Y: the Last Man 23:
Yorick tells a lie that I'm not sure I understand. Lots of people end up dead. The story progresses westward. I felt like I should have been more affected by one death in particular, but I wasn't. As issues go, this one was good but not as amazing as some I've read. Still, a solid chapter of an enthralling story.

Firestorm #2:
In a jump from the Read Pile, I went back and bought issue #1 as well. This marks, near as I can tell, the first Dan Jolley work I bought on purpose. The issue centers on, really, the reaction to Jason Rusch to getting the powers of a Nuclear Man (which he barely grasps at this point). There's some fun confrontations with people who clearly don't grasp the concept of running like crazy when a costumed lunatic is in front of you (the idea of shooting at these guys almost never works), and some decent action, but (possibly by way of balance) little of last issue's really amazing character development made it here (probably due to space). This issue made the jump largely for communicating the feeling of newfound power so effectively I couldn't leave it at the store.

WildCATs 3.0 #22:
There's not a title on the stands that keeps the plates spinning like this one. Like a delicate Swiss clockwork, it positions its pieces and brings them together in a dance that is captivating to watch. I'm most enthralled by the sheer boredom that Jack Marlowe's character evinces in dealing with these dramatic interludes. "And now I'm forced to act out yer another useless ..." he says to his would-be assassin (it's not Kev, so it's no spoiler that a guy with a gun couldn't handle the former android hero Spartan). The source of Halo's "power" is revealed, and it's just a fascinating freaking comic book, here in my hands. I'm so gonna miss this. Argh.

Buy Pile Breakdown: A home run, a stolen base and a solid hit to the infield -- no complaints here (I never use baseball metaphors, that's odd ...)

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

Alpha Flight #4:
Cute, but not great. Goofy where it strives to be zany. The most interesting characters -- the super-powered old man, the taciturn Native American mystic -- get short shrift. Even the potentially bombastic characters -- the new Puck, the lantern-jawed Major Mapleleaf -- are subdued where they should be over the top. If it's supposed to be really funny, that is. This book still reads like half the joke, and I'm certainly not buying it yet.

NYC Mech #2:
I read this in a haze. I couldn't, for some reason, for any connection to the characters at all.

Avengers/Thunderbolts #4:
As they were in JLA/Avengers, Earth's Mightiest Heroes are just plain belligerent and stupid, living up to all the cliches of this supposed "literature of ethics" that makes western "cowboy diplomacy" so loathed world wide. Punching first and thinking later, Captain America has none of the calm rationality of his Robert Morales incarnation and none of the whiny loserishness of his previous ones. He's more like the US Agent here, a bellowing, blustering imperialist who says, "my way or the high way." Okay, sure, Zemo's a Nazi. Well, ex-Nazi. Sure, he's a murderer, a would-be world conqueror. I'll even admit he played the hero card as a scheme to take over the world. Still, Cap's modus operandi here smacks of prejudicial thinking and short sightedness, and it made me remember why I've hated this character most of my life (Morales and Christopher Priest almost made me forget). I did enjoy Tony Stark's characterization here, as well as the work done on Songbird, Hawkeye and eternal henchman Atlas. But Cap made me put this issue back on the stands.

Marvel Knights 4 #6:
Camping trip goes awry, okay. Aliens plodding around the forest, blah blah blah. Ben provides the punchlines, no surprise there. About the only thing I liked here (aside from the art, I swear, this book is simply eye candy) was making Sue an integral, smart and capable character (even though technically she loses a kid, if it's the one with the torch, he had it comin'). Like an episode of Everwood, I can appreciate the craft as I change channels.

Strykeforce #3:
This issue was actually rather good -- witty ("Anvil smash!") in playing with perceptions, smart (the plan for infiltrating the army base, using both misdirection and easily manipulated preconceptions) was brilliant, and the art was (while a bit stiff), dynamic and interesting. But I still don't know (or care) anything about the characters (save the fascinating double agent Killawatt). A good start ... at the 3/5 marker for the mini-series. Mmm.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #6:
Mole Man is a sad, pathetic figure no matter how you depict him (forgot to mention, he lamely shows up in Alpha Flight for no good reason). The "team" gets together, Sue shows her stuff (an ironic fact), and Ben realizes he needs a catchprase (one of the best moments in the issue). Doom looms on the Ultimate Horizon (tm), and again this might read better collected, as it's pretty fragmentary by itself. Good banter, though.

Superman: Birthright #11:
A faux Kryptonian army, wearing Super symbols and powered by Kryptonite (which was never as mutagenic or interesting as it got after Smallville hit the air) smacks the town and the Man of Tomorrow around. Lois stumbles on Lex's mad plot. This feels closer to what we know. Sadly, I somehow didn't enjoy that -- the "bridged" feel between existing canon and Smallville was the draw for me, now with the tone off a hair, it's just a big show piece with little at its core. Mmm.

Thanos #11:
Giffen's greatest accomplishment is making Thanos suitably funny, in a dry and intimidating fashion. The rest of the book veers this way and that, never seemingly finding its footing, but every scant panel of Thanos is the real thing. The Galactus bit here was a fascinating look at the psychology of the Devourer of Worlds (and a note that the Surfer was Herald 2.0 at least), but there's too much wandering and not enough of what makes this issue, and this run on the title, great.

Thundercats: Enemy's Pride #1:
For a few panels, Lion-o sounded like half the fans I've seen, berating Snarf. A whack on the head makes the Lord of the Thundercats a lot more ... determined (I looked to see if he had The Teachings of T'Chaka around anywhere) and his closest lieutenants begin to question him. I was pleasantly surprised at John Layman's less tongue-in-cheek script here, an almost Shakespearean slant on the characters with tons of foreshadowing and blind alleys. A very good issue all around, but after "Who let the 'Cats out?" I'm wary ...

Thor #80:
Oeming knows how to get his Thor on. Loki gets something really smart and uses it for, naturally, ill purpose, laying some divine smackdown. This stomps half of Thor's supporting cast and forces him to call in people who are really impressive (if not immortal) -- The Avengers. It even bills itself as a prologue to Bendis' "Avengers Disassemble" storyline, but I liked it a lot, with very fitting and crisp art by Andrea Devito. Better than that crappy Bobby Ewing shower scene, Age-of-Apocalypse crap last issue.

Uncanny X-Men #445
Ladies and gentlemen, through the miracle of reruns, Chris Claremont has discovered the Borg. How else could you explain the clearly derivative, largely unexplained robotic menace set to "assimilate?" Claremont's done, y'all, clearly at least ten years behind the curve, maybe more. When veretan writers can't get work, he's a probable cause, because this sort of antiquated, embarrasing rehash of ideas that were better done aeons ago makes the old guard look bad.

Ultimate Spider-Man #60:
It being a slow week, and this issue being the start of a new storyline, I decided to check in. The Dr. Connors bits were a little hard to follow, the bit with the blood seems really funny (Ultimate Peter Parker is just not a very smart kid, I tell you), and I'm still as uninterested as I was whenever I dropped this title. Again, I can appreciate Bendis' gift for dialogue, and the art as always looks crisp and clean, but so what?

Read Pile Roundup: Scraping the bottom rung of mediocrity on average.

So, How Was It This Week? It being a smallish week, it went by fairly quickly, and had some good purchases. That's not too shabby, I suppose.

The Buy Pile is a weekly collection of comic reviews done by Hannibal Tabu (www.operative.net), originally published at UGO.com.