My Flesh Is Cool #1:
I've had the very good fortune to get to know My Flesh Is Cool writer Steven Grant over emails over the last half-year or so, and I picked up this issue more because of that relationship than any knowledge of the book. I was wholly ignorant to what it was about when I picked it up, despite fervent efforts on his part to tell the world about it. For some reason my brain didn't retain the data. It should have -- in the opening issue, Grant and Sebastian Fiumara introduce hitman Evan Knox, a killer powered by the drug-given ability to temporarily drive his spirit from his own body and inhabit the bodies of others, using them to commit the assassinations he's contracted for. "38 perfect kills in five months." Impressive. The stark black-and-white appearance only adds to the books gritty feel, delivering a mean spirited and efficient story of betrayal and murder. I'm rather enjoying it, and I would be even had I not met Mssr. Grant, so I'm gonna consider this one a winner.

My Faith in Frankie #2:
It started out as a simple love triangle -- Frankie as the object of both back-from-the-dead heartthrob Dean Baxter and her own personal divinity Jeriven. Then ... well, let's just say Dean has some family secrets, which make this get even more interesting. The combination of Sonny Liew's charming artwork and Carey hitting chords I had no idea he could reach makes this another enchanting issue. The ending led me to believe Jeriven has never seen an episode of Star Trek, as he fell for a gag even the Simpsons' Comic Book Guy would have seen through, but it was well within the boundaries of his character and made the title move along brilliantly. Enjoyed this a great deal.

Rex Mundi Book I: The Guardian of the Temple:
The sprawling, glorious tale is now collected, and boy does it help. Leaping back a few pages is easier than digging for back issues, and this intricate story will have you looking back after discovering some new clue or tidbit to the grander mystery. The supplementary information (including a map of their world) is invaluable and they kept the "newspapers" from the back of each issue, which further flesh out the deleriously detailed world of Rex Mundi. I'd already read all the individual pamphlets, and the collected edition makes it all the better.

Y: The Last Man #19:
Combine kinky sexual overtones with pain and disturbing personal revelations ... sounds like my personal life! I'm just serious. Anyhoo, Vaughn's tale of breaking Yorick down is told with such deftness (the center spread of him losing his virginity is both subtle and amazingly detailed, surely also the work of Pia Guerra) that I read this issue twice before moving on to anything else. Very fine work, and clearly one of the finest monthlies on the stands.

Buy Pile Breakdown: I ended up buying the trade because I was short on titles, but a very solid (and cost effective) week on the Buy Pile.

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

Thessaly #1:
I only picked this title up in the store because I saw Bill Willingham was writing it. The title character, a witch of ridiculous power and zero ambition, is bedeviled by the affections of a ghost and the antagonism of demons, all while trying to just lay low and mind her own business. It was a cute story, well told and well drawn, but not emotionally captivating enough to get the hard earned dollars. A close call, though.

Supreme Power #7:
Politics and super powers mix, as the feds use Hyperion as a public distraction for the shadowy work of Doctor Spectrum. There was a weird bit with a fish woman, but I didn't really care about that. It was a slow issue, but a tolerable one.

Batman: City of Lights #5:
My notes have one word: "Lame." I'll stand by that.

Frankenstein Mobster #2:
The backstory and world of Monstros City gets a little better developed in an issue that captures some of the interest of the #0 issue. I am enjoying the character development on the spunky female detective, and the fact that there's a connection to her and "Frankie" interests me somehow. Not enough to buy, but interesting.

Coup D'Etat: Sleeper #1:
First of all, I know it's "noirish," but does everything have to look like the lighting director for The X-Files works here? That complaint aside, a whole lot of backstory is jammed into a small amount of space (and done pretty well by Ed Brubaker) as the Authority finally inherits the mantle of world ruler from Squadron Supreme and scores of supergroups of the past. The first thing that came to my mind is Mark Waid's Empire, and the example of ruling a world being much harder than conquering a world. I don't for a second believe the Authority have the focus or discipline to handle anything more than a fight. It was an interesting, but not crucial, start to Wildstorm's event.

Runaways #11:
Cloak & Dagger make a largely goofy guest appearance (Cloak got a goatee somewhere along the line, and the issue brushes past him losing his powers back in the ill-fated Chuck Dixon Marvel Knights series), but this is still a very enchanting and well-done book, carefully managing a large cast of characters and giving almost all of them something interesting to do. I can't figure out what's missing to make me buy this title -- maybe more "big moments" like the kiss a few months ago -- but it's just short of the mark.

Hard Time #1:
Steve Gerber is so twentieth century. Combining Columbine with super powers emerging. Boring.

Invincible #8:
I read this entire issue biting my nails, wondering if the truth would come out. It did not. The surprise reveal at the end of last issue is still a carefully guarded mystery, with Image's superhero community showing up to pay respects to some of their own (where were the Nobles? I didn't see 'em ...) and our titular hero getting some very solid teen-angst-and-drama character development. This is becoming a fascinating title to watch ... and maybe buy one day.

JSA #58:
Two surprise guest stars give "small" but crucial performances that I enjoyed a great deal. Two characters get killed, but I somehow don't think they'll be missed (but Hawkman de-winging Norda? That's just mean, man!). The JSA is still getting their butts kicked, but less so than before. I'm enjoying Johns' tale here for no reason other than Black Adam is winning, and that makes me happy. Story wise, it's merely adequate, but you get some pleasure seeing one of your favorites come out on top (at last).

Transformers Generation One Volume 3 #1:
This was a close call, as well. There's tons of robot smackdown, virtually no human presence (two requisites for a good giant robot story, I think) and a "surprise," (which was less compelling than I expected), but somehow this still seemed like it lacked some oomph. Maybe the storytelling is still too decompressed, maybe it was Bumblebee commanding a mission, but I wasn't pushed to buy this.

Lobo Unbound #5:
Great art. Embarrasingly bad storytelling. Giffen has been so all over the map these days -- amazing in Formerly Known as Justice League, incomprehensible in Reign of the Zodiac, and now just cliche and uninteresting here. Mmm.

Thanos #6:
Dumb ending (it doesn't even make sense -- "conventional" attacks against a cosmic pan-dimensional threat) and Galactus got a lecture. Blah. Giffen's in next month on this? No idea what to expect, but this wasn't anything special.

Monolith #1
Jewish magic in the DCU. Okay. At the end of the issue, I wanted the arguable protagonist to die, and didn't care what happened next. I (now) know Palmiotti can do better (Beautiful Killer was it?) and this is nothing special either ...

Robotech Invasion #2:
If you had any idea how much I love Robotech, you'd know how weird it is that I'm bored spitless by every panel that's come out of Wildstorm. Very slow, very uninteresting. The Mars Base backup was better than the lead, but even that's taking forever to get anywhere.

Plastic Man #3:
Still fairly funny (if playing fast and loose with a lot of recently established facts -- if Plastic Man can survive as molecular fragments on the bottom of the ocean for millenia, "rubber bullets" should be no threat) but not as good as last issue. This title is streaky so far, either it misses big or hits big.

Read Pile Roundup: More bore than chore, I've had better weeks, even with the few unformed gems in this week's Read Pile.

So, How Was It This Week? A great and relatively inexpensive Buy Pile makes it all right, but I'm not enthused by the week as a whole.

The Buy Pile is a weekly collection of comic reviews done by Hannibal Tabu (www.operative.net)