Rex Mundi #11:
This is always the last thing I read, whatever week it comes in, because Rex Mundi is consistently the most challenging thing I deal with that week. Gleefully dense and well referenced, it takes the "alternative history" of the world and layers on just enough familiar things from "real life" to make it riveting. EricJ's always stunning and rich artwork is a real draw as well. Anyway, this issue the protagonist Doctor Sauniere gets an offer he can't refuse from the subjects of one of Mel Brooks' funniest songs. Like many issues this week, it's mostly talking heads, but unlike many, it unlocks puzzles left in past issues like time bombs and sets new ones while you're gasping at the shock. Really amazing work here, kept zippy and well paced enough to not get weighed down by the really dense information presented.

Noble Causes: Extended Family #2:
At eight bucks, this was the hardest purchase to make this week, but I was ultimately glad I did it. The long lead story by Faerber and Fran Bueno is a little predictable (I see it coming from page one) but still a lot of fun (partially due to the great "cameos" and Frost's "ice sculpture"). Devin Grayson's contribution had both a creepy moment (Zephyr is a disturbing character sometimes) and a bittersweet one (reinforcing why Frost is my favorite Noble of all). Antony Johnson's is devilish in its cleverness, and Brian Joines' story really does a lot to flesh out (pardon the pun) the character of Icarus. Strangely, I got nothing from Robert Kirkman's throwaway vignette, and found Tom Peyer's "funny" story simply droll. No, the real gems here are Fabian Nicieza's really complciated look at Zephyr's hidden heroism and B. Clay Moore's "Inside the Heroes' Studio" approach with Doc Noble. A real slab of culture that I can appreciate, and in the end I'm not even mad about the price.

She-Hulk #5:
Yay! A new issue of She-Hulk! This series has yet to make a misstep (IMNSHO) and this month is no exception. I adored the very smart new prison for Marvel's super villains (although seeing Sandman threw me for a loop, remembering last month's Identity Disc ... then again, I remember him dissolving along side a maudlin letter in an issue of one of the Spider-titles, which didn't stop him). This had some of the smartest uses of some of the dumbest characters I've seen in some time, and the interplay between Southpaw and her "lawyers" was a nice surprise as well. Just a really well done issue, from art to script, and I am so glad I started buying this title (gah, it's a Marvel title ... what's happening to me ... powers ... fading ...).

Fables #27:
All the big stories of the series come to a head here, as the Adversary's march on Fable Town has some problems not getting blown away. I had to look up who "Little Red Riding Hood" turned out to be, and the funeral here seemed to mean a lot more than the one in Green Arrow, in an iddue that was simply ... enchanting. Willingham is a sick genius, and he should keep at this sort of thing as long as he wants. Really good stuff.

Captain America & the Falcon #5:
First thing's firsty: I like Joe Bennett. I think his artwork is excellently suited to Priest's skills, and Jack Jadson's inks are strong but unobtrusive. Admittedly, the fight scene at the front kind of leapt out at me from nowhere, but everything else -- especially the meeting in J. Jonah Jameson's office, or the splash panel of the Super-Sailor -- are simply beautiful, with expressive faces and great angles even on the talking head moments. There's also something hinky going on between Captain America and the Scarlet Witch, all silent panels and meaninglful stares, which hasn't been explained and I somehow like a lot because of it, in a Maddie-and-Dave-on-Moonlighting sort of way. Falcon's characterization, meanwhile, flows from the groundwork laid by Geoff Johns during his Avengers run, which I also like a lot. Priest goes for very linear, very straight forward storytelling here -- no jumps in chronology or perspective, which throws off some of his detractors -- and it hums along with the precision of a brand new Jaguar. A great issue for a great series (that I hope survives the "Disassembled" event).

Fierce #1:
My politics led me to buy this issue -- I've shaken hands with and chatted up the Love Brothers at cons and the like, and have always admired their work ethic. So, first issue of almost any comic by Black people -- automatic Buy PIle. Consider it reparations for all the knee-jerk X-Men consumers. Anyway, in a very small amount of space they do a great deal to introduce and flesh out all the supporting characters, and even the antagonists, while leaving the title character enigmatic. He's in therapy at one point, and even his psychiatrist knows little about him. I personally think that's a weakness, but there's a lot of good here so I was willing to forgive it. Robert Love's art goes from photorealistic to cartoonish, often in the space of a panel or two, and it all makes sense and flows well together. Sibling Jeremy Love (really, that's their name) has the pacing and dialogue of the FBI strike team down pat, better than your average screenplay or TV drama. While I thought it a little strange that the world's number one marksman is assigned to a less-than-premiere FBI task force instead of, I dunno, working at the Marine Sniper School, and the subplot with their FBI handler didn't seem to be necessary, but I like the intrigue and the tone and I like the whole supporting cast a lot. We'll see if the title character will have the charisma to keep up my interest, but this issue is a good one in my book.

Buy Pile Breakdown: Pricy, but worth every cent.

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

Punisher #9/District X #3:
Punisher was dropped from the Buy Pile this week, and the reasons for it are very similar to my real problems with this week's issue of District X. In both issues, a character (an IRA terrorist in the first, Bishop in the latter) likens the experience of a group (the Irish in the first, mutants in the latter) to the experience of Black people. The terrorist goes as far as to use the "n-word," claiming that the Irish are the "n-words" for Britain, or some such.

Let me disabuse you of any such delusions.

If Jean Grey or Emma Frost or even Erik freaking Magnus Lenscherr decide to cut their hair, or move to a small town, or just go about walking through a department store anywhere in the United States, chances are that they can do so unmolested and largely unnoticed. Know why? Because nobody would be looking for them. Dangerously few people have a prejudice against fairly normal looking white people just from looking at them. Admittedly, Magneto may be a harder case to make, given how many times his helmeted mug has been on TV, but stick with me here.

Likewise, the Irish are more than capable of moving or getting voice lessons or doing lots of things and changing how people will perceive them. Nobody I've ever seen or even read about in Los Angeles discriminates against the Irish (well, not in this century). The discrimination the Irish and even the fictional average mutant faces (as they don't all have the cosmetic issues of an Artie Maddocks or a Hank McCoy) can be altered by location or circumstance. They can go to a bank and get loans. They won't be pulled over by the police because they're driving a nice car. Et cetera et cetera.

Being Irish is not like being Black. Being a mutant is certainly not like being Black. There are dangerously few experiences in the world, fictional or not, that are even remotely like being Black because it is such a specific set of historical and socio-economic factors, in the US and abroad, that David Hine in District X and Garth Ennis in Punisher even trying to make a comparison is a goddamned insult. I've been discriminated against today, while very few Irish people outside of the UK, especially if they aren't talking, could make that claim. That deleriously insolent and derisive perspective, more than anything else, is why these two issues are on the stands and not in my Buy Pile.

The fact that the Punisher storyline is getting lagged down in politics and talking helped it make its descent, and the fact that District X is like watching a somewhat boring episode of Law & Order (my notes on it say "Law & Mutants") with more special effects ... let's just move on.

Bite Club #4:
This issue, like the two before it, stays very tightly inside its own little world. Which is all right. But when the charactrs -- Risa for example -- have been drawn in such minute brush strokes, it's hard to care why she's naked (again) or conniving (again) as there's never been any development of her. Likewise, the priest-prodigal son has made no logical stance for why he's accepted the burden of "running" the family. At least on, say, Arrested Development (which, oddly enough, shares a very similar premise -- good boy summoned home to save the family from itself) there's an attempt to show the "why" behind increasingly less logical behavior. But no, Chaykin and Tischman chug along as if the reader is as involved in the lives of these characters as they would be their own best friends, writing the entire issue as if it was being done in fast forward. The dialogue has pep, the plots kind of hum along with a zest that's kind of entertaining and of course David Hahn's art is really nice to watch, but so what?

Nightwing #95:
Grayson's script manages to make the new character Tarantula simultaneously perceptive and stupid. Very little happens in this issue, where Tarantula relentlessly reaches for something she knows she can't have, and Dick Grayson continues to sleepwalk his way through his own title, like Rob Lowe in Lyon's Den. After going through hell and reaching some decent dramatic crescendos in the battle against Blockbuster, the title seems to be coasting now, heading who knows where.

Ultimate X-Men #49:
Ultimate Mister Sinister comes to Westchester ... and well, you can probably guess how well he does. A stripped down version of the geneticist we've come to know and barely understand, Ultimate Apocalypse makes his first fully on-panel appearance this issue, Rogue strugggles with morality and Chuck Xavier takes a very funny fall (unintentionally funny, which is my favorite kind). Very readable, very accessible (almost like the old episodes of X-Men: Evolution ... boy, I'm all with the TV references this week) and at a fairly high water mark, as many Ultimate books do, for read-but-don't buy (I had to explain today why I don't buy most Ultimate books -- I have no interest in spending money to take the scenic route to somewhere I've already been).

Bloodhound #1:
I don't know if he's quite the DCU's answer to Vin Diesel's Riddick, but Bloodhound has the swagger and the "ooh, he's a bad man" scuttlebutt to make a decent impersonation. I found the issue, which had a lot more talking in an interrogation room than it maybe needed, vaguely interesting.

Captain America #29:
Kirkman steps on the scene with a wham-bang approach to Cap which I found very entertaining, largely because every single person in the issue plays Steve Rogers for a sucker, and he doesn't seem to notice any of it. A very smart issue, with the kind of chessman-like manuevering and backdoor politics tip toeing behind a solid shield upside the head of Hydra troops. Perhaps a nice balance, as I am interested in seeing what's next (despite the fact that the last page shows a Cap villain so overdone that I gagged).

Challengers of the Unknown #2:
I actually had to read several pages numerous times, as each inch of each page was so jam packed with visual and textual information, it felt like Chaykin wrote this issue with a gatling gun. Still a triumph of style over substance, the characters don't seem to know what's going on, and I'd be hard pressed to tell you either. I think there's a cabal of people secretly running the world, except they're not because they missed some pretty big things, and ... hell, I dunno. I get the feeling Chaykin fans (like classic Priest fans, perhaps) are innoculated against this kind of information warfare, but it made me tired and I put it back.

Marvel Knights 4 #7:
There are some really cute moments with Reed showing confidence that was quite appealing on him. Likewise, Sue is developing into a real kick-ass character here, with some moments of real grit. The plot's still really stupid, as I could think of twelve ways the FF could have handled this much faster, but que sera sera. Again, the artwork is pretty, but this issue (like all the other ones I've read in this series) is like a really pretty cheerleader without a thought in her head. Great for a moment, but nothing to get involved with.

Green Arrow #40:
An emotional but largely empty chapter in the second life of Oliver Queen, as he gets dumped (the cover shows that, it's no major spoiler) and wallows in a funk most of the issue. If i wanted to see this sort of thing, there's tons of old Silver Surferz I could read, where he whines about Shalla-bal.

Identity Crisis #2:
There is a moment in this issue so disturbing, partially because of the severity of the heinous act and partially because it supposedly happened in the allegedly simpler Silver Age, that I was really disturbed by it. It cast the character of Sue Dibny in a whole new light, and that's a fascinating feat in and of itself. Sure, there's some continuity gaffes (I'm pretty sure I saw some dead people walking around), but I'll leave the dissecting of those to the likes of Tom Galloway and (Hypertime) the usual suspects on Usenet. I enjoyed the story for its literary pacing and solid characterization -- I believed the struggle the characters were going through. Add a surprise ending and this mini is on solid ground ... if not for the wild inaccuracies (Hypertime) in continuity (Hypertime), I'd be buying this already.

Identity Disc #2:
On the other hand, Robert Rodi continues borrowing whole pages from the screenplay for The Usual Suspects to keep this "villains spotlight" mini stumbling along. The art is nothing special, with inks that seem overdone and heavy and colors that do nothing to alleviate that sense of trudging mass. I don't find much entertainment here, despite really enjoying watching Bullseye at work. There just doesn't seem like there's a lot of room in the story to make it not suck.

Iron Man #86
Tony's out of control in the armor. Yes, you have seen that before, possibly seventy two billion times. What's different? We don't know why. Literally. Tony starts talking somewhere around the end of the first third of the issue and you don't hear from him again as Iron Man silently stalks and attacks the unarmed and undefended people closest to his recovering alcoholic alter ego. Without more of a reason, these became empty acts of shock value, a meaningless cab ride to wherever Bendis "Disassembled" event is going to take the character next.

JLA #101
Superman again shows the lack of common intelligence that John Byrne stuck him with back in the mid eighties, Big Blue cries on John Stewart's shoulder after trashing part of the Watchtower and generally makes a whiny beyotch out of himself. No wonder his movie can't get made.

Marvel Knights Spider-Man #4:
Peter gets beaten up. Yes, that's what happened last issue, and the one before that, and the one before that. Definitely a student of the "put the character through hell" school, the saving grace is the Dodson's always delectable artwork (and who can portray the Black Cat like they can?) as well as some really kinetic action scenes, a collaborative effort with bright colors and smart layout. Confectionary, and if I liked Spider-Man, that might be enough for me. As it is ...

JSA #63:
Easily the worst issue I read this week. This wildly inept issue tries desperately to set so many plates spinning that they actually start crashing in the pages of the book. Way too much going on (and a lot happening isn't bad, a lot happening when it's not all well explained is) for the amount that really, plot wide, happened. Talk talk talk, huh? Right.

Legion #63:
Gail Simone makes a decent splash in the 31st century, as she takes away the technology that the series has built into such a large part of the futurescape, introducing "All Hell" to his old pal "Breaking Loose." Her dialogue is really the gem to be noticed here, and I got just enough of her team of antagonists that I want to know more, which is a neat trick. Interesting stuff here.

Pulse #4:
Talk talk talk talk talk talk talk talk blah blah blah blah blah. A really slow burn issue that felt like it took a lot longer to read than it probably did. The Urich/Parker conversation was at least funny. Oh well.

Action Comics #817:
Truth in advertising: with dangerously little going on for even the smart characters in this issue, panel after panel of beating and smashing and punching are the order of the day. Supes, sadly, is "bruised, bound and scarred" (apologies to Chuck D) and displays none of the confidence and wit Austen showed a few issues ago. Nothing really special or worth noting here.

Superman/Batman #11:
This entire issue could have been done in twelve pages. The final page "reveal" was less than surprising, and it took me a grand total of 30 seconds to read this issue, so I did it two more times to make sure. Easily one of the worst ongoing titles on the stands, and Michael Turner's stilted artwork really only made Darkseid look good (although I'll admit I like Barda and Scott's house).

Teen Titans #13:
Don't believe the hype -- the Superman/new Robin meeting was so brief you could almost miss it by blinking, and Beast Boy seems to have inadvertantly given his powers to a school full of childen. Hilarity, it seems, was supposed to ensue, but perhaps it missed its bus. Mirthless mayhem.

Gotham Central #21:
I have purchased every single issue of Gotham Central with my own money. Until this month. Brubaker's command of procedural flow is apt, but just not as zippy as Rucka's, and I just got bored. It was another slow money week (all will be well after Comicon, I believe), so I made this issue justify its existence and it failed the test. Not by a large margin, but it's tough in the big city, and Gotham is surely no exception. Brubaker is a writer whose work I feel is done a disservice by the monthly format, and this issue (and this story) might play better in one big chunk.

Read Pile Roundup: It was really freakin' brutal in there this week, with two drops from the Buy Pile.

So, How Was It This Week? Only because I spent so much more than normal is this week considered just a hair below "acceptable," with a pile of reads that was like cuddling up with Dr. Kurt Connors when he's having a skin condition.

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