Fables #26:
Bang. The Adversary's wooden soldiers are marching on Fable Town, and they are not happy people. There's a really pitched battle in the Fabled streets of Manhattan, and there are casualties. Things go well, and things go badly, sometimes at the same time. For such a dialogue-driven writer, Willingham brings the high heat. The casualties are ... significant. This issue is a winner, while I will admit that I'd be considerably lost if this was my first issue. As a regular fan, this issue is solid gold.

Punisher #7:
The Irish Republican Army detonates a bomb in New York City. Does that have your attention? I've actually been laughing about the idea of a "War on Terror" that doesn't include some of the all-time MVPs at the sport. Thanks to Garth Ennis, I don't have to wonder so much about it. Frank Castle gets blown up, and he takes that sort of thing somewhat personally. There's some interesting points, including where Castle says, "For the first time in a long time I realize I don't know what to do ... trouble with a bomb is there's no one to get your hands on. No way to return fire. No one to kill." Punisher then uses his bare hands to keep a guy from dying, after which point he meets his "polar opposite," a rookie paramedic who gets a hard bit of experience. Really fascinating, complicated stuff. True, it's not the grim/funny "Welcome Back, Frank" stuff I so adored, but this ain't bad.

Global Frequency #12:
Once again, Warren Ellis has done it. It would take me a while to explain to you what "kinetic harpoons" are, but they're not pleasant and they're no good. The Global Frequency, in their glorious done-in-one fashion, take care of it without anybody (in this case in the city of Chicago) being any the wiser. The dangerously talented Gene Ha does his thing all over this freakin' issue. The detail on Aleph on page page five, six, nine and eleven really rock, and there's a stream of mad ideas involving a rocket that's just freakin' wonderful. It's probably the best book I bought this week, and damn you, you should buy it too.

Rex Mundi #10:
Wow. There's a whole lot of deeply intricate background information revealed in this very, very dense issue. I have been reading this title since the first issue, and this issue is like cashing in a very expensive savings bond. If this were my first issue, I'd have left this in the store, but as a longtime reader, I'm so happy with the literally reams of spoiler information in this issue. As always the art is top notch, and while very dense, this material is paced very well. Fine if largely novelistic work (have I said recently how rockin' the first trade was? Whoa!).

Idenity Crisis #1:
Jump from the Buy Pile. As a whole, my reads of Brad Meltzer's comics work has been pretty iffy. He's got some good tricks up his sleeve, but he's never really compelled me to buy any of his work. Until today. With a deft hand in plotting and sure, careful foreshadowing, he brings the death in question (no, I won't tell you who, I try to write generally spoiler-free reviews here, pal) and its really believable and powerful after effects are laid out with such skill and such precision that I had to make sure the issue in my hands wasn't running on some futuristic processor chip. I will say one thing: the Calculator is in this issue, using an idea that I actually considered pitching more than four years ago, back when I thought I could just walk up to DC and have them hand me a comic to write. The inclusion of such a seemingly self-evident concept really pushed this over the edge, and showed me Meltzer is a thinker to be reckoned with. Morales' art is good (even though I felt the exaggerated glasses on Clark in Smallville were a bit much), and this really won me over.

Buy Pile Breakdown: I'm extremely happy with every single issue I bought this week, so much I've already read Punisher and Identity Crisis twice in the very limited time between going to the store and writing these reviews. Can't beat that.

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

100 Bullets #50:
At what I've been told is the half-way point for this title, I decided to check in. Azzarello and Risso pack a lot of historical information about the key players in this series (The Trust, The Minutemen, etc.) into and around a noirish story of crime gone bad. A great jumping on point, despite some cliched and easy dialogue choices, and one of the run's finer issues. I used to buy this title, but then it got really irregular in quality and I got into the same trap I used to have with X-Files -- tolerating a "normal" episode while waiting for a "conspiracy" one. I'll go back to watching this title to see if it's ready for me to come home (the stories about Graves setting loose foxes in the henhouse were best), or if I have more stories like the hackneyed "Counterfifth Detective" to wade through.

Marvel Knights Spider Man #3:
Remember when Spider-Man was really smart? It's getting foggier in my early-thirties memory, as issues like this reinforce the idea that his head gets dumb when his heart gets involved. Aunt May is missing, and this issue does zero to address that as Peter gets bamboozled and savagely beaten, as well as exposed and left to die in a hospital bed. Oh, and the Vulture got a new costume. I can see some of the craft in the very well done action scenes, but aside from that, who cares? Let's just move on ...

Bite Club #3:
My complaints about the last issue are less relevant now, as a really zippy recap and better pacing made this story hit a lot of the right notes. The vampires of the Del Toro crime family moves around with the deftness of the brothers in the first arc of Caper, and I was able to see more of the charm I saw in the series debut. The art is good, with drenched reddish tones on the monochromatic coloring that makes this alternate Miami seem like a bloodier version of the real thing (or is that Vice City?). Worth watching.

Captain America #27:
I am really going to miss Robert Morales on this series. Time traveling tachyon madness doesn't stop Cap when his new pal the presidential candidate gets blown up ... and then un-blown up, as some weirdness comes back from the future. I wasn't so sure about the art in some places, but I did find this really interesting (again, something that's never happened with me, as I hate the character passionately).

Death & The Maidens #9:
The Demon's Head is dead. Long live the Demon's Head (or "Daddy's Little Girl"). The man himself goes down like a sack of wet hair in the opening pages, and I don't believe I've ever been this bored by a title written by Greg Rucka. There was so little tension or melodrama to this at all. The art even felt stale. I mean, no, it wasn't as bad as, say, Batman: City of Light and could never approach the benchmark for bad comics, Monarchy. But yes, Virginia, it sucked.

Clockmaker Act 2:
Speaking of dense comics from Image this week, I felt like this thick issue held years of data. My brain started to glaze over on the third long black page filled with text and short visual panels. Whereas the data was a reward for me in Rex Mundi, here it baffled me as I didn't have much of an investment (or memory) of the characters or the situation. There's some cute concepts here -- the Five O'Clock Shadow, the Time Flies -- but not enough to grab hold of.

Nightwing #94:
My notes have one word: "whiny." Dick Grayson navel-gazes his way through fights and nights with Tarantula (Babs breaking up with him couldn't have come at a worse time) as the 'haven gets even bloodier, despite not having Blockbuster to kick around any more. I hate it when heroes get all whiny.

Fallen Angel #12:
A prequel issue managed to give me enough background on the characters to hook me. Doctor Juris and Lee the mysterious Fallen Angel have a relationship that's just downright complicated, and I for one never cared until now. In a tightly plotted issue situated at Mardi Gras, a year or so before the current series takes place, I was able to see some things I've read before in a new light. I was about to stop reading this title altogether, but I'll keep watching for a few more issues to see what's up.

G.I. Joe Master & Apprentice #2:
Much like I did in the G.I. Joe Reloaded issues of late, the talky, serious tone and flatter colors lulled me where I like to be jazzed about a G.I. Joe issue. Especially with this being a middle chapter, the future and past already known and practically set in stone, this issue could have gone farther to make me interested in events that fall between cracks and have less-than-impressive results on what I already know. A little too dry, a little too dull.

Green Arrow #39
In an anticlimax that felt like showing up late for an orgasm, this issue resolved the demons-take-over-Star-City storyline so quickly I almost missed it. Not as much a letdown as that pre-Oeming crap in Thor, but clearly not trying hard enough.

Identity Disc #1:
Imagine if you will the film Usual Suspects. Change all six parts to mid-level super villains (including the very continuity-challenged Cain Marko, who was heroing it up just months ago). Throw in a "never heard of him before" Marvel U Keyser Soze, dumb it down and shove the first act (up to Kobayashi's big speech) in an issue #1. That's what this issue was. I yawned and left it at the store (despite Deadpool being almost funny, and some cute Bullseye tricks).

Masters of the Universe #3:
Merely adequate. Relying heavily on knowledge of prior issues (or even continuity outside the comic book, really), this felt wholly insular, but did nothing to grab even the casual reader (i.e. me) with interesting characterization or plot. Only the art, brash and big and gaudily colored, could even hope to keep my attention.

Iron Man #84:
Damn this title is good -- another writer I'll miss when the Avengers Disassemble this summer. In a deft mix of action and politics, Iron Man works at cleaning up the sins of the father as part of his work as Secretary of Defense. There's some smart bits about the newfound Avenger sovereignty, and both Black Panther and Falcon (two of my favorites) do interesting things here. If I suspected I could get more of this, I'd already be on this gravy train.

Phantom Jack #3:
Slow pacing is killing this title, in my mind, despite some interesting facts about the source of Jack's powers. It's taking a bit longer to get anywhere than it feels like it should need, which is making me lose interest.

Action Comics #816:
Gog is here, and he's not happy. In almost wall-to-wall action Smallville, Kansas gets practically leveled as Gog goes toe-to-toe with Supes and Kon-El. I do like Austen's dialogue on Kal-El, but don't have a read on this latest (allegedly different) version of Gog.

Street Fighter #8:
This is edging its way towards my wallet -- like Way of the Rat, this series provides consistent kung-fu movie action, set in the modern day with a large, diverse and interesting (if sometimes two-dimensional) cast of characters. What also surprises is me how much characterization they manage to fit in this title anyway, with Fei Long playing the dilettante well, Cammy's amnesiac super spy bit being quite believable, and Ryu's mysterious barefoot loner bit tying it all together. Interesting stuff -- and I'm not just saying that because of the hundreds of dollars worth of quarters I've pumped into Street Fighter machines over the years.

District X #2:
Borrowing heavily from the texture of shows like Law & Order, this issue was a very good police procedural book that further shone light on this crappy section of Manhattan (I wonder if anything interesting every happens in Marvel's New Jersey) filled with down-on-their-luck mutants. Well worth watching.

Voltron Volume 2 #6:
Some fairly interesting interplay between the two sets of Voltron pilots, and a betrayal comes to light with explosive consequences. Despite finding the romantic subplots a hair muddled, I like this series a lot. Sadly, like many CrossGen titles, the series and this issue in particular felt like too little happens in each installment to justify the expense.

Ultimate X-Men #47:
Ultimate Apocalypse. You shivered a little, admit it. Ultimate Sinister's face is revealed to Chuck and the gang, as the kids train their butts off to be ready (showing more of the determined "Slim" Summers many of us are old enough to remember). Still an interesting scenic route through X-Men history, if that's your bag.

Star Wars #56:
Mace Windu evokes the calm spirit of Sam Jackson to manipulate events at a bounty hunters' guild to show people it's not smart to screw with Jedi. A really interesting tale, reminding you that the Force can have a powerful effect on weak minds, set in the Clone Wars milieu, and almost good enough to buy.

Witches #1:
Ever seen the show Charmed on the WB? Somebody at Marvel has, apparently, and Doctor Strange is there to provide the Elder/Whitelighter role for three curvy, scantily clad she-mages against some "never heard of it but it's bad" "big bad" (as they used to say on Buffy). Moving on ...

Read Pile Roundup: Some dumb spots, some good spots, some spots not even worth remembering due to mediocrity. Let's call it a wash.

So, How Was It This Week? With the Read Pile barely showing up and solid purchases to lead off the week, we're gonna go with a positive conclusion here.

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