snags past versions of people to confront their present-day personas (the Thing's poker game is funny) all hell stays tightly packed in a very compelling character study. Oddly enough the "middle" personas (not the early drunken Genis nor the goofy "Daddy-o" Rick Jones) end up as the impetus for the story, relative "egos" to the Freudian "ids" of their earlier selves and the moralizing superegos of their latter day manifestations. David continues to amaze, month after month, as this book redefines the rules. Wow.

Human Target #2:
The story of a crooked investment banker who faked his death with the 9/11 tragedy. The premise alone intrigued me, and Milligan's crafty tale (as well as his non-contrived means of getting Christopher Chance involved, which reads better than it'd sound if I told you) is made all the more enjoyable by Javier Pulido's sparse, hectic artwork. Damned entertaining, and like the next title reviewed, it made for a purchase of this issue and the one prior, to show you how it interested me.

Wonder Woman #196:
This issue reminded me heavily of The West Wing -- smart dialogue, intricate setups, brilliant use of guest stars, amazing visual tableau. Something seems missing, in that nothing really happened outside of the talk, but so much information was conveyed and this book has become so layered and well-thought out in so short a span, it made the jump to the Buy Pile and I got last month's issue to boot. "All set up," Steve told me at the store today, "but good set up." When in doubt, I'll vote with my dollars for the smartest comic books. I'm interested.

Smax #2:
"Smart and mean" is the way comics pusher Steve characterized it to me, his favorite read this week. This story got so freaking intricate on the last few pages (in the good, look back on it months later and say "Oh damn!" way) that I had to read it three times, another show of Moore's casual mastery over storytelling. There are some disturbing things here (not as unsettling as what I saw in Outsiders, but we'll get to that soon enough) but all of it is done tastefully and intelligently, and you will learn the whole story about Jaafs Macksun in this issue. Amazing work here on one of my favorite franchises.

Daredevil #52:
David Mack makes pages that I could just look at all freaking day. Combining Greg Land's ability to realize a character with photographic and "real world" images interspersed, many of the pages are works of art themselves, incorporating numerous styles into each composition. I swear the man is the Bruce Lee of comics art, he can excellently use so many styles. Maya's back, and she's not happy that Matt's already dating somebody else, so she goes to talk things over with somebody else. True, that's all that happens, but reading this issue takes you on so much more of a journey through Mack's skills. A virtuoso at work, very nicely done.

Lucifer #42:
God has taken a sabbatical and his chair is up for grabs. This has consequences that even the Morningstar couldn't plan for, and the children of Chaos are cashing in their chips. This set up issue has tons of really amazing moments -- a divine deposition, knocking on the Dreaming's door, weeping and petulant angels -- and Carey continues to make this title out to be arguably Vertigo's finest.

Buy Pile Breakdown: Deeply entertaining material and two titles making the jump from the Read Pile makes this a great week for content and a rough week for my wallet.

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

Gun Theory #1:
If you liked Mel Gibson in Payback, this will appeal to you. A bare bones script is hampered by clunky artwork all around, but I was still entertained. They've got some interesting things happening at Epic! Who knew?

Arrowsmith #3:
I keep thinking that each issue of this is a segment of a big budget ABC miniseries, and that the end of each issue is a commercial break. I say that in a good way. The action and the emotion gets ratcheted up a notch in the finest issue so far, with a look at what's going down. I am somehow reminded of Sigil, another slow starting war book that took off as time went on. Arrowsmith is charming and intelligent and amazingly layered, with every aspect of a parallell earth in the grips of its first World War thought out with great detail. In better economic times, this would be a Buy Pile title.

Scion #39:
A very cool Prince Valiant tribute issue sends off the old creative team in style while also introducing several new toys for the new team to play with and a lot of vital information for readers old and new to enjoy. I was reminded of Sharon Shinn's Samaria trilogy, and now I can see the ghost in the machine. Very good, a book that comes so close to the Buy Pile every month but never makes it due to sheer volume of good stuff ahead of it.

Birds of Prey #59
In a very satisfying conclusion, Savant and his boys deal face off against the Birds (who never call themselves that, by the way), as friendships are tested (and betrayed) and explanations are made (when asked about the new costume, Huntress replies, "Seven hundred sit ups a day," which Canary instantly understands). Simone's ability to balance light banter with action is masterful, and she's nowhere near as funny as her You'll All Be Sorry days, she does have a fantastic grip on characters and dialogue, and plots well to boot. If she keeps this up, especially with Benes' jaw dropping artwork, this could be a Buy Pile title soon. All that, and I really liked the show, which I now miss. Dammit.

Sojourn #27:
Every month I say the same thing -- Greg Land is amazing. This month is no different. The story zips our heroes along towards the fourth of the five lands and a mysterious set of gods (think the opening scenes of Clash of the Titans -- I'm all over the map with references today, huh?) moves to help Arwyn's quest in somewhat circuitous manners. Still fun, worth reading for the art alone (something I almost never say), but well written too.

Lobo Unbound #3:
After two really, insanely bad issues, I'm amazed to say this was almost entertaining. The artwork looked really good (the "Archie's" homage to start was very well done and funny to boot) and the painted look is very effective. Still. The underlying concepts of a killer "hip hop ho" going after Lobo ... urf. The best of the bunch, at least.

Outsiders #4:
Shut my mouth and call me an African American, I actually was kind of entertained by this as well. Winick seems to be finding his legs on this title, even though the scene with Arsenal and Grace heading towards the team's ship is ... it's just wrong in many ways, and too disturbing to recount to you in detail. Suffice it to say, Roy was slung over Grace's shoulder, and he says that he's starting to like it. Yowza. By no means Buy Pile material, this is a good, light, fluffy and somewhat continuity heavy (I swear Thunder is the dumbest thing in the book, despite her coolness under pressure).

Runaways #6:
This issue pretty much closes the opening "arc," establishing a status quo from which the title can move on. The runaways are now and ad hoc "team," complete with a secret headquarters and codenames (it reads less dumb than it sounds with me describing it) facing off against their parents and every corrupt city and county employee under their thumb. Many people, from Quesada to review sites, say this is a Marvel sleeper, and it's good, but Captain Marvel and Thor and The Crew and Daredevil are leagues better, and I only regularly buy two of those.

Superman/Batman #2:
Luthor is ready to bring it. Great. A future Superman comes back to whup Clark's ass all over the Batcave. Fantastic. Kryptonite bullet. Sure. A fragment of Krypton that's the size of Australia is headed on a collision course with Earth. Okay. The Feds have a boom tube, and use it not to shoot the fragment into the sun, but fire nukes at it, and none of the seventy grillion super heroes on the planet lift a finger. Excuse me, what? While getting caught up in pretty art and fun tidbits, the central conceit of the story went off the rails. Sadly, I'm finding that happening in more and more of Loeb's work. Messed up the whole thing for me. I mean, Captain Marvel by himself could have handled this (the Shazam guy, not the nut with the gun ... but he could have too, now I think about it). Dammit.

Ultimate 6 #1:
A gathering of villains. SHIELD, all smart comments and Sam Jacksoning with Nick Fury, will clearly be the catalyst for the first Ultimate Villain Team Up (patent pending). Bendis, as is his wont, gets some great characterization moments in, but it all just treads water, waiting for the smashing and the breaking. Okay.

Agent X #14:
Deadpool's back. In a way, that makes me happy. Simone again has a great talent for balancing action and snappy chatting, but she's not as funny as I even believe she can be. Her storytelling talent and her comedy talent may be at odds with one another, but this looks like a fair enough send off to Agent X and a great way to tie up loose ends for Fabian Nicieza's upcoming Deadpool revival.

Read Pile Roundup: Two books ended up going home with me, I got some great laughs and gasps from many points of the Read Pile, and despite that stupid boom tube part, I'm happy. Yay!

Two rights make an even bigger right with a solid week of entertainment.