Captain America & Falcon #8:
"Disillusioned" is a great angle to take on Captain America, besieged by mental attacks by Modok (who really does come off kind of startling, especially in the bathroom) and torn by the murkiness of the situation he's in. Falcon, on the other hand, continues to dive into his "Snap" persona more and more deeply, with bigger guns and rougher tactics. I like it. The Robbie connection is still a bit of a head-scratcher, but Andrea DeVito's art (tagging in, as I suppose Joe Bennett is getting his Hawkman reference together) is really intimate and sharp, with smartly colored and managed flashback panels in a completely different treatment than the rest (smart, since Priest never met a flashback he didn't like) and really fun coordination between Cap and Falcon on parallel missions. Thrilling, tense, smart, witty and interesting -- best issue I read this week, and one of the best comics on the stands.

Y: The Last Man #27:
I'm ... concerned. The apparent source of Yorick's immunity to what killed all the world's men seems to have shown up ... and I don't like it. I think I was happier having no idea at all. Yorick and ihs cohorts have made it to San Francisco, a city holding up pretty well by comparison, and Hero is closing in on him, her motivations as unclear as the waters off Venice Beach. There's a zany spinoff of the Culper Ring, and an apparent secret operative for the ironically-named Doctor Mann, so clearly a lot is going on, but I'm not sure why. This title has been a bit more hit-and-miss of late, and this issue keeps rolling but clearly has some hesitation in its inner workings.

Buy Pile Breakdown: One clear thumbs up, one interesting read despite flaws, that ain't bad.

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

Wolverine #20:
I don't really remember when Wolverine went Marvel Knights (which says to me "we can up the violence a bit, and maybe even curse"), but with Mark Millar on the title I suppose it makes sense. The JRJr "Wolvie in the rain" panel was really good stuff, but again Wolverine is mis-cast as a detective of sorts. At least this time it makes a bit more sense -- an old familial obligation, with Kitty Pryde on assists and the full power of the X-Men at his beck and call. To find out that it's all a set up to get at Wolvie ... well, the story starts to gel a great deal more near its end than at its beginning. The more I think about it, the better it seems. Worth watching.

Youngblood: Bloodsport #1:
I am both shocked and appalled at what I read here. It may surprise many people to know that during the heyday of the original Youngblood, I never read any of the first wave Image stuff. Wasn't my bag. My grounding in the material comes from considerably more shallow depths ... and somehow that doesn't seem a hindrance, given the material here. First of all, let's look at the elephant in the room: the former members of Youngblood have to kill each other, and the last one standing gets to join a pan-dimensional new Youngblood team and be rich forever. Where's the problem you ask? One of the people on panel is Suprema. Suprema is the analog for pre-Crisis Supergirl, an extrahuman of such ridiculous power levels as to make a modern editor blanche in horror. There is one thing in what we'll laughingly call her "continuity" that's capable of killing her, and it's not easy to find (their equivalent to Kryptonite). Without it, the fight turns into two very short, bloody pages (if she's feeling her oats, she could just as easily suck the air out of the room and knock everyone unconscious). So that's dumb. Second, Millar's cutesy dialogue can't overcome the base deficiencies in the plot, which takes the cape-as-celebrity shtick deep into the kind of excesses we normally think of as fan fiction (the hot tub scene in particular). Justice League Europe ran a really good storyline featuring the Extremists, which showed how to do the cape-as-celebrity bit pretty well. Perhaps the makers of Youngblood should have read that.

303 #1:
Jacen Burrows is a really an amazing talent. The Garth Ennis war story here is basic fare, a kind of military thriller ... but Greg Waller's lush coloring and Jacen Burrows' crisp visualizations really made this work sing. I was this close to buying it when I realized that the lead character is a kind of stereotype and the supporting cast were even more flimsy, all perched precariously on one of those "wait and see" plots I so dislike. Still, worth watching if only for the amazing view.

Hulk & Thing #2:
Blah blah blah blah punch blah blah smash blah blah blah blah what you say to me sucka blah blah blah reveal. Talky and poorly rendered. Perhaps worse is one horrible page which implies that Reed Richards and Bruce Banner met as adults (they went to Empire State University together, along with Tony Stark, Hank Pym and Vic Von Doom, and were even friends) and that the Wrecker was not manual laborer Dirk Garthwaite but Banner's lab assistant, named something else entirely. Argh argh argh argh argh.

Majestic #3:
There is a distinctive possibility that I am stupid. I have no conclusive evidence, despite the opinions of numerous former lovers and an ex-wife. Nevertheless, this issue made me wonder if I was. You see, this issue implies that Majestic lost his memory in his battle with the Eradicator back in issue #1. My perception was that Majestic took his conversation with Kal-el seriously, and went to seek out a normal life while trying to think his way back to the Wildstorm universe. That, it seems was wrong. Luckily my retailer Steve keeps past issues on the shelf, so I went back and looked. It can be interpreted either way. Which, sadly, I feel is not the best writing. So Majestic has amnesia. Which effectively killed my interest here -- Majestic without his memory is Majestic without any edge. Without edge, he may as well hang out with Blue Beetle and Booster Gold, or join the JSA.

Queen & Country #27:
Now we're talking -- the spycraft title starts to ramp back up into the interesting range, as a surveillance op "goes south" and gives Tara a hard time, as well as exposing the weaknesses of the team's rookie. In that the past issues were a little anemic on both excitement and actual things happening, this one makes up in spades and is working its way back to the land of purchases. Likewise, the artwork here is very well done, showing the characters with none of the unfinished look that was so prevalent before.

Thor #85:
The final issue. That should say a lot I don't have to. I was very surprised to see Thor come up with an original idea, which even surprised his beheaded brother and gods who stand above him as he stands above mortals. The ending is a little flimsy and Thor's solliloquy doesn't exactly levitate ... but since it's just a shut down for a reboot in a few months, it's a passable way to hit the stop button.

Teen Titans/Legion:
Speaking of reboots, every thirty-first century you know has been wiped away, thanks to the Persuader's Atomic Axe getting ambitious. The actual Legion/Titans vs. Fatal Five Hundred fight was actually kind of anti-climactic, and Kon-el chooses one team to stick with (making, in my opinion, the wrong decision). The whole issue doesn't really accomplish a great deal, and I consider it pretty throwaway. Solicitation copy for the new Legion will accomplish the same as the scant set-up here did.

Thor: Loki #4:
My notes have one word: "inevitable." The 285th Rule of Acquisition is in full effect here, as Loki ... well, he does what he has to do, in order to fulfill his role. Which, historically, is to lose (that's not what I'd consider a spoiler -- I've known it since I read Norse myth in elementary schools). It's beautiful and tragic and sadly, predictable. The worst part (which is really the best part, as it makes the story so resonant) is the kind of futile optimism Loki shows right before he ... well, he has a bad experience. It kind of made me sad.

Thundercats: Enemy's Pride #5:
I met John Layman two years ago at San Diego's Comicon, and getting to know his warped sense of humor through the likes of his Puffed series at Image and personal experience ... well, I expected this issue to be worse (and more extreme) than it was. Which may be the problem of getting so close to the material. The only part that kind of made me roll my eyes was the "upgrade" to the Ro-bear Berbils (argh), but the exposure of the villain was pretty uninteresting, Lion-o's deadpan acceptance was lame, and the issue kind of sputtered to an end. Eh.

Jubilee #2:
Sweet Valley Mutant Adventures continue ... with not exactly "adventure" in mind, as Kirkman tells a treacly tale of teen acceptance and all. Good for its audience, I suppose.

Battle of the Planets: Princess #1:
When I opened it and saw no coloring, I was stunned -- not what I expect from a Top Cow book, which are normally lush and luminous. Then when I saw the (seemingly) penciled art looked unfinished, the plotting muddled, the premise seemed of little consequence (although it did, in retrospect, make sense to send her alone) and it wasn't really a thrill for me. Eh. Not a good week for nostalgia comics, I guess.

Sabretooth #1:
I had three reasons for picking up this, what feels like the grillionth X-mini (the old days are back, it seems, with this and Youngblood on the stands). First, I wanted to see if Bart Sears could calm down his First-styled excesses (he can). Second, ever since I started playing him on the X-Men vs. Street Fighter game, I've come to like the character (his own stupidity seems the only reason Wolverine could ever beat him). Third, it was a slow week with a light load of books. So I read this random exercise in Creed killing people, and laughed when a certain furry Canadian hero popped up by way of response (it should be a short fight -- the guy who showed up has gone toe to toe with Dr. Banner). Another throwaway read that's barely convincing confection.

Alpha Flight #8:
The best part of this -- Major Mapleleaf's goofy earnestness -- is given the shortest amount of time. Centennial and Mapleleaf are the most interesting characters here. Way too much time with Sasquatch, and again too slow a pace for the gags to connect (I assume this is still trying to be a humor title).

Detective Comics #799:
According to this issue, Batman is considerably more stupid than any of us could have believed. I'm just not having it. This crossover has officially gotten dumb, starting right here.

Read Pile Roundup: I feel like I spent an hour wading through almost-boiling water filled with leeches and razor blades.

So, How Was It This Week? This week just barely hit "mediocre," with interesting stuff happening and great visuals, despite Liefeld-tinted goofiness and reboot fever. (Oh, and as a note, I caught the errors I made in last week's New Frontier review after Friday press time, my editor says it's now fixed ... crap, I just looked, it wasn't ... okay, it's fixed in the archives)

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