Sleeper Season Two #8:
Trust is a delicate thing between people, especially in a romantic context. The Ferengi even devoted Rules of Acquisition to it, the most prevalent being #99, "Trust is the biggest liability of all." So for someone like the barely-seen Holden Carver, a deep cover agent who may or may not have "gone native," it can be the difference between life and death. So this issue follows Miss Misery, a really amusing extrahuman who gains power (and sex appeal) from inflicting horrors upon people (and, coincidentally, who Holden trusts) of course it ends up somewhere bad for almost everybody involved. Which never would have happened if people would just follow orders. It's a bitter tale of hurt feelings and retribution (which could be said to be the theme for the whole "season") with the regularly less-than-great art by Sean Phillips. Holding the line, here.

Legion of Super Heroes #2:
I'm not sure of Mark Waid has been watching the commercials for the CBS show Numb3rs or not, but Brainy pulls a feat of deduction from disparate threads of data that borders on the miraculous, and stands as the central piece of characterization for a "rivalry" with Dream Girl, before looking in on another planet-wide attack on young people (the future has really mean "grown ups" it seems). The chemistry between the two characters, who often reach the same place via widely different directions, was great, and I don't know the last time I've seen a precognizant character shown this well (Small Gods uses a little of this, but doesn't make it so obvious or entertaining, especially the "precommandos"). With Kitson's always perfect art (great on talking head scenes or fights), Waid paints another shade of the future in subtle strokes, and I'm fully on board. Great issue, with a fantastic gag at the end.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #15:
In another case of really getting the chemistry between characters, Warren Ellis' Thing is a great take on the tragic monster ("Being with you two is like finding out it's school 24 hours a day"). Of course their "field trip" into the N-Zone pops up some kind of life form, and then proceed in classic horror movie fashion to seek it out, but that's all right. Watching the characters interact and really seem to sense awe at the things they discover (which I won't reveal for you) is where this comic earns its money. Just great fun to read, and I really appreciate that.

Y: The Last Man #30:
The probable reason for Yorick's improbable survival is revealed ... and it's really stupid. I mean, in a way I suppose there's been clues of it all along, but I just think it's too easy. Like the main character in V for Vendetta, no matter who it is behind the mask, it's not enough if it's just one person. An emotional reunion with his sister Hero makes for good melodrama, and we do get a resolution of sorts to the lurking ninja that's been shadowing them ... but I'm just so let down by the "big reveal" that it makes me tired, and enjoy the whole issue less.

Planetary #22:
Most of this issue is a flashback, allowing Warren Ellis (who so pleased me in Ultimate Fantastic Four) to expel research and ideas on the "western comics" genre (parroting the rough edges of the Lone Ranger in particular), as well as riffing on the 1930s "masked vigilante" shtick as well. The whole issue tries to characterize the "anti-Human Torch" and hits exactly one story beat. I always feel like a sucker when I buy a comic book like this. Argh.

The Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe: Women of Marvel 2005:
I swear I expect to see The Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe: Cleaning Products 2005 on the stands, and myself being compelled to buy it in a sick fit of completism. From characters who made their debut this month (Arana) to characters from before the Stan 'n Jack revolution (Millie the Model, fer cripes' sake) Marvel's fairer sex is represented here ... sort of. I mean, we got Misty Knight but not Coleen Wing. You get the blonde Black Widow, but Natasha's over in the Daredevil Handbook. Roma's here, but Meggan from the old Excalibur isn't. Still, even ignoring the often distracting and possibly idiosyncratic omissions, (I think there's two of the three "Witches" here, which seemed weird on many levels) you get a good chunk of facts about a good chunk of Marvel's double-X chromosome denizens.

Buy Pile Breakdown: About 50-50 here, which is no good for purchases. Ah well.

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

Losers #20
I loved the gag at the bar, and this title remains just about as solid as it is every issue, which is to say just below the "buy me" line of qualiity. The story itself was oblique, like being dropped into The Italian Job fifteen minutes in with no explanations, but interesting nonetheless.

Arana #1:
A decent sized slab of culture, as the creative team fits a lot of raw data in, explaining as they go and kicking some butt along the way, all while establishing a fairly realistic "teen hero angst" atmosphere. A neat trick, balancing things so it never feels like you're being bombarded with exposition. The only thing that stopped me from buying it is having zero interest in the premise, but I could surely recognize a great application of craft in this title's creation.

Mighty Love Softcover:
As I said when I first reviewed this, it's super entertaining ... I just didn't have a spare $20 to throw at it. But worth buying, and had I not been so broke, it'd be at my house instead of on the shelf.

Mystique #23:
Mystique finally turns on Chuck Xavier, and forces things to go wonky, with virtually everybody in the world gunning for her. Interesting and holding a good amount of action, but with none of the cleverness I once liked when I was thinking about buying this title. Plus next issue is the last, so there's that.

We3 #3:
The ending here is pretty close to a "shocker," as two animals meet with an unpleasant end and the feds end up with egg on their face. I gotta say, I was pleasantly surprised with how things went here, after getting jobbed by Seaguy, and I liked a lot of what happened here. In retrospect, I shoulda snagged this and the previous two issues. Next week, I'll go back for 'em.

Ultimate X-Men #55:
Ultimate Arcade makes an appearance (he's not as funny as the original, and has a much more grave raison d'etre) heading into Mojo's hunt as two teams of X-Men come looking for Ultimate Longshot. Another Ultimatized-version of an X-Men classic character pops up, and she's pleasantly understated. A good issue that was largely intros.

Robin #134:
After having one of the ugliest covers I've ever seen, Robin checks into Bludhaven's John Wayne High (the team name? "The Gunslingers"), gets some surprises when his father's will is read, and again shows a dangerous amount of hubris before getting his face punched in. The art here was a concern for me, with good visual storytelling and composition hindered by inking that looked unfinished or inconsistent. Not bad, but not great.

Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes #6:
Cap's involvement in this issue can be summed up in one word: "ZEMOOOOOOOO!!!!" Meanwhile Hawkeye thinks about coming in from the cold and Magneto's kids keep skulking through eastern Europe. There's a great bit with Thor and Iron Man where the skeptical scientist is forced to believe, which was a neat bit of characterization (if a bit wordy on Tony's part, but I like the way Thor has been used througout this series). But still, as these "stories" are told in-between the cracks of existing stories, it always (and this issue is no different) like something is missing. They should annotate each issue with the Essentials volume that it corresponds to, and get some cross-pollination of sales.

Superpatriot #2:
My notes read "plausible hilarity," as this is the only series on the stands that can make Nazis work as villains -- by making them utterly ridiculous, and their violence cartoonish and over-the-top. Kirkman spins a lot of plates here, a method he's used in many comics he's written, and sometimes it works like a charm. Other times, like this issue, it's merely spinning, neither genius nor tripe. But I did like the "sex machine" part, that's funny.

Black Widow #5:
Seems that Natasha is part of a "Weapon Russkie" program, and this series is overlaying parts of Wolverine's history on her. Which, I don't think, is that great an idea, and takes away from the original point established issues ago, of who's trying to kill her. This issue is less entertaining than the last, and that deterioration seems pretty constant.

Conan #12:
Conan meets his match in a female warrior of great strength and skill, while falling into the service of a rich merchant haunted by assassins (who sent the "mystery" from an issue or so back). They grudgingly bond, and that's kind of interesting. The fight scene was great, though.

Fantastic Four #522:
Johnny Storm ... smart? Sue Storm smash? In a reversal of fortunes, Johnny leads them to what may be the most improbable conclusion of a conflict with the World Devourer (again taking up many pages recounting Galactus' origin). Interesting work, but like Losers, it's just below the mark.

Flash #218:
Another "Rogue Profile" that lets Heat Wave tell his story of madness and mayhem. The twitch is that he's trying to go straight and help the feds take down the Rogues, but he's still crazy. That pretty much sums up the issue, an extended Secret Files and Origins more than a story.

G.I. Joe #39:
New character General Rey takes over the team as Cobra finds the location of the Pit (again) and says they've done what no one else did (again) and attack and blow stuff up (again). I dunno if the writer hasn't read, oh, every other writer's take on the team or what, but the cyclical, soap operatic nature of this issue is probably why the book's getting cancelled. Everything that happend here (short of the "space invaders" interface on the piece of artillery, blamed on cheapos at the Pentagon, which I rather liked) has been done before, and in some cases by Josh Blaylock on his run on the title. At least read that far back.

JLA Classified #3:
Over too fast, and that's bad, as the JLA have a really flashy fight with the mind-controlled minions of Grodd (but wow Morrison writes a fun GG), and tosses out a barrage of wild ideas along the way. It feels like a lot was jammed in to make it work at the end, like those old Dreamwave Transformers six-part storylines, and that's why it had to stay.

Read Pile Roundup: Short but simple, nothing stood out in a week as plain as Jan Brady.

So, How Was It This Week? Eh. I've seen better. Plus, I realized after I left the shop that I forgot to look at Bluesman which came out this week. Dangit!

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