Captain America & the Falcon #9:
Blah blah, best regular book on the stand, blah blah, Priest and Bennett are magical together, blah blah. You read enough of my reviews, you'll get all that. This comic is solid gold, and given that I actively dislike Captain America as a character, that's quite a feat to make me like it. No, no, the real genius is that for months, this title has been foreshadowing the big reveal in Avengers with deft skill. Looking at back issues now (I won't spoil it, but whoo boy), the lunacy of Admiral Jimmy now fits into a larger and much more complicated tableau. There's a brilliant bit with the Anti-Cap here, Sam continues his slide towards his "Snap" persona in a truly Pacino-esque fashion, and Joe Bennett continues to deliver the goods with flawless up-close moments, kick-ass action (love the shot of Captain America leaping around in his dress uniform) and fantastic big-perspective action. Wow. Truly fantastic work.

Y: The Last Man #28:
The possibility that Yorick is still alive because ... well, I won't spoil it by telling you, but it seems pretty dumb. If it's true. There's still wiggle room, it could be saved. But ... eh. I do like what's happening with Agent 355 and Hero, and there was a nice quiet moment with Dr. Mann. The over-issues, however, are starting to worry me, that I've invested 28 issues times three bucks and it's gonna let me down. Mmm ...

Firebirds:
Jump from the Read Pile. In a really sweet and smartly crafted story, Jay Faerber does it again, introducing a fairly complex set of characters in a fairly small space. I bought this partially because I have a virtual phalanx of nieces, and even though the Firebirds look nothing like my nieces, the idea they can see an interesting, complicated female character as a fun, powerful hero ... well, I just couldn't beat that, even for six bucks.

Sleeper #5:
Flashback: Now we know exactly why Tao and Lynch have such a personalized, monogrammed mad-on for each other ... and it's kind of sad. Very well told, very smartly plotted, but when you look at how it's consumed the lives of these characters, yeah, sad. Which is an amazing triumph in storytelling on the part of Brubaker, who works almost exclusively with nuance and subtlety to make these characters so vital that the tragedy of their lives can affect the reader this way. A breakout issue.

Punisher #13:
Jump from the Read Pile, but once I got it home I was less pleased. I ditched most of the "Kitchen Irish" story because of what I felt was fairly gratuitous usage of a racial slur, one that has been leveled against me more than once. As I have a real affection for Ennis' writing and the title character here, I'd hoped that he'd gotten it out of his system, but no, one page after I'd stopped reading at the store, it popped up again in a new and inflammatory context. I don't need this kind of mess. The overall plot -- Nick Fury against the wall for funding, cuts a deal with the Feds and Frank Castle to make some people very dead while all the "heroes" get what they want -- is interesting in a grim, mean-spirited way, but my enjoyment of the issue was sapped by cringing the same way I did when a white homeless man shouted the word at me as I walked down the street in Santa Monica.

The Intimates #1:
Jump from the Read Pile. Wow. In jam packing every single page with more data than an issue of Challengers of the Unknown, but handling the information design in a hyper-text inspired way that's easily readable and fascinating. In 22 pages, I feel very well acquainted with Duke, Destra and Punchy, and have a good idea about half a dozen more. Th world Casey creates here is so thorough and textured that I can't help looking forward to what's next, just to see what else they can jam in here. Bewildering, fascinating stuff.

Buy Pile Breakdown: With my discount, it ended up just a hair more than a cool Jackson, and short of Ennis' gaffe and worrying over Yorick, I have no beef at all.

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

JLA Classified #1:
Speaking of "bewildering," as I was reading this (a day late, long story, but the crowd is very different on Thursdays), someone said to me, "I bet this was written even before the New X-Men, and he just dug it out." Perhaps, but this fast-moving story barely pauses to breathe, let alone explain (although I thought the Knight and Squire team up got good coverage, there's a lot of new stuff with the Ultramarines that I only barely remember from the recent JLA Secret Files & Origins). While I loved seeing the Morrison Bat-God in action again, I'm a little surprised he didn't get on the horn and call the, oh, twenty seven billion metahumans he keeps on speed dial for just such an emergency. I did like it when he told Alfred he was going into his "sci fi closet," and the Ultramarines getting schnackered by their own overconfidence hit all the right notes. The main reason I didn't buy it was because it reminded me of a girl named Crystal I almost dated in high school. She cornered me by my locker one day, and in the space of two minutes told me she liked me, kissed me so hard I thought she'd suck my tongue out of my head and had my jeans unbuckled. I appreciate that kind of overwhelming enthusiasm -- this issue battered me with wild concepts and action like Crystal battered me with affection -- but some regulation on it seems apropos (and, again, this was at my freakin' locker, not the place to have my goods on display, I think). Worth watching.

Alpha Flight #9:
When Noble Causes homaged the classic Uncanny X-Men cover for "Days of Future Past," it was clever and worked with the story. Here? Not so much. True, Major Mapleleaf time travels into some Alpha Flight backstory, but the yammering it required to get the story going just seemed interminable. Was Lobdell always this chatty with the characters? I don't remember. Stil trying awfully hard for very little result. Maybe Joe Kelly should be brought in, that guy knows funny ...

Star Wars: Empire #26:
Luke Skywalker on the cover, in an X-Wing pilot uniform. Not quite Imperial enough for me. Moving on ...

Avengers #503:
Speaking of talky, I believe that Doctor Strange says more in this one issue than he said in the entire run of the last volume of The Defenders. The "big bad" is revealed (Wizard let it slip months ago, Captain America & Falcon has been foreshadowing it from almost that series' inception, and it's all over usenet) and ... well, it's messy. I still don't see why the veritable army of Avengers they had on hand didn't turn it into a very short conflict, despite their shock, but hey. For a "wiping the slate clean" issue (and there are a lot more of those these days), it's not horrible. However, with the really stupid guest appearance at the end, the largely goofy "it coulda happened at any time" linchpin ... it's just too much.

Detective Comics #800:
The Bat is on his own. As noted in the last issue of Birds of Prey, Oracle has left Gotham, and in this issue we find she's done being a Bat-receptionist, and she took Huntress and Black Canary with her. Robin? Gone, outta town, probably living in Titans Tower. Batgirl? Also gone, god knows where. Nightwing? Convalescing from the madness of "War Games." Add that to the fact that now the police are after him as public enemy number one, and Black Mask has confidently assumed control over all of Gotham's criminal element, it's a new day in Gotham City. After years of the "Bat-family," Bruce has driven away everybody ... and he's okay with that. I'm not saying I condone it, but spirit knows I understand. A grim establishment of a grim status quo.

Sabretooth #3:
Sears has even further distorted Creed beyond the realm of possibility as Sasquatch continues an embarrassing show (he's slowed down by getting shot here, which is ludicrous) and this book continues to misuse Daniel Way's talents. Sure, you could probably have cast John Wayne as, say, a showgirl ... but why?

Transformers/G.I. Joe Volume 2 #1:
With a nifty bit of internal continuity, this series ties in neatly with the tail end of the last Dreamwave property mash-up, but without Reiber at the wheel has lost a lot of the gravitas that made it work. Being merely procedural whereas the first series was epic, this issue hits its marks and reads its lines with little interest until the last couple of pages. Eh.

Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes #1:
Filling in the holes between classic issues of the 1960s book, this nostalgic look at the people behind the punches didn't do much for me. Imperfect but pretty, it's okay for curiosity value.

Catwoman: When In Rome #2:
With all the swanky charm of Oceans 11 and a dash of sex appeal, Catwoman and Riddler's Italian job has real charm and fun. It's a little too fractured in this single installment, though -- I'm sure the collected version will be perfect -- but it's well worth a look. However, why is all of Gotham's madness in Italy all of a sudden? Nobody felt like grabbing some trick boomerangs or maybe a matter levitating helmet? Only Batman's rogues are being "duplicated" ... kind of convenient, no?

Ultimate Fantastic Four #12:
I don't think I've ever seen any version of Reed Richards trash talk anybody, but it was amusing here as Doom was goaded into letting his obsession overrule his genius. Mister Fantastic lives up to his name with some creative combat stylings and a last-minute brainy save that was a nail-biter. Doom catches a beat-down, but it makes sense and doesn't lessen him as as character.

Fallen Angel #17:
A remarkable improvement and still steadily nudging its way towards the Buy Pile, this story has mean and tender edges to it, with a really well-done bit involving the character Shadow Boxer. A beatdown of biblical proportions, and the Angel is making herself out to be somebody.

Guardians #5:
This really feels like one of those bad 1980s teen-tinted sci-fi movies that never got made. I'm gonna stop reading this, honest.

Superman/Batman #13:
Gah ... dripping in cliches and a forced plot that's so saccharine I got a toothache. The ending ... it was just a freakin' photo op. This wasn't as bad as Superman/Batman #6, still the worst single issue of the year, but it's quickly making this series a contender for worst series of the year, no mean feat at all.

Hulk vs. Thing #3:
I remember as a youth having big family events where these two drunken uncles would invariably end up arguing about some years-old conflict, often ending up in fisticuffs and pulled apart by platoons of cousins. This issue reminded me a lot of those days, as the Hulk and the Thing are seriously bickering over a fight they had years ago. Why would anyone care, outside of Usenet? Blah.

Rising Stars #22:
Randy Fisk for President? This issue showed the possibility of a finer world and the weaker elements of humanity that will turn away from it. In a way, that made me sad, confirming all the bad things my father said about people in general. However, whatever affection I had for this title, whatever connection I had with its characters has evaporated in the seeming aeons since it last hit the stands.

Jubilee #3:
A twist at the end is all that kept this issue from being wholly reprehensible, even more sickly sweet than Superman/Batman. "Gee, this guy has good grades? Sure, why did I ever think he should be in my street gang! I'm glad we all talked about this peaceably." My entire ass.

Question #1:
More artistic statement than clear narrative, this fascinating exercise reminded me of the good David Mack issues on Daredevil. A more conflicted hero/reporter combo than even the Creeper, Vic Sage mercilessly does the will of cities, a servile Jack Hawksmoor complex without the power. I'm interested, but just shy of buying (seeing as I already had some jumps -- I wish I'd have gotten this instead of Punisher).

Astonishing X-Men #6:
Strangely, my favorite part here was the Sentient Worlds Observation and Response Department, an extra-planetary counterpart to those wacky kids at SHIELD. This issue lacked the rapid fire banter of other issues and was only adequate, a quiet ending to a potentially big story. Disappointing.

Majestic #4:
Okay, last time I read this mini, I thought maybe I was a moron for missing something. But just as quickly, it seems like Majestic didn't have amnesia and I was right with what I thought from the first issue, he was learning how to be a normal guy. In either case, the sense of wonder and possibility I normally associate with Majestic is nowhere to be found, instead relying on easy villains and simple endings, with a cutesy guest appearance at the tail end.

Spider-Man: Doctor Octopus: Year One #4:
Still pretty good, but it seemed very quick, like the story was trying to rush and catch a train.

Read Pile Roundup: Missed the "thumbs up" by very little, but missed it nonetheless.

So, How Was It This Week? The week as a whole is just barely tipping the needle towards "aight."

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